Compression phaser rifle

Compression phaser rifles are one of the most powerful personnel-carried weapons in the Starfleet arsenal and are an alternative to the type 3 phaser rifle. These powerful weapons are assigned to starships that could possibly see intense close-quarters or surface combat.

The USS Voyager was equipped with compression phaser rifles as a standard part of its weapons inventory. They were first used by an away team which transported to the Caretaker's array in 2371. 

When set to wide beam, they could fire over a large area potentially taking out a large group of individuals in one shot. 

The USS Equinox was also equipped with them in 2371, as several were still used in 2376 shortly before the ship's destruction. 

Starfleet security personnel boarding the USS Prometheus (Prometheus class) in 2374 carried compression phaser rifles. 

Background
In the original pencil drawings of the compression phaser rifle, it was designated as a type IV phaser. 

In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, the rifle was classified as type-3a. According to the book, the weapon features a durable twin power cell and a split emitter resonator for tuning and focusing the phaser beam. While the other new phaser rifle seen in and the third and fourth season Star Trek: Voyager are identified in the text as the type-3b assault rifle, an image of that weapon on page 88 presumably mistakenly identifies it as the type-3a compression phaser rifle. Both rifle types are identified in Star Trek Encyclopedia (3rd ed., p.356) as compression versions of the phaser rifle.

According to, normal phaser weaponry was useless inside a dampening field. In the episode, Captain Janeway utilized a compression phaser rifle inside the USS Voyager, while the ship was trapped and defenseless in the Night Alien dampening field. So at least in this regard the rifle appeared to be more advanced.

The other rifles first seen in First Contact are usable weapons in Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force II and are identified as compression phaser rifles in the game.