Top Gear

Anointments

The anointments listed here are generally considered the best you can aim for. Many of these can be slapped onto whatever piece of gear you want to use and find success, while others only work for specific playstyles. If a piece of gear later on in the Top Gear list has any particular anointments that work well with it, it will be mentioned. 

Anointment Lingo

• • Action Skill Start – “ASS”
  • Action Skill End – “ASE”
  • Action Skill Active – “ASA”

Weapon Anointments

On Action Skill End, Splash Damage is increased by 125% for a short time. (“Splash”)

A solid anointment for any weapon that can spawn with it to make booms more potent.

On Action Skill End, the next two magazines will have 100% additional bonus (element) damage. (“Next Two Mags”/”N2M”)

An excellent option to search for if you plan on using one weapon more often than others and want a means of punching through some resistances, such as using a Shock anointment on an Incendiary weapon to handle shields better. Be warned that reloading a weapon early counts as a “mag” for this anointment.

Gain 150% increased Damage against enemies above 90% Health. (“150/90” or “High-Health Breaker”)

Formerly an incredible anointment, it has been relegated to being useful on weapons with very high base damage on the card such as sniper rifles and heavy weapons. Said weapons, however, give some potential to kill nearly any enemy in one shot.

While under 50% health, deal 100% bonus radiation damage. (“U-Rad”)

As long as you’re willing to give up health gate, this anointment is stupendous for increasing your overall damage due to how it works in most damage formulas as well as the fact that it applies to almost all damage you can deal.

Consecutive Hits increase Weapon Damage by 1% per hit, misses remove all bonuses. (“Conc Hits”)

As long as you deal some form of damage within 3/4 of a second or so, the anointment remains in effect. Moze and Amara in particular are fans of this anointment due to how their damage formulas work (Zane tends to have a healthy amount of weapon damage in his formula already and thus benefits less from it). Best to use this with weapons that can vomit out tons of instances of damage rapidly like the Monarch.

While airborne, damage is increased by 50%. (“Airborne Damage”)

Note: Unobtainable without playing with hotfixes deactivated. Use the Re-Roll machine while offline to better your chances of getting it.

50% damage may not *sound* like much, but it is deceptively useful. It’s a 50% multiplier to your damage instead of an addition of 50% (which works out marvelously with damage formulas), and it is readily available instead of most other anointments being tied to action skill activation.

Killing an enemy grants 12.5% Weapon Damage and Reload Speed for 25 seconds, this effect stacks. (up to 10x) (“Killstack”)

While the up-time for actually maintaining 10 stacks is low, this is one of the very few anointments that persist after switching weapons since it functions as a player buff. The reload-speed bonus can also allow you to do some silly shenanigans with already fast-reloading weapons and make otherwise clunky weapons bearable.

Shield Anointments

On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus (element) damage for 10 seconds. (“50% ASE Element”)

For bolstering your offenses, these anointments are the way to go, especially if you’re using and ending your Action Skills frequently.

On Action Skill Start, activate any effects that trigger on shield break or fill. (“ASS Shield”)

Depending on the shield, this can be a real knockout of an anointment. If your shield of choice has a handy on-fill or on-break effect, keep this anointment in the back of your head.

Grenade Anointments

On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus (element) damage for 10 seconds. (“50% ASE Element”)

The exact same anointment you can find on shields. Just find a different element than the one you have on your shield, and bring some elemental fury down on your enemies.

On Grenade Thrown, Weapon, Grenade, and Action Skill Damage are increased by 25% for six seconds. (“On throw 25%”)

If your Action Skills tend to stick around a while rather than being frequently activated or ended, this is a good anointment to consider. On Moze, it is often better than using the above anointment due to the place it holds in her damage formula.

Character-Specific Anointments

After exiting Iron Bear, gain 160% splash damage for 18 seconds. (“Gunner Splash”)

Sporting both higher damage and longer duration than the normal Splash anoint, Moze gets some use out of this. It also has the odd effect of increasing your shield capacity for the same period of time.

After exiting Iron Bear, kills increase Iron Bear’s cooldown by 30%. (“Gunner Cooldown”)

Given how long Moze’s action skills take to cool off normally, this anointment is a great choice for her since she generally can’t activate action-skill-based anointments often. Grab this anointment on your Shield.

While Iron Bear is active, (Iron Bear Weapon Type) damage is increased by x%. (“Hardpoint Anoints”)

For giving Iron Bear some extra punch to the guns, these anointments are king. It also serves to increase Iron Cub’s damage as long as the appropriate Iron Bear weapon is equipped and you have the weapon this anointment is attached to in hand.

While Barrier is active, Accuracy is increased by 60%, and Critical Hit damage is increased by 125%. (“Barrier Crit”)

Very handy for weapons with lots of pellets or projectiles fired per shot that could use an accuracy boost. Shotguns and shotgun-like weapons appreciate this particular anointment. The anointment however does have an internal timer before it turns off.

While Digi-Clone is active, regenerate 30% of magazine ammo per second. (“Clone Ammo”)

Passing up a damage-boosting anointment is a hard choice, but for certain ammo-hungry weapons, it can be worth the sacrifice. Being able to spam something like a Sand Hawk or Tizzy with impunity is a hell of a drug.

While SNTNL is active, gain 100% of damage as bonus Cryo damage. (“Sentinel Cryo”)

Given how easy it can be for Zane to keep Action Skills active, this anointment is a fair fit for any builds looking to maintain Action Skill activity.

MNTIS Shoulder Cannon damage is increased by 150%. (“150% MNTIS”)

For turning the MNTIS into a real cannon, this anointment does the job well without sacrificing your ability to use health-gate, unlike the U-Rad anointment.

While Fade Away is active, Weapon Damage is increased by 150%. (“150% Fade”)

If you find yourself in Fade Away often enough, this anointment can be worth it. Otherwise, you may be better off with a more readily available anointment.

While Gamma Burst is active, gain 115% bonus radiation damage. (“115% Gamma”)

An alternative to the U-Rad anointment if you don’t want to give up health gate, but it is not as universal damage-wise and is tied to having Gamma Burst be in effect.

After using Phasecast/Phaseslam, Weapon Damage is increased by 250%/300% for a short time. (“250% Cast/300% Slam”)

Phasegrasp and Phaseflare are typically touted as the best Action Skills for Amara, but these anointments give Phasecast and Phaseslam some chance to compete for boosting your damage.

Orb damage increased by 200% for Phaseflare and related action skills. (“Phaseflare 200%”)

For turning the ball into a boulder, this is an anointment to look out for. Having this anointment makes it easier for the Orb’s damage to snowball to wild levels.

Terror Anointments

While Terrified, gain ammo regeneration. The more Terror you have, the higher the bonus. (“Terror Ammo”)

With up to 16% ammo regen, it allows all Vault Hunters a shot at some magazine uptime, not unlike Moze. Useful on weapons that waste ammo like a broken faucet.

While Terrified, deal 75% bonus cryo damage. (“Terror Cryo”)

Like U-Rad and the Revolter’s shock damage bonus, this anointment’s cryo applies to most things and scales. If you don’t want to give up health gate for U-Rad damage, this is a fine alternative.

While Terrified, gain increased damage and fire rate. The more Terror you have, the higher the bonus. (“Terror Damage”)

When you get enough stacks of terror, this anointment ends up being a surprisingly good increase to DPS. Might not have the immediate appeal of Terror Cryo, but don’t sleep on it.

On Action Skill End, apply Terror to yourself every 3 seconds for the next 18 seconds. (“Terror ASE”)

Unless you plan on playing with Bloody Harvest active all the time, you’re going to need a method of applying Terror to yourself. This is the anointment of choice for builds that can activate and end their Action Skills a lot.

Melee Attacks have a 25% chance to apply Terror to yourself (“Terror Melee”)

And *this* anointment is the one for those who can’t activate their Action Skills often. It’s best used with an item that deals melee damage like the Face-puncher or Fish Slap.

Pistols

Free Radical

The latest in Gearbox’s series of super-strong Maliwan weapons, the Free Radical is what happens when you give a pistol the damage of a heavy weapon and add some bonus projectiles in for good measure. Unless your name is Killavolt, you can probably brute force through most enemies despite the shock limitation.

• • Elements: :zap:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Beef Plisskon.

Unkempt Harold

Returning from Borderlands 2 with just as much gusto and some extra elemental flavors, the Unkempt Harold continues to blow enemies up with a spread of dividing bullets. As long as you can handle the range for the sweet spot and the ammo consumption, this dirty little pistol will put ’em in the ground.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Caber Dawd, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Lightshow

Whether your a fan of the infamous Double Anarchy of Borderlands fame or not, the Lightshow makes light work of many encounters. With a quartet of dazzling bullets fired at at copious rates with seemingly non-existent recoil, it’ll chew through enemies well enough as long as you can manage the slightly wide arrangement of the bullets.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Lasodactyl, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

King’s/Queen’s Call

A pair of sibling alien-barrel Jakobs pistols with a penchant for elemental carnage, the Call pistols excel in capable hands. As long as you can keep landing critical hits, you can fire without reloading and bury your foes in a flurry of extra projectiles.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Partial (ricochets, cannot spawn with splash anointments)
  • Obtained from: Tyreen the Destroyer.

Beacon

The Beacon handily shines a path to victory for the wielder. The gimmick of the weapon is the nova it produces when you reload, but that is negligible in the face of excellent damage and fire rate with no glaring weakness. A versatile weapon that will seldom disappoint.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Jerrick Logan, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Tizzy

With a little bit of everything under the hood, the Tizzy’s capable of just about whatever you want it to do. First, it seems to gain a massive fire rate increase and heat rate decrease once the weapon reaches maximum heat. Secondly, every so often it will fire an amped shot. Thirdly, it also spawns small homing projectiles that seek out enemies. As long as you have a means of keeping your ammo supply happy, this pistol will not disappoint.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC.

Gargoyle

Not content to merely defend the night, the Gargoyle vomits out loads of corrosive rounds that then proceed to explode for more damage, as well as having a chance to launch multiple blobs for higher damage. Anything with a yellow health bar will not appreciate being on the business end of this weapon.

• • Elements: 
  • Splash: Partial (splash on blobs, can spawn with Splash anointments)
  • Obtained from: Dickon Goyle, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Assault Rifles

Monarch

An absolute monster at close range, the Monarch is best off being treated as a fully-automatic shotgun instead of an assault rifle. Four bullets per shot in standard mode and eight if using the bipod (double for both of those if you get an x2 version), the Monarch vomits out a *ridiculous* amount of lead like few other weapons can. Just be aware that using the bipod mode slows you down considerably and disables sliding/jumping, which can be detrimental to dodging damage.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Killavolt (Mayhem 6 or higher).

NoPewPew

NoPewPew does in fact pew pew quite a lot. It can arguably be called an assault-rifle version of the Linoge, just with jacked-up damage and fire rate. As long as you can land your shots, this umpteenth fire-only COV rifle will cook fleshies.

• • Elements: :fire:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from:** Joey Ultraviolet/Roaster/The Tenderizer

Bekah

Though it is no longer a Pearlescent weapon, it largely retains the same effectiveness it had in Borderlands 2. With the Bekah producing three extra bullets in flight at mid-range, as long as you maintain a certain range from foes the Bekah basically has quadruple the damage displayed on the item card.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Complete all Hammerlock Legendary Hunt challenges and receive it in the mail.

O.P.Q-System

The O.P.Q-System is exactly what the name implies; it’s an overpowered version of the Q-System. The O.P.Q-System adds a truckload of damage and fire rate on top of what the regular one already had, a chance to deal bonus shock splash damage and an alternate firing mode that lets you produce flying copies of your gun to hose down foes with.

* **Elements:** :no_entry_sign:
* **Splash**: Partial (Splash on shock explosion, cannot spawn with splash anointments.)
* **Obtained from:** Joey Ultraviolet/Josie Byte/Franco Firewall (Limited time event).

Rowan’s Call

Rowan’s Call excels in the mobbing environment. High damage per shot and solid (fully automatic) fire rate as well as packing bonus projectiles and ammo restoration make Rowan’s Call a versatile rifle.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Partial (ricochets, cannot spawn with splash anointments)
  • Obtained from:** Red Fire, world drop.

Soulrender

No bones about it, the Soulrender is a solid rifle for most occasions. High base damage with no deficiency in the stats and a chance to fire potent (x20 a standard bullet’s damage), homing exploding skulls with every bullet. The homing skulls in particular lend themselves well to high-speed builds when aiming is difficult.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Partial (Skulls do splash, cannot spawn with splash anointments)
  • Obtained from: Tom & Xam.

Hail

A favorite from Borderlands 2, the Hail in Borderlands 3 is what happens when you basically give a sniper rifle the ammo pool and fire rate of an Assault Rifle. Alongside a slight arc in the bullet’s path, the Hail sports a *meaty* 150% ~ 175% critical hit damage on top of the ability to heal by dealing damage with the weapon. It’ll easily bring your foes to their knees.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Tip Moxxi in Sanctuary and receive it in your in-game mail.

Clairvoyance

Combining versatility and raw damage with a frosty aftertaste of (non-splash) bombs, the Clairvoyance can be adapted to nearly any situation. Whether you want a pseudo-sniper, fully-automatic rifle, or a semi-auto shotgun-wannabe, the Clairvoyance can fill the role depending on the parts.

