Weapons


 * "You won't last long here, not without help, not without guns... a hell of a lot of guns." — Helena Pierce, Borderlands debut trailer

According to Gearbox, there are over 17 million 500 thousand different variations of weapons, as of release. The game uses a procedural process to generate its various guns in certain classes, such as handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and more, but with many variations of firing speed, reload speed, damage type and more.

Thankfully, there is an easy way to determine the basics of a weapon without having to pick it up and open an inventory screen. When you approach a weapon on the ground, a small holographic window appears above it that displays information such as weapon type (shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, etc.), damage type (static, incendiary, caustic, etc.), monetary value, as well as the weapon's rarity using a color coding system.

If a human enemy is carrying a special weapon that they drop upon their death, they will wield it against the player. Otherwise they use a default weapon for their enemy type.

The different types of weapons are these:
 * Alien Rifles
 * Combat Rifles
 * Pistols
 * Revolvers
 * Rocket Launchers
 * Shotguns
 * Sniper Rifles
 * Sub-Machine Guns (SMG)

Effects
Found in the stats boxes of guns are sometimes cryptic or humorous messages. These lines indicate a certain effect on the gun. Several decoded messages are as follows in alphabetical order:
 * 2 More Bullets Makes All The Difference - Fires 5 round burst instead of standard 3 round burst [Combat Rifles]
 * A beast of many forms - Fire, Lightning, and Poison. - Bullets alternate between the 3 elemental damage types on every shot. [Revolvers]
 * A Gift from Papa Krom - Fires a three-shot burst when aiming. [Repeater Pistols]
 * A hunter lives among the stars... - Chance to do Random Shock Damage in vicinity of user when fired. [Sniper Rifles]
 * Aim for the Sniper - Better accuracy while scoped. [Shotguns]
 * A Lead Wind Blows... - Fires two bullets per one ammo [SMGs]
 * Ammo is no longer an issue. - Regenerates Ammo [Repeater Pistols]
 * BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM! - While scoped, a five round burst. [Sniper Rifles]
 * Be Careful Not to Drop It... Might Lose A Toe - +100% Melee Damage. [Repeater Pistols]
 * Beware The Horde - Once fired, one rocket becomes several. The longer the rockets travel, the more they split, which can lead to 20+ rockets for a single shot! [Rocket Launchers] (Sort of like a MIRV warhead.)
 * Big Tony says "Hi" - Massive Magazine. [Repeater Pistols]
 * Bring Out Your Dead - x4 Corrosion [Shotguns] (Reference to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
 * Bring The HEAT! - Incendiary Rounds [Revolvers/Repeater Pistols]
 * Cross Their Heart, Hope They Die - Spread follows a cross-shaped pattern. [Shotguns]
 * Drop the Hammer - Chance to cause massive damage [Shotguns]
 * Fast Hands - Super fast reload
 * Five Heads of Death - Each shot fires five tightly-grouped bursts, spaced out along a horizontal path. (Example) [Shotguns]
 * Fools! They call me maaaad! - Bullets zig-zag when fired, and ricochet. [Revolvers]
 * For the Mother Land - 10x Grenade damage. [Sniper Rifles]. (Reference to the Battle of Stalingrad during World War 2 in which the Soviet's use of snipers and hand grenades was crucial to their victory).
 * Give Sick. - High chance for Corrosive damage; effect has a chance to transfer to nearby enemies.
 * Gonna cook someone today - Creates small nuclear explosion when fired. [Rocket Launchers]
 * Guns of the Revolution never fall silent. - Massive Magazine. [Combat Rifles]
 * Hallelujah! - Regenerates Ammo [SMGs]
 * Have A Nice Day - Shots create a 'smiley-face' pattern.
 * Hold Your Ground... Forever - Regenerates Ammo [Combat Rifles]
 * Holy Crap, It Shoots Rockets! - shoots rockets intermittently while firing. [Shotguns] (Uses the weapon's ammo type, not actual rockets)
 * I Can Do This All Day... - Regenerates Ammo [Shotguns]
 * "I feel like I'm gonna break this thing." - Slower walking speed while held; Causes Massive Shock Damage [Alien Rifles/Eridian] (Reference to the movie 'Men In Black'; Specifically, the ridiculously-powerful miniature handgun, 'The Noisy Cricket')
 * I Have You In My Eye, Sir (Massive Zoom, Seen on a white sniper rifle)
 * Invade your skull. - While scoped, fires the entire clip in one burst. [Repeater Pistols]
 * I spy with my little eye... - Massive zoom [SMG]
 * It Rises! - Rockets have an arced trajectory. [Rocket Launchers]
 * It's a Helluvah Thing - Speculated to have some knockback effect.
 * Lightning never strikes the same place twice, but it can strike freaking everywhere! - Area-of-Effect Shock [Alien Rifles/Eridian]
 * Makes Their Brain Hurt - Each shot fires a shotgun-like burst. [Sniper Rifles]
 * Monster Kill! - Fires several rockets simultaneously with each trigger pull. [Rocket Launchers] (Still only uses one ammo per shot.)
 * May God have mercy upon my enemies because I won't. - [Revolvers] (quote from Gen. George S. Patton, WWII general)
 * Never Stop Shooting - Regenerates ammo [Repeater Pistols]
 * Omnia vincit amor - 100% critcal damage bonus.
 * One Bad Dog - Massive Magazine. [Shotguns]
 * Pele needs a sacrifice! - Massive Fire Damage.
 * Pew Pew Pew! - Has a chance to home in on your target
 * Ride the Wave, Dude! - Bullets follow a wave pattern up and down as they go out from the gun [Shotgun]
 * Sniper Killer... Qu'est que c'est - Fully Automatic. [Sniper Rifles] (Reference to the song Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads, the lyrics are "Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?" The phrase is French, Un ami, qu'est-ce que c'est?)
 * Sniper Rifles are for Chumps. - High Accuracy; Tight Pellet Spread [Shotguns]
 * Sometimes, I Forget To Reload - unlimited Magazine/ammo
 * The All-Seeing Eye. - Massive Weapon Zoom. [Combat Rifles]
 * The Cutting Edge - Shots have a chance to ignore shields.
 * The Destructor has come. - While scoped, fires the entire clip in one burst. [Combat Rifles] (Reference to the movie Ghost Busters; Specially a quote from the character "Gozer the Gozerian")
 * The ultimate close quarters feline. - Large magazine with low accuracy. [SMGs]
 * Unending Firepower - Ammo is unlimited, it spends when you fire, but instantly regenerates
 * Unrelenting Firepower - Regenerates ammo [Revolvers]
 * The Unstoppable Force! - Rockets periodically explode in mid-flight. [Rocket Launchers] (Note the rocket continues traveling to hit its mark, regardless of how many times it explodes in flight.)
 * Walk It Off - Chance to score a Critical Hit on an enemy's legs. [Sniper rifles]
 * War is in your blood - Massive Magazine. [Combat Rifles]
 * Why Don't You Go Shoot Yourself An Elephant? - Massive Damage; No Scope [Sniper Rifles]
 * We Don't Need No Water... - x4 Fire [SMG]
 * Your Move, Creep - Fires a three-round burst per one ammo [Repeater Pistols] (References the movie Robocop; the clue is one of the character's catchphrases, and the three-round burst is indicative of his signature sidearm, the Auto-9)


