E-tech

 guns, Eridium upgraded weapons, are a type of weapon featured in Borderlands 2. Although they can be found almost anywhere, they are relatively rare loot, and color-rated as magenta rather than the rare purple. The component that determines whether a weapon is E-tech is the barrel; E-tech weapons have special barrels with hexagonal petal-like structures with glowing interiors, which open out as they fire.

E-tech weapons usually use 2 rounds of ammunition per shot (notable exceptions include Longbow and Topneaa), and usually have low muzzle velocity for their type but high damage. They are rare drops from standard chests and enemies, but are common finds in the Sanctuary loot chest. They will always have their manufacturer's highest-quality (purple) skin.

E-tech weapons are currently manufactured by Bandit, Dahl, Hyperion, Maliwan, Tediore, and Vladof. Jakobs and Torgue currently do not manufacture E-tech weapons, with the former's weaponry never using an element (although with the introduction of the Greed, Stinkpot and Twister, this could change) and the latter always using explosive weapons.

E-tech weapons are introduced in Dr. Zed's mission Medical Mystery, where the Vault Hunters are asked to test out an E-tech weapon (seemingly always a BlASSter) belonging to Doc Mercy on the local bandits. Following this, Zed takes the weapon, but gives a Spiker or Dart as a reward. In the mission, The Lost Treasure, the reward is an E-tech known as the Dahlminator.

Though the E-tech designation is almost exclusively limited to weapons, one E-tech grenade (Breath of Terramorphous) and four Relics (Blood of the Ancients, Bone of the Ancients, Heart of the Ancients, Skin of the Ancients) exist.

Pistols
The pistol types are Spiker and Dart. Logan's Gun is a Vision mechanically similar to a Spiker, and the Dahlminator is a Dart.

These pistols shoot "smart" projectiles that seek out the target in the crosshairs when the weapon was fired. The projectiles are slow-moving, stick to enemies, and explode after a delay; there is no immediate feedback regarding whether a shot has hit, since the damage number only pops up when the round explodes. An important note is that their high damage statistics are offset by the fact that neither type of weapon is able to cause critical hits. Also of note is that these guns will ignore the shield carried by some nomads.

Dart - Hurls projectiles that ricochet off surfaces but stick to enemies.
 * Hyperion - Boosted accuracy, capacity of ~20 rounds, firing increases accuracy (standard Hyperion bonus)
 * Maliwan - Uses Maliwan revolver frame, inherits high damage but low capacity.
 * Tediore - Thrown as a grenade when reloaded (standard Tediore bonus).

SMGs
E-tech SMGs are called Plasma Casters. They have a special barrel with three muzzles and a flamethrower-like igniter underneath, and fire slow-moving energy balls. Projectile behaviour is highly dependent on the manufacturer.

Sir Hammerlock's Game Hunt features the Yellow Jacket after killing Jackenstien. This fires slow moving projectiles that gain speed over a few seconds. Even when the projectiles are in flight, the fire rate allows the player to create a wall of bullets. This weapon is only manufactured by Hyperion. Although the bullets may disappear after a certain distance, they still will damage and hit the target.


 * Hyperion - firing increases accuracy (as usual with Hyperion)
 * Maliwan - slightly increased projectile speed, good accuracy (as in standard Maliwan SMG)
 * Dahl - burst fire while zoomed (as usual with Dahl)
 * Tediore – Thrown as a grenade when reloaded (standard Tediore bonus).
 * Bandit - Limited range, erratic projectile behaviour, and projectiles ricochet. The projectiles fired by bandit plasma casters swerve off course, in an expanding sine pattern, and explode at a set distance from the weapon. There seems to be a small chance to spawn a new projectile once one of them explodes (~&lt;10%). This makes bandit plasma casters practically unusable at mid to long range. It does, however, make them excellent (if not at times superior, depending on weapon stats) shotgun substitutes, if one is not overly concerned with the monstrous ammo consumption such an approach results in.

Shotguns
E-tech shotguns are called Splatguns or Splasher Blashters. Projectiles are shot by three in an arc that is very steep. Shotguns are not idea for mid-range or punching-range since the bullets fired out of the guns are rockets rather than explosives.

In Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, the final bosses are known to drop an E-tech weapon known as the Slow Hand. This weapon is an E-tech unique much like the Yellow Jacket. This Hyperion shotgun has a Moxxi skin.