• • Elements: :snowflake:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Kritchy.

Blade Fury

For the Vault Hunter who can’t decide between putting a bullet between the brows or shanking an enemy, this weapon resolves that issue. Dealing both gun damage and melee damage simultaneously, the Blade Fury is a fine alternative to the Face-puncher.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Vault Card 3: Bunker Masters

Submachine Guns

Plasma Coil

The Plasma Coil boasts a high amount of damage (out-damaging some sniper rifles per shot) and burst-fires 16 rounds at a time with minimal delay between volleys. The single downside of this weapon is that it is elementally locked, but other than particularly bulky armored foes, nothing will take the business end of this SMG smiling.

• • Elements: :zap: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC.

Crit

Very similar to the Hail, the Crit sports a chunky 150% critical hit damage and heals as you deal damage. Unlike the Hail though, it trades off the arcing projectiles for a 5% chance to slip out of your hands anytime you reload it. Moze rarely has to worry about reloading, but be sure you’re aimed at solid ground before you reload if you’re any other Vault Hunter.

• • Elements: :zap:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Tip Moxxi in Sanctuary and receive it in your in-game mail.

Needle Gun

Straight out of the Covenant armory, the Needle Gun deals more damage with each successive shot capping at over a thousand percent (five shots is enough for reload-chucking). It also comes with the perks of refilling the magazine once it reaches full power as well as some minor homing built-in to the projectiles.

• • Elements: : :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Partial (on reload-throw, can spawn with Splash anointments)
  • Obtained from: Joey Ultraviolet, Josie Byte, Franco Firewall.

Flipper

The Flipper gives zero flips; it swiftly goes from firing one bullet to firing nine in the shape of a diamond, essentially meaning it has nine times the damage it says on the card. As long as “Immune” doesn’t show up when you shoot something with this gun it’ll likely die fairly fast.

• • Elements: : :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes. (Splash has zero radius.)
  • Obtained from: Minosaur, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Shotguns

Face-puncher

With Melee damage getting multiplied by up to 16 times in Mayhem Mode, the gun-incarnation of Brick becomes a powerhouse that isn’t displayed on the weapon. Pair this with the right gear for effects like life steal, ammo drain, or area-of-effect damage.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: No.
  • Location: Muldock the Anointed, world drop.

Reflux

For melting through crowds with ease, the Reflux handles the job well. The corrosive teslas will take down groups of armored targets in a snap, and even against other types of health bars the damage isn’t too shabby.

• • Elements: 
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: GenIVIV (Mayhem 6 or higher.)

Hellwalker

The Jakobs twin-barrel with some bake in its buckshot, the Hellwalker doles out pain in spades. For turning heads into hot meat, the Hellwalker will seldom disappoint. The fact that it comes with fixed parts also makes it a fairly stomach-able farm.

• • Elements: :fire:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Road Dog, world drop.

Garcia

The Garcia makes for a nice counterpart to the Hellwalker. Whereas the Hellwalker packs more raw firepower and a quick reload, the Garcia is packing the biggest magazine size of any shotgun in the game alongside a decent fire rate and still packs some heat. The Garcia also isn’t hindered by shields or armor nearly as much as the Hellwalker.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Chonk Stomp.

Trevonator

A versatile and potent weapon, the Trevonator (rest easy, Trevor Eastman) fires a three-round burst of splash-based projectiles. If you need a nice elemental shotgun without any excessive bells or whistles, the Trevonator won’t disappoint.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Private Beans, world drop.

Fearmonger

A Hyperion shotgun with some serious Torgue vibes, the Fearmonger places sticky bombs on foes that promptly explode after a moment. The raw damage of this weapon is impressive, and if you have Terror stacks built up it ups the projectile count and becomes quite fearsome. Though rare, it can also spawn with non-Terror anoints.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Captian Haunt, Badass Ghosts, Loot Ghosts.

Anarchy

A real 12-Gaige shotgun, the Anarchy does far more than what the card suggests. Due to how the damage bonuses stack with one another, the damage actually climbs to absurd levels (1370% to be precise). Kill ten enemies and become the “God of Damage”.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes. (Splash has zero radius.)
  • Obtained from: World drop in the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC.

Convergence

If you inverted the Conference Call, you might have the Convergence. The initial card shown on the damage belies the actual damage of this shotty as landing a shot on a foe spawns extra projectiles from the surroundings that penetrate the original target.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No
  • Obtained from: Dr. Benedict, world drop in the Fustercluck DLC.

Butcher

The shotgun wants to be an assault rifle. The Butcher vomits out lead at a crazy rate with a high gas mileage due to how often it regenerates ammo. Pair it with even a light source of ammo conservation or regeneration and you might never need to reload it.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Raging Titan, world drop.

Sniper Rifles

Complex Root

Despite being called the Complex Root, it makes simple work of enemies. Firing a shot from this weapon will produce a swath of floating projectiles that zip around the trajectory of the initial shot before detonating for high damage. The kicker though is that when you have two or more splash radius increases, these extra projectiles will each hit *everything* in the area…including yourself.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Lani Dixon, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Sand Hawk

Changing its plumage a bit from an SMG in BL2 to a Sniper Rifle in BL3, the Sand Hawk returns to massacring enemies with bird-shaped carnage. Unless you fight something with an immunity to the element you’re using, you can generally just cram this gun in something’s face, pull the trigger, and move on to the next quarry. It’s a real ammo-hog though, so bring a method of regaining ammo.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes. (Splash has zero radius, cannot spawn with Splash anoints.)
  • Best Parts/Prefixes:** Semi-Auto (tightens up the spread pattern considerably)
  • Obtained from: Katagawa Jr. (Mayhem 6 or higher).

Skullmasher

Packing the highest base damage out of any Jakobs sniper rifle in the game, the Skullmasher continues to turn brains into spuds as it has done for over a decade now. Asides from swissing heads with multiple pellets, it also sports an above-average fire rate for a Jakobs sniper rifle.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Eista, world drop in the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC.

Boogeyman

For the sniper who wants an economical rifle that is surprisingly good at taking out crowds, the Boogeyman fills those shoes. Coupling a high chance not to consume ammo when firing as well as a chance to spawn a floating skull that can easily one-shot enemies whenever you net a kill, the Boogeyman will leave baddies quaking in their boots.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes. (Cannot spawn with Splash anointments.)
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC.

Heavy Weapons

Kickcharger

Take the ION CANNON, remove the enormous ammo cost, allow it to fire instantly from a trigger pull while retaining the ability to charge up for more damage (which can be **fully** charged by sliding), add enemy penetration, and you have the Kickcharger. The single downside of the Kickcharger is that it cannot spawn with double projectiles.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC (Director’s Cut DLC required.)