 * Note: Some of these effects may not be 100% accurate.

Rarity


Borderlands uses a classification system for gear that follows the standard color-coding system for RPGs. A common (white) gun would be average, money will glow (yellow) when dropped or found, an uncommon (green) would be slightly above average, a rare (blue) would be a premium gun, an epic (purple) would be a very strong gun, and legendary (orange) guns are the best of the best. The rarity of each gun is indicated by color as stated on the page of each gun. (See Category:Weapons)

White &lt; Green &lt; Blue &lt; Purple &lt; Yellow &lt; Orange &lt; Dark Orange &lt; Pearlescent

The rarity of a gun influences how good it will be, but you will find that some guns are exceptions to the color code. For example, you might find a rare (blue) gun that has drastically less damage than a common gun that has the rocket ammo effect.

Note: May Be hard to spot the difference between White and Pearlescent, Pearlescent will be placed above Dark Orange guns or at the top of your backpack, and will usually have red text In the stat/description box of the gun.

Elemental Effects
The elemental effects include fire, electrical, explosive, and corrosive. The frequency of the elemental effect is a multiplier indicated by the elemental plaque and a "x2" in the weapon description. Elemental attacks are added to the base damage of the weapon used and can have secondary benefits.

Each element has a specific benefit to use against differing enemies:

- Fire has a benefit against fleshy enemies and causes the enemy to burn for a length of time.

- Shock has a benefit against shields. It depletes them more readily but is less effective against flesh and armor than a normal weapon of the same type.

- Explosive weapons have a chance for the round to explode in enemies, dealing much more damage and leading to an incredibly messy death on a critical hit.

- Corrosive has a benefit against armored enemies, slowly draining health and making them weaker to other attacks as the ongoing damage progresses.

Each element as it's own specific death animation, most of which leave no trace of the target involed behind:

- Shock makes lighting arc up and down their body, eventually leading to their head exploding.

- Fire slowly incinerates the enemy. A fair bit of screaming is involved.

- Explosive leaves you with a loud bang and giblets. Fun against low level enemies.

- Corrosive is similar to fire, only it's acid doing the job.

Manufacturer Grade
In the land of Borderlands there are multiple manufacturers that make the guns that you shoot baddies with. Each company has attributes associated with it.

Manufacturers:
 * Atlas
 * Dahl
 * Eridians
 * Hyperion
 * Jakobs
 * Maliwan
 * S&S Munitions
 * Tediore
 * Torgue
 * Vladof
 * Gearbox (certain easter egg weapons in the game have the manufacturer name Gearbox instead of, say S&S or Jakobs), an example is shown here http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=78314&highlight=basement+sniper

More info

Guaranteed Weapons
This category includes weapons and modifications that have a 100% chance to drop off a specific enemy or be contained in a specific location.
 * See Article Guaranteed Drops

Weaponry List
Please see the Weaponry List category page to see all weapons added to the wiki thus far.