Blaster

"The Blaster is a great all-purpose weapon. Even though its range is limited, its high rate of fire makes it ideal for taking on tough enemies at close and medium ranges."

- The Blaster's description found in the game's physical manual.

The Blaster, dubbed the Ion Blaster to prevent confusion, was an auto-targeting blaster manufactured by Gadgetron that used energy bolts as ammunition.

Overview
In Ratchet & Clank the Blaster was a great all-purpose weapon. Although its range was limited, its high rate of fire made it ideal for taking on tough enemies at close and medium ranges. The Blaster spent its ammo fast if Ratchet wasn't careful with his shots. The Blaster was good to use regularly throughout the early phases of the game, but later it was usually surpassed by the Devastator. This was because it also had auto-target capability, but higher damage. It could quickly aim at a flying enemy and quickly take it down.

Ratchet's Blaster made an appearance during the first issue of the Ratchet & Clank Comic series, in Ears of War. Ratchet used it to help defend Veldin from Zogg's robot mechs. After running out of ammo, Ratchet threw it at a robot in a futile attempt to inflict some harm. In this appearance, the Blaster was smaller and fired red blasts of energy, rather than the yellow balls as seen in the original game. When he broke out the Vartax Detention Facility, he utilized a second Blaster identical to his first one.

Weapon summaries
"Blaster! Point it more or less at the bad guys and mow 'em down!"

- Vendor Description

"The Blaster is a great all-purpose weapon. Even though its range is limited, its high rate of fire makes it ideal for taking on tough enemies at close and medium ranges. Hold down L1 to use its sniper capabilities. This gun chews up ammo fast so be sure to pick up as much Blaster ammo as you can carry."

- Normal Help Menu description

"Never embark on an intergalactic adventure without your trusty ion blaster. Or your toothbrush. But if you have to choose, go with the blaster."

- Card Description

Glitches

 * If Ratchet fell to his death while firing the Blaster, the Blaster fired even faster.

Trivia

 * The Blaster was named the Bolt Blaster pre-release.
 * The Blaster and the Gold Blaster were the only blasters in the series that used auto-targeting, as in the later games it was mostly replaced by the HUD-based targeting.

Appearances

 * Ratchet & Clank
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 1: Ears of War
 * Ratchet & Clank: Issue 2: Friends with Benefits