Plaguebearer

Bringing the pain with a swarm of projectiles, the Plaguebearer bears bad news for the competition. While in flight, the main rocket continually produces mini-rockets that fly in a spiral around the main rocket until they lock-on to an enemy to destroy. Given the slow speed of the rockets, it is best to fire this weapon at a distance from your target to allow more mini-rockets to spawn.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Warden (Mayhem 6 or higher.)

Hive

Like the Plaguebearer, the Hive also drowns enemies in a swarm of rockets. The Hive’s main projectile stays in place and spews homing rockets everywhere, which can be handier than the straight path the Plaguebearer takes in some situations.

• • Elements: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Queen Tarantella II

Backburner

A Vladof heavy weapon that you can definitely bring to the fore and fray, the Backburner will suck enemies in when the main shot impacts something and then erupt with multiple, very powerful child projectiles that shoot up and rain back down in the vicinity.

• • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Agonizer 9000 (Mayhem 6 or higher.)

Yellowcake

The most radioactive cake this side of Fallout, the Yellowcake excels at causing baddies to turn into nuclear dust. Provided you’re a modest distance away, the splitting projectiles of this launcher will make taking down most enemies a piece of cake.

• • Elements: :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: x2 Projectile Tail
  • Obtained from: Joey Ultraviolet, Tyrone Smallums, FISH SLAP!!!

Globetrottr

Able to dunk a foe with ease, the Globetrottr fires spinning “sawblades” of plasma that buzz along the ground and begin dribbling once they make contact with a foe. Assuming the foe is large or remains still for the dribbles to do their thing, they’ll be feeling the pain.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: x2 Projectile Tail
  • Obtained from: Scourge the Invincible.

Plumage

If one’s not enough, try eight. Asides from the octet of rockets with the normal firing mode, the secondary firing mode fires a vortex grenade that makes the rockets home in on marked enemies as well as the ability to produce free vortex grenades on previously marked targets.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Wrendon Esk, world drop in the Bounty of Blood DLC.

Major Kong

The ION CANNON’s distant COV cousin, the Major Kong fires out one decently strong shot for three to four ammo and spawns two extra homing missiles. Holding down the fire button will increase the damage significantly at the cost of your ammo, but it packs a wallop.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: x2 Projectile Tail
  • Obtained from:** Psychoreaver, world drop in the Fustercluck DLC.

ION CANNON

Sporting some of the highest base damage of any weapon in the game, the Ion Cannon is what you pull out when you need to delete an enemy. Pinpoint accuracy allows it to crit enemies like a champion and most likely erase them in the process. It comes with a hefty price though as you’ll be spending a hefty chunk of ammo per shot, and the reload time is lengthy.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: x2 Projectiles Grip (Annexed)
  • Obtained from: Fabricator (Enemy, not the Eridian Fabricator).

Honorable Mentions

These weapons don’t have the immediate power of the top weapons, but certain interactions or capabilities allow them to perform as effectively as the all-stars.

Lucky 7

The Lucky 7 can potentially be one of the strongest weapons in the entire game, but it requires building around it to get the most out of it. When combined with a source of ammo regeneration though, you can maintain the ideal roll for long periods of time and eviscerate enemies.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: Sometimes. (Depends on the reload roll, cannot spawn with splash anointments.)
  • Notable Anointments: “While Terrified, gain ammo regeneration. The more Terror you have, the higher the bonus.”
  • Location:** Scraptrap Prime, world drop in the Handsome Jackpot DLC.

Pestilence

The Pestilence is unassuming at a glance, but there is one factor about it that gives it great potential; the reload novas get Mayhem scaling. Pair the nova with a Red Suit to not kill yourself and you can constantly spam novas.

• • Elements: :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes. (Cannot spawn with splash anointments.)
  • Location: Sylestro.

Psycho Stabber / Wyvern

For hacking, whacking, and otherwise chopping up foes, the Psycho Stabber reigns supreme. Sporting a ludicrous 340% melee damage bonus, when coupled with the 300/90 anointment or other melee anointments it’ll quickly lay low foes with a good thwack or two. Hold it out while a Stinger is equipped though and you can one-shot most enemies in the game with the nova, most bosses included. Wyverns are a fine alternative in that they can spawn with a high base melee damage bonus of 160% as well as Splash Damage anointments to boost your novas or other explosives such as the Fish Slap.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: (Psycho Stabber), :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive: (Wyvern).
  • Splash: No for Psycho Stabber, Yes for Wyvern.
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: 160% Melee Damage (Wyvern)
  • Obtained from: Norman Bates (Psycho Stabber), world drop (Wyvern).

Craps

Feeling lucky? The Craps has a chance to quintuple (multiply by five) the projectiles fired with every shot. Even without the high roll, it is a solid splash pistol. Things get *crazy* when you factor in an Infernal Wish and Zane or Fl4k’s skills for increasing projectiles, making it possible to fire *fifteen* projectiles with a pull of the trigger.

• • Effective with: Zane, Fl4k (use with an Infernal Wish and Playin’ Dirty or Two F4ng)
  • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Jack-Bot, world drop in the Handsome Jackpot DLC.

Replay

The Replay has two special features; One, just point the gun in an enemy’s general direction and it can hit them with homing tracking darts through walls. The other feature is an increase in fire rate for every enemy tagged. While it isn’t an amazing gun for everyone, in Moze’s hands it can become a real menace. Due to the synergy it has with her splash bonuses and ammo regeneration it becomes capable of some [serious firepower](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS71TQG3opA) (and to a lesser extent, Zane can also get good use out of it with his Clone-Ammo Regen anointment.)

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Hemovorous the Invincible.

Res

While this isn’t really a weapon so much as it is a tool, Fl4k appreciates this tool heavily for allowing them to revive their pet from a distance. Whether you’re going for an actual pet build or simply using the pet as a source of bonus stats and aggro-relief, it’s worth having this defibrillator in your inventory or weapon slot.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC (Director’s Cut DLC required.)

Redistributor

Back with a vengeance from the days before Mayhem 2.0, the Redistributor is a monster at slaying mobs under the right circumstances. While normally it produces an amped tesla every seventh shot, any source of amp damage will produce the tesla.

• • Effective with: Zane (while Barrier is active), Moze (when equipped with a Bloodletter and low-level amp shield with health regen passives on gear), Fl4k (while Guerillas in the Mist is active)
  • Elements: :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Obtained from: Wotan the Invincible.

Smog

The other Amp-based Hyperion SMG that drops from an Invincible enemy. While the Redistributor produces teslas whenever it amps, the Smog deals 250% more (amp) damage whenever the weapon is zoomed in and the gun-shield is at full capacity. It’s a handy weapon for any build that can either completely negate damage to the gun-shield or divert attention away from yourself.

