In Infinite Warfare, energy weapons are not just another type of gun but have qualitative distinctions to ballistic weapons (i.e those that shoot conventional projectile bullets).
Note that the following differences only applies to "bullet" energy weapons like the Volk, Oni, Erad, ECM, Titan etc and not to the more exotic designs like the P-LAW, Banshee, Steel Dragon, Eraser and Gravity Vortex Gun.
Compared to ballistic weapons, energy weapons:
Have greater damage than ballistic weapons against drones and robots, such as C6s. However, they are less effective than ballistic weapons against human enemies.
Automatically recharge ammunition over time, but only when they are equipped (unless one has a Fusion Mag attachment).
Do not penetrate but instead reflect off of surfaces, bouncing off and potentially hitting nearby enemies, though reflected shots seem to do reduced damage. However, ballistic weapons possess bullet penetration and can penetrate some surfaces to hit the enemy on the other side. Shots from energy weapons only reflect once, unless you have the Ram Servo attachment, in which case they reflect twice. Players cannot be killed by their own reflected shots.