LAGWAR | GAMING'S BEST IN TOP NOTCH MEDIOCRITY

Ok, so last time I covered the basics of the weaponry in Borderlands. You have the core types, the main stats, secondary stats, manufacturers, etc. Then I went into what I thought of each weapon after extended use of all of them. So far in that regard I’ve gone through sniper rifles, repeater pistols, rocket launchers, and grenades. As I mentioned previously you can also melee, but there’s not much to say about it except that it’s a finishing move at best, and extended use of melee is a death wish. Anyway, time to resume my personal reviews of the weapons.

Shotguns

I’m not a big shotgun fan. I won’t lie to ya there, I’ve just never been into shotguns. However, I decided to level a character in Borderlands that would exclusively use a shotgun, and man is it hard. Obviously, shotguns are built for mid to close range combat because of the spread. They can dish out tons of damage when an enemy is close enough. The problem is that at some point in the game, you’re not going to want any enemy to be anywhere near you. In the beginning it’s a passable and effective fighting style. However, when you get past the first play through, shotguns are incredibly hard to manage unless you use them just for the situations where an enemy does get close to you. The exception here, is that a shotgun exists with a condensed spread, making it a viable long distance weapon. If you can find one of these shotguns, then I say unleash hell. If not, be cautious.

Alien Weapons

Now, I haven’t had extensive use of these weapons as I have all the others. I’m not a supporter of the alien weapons because the 4 sub-types of alien weapons are just mimics of core types. So, based on my experience with them, they suck. Nothing to see here, move along. Really though, while the alien weapons have infinite ammunition, you can get maybe four shots off before the weapons need to recharge. Oh, and did I mention, the recharge rate is ridiculously long? Yeah, no thanks.

Combat Rifles

My friend who got me into Borderlands is a big combat rifle kind of guy. Combat rifles, along with sub-machine guns, are more of the beginner weapons. They’re easy to use, and efficient in every situation. With combat rifles it’s less about weapons tactics and more about proficient accuracy. A lot of combat rifles have decent to above average accuracy, so they work as a short-range sniper rifle without the hassle of switching weapons when the enemies start to charge. The effectiveness of combat rifles caps out with player skill unless you’re not playing Roland the Soldier, in which case if combat rifles are your thing, Roland is the guy to be.

Sub-machine guns

My second favorite weapon type in Borderlands. Sub-machine guns are probably the easiest gun to use, and it’s nice to have an easy to handle weapon since making other weapon types work can be a stressful process. Sub-machine guns and combat rifles are a lot alike. The key difference lie in fire rate and magazine size. On average SMGs fire faster and fire more bullets than combat rifles, but obviously do less damage per bullet. I prefer faster shooting to be honest, because if I’m firing more bullets, it just feels like I’m being more effective. Currently on my main in Borderlands I run a 3 SMG 1 Revolver weapons rotation. Why 3? Well since my main is Lilith, she excels at elemental effect weapons, so naturally one SMG is elemental based. Another deals regular damage, and the last one I use for ammo regeneration. But, I digress. To put it simply, if you are new to Borderlands using a sub-machine gun is a great way to get your bearings, and it’s usefulness never diminishes.

Revolvers

My absolute favorite weapon type of Borderlands. I could rave on all day about how great revolvers are. To put it into perspective, when I snipe, I don’t use sniper rifles, I use revolvers. They’re just so much more effective for me to use. Not only are revolvers more effective at the sniping aspect, but I can keep using my revolver for an entire battle, rather than having to switch it out like I would a sniper rifle. If you can familiarize and get skilled with a revolver, it’s a recipe for success in my book. But, there are a couple of things to note here. Revolvers come with three types of bullet capacities: 2 bullet, 3 bullets, and 6 bullets. I always recommend having more bullets, so 6 is the way to go. You can get by on 2 or 3 if you have some buffs to your reload speed. In addition, a scope is pretty much a must. Revolvers really only work for sniping if you have a scope on them. Even a below average scope can go a long way. Pretty much the reality here is if you get a decent enough revolver, most enemies will go down in one shot with a critical, as opposed to upwards of two to three with a legitimate sniper rifle. I can’t really say anything bad about revolvers, except maybe that the fire rate and reload speeds could be faster, but hey, that’s why they’re revolvers.

Elemental Weapons

Even though elemental effects can be considered a stat, they can also be considered a weapon type, and it’s worth knowing how they work and how effective each elemental effect can be. I’ll start with the worst: Shock. The big thing about shock weapons are that they’re useful for taking out shields quickly. However, enemy shields are pretty weak to begin with, as it’s their health that you have to worry about. Shock weapons are near useless (but when used AGAINST you, they’re ridiculously effective, fun right?). Next up, explosive weapons. Explosive weapons have a chance to cause an explosion with each bullet, which does extra damage to your target and any other enemies nearby. Explosive weapons are average I’d say, but some of the named guns like Madjack (Revolver) have some power explosions. Next, there’s acidic, toxic, poisonous, etc., weapons. Acidic weapons are pretty good, and are very useful against flesh type enemies. Finally, there’s incendiary weapons. To be honest, incendiary weapons are the way to go for elemental weapons. Each shot has a chance to light an enemy on fire, dealing more damage over time. If you play Lilith and have a good incendiary weapon, you can really dish out the hurt.

Well, that does it for the weaponry. It’s hard to condense all the expansive information that Borderlands has on its weaponry, so there’s still a lot more for myself and you to learn. Next up are the characters. Until then, happy hunting.