If PG is all you have, fire erratically near your target to get some health down.
Circle strafing is a very effective tactic to use with the Plasma Gun. Any closer, and it becomes hard to track your opponent effectively.
Any further, and it becomes easy to dodge. Its high damage output, tight firing cone and projectile speed make it an excellent medium range gun with suppression fire capabilities. The Plasma Gun is Q3A's version of the Hyperblaster, with faster, explosive shots. This feature is generally utilized in defrag/jump maps to Plasma Climb. These generate a very small amount of Splash Damage. In Quake 3 Arena, the Plasma Gun fires slow bursts of swirling blue iron plasma based on the Doom series.
