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The gunstick was the standard personal Dalek weapon. Though it was removeable, it almost always occupied a space in the left socket opposite the manipulator arm. Though the Daleks sometimes replaced the manipulator arm with a more specialised tool, they almost never replaced the gunstick, except with another kind of weapon.
It was also known as a beam distributor, Dalek beam gun or simply Dalek gun (VG: City of the Daleks).
History
A possible precursor to the gunstick was built by Davros on Skaro during the Thousand Year War. It seemed to be a larger weapon with a more devastating impact, but the sound matched that of the gunstick. (BFA: Corruption)
After developing the Mark III Travel Machine, Davros created the gunstick. He demonstrated this before the Scientific Elite and attempted to have the Dalek test the new device on the Fourth Doctor and Harry Sullivan but Ronson interceded. He would later become the first Dalek victim when Davros had him exterminated. (DW: Genesis of the Daleks)
The effect of the gunstick remained standard throughout most of the history of the race from their creation onwards. During the Imperial-Renegade Dalek Civil War, the Imperial Daleks possibly used a weapon different from the Renegade Daleks. (The Renegades appeared to use what looked like the standard weapon.) The energy discharge was yellow-orange in colour, rather than blue, though the difference may only have been cosmetic (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks).
The gunstick was made from a metal called Silcronian which was heat-resistant and could repel laser rays or ruby heat which the Daleks used as ammunition (REF: The Dalek Pocketbook and Space Travellers Guide).
Characteristics
Physical Effects
As stated above, the gunstick was an energy weapon. (DW: The Five Doctors) The discharge beam appeared blue and had a "negative effect." On occasion this exposed the skeletal structure of the victim.
Early sources of information about the Daleks described being hit by the weapon as akin to being struck by lightning, suggesting the energy involved was roughly analogous to an electric charge. Sometimes victims of the weapons appeared charred. (DW: The Daleks' Master Plan)
Rachel Jensen, examining the body of a human killed by the discharge of a Renegade Dalek's gunstick during the Shoreditch Incident, said the cause of death appeared to her to be "massive internal disruption" (paraphrased by the Doctor as "his insides were scrambled") which suggests a different kind of weapon had been used on this occasion (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks). She later theorised that they might be using plasma weapons (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks (novelisation)).
- The Dalek Factions present in the area at this time were using what appeared to be slightly different weapons, in that they fired bolts of energy rather than beams (and the weapons of the Imperial Daleks discharged yellow-orange bolts rather than blue) (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks).
During the massacre inside the GeoComTex Vault, the Dalek involved was able to use conductive substances such as metal and water to considerably extend the effect of its gunstick, strongly suggesting that these beams also possessed electrical properties; possibly being a form of plasma (DW: Dalek).
However, on a number of occasions Daleks showed a definite vulnerability to the weapons of their own kind (DW: The Evil of the Daleks, Planet of the Daleks, Resurrection of the Daleks, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, Evolution of the Daleks). As Daleks were exposed to extremely high voltage electricity and suffered only superficial damage (DW: Death to the Daleks) it seems unlikely the weapon's effect was purely electrical. The fact that the beam could be reflected by a mirrored surface (see "weaknesses" below) is also evidence against the purely electrical theory.
It was possible to survive a gunstick blast as less than full exposure to the beam did not always kill. For example, when the Tenth Doctor was hit by only half of a gunstick blast, he survived by (almost) regenerating (DW: The Stolen Earth / Journey's End).
- However that could be consider a fatal shot as the Doctor's body was so damaged by even that partial shot he had to regenerate.
The Eleventh Doctor survived a direct gunstick blast; However, this blast originated from a weakened Dalek that wasn't at full power. Due to a Time Lords shown resistance to electricty, this supports the theory of its composion being electric (DW: The Big Bang).
Settings
This weapon had a non-lethal setting which paralysed the target. The Daleks said that repeated exposure to the paralysis effect would result in permanent neural damage (DW: The Daleks). At full power the gun stick could totally disintegrate the victim (NSA: Prisoner of the Daleks). By the time of the Daleks' 2009 invasion of Earth, their gunsticks possessed a "maximum extermination" setting; Three gunsticks at this setting were enough to destroy a medium-sized human dwelling (DW:The Stolen Earth).
The new Daleks produced from the Progenitor used their gunsticks to wholly disintegrate their forebears, possibly indicating a much more powerful weapon (DW: Victory of the Daleks). However, the Daleks so disintegrated accepted their fate, and thus presumably lowered their shields. This makes it difficult to compare the effectiveness of these weapons with others used on actively resisting Dalek targets.
Weaknesses
If removed from the Dalek, the gunstick could still be fired by an enemy (DW: Genesis of the Daleks) or even at the Dalek itself, killing it (DW: Evolution of the Daleks, BFA: Jubilee).
- This was observed in one of the first Daleks that Davros created. Later Daleks may have remedied this fault, as in the latter case the human-Daleks required a gun-like device attached to the stick to fire it.
Additionally, the beam could reflect back and destroy the user if it struck a reflective surface (DW: The Five Doctors).
Initially, the weapon had little or no effect on mechanical beings, though repeated fire was able to incapacitate a Mechanoid (DW: The Chase). However, by the time of (or perhaps because of) the Daleks' war with the Movellans, that flaw had been completely rectified (DW: Destiny of the Daleks).