• • Effective with: Zane (while Barrier is active), Fl4k (Red Fang Gamma Burst).
  • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Obtained from: Scourge the Invincible.

Guardian 4N631

The 4n631 isn’t a slouch when it comes to damage, but the special effect is where this angel gets its wings; The further you are from your target, the higher the damage you deal (up to 500%). This applies to almost all sources of damage other than Iron Mechs/Digiclone/Pets, making it a great enabler for non-Gun builds.

• • Elements: :zap:
  • Splash: Yes (cannot spawn with Splash anointments.)
  • Obtained from: Vault Card: Fallen Heroes.

TK’s Wave

TK’s Wave has the potential to be the highest-damaging Jakobs shotgun in the game. It can have more raw damage than the Hellwalker (especially when coupled with the increased critical hit damage present on the weapon), but you really need to either stuff this gun up an enemy’s nose or grab some accuracy bonuses to make the most of it. It’s also one of the few Jakobs weapons that can spawn in more than one element. If you get a “Tidal Wave”, ignore it as it has not received a buff.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: / :fire: / :zap:
  • Splash: No.
  • Obtained from: Dumptruck, world drop.

Creamer

A fairly solid weapon by its own right, but this weapon gets cranked to 11 when used with Zane’s Hustler/Eraser combination. It is safer and more consistent than the Yellowcake due to no Radiation DoTs being applied to Zane, the projectiles move faster, it is easier to spam, and it has the extra lifesteal bonus inherent to Moxxi weapons.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Splash: Yes.
  • Obtained from: Junpai Goat Eater, world drop in the Handsome Jackpot DLC.

Pat MK III / Bangarang / Gunerang / Sureshot / Keenfire

For the Vault Hunter who has no qualms with throwing your ammo pool at baddies, grab these Tediore guns along with an Anarchy and go to town. Use a relic with a Cutpurse prefix (Launch Pad recommended) to maintain your ammo pool for chucking. Try to go for Homing MIRV versions of these guns when possible.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive: (no fire or radiation for Pat MK. III)
  • Splash: Partial (on chuck).
  • Obtained from: SpongeBoss (Pat MK III), Bangarang (Thunk), Indo Tyrant (Gunerang), world drops.

Shields

Re-Volter

Almost an inverse to the Transformer in a way; whereas the Transformer heals your shields when struck by lightning, the Re-Volter applies *200% bonus shock damage* (that applies to nearly every damage source) *as well* as a 50% increase in fire rate whenever your shield goes down from full capacity. Use it with the ASS anointment for the power of Thor on-demand.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: Sumo.

Super Soldier

Putting the “Super” name to good use. Instead of giving you invincibility on shield-depletion like the Stop-Gap, it applies it when your shield is refilled. Alongside the invincibility comes an increase in movement speed, fire rate, and ammo regeneration. Especially potent with Bloodletter builds on Moze.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Shield Charge, Absorb, Amp.
  • Obtained from: Vault Card: Fallen Heroes.

Infernal Wish

When one bullet isn’t enough and you aren’t Playin’ Dirty or Tw0 Fang, the Infernal Wish grants your desire. As long as you have even a sliver of shield left, you receive an extra projectile to whatever you’re firing. This deal with the devil comes at the cost of occasionally lighting yourself on fire when firing a weapon, however (which doesn’t even work with Elemental Projector artifacts for whatever reason).

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Shield Charge, Absorb, Turtle.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC (Director’s Cut DLC required.)

Old God

Alongside the usual high capacity that Hyperion shields offer, it also comes with a 20% damage bonus to whatever element the shield is alongside a matching 25% resistance. It also has the distinction of spawning with three random additional parts unlike the two that most Legendary shields are restricted to. A well-rounded shield for when you don’t want to compromise too much offensively or defensively.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: Eleanor, world drop in the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC.

Mana Well

The well runs deep with this one. Slam the ground and you’re treated to a 100% shock damage bonus and a *juicy* 90% damage reduction (it says 70% but testing suggests 90%). This comes at the cost of 9% of your shields per second, so either have means of strong shield regeneration or health-based tanking if you plan on using this one.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: Vault Card 3: Bunker Masters

Stop-Gap

When you need to take a barrage of missiles to the face for whatever reason, the Stop-Gap can keep you standing. Five seconds of invincibility can go a long way depending on how you use it, especially if you use it with the anointment for activating shield effects upon Action Skill Activation.

• • Best Parts: Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: El Dragon Jr., world drop.

Recharger

Similarly to the Stop-Gap, the Recharger provides a means of extra protection once your shields are depleted in the form of a full recharge of your shields. As long as you can keep your shield from depleting too often, you’ll always have something to fall back on.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Turtle, Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: Urist McEnforcer, world drop.

Transformer

All-around excellence with an appetite for lead and lightning, the Transformer works wonders for keeping both your shields and ammo reserves happy. Any shock damage received goes directly into recharging your shield.

• • Obtained from: Queen AuntWanette, “It’s Alive!” mission reward, world drop.

Void Rift

Take the Black Hole and Impaler, throw them in a blender, give it a frosty Cryo aftertaste and you have the Void Rift. The frozen orbs and nova pack some considerable punch to them, and the singularity effect makes it great for throwing enemies off their feet (especially in Action Skill spam builds with the shield-break anointment.)

• • Obtained from: Empowered Scholar.

Frozen Heart / Snowshoe

For freezing foes at the push of a button, the Frozen Heart and Snowshoe are champs. When used with the anointment for breaking shields on Action Skill Start you can instantly freeze almost any enemy in the game.

• • Best Parts: Shield Booster, Absorb (Snowshoe).
  • Obtained from: Aurelia ([color=orange]Frozen Heart[/color]), Wotan/Valkyrie Squad ([color=orange]Snowshoe[/color]).

Madcap

If the Plus Ultra is the king of health-based shields, this shield is the king of shield capacity. With the right parts, it can *easily* crack over 100,000 capacity by itself. The downside of the Madcap is that is cuts your time in Fight-For-Your-Life in half, but with this much capacity, it’ll take a while before you actually fall on your knees.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Turtle, Shield Charge, Absorb, Amp.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC.

Stinger

By itself, it is basically just a decent nova/melee shield. But when Mayhem melee-scaling and the “On Action Skill Start, activate any effects that trigger on shield break or fill.” anointment comes into play, it becomes downright *nasty*. Boost it even further with splash damage bonuses and the 300/90 anointment for overkill.

• • Obtained from: Anathema the Relentless.

Honorable Mentions

Plus Ultra

For when you want to be the absolute person on the planet, this shield is your answer. Asides from having an innate 35% absorb rate and chance to increase Action Skill Cooldown speed, this shield also has an unlisted effect of *doubling* your max health.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Health.
  • Obtained from: Dr. Benedict, World drop in the Fustercluck DLC.

Big Boom Blaster

One of the most sustainable shields in the game, the Big Boom Blaster helps itself to a 60% chance to restore 60% of your max capacity. There’s also the cherry on top where said boosters also restore Heavy ammo and grenades, so if you’re feeling explosive then this is the shield for you.

• • Best Parts: Capacity.
  • Obtained from: The Unstoppable, world drop.

Version 0.m

One of the most offensively inclined shields in the roster, the Version 0.m has an innate amp-shield effect while at 100% shield capacity. When it hits 0%, it spawns a circle on the ground that increases the damage of anyone in it. This works fantastically in a Clone build, as the clone will stay in place and reap the benefits of the circle while refilling your shields as it takes damage to regain the amp damage.

• • Best Parts: Capacity, Nova.
  • Obtained from: Wotan the Invincible, Valkyrie Squad.

Beskar

I’m rubber, you’re glue. As long as your shields are full, this handy shield will cut the damage you receive down a chunk and return bullets to the sender.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Absorb, Shield Charge, Turtle.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC.

Nova-Berner / Recharge-Berner

An alternative to the Stinger-focused builds, this one trades the melee damage of the Stinger for either a very powerful incendiary nova, or the combination of a decently strong nova and instant shield recharging.

• • Best Parts: Turtle, Absorb, Shield Booster.
  • Obtained from: Valkyrie Squad (Recharge-Berner), Power Troopers, world drop (Nova Berner.)

One Shottin’ Shield

Tape three Amp parts to an Anshin or Pangolin purple shield, and you have the One Shottin’ Shield. Depending on the manufacturer it can recharge quite fast or have a higher capacity, but it will drain a manageable 20% of your shields for a full-on 100% boost to your next shot. Unlike the Version 0.m or Rerouter (shields with special amp-based effects), these shields properly apply amp damage to all bullets you fire instead of just one. The Madcap is also capable of spawning with three Amp parts, but it reaches full capacity slower.

• • Obtained from: World drop.

Red Suit

The main thing this shield has going for it is complete immunity to radiation damage. This means it can be paired with something like a Pestilence and Elemental projector for hefty damage.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Trigger Happy, Nova.
  • Obtained from: Atomic, “Angels and Speed Demons” mission reward.

Grenades

It’s Piss

Straight outta Mann Co., It’s Piss is capable of making enemies more vulnerable to all sources of damage. For big and slow targets, it’ll really help you tear into them a good deal faster. If used on a Seein’ Dead build with Fractal Frags and the Clone, the Clone can throw out piss grenades all the time and coat the entire area in the smell of ammonia.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Obtained from: Sloth/Thunk.

Fish Slap

Similarly to the Facepuncher in that it deals melee damage instead of the typical fare (and therefore also receives a massive multiplier in damage in Mayhem Mode, making it the strongest grenade in the game in all likelihood), the Fish Slap can be used in combination with relics that have melee-based mechanics to achieve great results.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Best Parts/Prefixes:
  • Obtained from: Joey Ultraviolet, FISH SLAP!!!, Tyrone Smallums.

Hunter-Seeker

A grenade that wants to be a gun, with up to three drones able to fire off a stream of bullets that deal Gun Damage. Handy for building up stacks for various skills and packs a solid punch too.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Divider (Mitosis).
  • Obtained from: Dreg & Rage, world drop.

Mesmer

For getting some aggro off your back, this Dominance-in-a-can is excellent. Simply throwing one at an enemy will draw a large amount of attacks toward that enemy and give you some breathing room to patch yourself up or reposition yourself.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Obtained from: Gravekeeper.

Honorable Mentions

Ghast Call

More skulls for the skull throne! The Ghast Call belches out a group of skulls when thrown. When you’ve got Terror stacks active you’ll flood foes with rivers of skulls, but even without Terror it is still effective.

• • Elements: 
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Roided (one Roid part. Vindicator isn’t consistent at hitting both initial skulls)
  • Obtained from: Captain Haunt, Badass Ghosts, Loot Ghosts.

Cloning Maddening Tracker

The bread-and-butter grenade for most Moze builds, the CMT is what enables Moze to face-tank most damage in the game by virtue of its fire-and-forget nature. It isn’t a bad grenade on other characters, given how many hits it can push out, but the Hunter-Seeker or Hex will generally work better on them.

• • Effective with: Moze (almost any build), Fl4k (grenade build)
  • Elements: :no_entry_sign:
  • Obtained from: World drop.

Lightspeed

A speedy grenade that just keeps going, the Lightspeed warps to where your crosshair is at the moment of throwing. Once it hits a surface, it’ll split into multiple projectiles, and once *those* hit a surface it produces homing rockets.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Obtained from: Anathema the Relentless.

Hex

The Hex produces a swath of tesla beams to cook your foes, dealing decent damage and being handy for building up stacks for things such as the Consecutive Hits anointment.

• • Elements: :zap: | :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Divider, MIRV (Recurring, MIRV-tacular)
  • Obtained from: Sky Bullies, world drop.

Quasar

With the best singularities in the game, the Quasar excels at bundling up enemies into a package for you to blow them up to kingdom-come.

• • Elements: :zap:
  • Obtained from: Wick and Warty, world drop.

Fixative Grenade

A grenade packing a lot more punch below the hood than one would initially assume, Fixative grenades are purple grenades with three sticky parts attached. Land one of these on a foe and they’ll be taking a 200%-empowered bang. Provided you have a good means of reliably regaining grenade ammo such as Means of Destruction or the Roll Reversal/Throatripper/Gunslinger Jabber combo, this is an excellent choice for a grenade build.

• • Elements: :no_entry_sign: | :fire: | :zap: || :snowflake: | :radioactive:
  • Best Manufacturer: Hyperion (for bossing), Pangolin (for mobbing)
  • Obtained from: World drop.

Epicenter

Taking a cue from Troy, this grenade throws out a swath of incendiary orbs in a circle. A fine choice for throwing out loads of projectiles.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Spring
  • Obtained from: Wick and Warty, world drop.

Class Mods

Flare

For maximizing the damage Iron Bear or Iron Cub can do, the Flare is your best bet. When piloting Iron Bear, it outright doubles your damage at the start, while if you’re partnering up with Iron Cub it doubles both Cub’s *and* your damage.

• • Class: Gunner
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +3 Stainless Steel Bear (bugged)
  • Obtained from: Evil Mordecai, world drop in the Krieg DLC.

Eternal Flame

Iron Bear is (somewhat) balanced by having a base cooldown of 100 seconds. Eternal Flame throws that out the window and gives you a chance to completely refund your cooldown any time you ignite an enemy. This also gives Moze the ability to use ASS/ASE anointments consistently with Iron Cub by plopping it down and having it blow itself up with grenade launchers.

