The 4th and last DLC Claptastic Voyage introduced a new rarity class of weapons, the Glitched rarity. We, the community, have since compiled our observations and experiences into this comprehensive guide, that will hopefully help newcomers and veterans alike to see through the cryptic codes those guns sport.
What are glitch weapons?
Stats-wise, glitched weapons are pretty much identical purple weapons – but the mag size is about 50% larger. All purple guns have a glitched counterpart, besides that, there’s two uniques, the /He4rtf;ull Spl0dge…r (always 0440) and the %Cu+ie^_^killer (always 4004), that also come with glitch effects.
Unlike Purples, Glitched guns can’t have Luneshine effects. Instead, upon reloading, they can become glitched with one out of 4 different effects as indicated by the color the gun turns into. This effect lasts until the next reload. It also gets canceled on weapon swap and upon entering menus.
The glitch effects
In a nutshell:
Please refer to this comprehensive chart 1.9k by @MentalMars
The in-depth version:
Red effect: 0verload
Detailed test results by @Exotek
Each shot gets extra accuracy (roughly 30%), extra Type A crit damage, and a huge percentage of its card damage added while consuming about 1 to 2 extra ammo per shot, but the fire rate is lowered by a large margin (not for Jakobs guns and Dahl ADS bursts, though). Furthermore, each shot adds a small knockback on the wielder similar to Claptrap’s One Shot Wonder action skill and cancels out the crouching stance.
Different weapons get different gun damage boosts between +200% and +600%
Besides, there are also different boosts to critical damage between +50% and +100%.
And lastly, while the effect is on, all DoTs also receive a +300% damage boost.
Yellow effect: Loop
Test results by @Monthar
Each trigger pull does a rapid burst fire at reduced ammo cost. There’s 2 variants of this glitch:
:bar_chart: Table with our test results 117
- Auto fire: all SMGs, shotguns, assault rifles, and lasers, except for Jakobs guns and Railgun lasers.
- Continuous fire without holding the trigger lasts till the mag is depleted. Kills made during the burst refill around 20% ammo right into the mag. Can be interrupted by a melee attack without canceling the glitch effect.
- Short burst: all Pistols, snipers, railguns, and launchers, as well as all Jakobs guns.
More Dahl-like bursts, short, no recoil, and very fast. No ammo restore on kills though.
Green effect: Multishot
- Adds 7 to 10 pellets per shot for one extra ammo (except some shotguns?), turning any gun into a shotgun. The fire rate is lowered by roughly 50%.
- Great for any mid to close-range weaponry. Not so great for high-accuracy weaponry.
Blue effect: Amp
- (slightly hard to spot, it’s more a cyan blue as opposed to the default electric blue skin)
- Each shot gets a 50% amp (not consistent, further research is needed) while a very small portion (~2%) of the shield is drained per shot. Unlike the boost from amp shields, your shield does not need to be full to get the amp, but you do need to have a shield equipped.
- It’s a balanced all-purpose effect. The amp damage is pretty small, but so is the shield drain, and there are no further penalties. Kills made with this glitch count toward the amp kill challenge.
Error codes
How to read them
All error codes come in a pattern like this:
0_L_M_A_ with 4 digits from 0 to 4 in between.
Each letter represents one glitch effect, and each digit represents its chance to happen, as in 0 = red, L = yellow, M = green, A = blue, 0 = very low chance to glitch, 4 = high chance to glitch.
Our tests have shown that each number represents a chance of roughly 2.5% for its glitch to happen, thanks to @Asa_senpai.
Example: The Error code 04L0M0A4 can be read 04L0M0A4 which means there’s a 10% chance to get the red and another 10% chance to get the blue effect, and no chance to get the yellow and green effect.
All possible combinations
There seems to be a set number of combinations, not all possible combinations are actually in the game. Combos like 1234 or 4321 can’t spawn on any glitched gun for example. Let’s try to spot interesting combinations for certain weapon types. I’ve got a hunch that combinations with at least two 0s and/or two 4s might end up most interesting for certain applications.
- 00 L4 M0 A4: this one looks good for any kind of high-fire rate gun (SMGs, ARs, Lasers, Hyperion shotguns, Vladof guns)
- 00 L0 M4 A4: hard to come up with a good scenario for this one, help me out!
- 00 L4 M2 A1: this seems to be the best combo to trigger the yellow glitch often
- 00 L4 M4 A0: looks interesting for close to mid-range fast weaponry (SMGs, pistols, ARs, lasers)
- 04 L0 M0 A4: looks interesting for snipers, railguns, and Jakobs/Torgue pistols
- 04 L0 M4 A0: Seems to be a good setting for high-powered shotguns
- 04 L0 M0 A4: Decent for sniping, not quite as good at 4400 though.
- 04 L4 M0 A0: looks okay for sniper rifles and railguns.
- 04 L4 M4 A4: might be more useful on short-range weaponry like shotguns, splitters, and revolvers, but maybe also on launchers.
The other possible combinations are:
- 00L3M2A4
- 00L3M4A1
- 01L0M3A4
- 01L0M4A3
- 01L4M3A3
- 02L1M0A4
- 02L1M4A4
- 02L4M0A4
- 03L2M1A4
- 03L2M4A1
- 03L4M1A1
- 04L0M3A3
- 04L2M1A0
- 04L3M2A2
Glitched vs Purples vs Legendaries
Basically, whenever you’d take a purple gun over a Legendary one, you’ll want to go for a Glitch rarity version of that purple. Usually, the bigger mag size means more DPS since you spend less time reloading (some exceptions, where mag size plays a role with skills).
So, skip through the Top Gear lists of your favorite class, look out for recommended purples, and try to find glitch versions of those. Easy, right?
Glitch vs purple might not matter that much, if you switch weapons a lot, though, since that will skip your glitch effect more often than not, but the extra mag size and chance at glitch effect are worth it most times.
Grinding glitched guns
Very similar to grinding purples. You get a random new glitch gun. The two unique glitch guns won’t work with the grinder.
