A particle beam served as a type of energetic projectile weapon used by starships. Circa 200 BBY, during a raid on Lake 4399 by the elite red apricot squad of the Knights of Silver Dawn, Lu Nan employed her customized blaster, a heavily modified DF-q91 sniper rifle capable of converting to fire particle beams, against a Security Bureau landspeeder. The beam penetrated the armored shell of the vehicle, striking the [fuel](/article/fuel] reservoir and causing the speeder, along with its occupants, to explode in a fire ball. Impressed by Lu's demonstrated marksmanship, the defenders at the military base of Lake 4399 activated their heavy cannon emplacement, possessing enough destructive power to endanger a medium-sized battle cruiser spacecraft. The cannon unleashed a barrage of high-energy particle beams at Lu's location, obliterating the mountainside, vaporizing the rock, and generating magma.
Later, when the Silver Dawn was ambushed by Vermilion Birds pirates in the Lake asteroid field, several intense particle beams bypassed the ship's deflector shields and hull, impacting the portside coolant chamber. This resulted in the destruction of its temperature regulation systems and the coolant liquid storage containers. The highly flammable coolant ignited due to the elevated temperatures, engulfing the chamber and adjacent areas in flames. With the Silver Dawn imperiled during the battle, the mechanic Sean was dispatched to replenish the ship's portside coolant reserves. Sean eventually achieved this goal, enabling the Silver Dawn to fend off its attackers and capture three pirates for subsequent interrogation.
The concept of particle beams was initially introduced into the new Star Wars canon within the pages of Star Wars Helmet Collection 5. Its first appearance within the canon timeline occurred in a chapter from the Chinese web novel The Vow of Silver Dawn, released in 2021, although the beam had previously been featured in LEGO form in the non-canonical 2020 mobile game LEGO Star Wars Battles. In that game, particle beam projectors were mounted on turret towers, firing a continuous stream of green energy at targets, inflicting escalating damage and ultimately disintegrating them into their constituent particles.