• • Class: Gunner
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +5Really Big Guns
  • Obtained from: Heavyweight Horker, Arms Race DLC.

Rocketeer

With the Skill Auto Bear, Iron Bear hangs around for 15 seconds after exiting. This class mod however takes all the duration you’d normally consume and adds it to Auto Bear’s duration, meaning you can have a super-strong “Bear Turret” covering a hefty chunk of the battlefield for quite some time. Auto Bear also counts for “Big Surplus” for almost two minutes of 465% more fire damage with maximum cooldown.

• • Class: Gunner
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +5 Fire in the Skag Den
  • Obtained from: Tumorhead, world drop.

Mind Sweeper

Any time you land a crit, you have a chance to drop a powerful mini-grenade. Said micro-grenade can potentially produce another micro-grenade if it crits from Pull the Holy Pin, potentially repeating for absolutely absurd amounts of damage.

• • Class: Gunner
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +4 Fire in the Skag Den, +1 Redistribution
  • Obtained from: Archer Rowe, world drop.

Spy

The Spy is almost like a cousin to the Seein’ Dead; it activates kill skills whenever you use the last charge of the Mantis Cannon, it increases kill skill effectiveness by 10%, and it also increases kill skill duration by 8 seconds. When you need kill skills that last an excessively long time, the Spy is your best bet.

• • Class: Operative
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +4 Headsman’s Hand, + 1 Our Man Flynt
  • Obtained from: Heavyweight Horker, Arms Race DLC.

Seein’ Dead

One of Zane’s best class mods for action skill duration. Sporting a 4% chance to activate all kill skills for every instance of damage dealt by you, a 10% boost in kill skill effectiveness, and a top level line-up of skills to boost, it turns Zane into a long-lasting powerhouse as long as you have Good Misfortune.

• • Class: Operative
  • Best Parts: Any skills, the skills are all great.
  • Obtained from: Jack-Bot, world drops in the Handsome Jackpot DLC.

Executor

While the Seein’ Dead class mod is more suited for always having your action skills active, the Executor is on the opposite end of the spectrum in that you want to activate your action skills as frequently as possible. It synchronizes well with anointments that activate on action skill start or end by giving Zane some *massive* bonuses, including 75% increased critical hit damage.

• • Class: Operative
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Playing Dirty/Violent Violence
  • Obtained from: Baron Noggin, world drop.

Bounty Hunter

While the special effect says it only triggers on bosses, that’s not how it actually functions. The bonuses from Interplanetary Stalker apply to *all* enemies (except the movement speed bonus which just gets removed altogether for some reason). For a general purpose Fl4k com, the Bounty Hunter reigns supreme.

• • Class: Beastmaster
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: The Most Dangerous Game, Hunter’s Eye
  • Obtained from: Lt. Preston, world drop.

Cosmic Stalker

Not quite as great as the Bounty Hunter but still good for general purposes, the Cosmic Stalker is a Hunt-enthusiast’s best friend. Along with the natural 25% increase in Hunt skill power, it can jack it up further with boosted Big Game.

• • Class: Beastmaster
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +3 Big Game, + 2 Interplanetary Stalker.
  • Obtained from: Tyrant of Instinct, world drop.

Phasezerker

A solid class mod for just about any build, the Phasezerker pumps her damage and action skill cooldown up whenever she activates an Action Skill. If you have a point in Conflux and some anointments for bonus elemental damage when your Action Skill Ends, it’ll put a DoT of those respective elements on you which can be used with an Elemental Projector for high damage.

• • Class: Siren
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +5 Clarity or Anima. +1 Conflux if using an Elemental Projector Relic and Action Skill End Elemental Anointments.
  • Obtained from: Hag of Fervor, world drop.

Honorable Mentions

Bloodletter

Turning all healing into shield healing can yield interesting results depending on what gear you’re rocking. With an amp shield and a Face-puncher with a Knife Drain artifact or a self-healing gun, you can deal amp damage with every shot. Or you can use it with a Spark Plug Launch Pad and a Snowshoe artifact to repeatedly spam multiple insta-freeze novas per second.

• • Class: Gunner
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +3 Desperate Measures, + 2 Thin Red Line
  • Obtained from: Skag of Survival, world drop.

Infiltrator / Antifreeze

The Infiltrator is well suited towards builds that break shields often to trigger novas (twice) and skill effects as well as speed-based builds since it provides boosts to Violent Momentum. The Antifreeze on the other hand protects you from Cryo’s slow down and turns it into a big boost of foot speed (pairs nicely with a low-level Burning Summit and a cryo anointment for the grenade to freeze yourself).

• • Class: Operative
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +5 Violent Momentum.
  • Obtained from: Arbalest of Discipline (Antifreeze), Skrakk (Infiltrator), world drop (Infiltrator).

Hustler

When paired with the right gear such as the Projectile Recursion and Complex Root as well as the Eraser skill from Zane’s purple tree, this class mod allows for some outright **dumb** damage to be dealt. Otherwise though it isn’t an outstanding class mod.

• • Class: Operative
  • Effective with: Complex Root, Projectile Recursion, Shrieking Devil, Globetrottr, Yellowcake, Creamer, Nukem, Critical Thug, Rebound, Anarchy, Gargoyle
  • Best Parts: +5 Brain Freze
  • Obtained from: Locomobius, world drops in the Psycho Krieg DLC.

Peregrine / R4kk P4k

For the Rakk enthusiast that wants to give the space raptors an extra punch, the Peregrine works wonders. When paired with a high-power grenade like the Fish Slap or Ghast Call, you can deal out loads of damage without even pulling your trigger. A fine non-DLC alternative is the [color=orange]R4kk P4k[/color], for while it doesn’t gib enemies with rakk-based grenade delivery it drowns foes in a *swarm* of R4kk.

• • Class: Beastmaster
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +5 Interplanetary Stalker ([color=orange]Peregrine[/color]). +3 Head Count, +2 Pack Tactics ([color=orange]R4kk P4k[/color])
  • Obtained from: Dr. Benedict, world drop in the Fustercluck DLC ([color=orange]Peregrine[/color]). Wotan the Invincible or the Tink of Cunning in Mayhem4 or higher ([color=orange]R4kk P4k[/color]).

Red Fang

For a Gamma Burst build, the Red Fang is incredible for increasing your survival. By having your Gamma’d pet take all aggro that would normally be placed on you you’re free to do whatever you please to your foes, be it waltzing up to them with a shotgun to the face or otherwise.

• • Class: Beastmaster
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Eager to Impress/He Bites
  • Obtained from: Tyrant of Instinct, world drop.

