What has made the Star Trek franchise endure all these years? If you look at the original series, which premiered in 1966, the effects looked poor and the make-up used to create the aliens looked silly. However, the show gave us a glimpse into what humanity would be like in the 23rd century. There would be no poverty or need for money, and the human race's main motivation to exist would be to explore the galaxy and seek out new life and new civilizations. Humanity boldly explores space, but finds out along the way that some civilizations aren't happy to see them, and the need to defend oneself becomes a priority. In the future, not only has space exploration advanced, so has weaponry.
Some weapons are what you expect: ray guns and ships firing beams of energy. Other weapons are a little more conceptual and futuristic. Some weapons are throwbacks and haven't really changed in centuries of usage. Which races have weaponized time? How many cultures cheated and acquired weapons from the future? The weapons on our list are not only hand held weapons, but ones mounted on ships as well. Some weapons can annihilate whole fleets of starships, other weapons have the ability to destroy whole planets. One weapon is the Star Trek equivalent of the Ultimate Nullifier and will eliminate you from the space/time continuum. Although Star Trek may be about peaceful exploration, our list of Star Trek's strongest weapons will remind you how much fighting goes into creating peace.
25 AGONIZER
Due to a transporter accident, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura found themselves in an alternate universe in which the Federation are kind of the bad guys. In this mirror universe, you needed to be loyal and follow orders, and if you didn't act to the satisfaction of your commanding officer you would get the business end of the agonizer.
No, the agonizer doesn't lock you in a room and play your least favorite music at a volume of 11. It's a cute little device that, when placed on a person, causes excruciating pain. There are also larger, booth-sized versions of this device for those that were exceptionally naughty.
24 BAT'LETH
What the heck is a curved blade doing on the list of deadliest weapons in Star Trek? It doesn't cut through dimensions or disrupt space time, does it? No, it's just able to lop your head off with just one swing. This "sword of honor" was first created by Kahless the Unforgettable.
The bat'leth embodies Klingon tradition and their dedication to being a warrior. Besides carrying disruptors, Klingons will still take bat'leths into battle and charge their enemy with it. It's on our list for its intimidation factor.
23 PHASER
The Federation is on a peaceful mission to explore the galaxy, and while exploring strange, new worlds, they're bound to encounter hostile forces. The phaser is the standard sidearm for Federation officers. Starfleet officers switched from laser pistols to phasers by the mid 23rd century.
The Federation prefers to refer to the phaser as a defensive device as well as a tool; the phaser can melt rock, cut through objects or stun an opponent. At level 16, the phaser has enough power to destroy half a large building. It can also be set to overload and explode like a bomb.
22 HOUDINIS
Subspace allows ships in Star Trek to communicate across great distances as well as travel faster than light. During the war with the Dominion, subspace was used in a way that the Federation didn't expect: it was used as a place to hide bombs.
These bombs hid in subspace until an unsuspecting Federation officer tripped over one. They would remain in subspace and randomly appear in front of people. Because of their ability to appear out of the blue, they earned the nickname "houdinis." Unlike a bomb that is hidden in the ground, you'd have to do special scans of an area to find them.
21 JEM'HADAR PISTOLS
The Jem'Hadar were a genetically engineered race of warriors that were created by the Dominion. Their view on battle was simple: victory was life. Just when you thought the Klingons to be apex predators, the Jem'Hadar come in with their weapons firing.
There's one factor about their weapons that set them apart from other hand-held weapons used in the Star Trek Universe: if the phased polaron beam from their pistols and rifles don't put you down, the anti-coagulants within the beam surely would. This added to the list of reasons why you should fear the Jem'Hadar.
20 TR-116 PROJECTILE RIFLE
When you envision what a futuristic weapon looks like, you would probably picture a ray gun because bullets are so 21st century. However, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Field of Fire" audiences were exposed to the 24th century version of a sniper rifle.
Whereas most 24th century weapons are energy-based, the TR-116 rifle actually fired bullets made of tritanium. What makes it a futuristic weapon is that the gun also utilized a micro-transporter, allowing the rifle to fire through walls by transporting the bullet it fired past solid objects and directly into its target.
19 VARON-T DISRUPTOR
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Most Toys" Lieutenant Commander Data was kidnapped by the trader known as Kivas Fajo. His intent was to add Data to his collection of rare items, which included da Vinci's Mona Lisa and a baseball card of Roger Maris.
Fajo also possessed a rare weapon called the Varon-T disruptor and he owned four out of the five ever made. When a being was hit by a blast from the Varon-T, their body was torn apart at the molecular level, ending their life in the slowest, most painful way possible.
18 BORG ASSIMILATION TUBULES
The Borg are futuristic, high tech zombies. The Borg drones march towards you like the undead and instead of biting you, they will shoot you with assimilation tubules filled with Borg nanites. Once injected in your body, they will slowly transform you into a Borg, assimilating your biological and technological distinctiveness.
Not only does the enemy take out one of your soldiers, they add one to their collective. It must be terrifying to watch your friend be taken over by the Borg, then having to engage in combat with your Borgified former colleague.
17 XINDI PROBE
In Star Trek: Enterprise, audiences were introduced to a new race called the Xindi. The Xindi were informed in the 22nd century that in several hundred years their homeworld would be destroyed by Humans. The Xindi decided to be proactive and strike first by attacking Earth.
The Xindi thus sent a small manned device to Earth in 2153. The ship fired a particle beam and then self-destructed, but the end result was the loss of seven million people between Florida and Venezuela. The weapon was built using items that came from the 26th century.
16 THOLIAN WEB
The weapons of most races in Star Trek consist of energy beams and torpedoes, but the Tholians had a type of weapon that was quite unique. Their weapon might be related to the fact that Tholians look like human-sized, six-legged red spiders.
