Bandit (faction)

Bandits are hostile humans that inhabit Pandora. They will kill anyone and anything in order to obtain equipment, food, and fuel.

Background
The majority of the bandits were actually convicts used to mine the planet Pandora for cheap labor. When the Dahl Corporation ended their operations on Pandora and pulled out, the convicts were simply left behind and turned to a life of banditry in order to survive in the harsh conditions.

Although not very powerful, bandits tend to be encountered in groups. With a random mix of long range rockets, small arms and even melee and suicide attacks, they can prove to be formidable opponents for the unwary. Bandits sometimes wield quite powerful weaponry, as well as Orb Shields, thus making them potentially very dangerous.

Bandits in the Dahl Headlands and the Salt Flats are known to be fond of patrolling in vehicles. Out Riders can present fast moving targets with some element of surprise when encountered and can pose a great threat to unmounted pedestrians.

Bandits are found almost throughout the entirety of Pandora's Borderlands and are most common in the Arid Badlands, the Dahl Headlands, Rust Commons West, Rust Commons East, and the Salt Flats. Locations such as Sledge's Safehouse, Headstone Mine, Treacher's Landing and Krom's Canyon serve as bandit strongholds.

Strategy
When fighting bandits it is advisable for most character types to keep their distance. Psychos are likely to charge and maintaining range on them will allow time to dispatch them before they close to the distance needed to use their powerful melee attacks. Weaker bandits are often regarded as primary targets over the larger, tougher varieties, because they can cause significant damage while Bruisers, being both bigger and slower, can take a long time to kill and are easy to evade.

Weaknesses

Critical Hit: Head

Elemental: Fire

Flinch: Torso and legs.

Bandit Thug, Bandit Goon, Bandit Outlaw
Thugs wear dark brown masks that fully conceal their head. These masks have a red stripe at its center and yellow eyepieces. They are often armed only with a pistol of some sort, though thugs packing better guns, shields and grenades are not unusual. They are fairly common among the bandits' ranks. While not tough, thugs will fight somewhat intelligently, using cover and moving from place to place. Thugs are also the operators and drivers of the Out Riders and Mulciber Mk2 Gatling guns used by bandits.

Bandit Raider, Bandit Ravager, Bandit Desperado
Raiders wear white face masks with goggle-style eye pieces. They are the next most common kind of bandit after thugs and are somewhat more heavily armed, usually with submachine guns. They are tougher than thugs and fight similarly, though they move faster and more often.

Bandit Killer, Bandit Murderer, Bandit Executioner
Wearing a full, head-covering mask with red eye slits and a black cross pattern on the face, killers are the most heavily-armed of non-brute bandits, usually fighting with combat rifles.

Quotes:
 * Hey, are you lost? (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * Get lost, asshole! (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * You want some of this? (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * We've got ourselves a hero here! (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * Look what the Skag dragged in! (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * You looking to get shot? (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * You think you want to be here? (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * Who the hell are you? (Heard after player is spotted.)
 * Nobody shoots my buddies but me! (Heard after killing another bandit near him.)
 * You're gonna pay for that! (Heard after killing another bandit near him.)
 * You bastard! (Heard after killing another bandit near him.)
 * Hahaha, come meet your maker!
 * Keep shooting!
 * I got something for ya!
 * Come on little one, time to die!
 * Alright boys, take him out!
 * You should have never come here, now you're gonna pay!
 * You'd better run! Where are you? Scared? Or something?
 * You scared? You should be!
 * Kill him! Kill him now!
 * Blast 'em!
 * Shoot 'em!
 * Let's teach him a lesson!
 * You gonna squeal before we COOK ya!
 * I got one I've been saving for ya!
 * Stop shooting I surrender!
 * You are dead meat, asshole!
 * Can't we just be friends? (Heard very rarely.)
 * Cut him down!
 * Nooo! I don't wanna die!
 * Come out, come out, wherever you are!
 * Eat this asshole! (Heard when they throw a grenade.)
 * I want to see you run from this! (Heard when they throw a grenade.)
 * Shove this upon your ass! (Heard when they throw a grenade.)
 * Fire in the hole! (Heard when they throw a grenade.)
 * Help! I'm gonna die in here!
 * Put it out! Put it out! (Heard when they are suffering flame or corrosive elemental.)
 * Ahhh, it burns! (Heard when they are suffering flame or corrosive elemental.)
 * Ahhh, Mommy, Mommy! (Heard when they run away on rare occasions.)

Badass, Badmutha, Superbad Bandits
Like all creatures in the game, there are elite versions of bandits. They are better equipped than normal bandits as befits their higher rank among Pandora's scum. They come in three kinds, based on the main types of bandit: Badass Bruisers, Badass Psychos, and Badass Raiders

The particularly vicious Badass Raiders can be identified by their large, spikey shoulder pads. They are well armed with grenades and usually some sort of automatic weapon. Already more capable than normal Raiders of taking hits without being downed, these bandits fight intelligently, moving swiftly, using cover and changing locations to avoid incoming fire.

Notable Bandits
The following are a list of unique bandits in the order of their appearance in the game. Almost all are bosses.
 * Steve - Appears in the Claptrap Web Episodes promoting the game prior to its release. Reappears in the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.
 * Nine Toes - One of the bandit lords trying to conquer the town of Fyrestone. He is the first boss that you will face in Borderlands.
 * Bone Head - Nine Toes' rival. Hard enough to be classified as a boss and wields the Bone Shredder submachine gun.
 * Roid Rage Psycho - Boss of Sledge's Safehouse. He is unusual in that he is not named, but has a uniquely large model and is extremely dangerous.
 * Sledge - Big, bad boss of Nine Toes. Wields a huge two-handed hammer and Sledge's Shotgun.
 * Mad Mel - The boss controlling the Dahl Headlands. He drives a huge car and killing him allows you to get to New Haven.
 * King Wee Wee - A midget who lives in the Tetanus Warrens, he is in charge of the nearby bandits.
 * Krom - The boss you fight at the end of the mission The Next Piece. Uses a turret as his primary weapon and drops Krom's Sidearm.
 * Reaver - Once a depraved resident of New Haven, he left, murdered his father and joined Krom's gang. He is a sniper and drops a rifle named after him.
 * Jaynis Kobb - Leader of the self-named bandit town. Armed with The Meat Grinder.
 * Taylor Kobb - Jaynis' conniving and perhaps more dangerous brother. Wields The Roaster, a flaming rocket launcher.
 * Baron Flynt - Bandit lord of the Salt Flats. Rules from the salt dredging rig Thor. He drops the Boom Stick.
 * Hanz and Franz - Baron Flynt's two brutish bodyguards and enforcers.

Bandit Camps
Bandits have many bases of operation on Pandora. In most cases, these camps have small buildings or tents that the enemies will come out of. Some camps have very few buildings and enemies and other camps will be large and have many enemies. Often times, the camps will have safes, lockers, ammo boxes, and even Chests. Midget Bandits, Bandits, Psychos and Bruisers are most commonly found at these camps. Depending on level, the player may also find Badass versions of enemies in camps as well.

Bandit encampments are scattered throughout many of the areas in the story, from the beginning through to the Salt Flats. There are also a number of notable strongholds controlled by regional bandit lords that serves as hives of bandit activity and are reputed to govern many of the lesser groups:
 * Headstone Mine
 * Jaynistown
 * Krom's Canyon
 * Thortown

Trivia

 * A bandit psycho is featured in the cover art for Borderlands.
 * Bandits are very similar to the raiders in the Mad Max series and other stereotypical post-apocalypse ruffians from various movies and games.