St4ckbot

There are two methods of using the St4ckbot; you can either be a sharpshooter to build and maintain your st4cks, or quickly build stacks in Fade Away and use weapons that either don’t deal “gun” damage (Face-Puncher or the Pestilence’s reload novas) or always deal critical hits (Lucky 7 with the right roll.)

• • Class: Beastmaster
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: Pack Tactics, Fast and Furryous.
  • Obtained from: Jackbot, world drop in the Handsome Jackpot DLC.

Kensei

While the special effect of adding melee damage to your gun damage doesn’t trigger any melee-based effects like Knifedrain or Static Touch, the Kensei is still a very powerful class mod. Between Amara’s melee-boosting skills, gear that further boosts melee, Cryo, and Mayhem scaling applying to melee damage, the Kensei can easily make your shots reach absurd levels of damage.

• • Class: Siren
  • Obtained from: Heavyweight Horker, Arms Race DLC.
  • Playstyles: Any.

Muse

For the Siren that wants to go punchy-punchy, the Muse should come to mind. When you deal Melee damage, it produces a powerful orb that is considered “projectile” damage, meaning that you can trigger the Groundbreaker Guardian Perk to increase your melee damage and continue the cycle.

• • Class: Siren
  • Best Parts/Prefixes: +1 Illuminated Fist, +3 Laid Bare, +1 Jab Cross .
  • Obtained from: Evil Lilith, world drop in the Fustercluck DLC.

Artifacts

Top Prefixes

Last Stand – Essentially a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card, Last Stand allows you five seconds of invincibility. How those five seconds are used is up to you, whether it is to find cover to hide behind or tank a mighty attack.

Snowdrift – The most mobile prefix in the game, Snowdrift makes traversing a map or battlefield a breeze. Moze and Zane in particular appreciate it; Moze for mobility and Zane for increasing the damage of Violent Momentum.

Elemental Projector – Situational, but the Elemental Projector can come in handy for taking down bosses or other bulkier foes. Light yourself up with your method of choice (typically a weapon with splash damage) and go to town on the enemy’s health bar with a matching gun.

Cutpurse/Knife Drain – Two Melee-based prefixes with nice potential. With either a Fish Slap or by equipping the Rocket Boots/Launch Pad relics, you can gain an extra source of ammo regeneration or health regeneration respectively without occupying one of your weapon slots. You can also use it with a Face-puncher to have great health recovery or infinite shotgun ammo respectively.

Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge

Claptrap actually did something very useful for once. As long as you’re able to maintain a consistent flow of damage on enemies in one form or another, the Pearl will boost your DPS. Zane gets a bit less effectiveness from this artifact compared to other Vault Hunters due to his damage formula, however.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Magazine Size, Fire Rate.
  • Obtained from: Claptrap, during “The Call of Gythian” story mission in Guns, Love, and Tentacles.

Company Man

Trying hard to make you the Employee of the Month, the Company Man gives a solid raise in stats to whatever manufacturer’s weapons you’re sporting that match the manufacturer of the artifact.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Manufacturer Damage/Critical Damage/Magazine Size/Fire Rate for main bonuses), (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Hemovorous the Invincible.

Toboggan

For the Snowdrift enthusiast who wants some extra bells and whistles on their artifact without the snow. Asides from speeding your slide up, it’ll also give you a defensive shield while sliding that turns into a potent Amp shot the next time you pull the trigger.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Specific chests or world drop in the Arms Race DLC (Director’s Cut DLC required.)

Victory Rush

One of the few Legendary relics in the game with an effect that isn’t tied to sliding, stomping, or meleeing an enemy, the Victory Rush increases your damage and movement speed for a minute after killing a Badass enemy.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Azalea, world drop.

Honorable Mentions

Otto Idol

For the Vault Hunter that needs a little extra survivability, the Otto Idol can help mend that issue. Restoring a moderate chunk of life with every kill, it’ll help squishier Vault Hunters stay on their feet.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Rachel the Anointed, world drop.

Deathless

Trading your health for doubled shield capacity isn’t a bad option when it means having perpetual access to the U-Rad anointment. For Vault Hunters that either cannot activate their Action Skills frequently or don’t have an anointment suitable for their Action Skill, the Deathless can be a worthy option without giving up your shield slot for a Front Loader.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Phoenix, world drop.

Unleash the Dragon / Static Charge / White Elephant

A trifecta of melee artifacts that all excel at different things. Unleash the Dragon has the potential for melting meaty foes with super-powered DoTs, Static Charge enables intense multi-target damage, and the White Elephant can yield explosive results.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: Melee Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: El Dragon Jr. (Unleash the Dragon), Artemis (Static Charge), Agonizer 9000 (White Elephant), world drop (Static Charge, White Elephant).

Shlooter

When you aren’t in the mood to farm a dedicated drop source, the Shlooter is the fix for that. Once you get a kill, world drops get a tenfold boost to Legendary drop chance. Pair it up with the Borderlands Science Luck booster and/or an All-In shield and you might find yourself drowning in an orange sea.

• • Best Parts/Prefixes: (Weapon Type) Damage, Area-of-Effect Damage, (Element) Damage, Magazine Size, Action Skill Cooldown Rate.
  • Obtained from: Vault Card 2: Welcome to Pandora (Director’s Cut DLC required.)

Second Cut

Below are items that didn’t quite make the cut for Top Gear or Honorable Mention, but are generally still pretty effective even if they aren’t the cream of the crop and thus merit a name drop.

• Multi-Tap
• Hornet
• Nemesis
• Blanc
• Maggie
• King’s/Queen’s Call
• Trickshot
• Little Yeeti
• The Companion
• Love Drill
• Hellshock
• Grease Trap
• Roisen’s Thorns
• Prompt Critical
• Scoville
• Moonfire
• Magnificent
• Rebound
• Good Juju
• Star Helix
• Breath of the Dying
• Kaos
• Sickle
• Faisor
• Dowsing Rod
• Webslinger
• Lucian’s Call
• Torrent
• Blood-Starved Beast
• Kaoson
• Troubleshooter
• Gold Rush
• Proprietary License
• Ion Laser
• Ember’s Purge
• S.F. Force
• D.N.A
• Kyb’s Worth
• Dark Army
• Convergence
• Heart Breaker
• Phebert
• Robin’s Call
• The Horizon
• Devil’s Foursum
• Contained Blast
• Tiggs’ Boom
• Redline
• Lob
• Flakker
• Critical Thug
• Stalker
• Unseen Threat
• Ionic Disruptor
• Krakatoa
• Nukem
• R.Y.N.A.H
• Redeye Rocket Pod
• Ward
• Front Loader
• Widowmaker
• Porcelain Pipebomb
• Core Buster
• Whispering Ice
• Fastball
• Blast Master
• Green Monster
• Raging Bear
• Heat Exchanger
• Conductor
• DE4DEYE
• Spiritual Driver
• Breaker