Crescent Rose

A high-caliber sniper-scythe named "Crescent Rose."

Crescent Rose is Ruby Rose's signature weapon. It is a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe (HCSS) - a hybrid between a scythe and a sniper rifle. Ruby is first seen wielding it in the "Red" Trailer.

Description
As its name implies, Crescent Rose's frame is colored rose red with black trims, with its large scythe blade forged into a crescent shape. Ruby's crest is engraved onto the circular swivel frame of the weapon.

The most notable property of Crescent Rose is its converting frame, which allows it to transform between three different modes:
 * A "storage" mode, its most compact form convenient for transportation, stored underneath Ruby's cloak at her waist.
 * A "rifle" mode, where it takes the form of a medium-length, bolt-action rifle. In this form, the absence of the scythe makes for more effective use of the rifle component.
 * A "scythe" mode, its most expanded form, where it fully extends into the form of a scythe, allowing it to be used as a mid-to-close-range bladed melee weapon. This form also doubles as a long-barrel sniper rifle for long-range shots without giving up the melee capabilities of the scythe. If needed, the bottom of the shaft can unfold to add more cutting power in a close-range fight.

It is implied by Ozpin that a scythe-wielder of skill equivalent to either Ruby or Qrow Branwen would be necessary. In particular, the user would have to deal with Crescent Rose's massive recoil.

Rather than compensate for it, Ruby harnesses the recoil to enhance her mobility in combat, firing shots to propel herself short distances, simultaneously attacking and evading opponents. She also uses her weapon's recoil to launch herself into the air, as demonstrated when she is launched into the air by Weiss Schnee while facing the Nevermore.

In melee combat, Ruby can fire a shot immediately before a swing, using the recoil to increase the force and speed of her attack. She can also embed the scythe's blade into the ground to prevent the weapon's recoil from throwing off her aim with the sniper rifle component, allowing for rapid, accurate shots.

The scythe also has a small, hook-like, double-pronged, jagged blade at the bottom of the shaft. Ruby can manually unfold the scythe by hooking the end of the blade on something, allowing for both the normal blade and the two prongs to slice enemies at the same time for more power. In this form the muzzle is also rotated 90 degrees which enables the recoil to rotate Ruby instead of launching her forward increasing the slicing power drastically. The scythe can also be thrown in such a way that it returns to the user.

Following the timeskip, Crescent Rose has noticeable scratches on the paint and blades, and the blades also have a number of small dents along the edges. The scope also has a noticeable crack in its lens.

Trivia

 * Crescent Rose is the only weapon thus far to have had its name spoken aloud in the show.
 * At one point, Ruby affectionately refers to the weapon as "Sweetheart", showing her fondness for the weapon.
 * The weapon's original form was a Barrett M82 anti-materiel sniper rifle with minor changes, with the scythe mounted at the end of the barrel. The final version has very little in common with the M82.
 * Interestingly, despite having a bolt-action rifle form, during a team battle against Roman Torchwick, Crescent Rose was briefly shown to have semi-automatic firing capabilities.
 * Gaia Online, an online community, created a detailed version of Crescent Rose shortly after the passing of RWBY ' s creator, Monty Oum. The item is called Red Crescent, and its description is "Keep moving forward." There are two versions: one for the human avatar and one for the animal avatar.
 * Crescent Rose was one of a number of potential murder weapons named for the Rooster Teeth video series Ten Little Roosters. The weapon, however, was never seen and was one of a number of red herrings.