Psycho (Borderlands)

Psychos are bandits who have gone insane with a freakish obsession for the Vault. Shirtless, wearing a white mask and dressed in orange pants, these outlaws can be immediately identified by their homicidal cries, psychotic laughter and constant desire to get into close combat.

Overview
At some point in Pandora's recent past, a discovery was made at the Headstone Mine and hastily covered up. While it has never been fully revealed what was found there, it is known that a Vault key fragment came into the possession of Sledge, a grossly muscled behemoth of a man who later amassed a small army of bandits at Headstone Mine. The discovery at the mine had a surprising effect on many of the convict workers there. Most went crazy and many were physically mutated as well, growing into huge, muscular parodies of humanity, or stunted to dwarf proportions. Many of the "psychos", as they came to be known, donned face masks portraying the object of their collective fixation: an upside down "V" emblem.

Psychos are typically found among the ranks of the bandits that plague Pandora. They are known to act as the close-range counterparts to their more lucid, gun-waving brethren and will rush their targets while screaming all manner of insane comments.

Strategy
Psychos run very swiftly, vaulting over low obstacles to get into melee range with their intended victims. They often zigzag in their run to avoid weapons fire. Wielding a "buzz axe", they can hack through most shields in one swipe and inflict heavy damage if they get close. They typically attack with a double swing pattern, pausing after the second attack.

When hurt, psychos can flinch, letting a player get a short distance away or counterattack in melee. While only armed with a close combat weapon, they are very capable of throwing axes over long distances, although this attack inflicts little damage. They mostly throw their axes when their target is in an unreachable spot or is a long distance away. Should they sustain significant injury, they are known to throw away their axes, pull out a grenade and rush their target in a frenzied suicide rush. This attack is incredibly strong and can easily deplete shields and most, if not all, of a character's health, leaving the victim vulnerable to further attacks. Once the grenade is pulled out, killing the psycho will not stop the grenade from going off. Psychos sometimes pull out the grenade even if their target is far away from them, destroying themselves even before they get close.

The melee attack employed by Psychos forces them to stop running, and can be avoided by moving backward when the animation starts. As a result it is not necessary to run away from Psychos; simply move backward a step or two when they start their attack. It is even possible to move forward and strike first with a melee attack then back away while they are stunned.

Burning Psycho
Some psychos have adopted a pyromaniac bent and have become known as "Burning Psychos". These psychos will ignite themselves when engaged, rush into close proximity for melee attacks, and deal Incendiary contact damage. They are often encountered wearing shields and are immune to incendiary damage-over-time. Fire-resistant shields are therefore recommended as a last resort when they close in. Burning Psychos are distinguishable by their bird-like outfit, including a skull mask with feathers, and the flames that they have leaping off them. Like other Psychos except the Badass version, they will throw their weapon at targets at range. Unlike normal Psychos or Midget Psychos, they do not make suicide grenade attacks. They make the same sound as normal psychos.

Badass Psycho
Badass Psychosare much larger than the normal varieties, have a disproportionately enlarged right arm and a severely stunted left arm. They never make the suicide grenade attacks that their smaller brethren do, however they are quite resilient and tough to kill.

A useful strategy when fighting Badass Psychos is to shoot them while backing away. This keeps characters from harm while they whittle down the Badass Psycho from a safe distance. The mutant will stop to melee if he catches up, allowing a brief opportunity for characters to move out of reach. They are sometimes found without a shield and incendiary weapons can work wonders on them, even with their substantial health. Fast firing weapons can often accumulate enough damage at once to cause them to flinch, therefore a fast-firing incendiary weapon is an excellent choice against these close range behemoths.

Unlike other ones, these do not throw their weapon if the target is far away.

Badass Psychos are rare to see, but they give a lot of XP.

Occasionally, when the corpse of a Badass Psycho is returned to, the body will have taken on the physical proportions of a normal psycho but will retain the pale skin colour of its original self.

Psycho Bosses

 * Hanz - Partner of Franz and bodyguard to Baron Flynt.
 * Roid Rage Psycho - A gross monstrosity of a man, commanding Sledge's bandits in Sledge's Safe House.

Standard

 * Psycho - Has cargo pants instead of orange pants and occasionally sports rudimentary armor or tattoos, otherwise they look exactly the same as the Psychos from the first game. They also function in the exact same way, except they do not perform a suicide charge when their health gets low and they will occasionally dodgeroll their way out of the line of fire. Can appear in fur hats and purplish skin as Freezing Psycho, or with a mining light and pickaxe as Psycho Miners. The basic psycho appears as a midget as well.
 * Suicide Psycho - These psychos are easily identified by their blue mohawks and blood-stained skin. When they spot a player, they will lift a grenade over their heads and make a mad dash towards the nearest player. