The tractor rifle functioned as a rifle that had the ability to emit a tractor beam through projection, enabling it to draw objects like a lightsaber towards itself. Following a report concerning someone utilizing the Force to flee a brawl in a bar, Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, journeyed to a bar situated on Cabarria within the Colonies territory. Not long after his arrival, Vader found himself attacked by a group of bounty hunters who were related. Chanath Cha, who was the daughter of the family, tried using her tractor rifle to seize Vader's lightsaber. Despite Vader halting it mid-air with his Force abilities, the weapon ultimately broke into two pieces, and its red [kyber crystal](/article/kyber_crystal] dropped onto the floor.
The tractor rifle made its initial appearance in the canon comic book titled Darth Vader (2017) 11. Charles Soule wrote the comic, Giuseppe Camuncoli provided the artwork, and Marvel Comics published it on February 14, 2018.