So if anyone wants to reduce the over-the-top effects of the weapons, get weapon skin replacer configuration mod, and copy this at the bottom of the ini file:

+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Hunter_Rifle, DONOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_WPN)
+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Hunter_Rifle, DONOR_GAME_ARCHETYPE="WP_Muton_Rifle_Edited.WP_MutonRifle_Edited")
+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Hunter_Rifle, PROJECTILE_PATH="WP_Muton_Rifle.PJ_Muton_Rifle")

+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Prowler_Rifle, DONOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_WPN)
+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Prowler_Rifle, DONOR_GAME_ARCHETYPE="WP_Muton_Rifle_Edited.WP_MutonRifle_Edited")
+PROJECTILE_REPLACEMENT=(ACCEPTOR_TEMPLATE=Muton_Prowler_Rifle, PROJECTILE_PATH="WP_Muton_Rifle.PJ_Muton_Rifle")

This will replace the original projectile to a regular beam one, like from the regular mutons, while maintaining the appearance of this enemy's weapon.

Side note: if using Playable Aliens for LWOTC, just replace the weapon templates with the weapons of the playable muton hunter/prowler, will work the same (need to copy for each tier).