Crystal Hunter

Crystal Hunter (クリスタルハンター) is the weapon that X obtains from Crystal Snail in Mega Man X2. When equipped with this weapon, X fires a small crystalline blast, which can encase enemies in crystal. The crystals can then be used as stepping stones. Dashing into a crystalized enemy will shatter the crystal, and enemies shattered in this way will always drop Weapon Energy capsules, both large and small, at random. When fully charged, this weapon temporarily slows time and distorts the surrounding area.

In Wire Sponge's stage, Crystal Hunter can cause the weather patterns in the stage to become dark and foggy by striking a weather orb and turning it gray and encased in crystal with it. There appears to be no physical change in the stage while it is in effect, however.

While usually only effective against minor enemies, the Crystal Hunter is also Overdrive Ostrich's weakness, although Ostrich is the only boss that takes damage from this weapon.

Damage Data Chart
Damage values in units in Mega Man X2.

Trivia

 * It is very interesting to note that when the player inputs the code for X's Ultimate Armor in Mega Man X4 at the start of the game (while selecting X on the character selection screen), his normal armor's colors will bear a striking resemblance to the armor colors that are shown when X uses the Crystal Hunter in Mega Man X2, with a similar blue and pink color scheme (instead of the usual Blue and Turquoise color scheme that is commonly associated with X using his original X buster weapon), before finding one of Dr. Light's hidden capsules that will grant him the Ultimate Armor (See above for comparison screenshot).