Warhammer 40 000 Cyberskelly weapon thingy

Gauss Flayer

A Necron Gauss Flayer

Schematic of a Gauss Flayer

A Gauss Flayer is a type of Necron Gauss Weapon that can strip a target down to nothing molecule by molecule, reducing it to its constituent atoms in a matter of seconds. Gauss Flayers are rifle-like weapons consisting of a stock, a transparent tube containing the unholy and unknown viridian energy the weapon fires, and sometimes an axe-like bayonet underneath the circular muzzle.

Unlike more conventional directed energy weapons, a Gauss Flayer does not deliver a cutting beam or pure bolt of electromagnetic force or subatomic particles. Instead it emits an emerald, lightning-like molecular disassembling beam capable of reducing flesh, armour and bone to almost nothing. It is, supposedly, extremely painful to be shot with a Gauss Flayer, and victims die as much from the systemic shock of the assault as the damage caused by the beams.

Gauss Weapons have been known to hurt monstrous creatures that similar weapons have no hope of even scratching, and have also been documented tearing at the armour of even the most heavily armoured of tanks and starship hulls with ease. The Imperium of Man is confounded by the nature of the energy used by these weapons, not only because the basic weaponry of the Necrons can cause great harm to even the most advanced vehicles deployed by the armed forces of the Imperium, but also because by all the physical principles known, these weapons should overheat and malfunction as a result of the tremendous energies they unleash, destroying the warrior who is firing them.

Gauss Flayers are the most common of all the weapons carried by Necron soldiery, in no small part due to the fact that every single Necron Warrior is armed with one of these potent weapons. However, both Doomsday Arks and Ghost Arks mount linked arrays of five Gauss Flayers on their sides to repel would-be flankers and assaulters. Tomb Stalkers also are commonly armed with two Gauss Flayers on their forelimbs so as to better engage with the enemy at range.