Ionized Plasma Levitator

The Ionized Plasma Levitator, better known as the grabber, is a weapon only found in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission which has the ability to hold certain objects above the ground for a limited time and can throw them with great force. The grabber can grab fireballs thrown by enemies, reach otherwise inaccessible pickups, destroy certain enemies and remove obstacles in the player's path. It is first acquired early in the game, and remains a solid performer throughout. "The Ionized Plasma Levitator creates an electromagnetically charged plasma stream that can move objects over short distances."

- PDA description

Tactical analysis
A portable tractor beam, it does not use ammo but can only fire when locked onto a target. It can pick up objects to either move them or throw them at enemies, and it can grab enemy fireballs (even revenants’ rockets) from the air and toss them back at enemies. The beam will also disintegrate Forgotten Ones and ignite exploding barrels (if launched; they just drop unharmed when released). Trites, ticks, and cherubs are also highly vulnerable to the weapon and will die once released from its grasp. While it has unlimited ammo, the gun will overheat and cut off the beam after a few seconds.

One of the most effective tricks with the weapon is that short of a Hell knight, any enemy which launches a fireball is immediately killed if hit by its own projectile, making it easy to kill imps and other lesser enemies without firing a single bullet. It is also easy to intercept and then toss fireballs on other enemies, although some enemies are slightly tougher and can resist projectiles from lesser demons.

As the levitator can only hold one fireball at a time and takes a short period to recharge, groups of enemies can quickly overwhelm the player.


 * Clip size: limited use of beam
 * Reloading: approx. 0.5 seconds recharge time
 * Ammo: infinite
 * Damage: Varies
 * 150 (Imp fireball)
 * 200 (Cacodemon fireball)
 * ??? (Martian turret projectile)
 * 250 (Hell knight)
 * 300 (Vulgar)
 * 400 (Maledict's meteor)

Bugs
While it is possible to catch mancubus fireballs, they are ineffective if fired back, as they tend to shoot off at a wild, unpredictable angle. It is not obvious that this is an intended behavior, as there is no special case for mancubus projectiles in the weapon's code that should make them behave in this manner.

Trivia

 * The grabber bears a close resemblance to the gravity gun of the and portal gun from , as these can also be used to pick up objects such as physics props or ammunition, though only the grabber and gravity gun can launch them across a distance. Unlike the gravity gun, the grabber will automatically drop the object after a few seconds, and the grabber does not "force pull" objects to the player if they are out of reach.
 * The vulgar's plasma ball attack is normally weaker than the imp's fireball, but it does more damage after it has been caught by a grabber.
 * Both Resurrection of Evil and The Lost Mission require the grabber to be used at one point; in Resurrection of Evil it is the only means to defeat the first boss, and in the Lost Mission it is required to restart the Enpro Plant's plasma conduits.