Tholian vessels coordinate their efforts to spin a giant energy net around a vessel, in essence creating a giant spider's web in space. Once the ships connected the web around the enemy vessel, the web was self-sustaining and could be used either as a tractor beam or as a way to destroy the ensnared vessel.
15 PHASER CANNONS
The Federation was more famous for its desire to explore strange new worlds than they are for their tactical innovations. After encountering the Borg, the Federation created the Defiant-class starship, the first warship Starfleet ever designed. It was used against the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact and against the Dominion on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Most ship-mounted phasers fire a continuous energy beam at its target. Phaser cannons fire short rapid-bursts in one direction and although had limited range when compared to a phaser beam, it had much more firepower. The rapid bursts were extremely punishing on an enemy's shields.
14 SELF-REPLICATING MINES
Movies like the 2008 film The Hurt Locker show the stress and tension involved with disarming explosive devices. Sometimes it feels like two new bombs pop up for every one that you disassemble. This is actually the case with the Federation's self-replicating mines.
The Federation wanted to prevent Dominion reinforcements entering through the wormhole, so self-replicating mines were placed at the entrance. They were cloaked, and if you destroyed or ran into one, a replacement would be replicated immediately. The field contained over 165,000 mines! They were created by O'Brien, Dax and Rom.
13 ECHO PAPA 607
Civilizations like the Federation, the Romulans and Klingons have developed many destructive weapons over the centuries. What if you're just a regular guy trying to start a war, but you don't have the resources of, say, the Cardassians? Quark on Deep Space Nine would be happy to sell you some weapons!
The arms dealers on Minos would also be willing to sell you the ultimate weapon: the Echo Papa 607. It's an adaptive drone that learns from its mistakes. After its first attack, it adapts, modifies itself and sends out a second Echo Papa 607. It keeps doing so until the enemy is defeated.
12 DRUODA SENTIENT MISSILE
The Series 5 long-range tactical armor unit was built by a race called the Druoda. Whereas most guided missiles have a simple targeting system, these missiles had a complex artificial intelligence, so powerful that it was able to hijack the holographic matrix of The Doctor when it encountered the U.S.S. Voyager.
Besides being extremely intelligent, it was extremely destructive. It was a torpedo filled with enough antimatter to destroy everything in a 200 kilometer radius. Its energy matrix was also strong enough to power a fleet of starships. Fortunately, it was smart enough to be reasoned with.
11 TOX UTHAT
The Next Generation episode "Captain's Holiday" is infamous for Riker's prank on Picard, in which Picard purchased a souvenir called a Horga'hn that made everyone on the planet Risa think the Captain wanted some lovin'. Oh, there's also a plot where Picard uncovers one of the deadliest weapons ever created: the Tox Uthat.
The Tox Uthat could halt all nuclear fusion within a star. It was so dangerous that it was transported from the 27th century into the past. It was destroyed by Picard, but the game Star Trek Online claims that it survived and was used by the U.S.S. Enterprise-J against a race referred to as the Sphere-Builders.
10 CHRONITON TORPEDOES
There are a great many songs about the passing of time, but leave it to Star Trek to find a way to use time as a weapon. Voyager encountered a race called the Krenim in the two part episode "Year of Hell." The Krenim used a deadly type of weapon called the chroniton torpedo.
The Krenim had an advanced understanding of temporal science, and developed a torpedo that was in a constant state of temporal flux. Because the torpedo was time shifting, it could pass through an enemy's shields and do direct hull damage.
9 TRANSPHASIC TORPEDOES
Although Captain Janeway was able to bring the U.S.S. Voyager safely to Earth, it wasn't without its fair share of hardships and casualties. In the early 25th century, Janeway managed to steal advanced technology and bring it back to the 24th century to use it to bring Voyager back home years earlier.
Besides being equipped with advanced ablative armor, Voyager upgraded from photon torpedoes to transphasic torpedoes. One transphasic torpedo was enough to destroy an entire Borg cube. The usage of these torpedoes violate the Temporal Prime Directive, which might explain why they weren't used in Star Trek Nemesis.
8 METREON CASCADE
The success of Star Trek often comes from its ability to tell stories that mirror human history. The United States dropped two nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan back in 1945. This was done as a way to show the strength of the United States and intimidate the Japanese into surrendering.
In Star Trek: Voyager, audiences learned of the war between the Talaxians and the Haakonians. The Haakonians used a weapon called the Metreon Cascade on the Talaxian moon Rinax. It took the lives of over 300,000 people and the Talaxians surrendered shortly after.
7 THALARON RADIATION
In Star Trek Nemesis, we saw Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-E battle the Reman warbird Scimitar. It was a massive vessel that had could fire its weapons while cloaked. The cloak was virtually perfect and the Scimitar was able to fend off an attack from the Enterprise-E and several Romulan vessels. There's another reason why the vessel is so deadly.
The Scimitar housed a thalaron generator. Thalaron radiation destroys virtually all organic matter it's exposed to. A small amount was used to eliminate the Romulan Senate, and the Scimitar planned to travel to Earth and bombard the planet with thalaron radiation.
6 DR. SORAN'S TRILITHIUM MISSILE
Dr. Soran was an obsessed man who wanted to enter a temporal anomaly called the Nexus Ribbon. In the Nexus, anything you could dream of would become real. It was not possible to fly into the Ribbon; you'd have to let the Ribbon come to you. This started Soran's nefarious plan.
Soran equipped a solar probe with a trilithium warhead. The trilithium halts all nuclear fusion within a star, and Soran used the missile to destroy the stars at Amargosa and Veridian, with the resulting shockwave altering the ribbon on a path pointing directly to Soran.