 * Splatgun - Launches a single projectile. Depending on the manufacturer and elemental type, it may bounce, split, or just... splat. It causes AOE damage every time it hits a surface.
 * Splasher Blashter - Launches multiple projectiles with a fair sized explosive radius.


 * Reloading Tediore brand weapons of this type can cause a MIRV-like effect, lobbing 3 "grenades" in a high arc after the initial detonation.

Assault Rifles
Vladof and Dahl E-tech assault rifles are called Blasters. The magazine reloads are much like the plasma casters. The Bandit version is called BlASSter. The BlASSters have a belt-fed magazine which results in huge magazines and long reloads. These E-tech assault rifles have large capacities and ricochets off surfaces.


 * Dahl - Spread gun, fires laser beams at three angles; alternates when unscoped, when scoped fires all three for every round fired.
 * Vladof - Ricochets on surfaces, extremely high fire rate.
 * Bandit - Huge magazine size.

Sniper Rifles
The sniper rifle types are Railer, Hybridification, and Moloko. All E-tech sniper rifles consume two ammo per shot. Shots are typically fired as beams and reflect off surfaces and enemies. Per round, damage on E-tech snipers is fairly low compared to normal snipers.

In the main game, Badass Creepers, found in Caustic Caverns, have a chance to drop a Legendary E-tech sniper rifle called the Longbow.


 * Maliwan - Railer - Always elemental.
 * Dahl - Railer - Burst fire while zoomed. Richochets off of terrain.
 * Hyperion - Hybridification - Pierces through enemies, Slow rate of fire.
 * Vladof - Moloko - Ricochets off inert surfaces, automatic fire, pierces through enemies, extreme fire rate even for Vladof snipers.

Rocket Launchers
Types include PRAZMA CANON, PBFG, Launcher, and Topneaa. All rocket launchers with the exception of PRAZMA CANONs deal maximum damage at a large affected area. They will only deal self damage when they are actually close to the wielder, even if if you are inside the huge splash radius.

In the main game, the hidden Raid Boss, Vermivorous the Invincible, has a chance to drop a Legendary E-tech rocket launcher, the Norfleet.


 * Bandit - PRAZMA CANNON - Hurls balls of energy that arc and drops more balls of energy as it travels. Only Bandit is able to produce PRAZMA CANONs.
 * Maliwan - PFBG - Consumes multiple ammo per shot, causes enemies to take more damage after the shot. If the initial shot hits an enemy, it will spread via blue spheres to the surrounding enemies in a large area, making it one of the best launchers for multiple target situations. The cataclysm effect also ignores terrain and cover.
 * Tediore - Launcher - Tediore Large Launcher. Slow moving sphere. Explosions cause enemies to be encapsulated by a blue sphere and give this effect off to other nearby enemies (same function as the PBFG). The cataclysm effect also ignores terrain and cover. Note: Sometimes the rocket launchers may spawn with the blue grade Tediore material rather than the purple grade material.
 * Vladof - Topneaa - Surrounds enemies in a large radius with damaging energy spheres. Dying enemies encapsulated in a blue sphere of energy will disappear. Consumes only one round (and sometimes even less) per shot. The cataclysm effect also ignores terrain and cover.

Relics
Only available in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, E-tech relic types include Blood of the Ancients, Bone of the Ancients, Heart of the Ancients, and Skin of the Ancients. These relics exist as combinations of existing relics, allowing for greater utility and strategic use of the single relic equipment slot. They also seem to be significantly less efficient at increasing their designated attributes than their component relics. For example, the Level 61 Bone of the Ancients pictured below increases Shock Damage by 31% and Cooldown Rate by 37.4%. Level 50 Elemental Relic bonuses are capped at 30% and Level 50 Proficiency Relic bonuses at 35%. An increase in 11 levels only shows for a minuscule increase in bonuses.


 * Blood of the Ancients - A combination of Vitality and Stockpile relics. Has the appearance of a Vitality Relic.
 * Bone of the Ancients - A combination of Elemental and Proficiency relics. Has the appearance of an Elemental Relic.
 * Heart of the Ancients - A combination of Aggression and Tenacity relics. Has the appearance of an Aggression Relic.
 * Skin of the Ancients - A combination of Resistance and Protection relics. Has the appearance of a Resistance Relic.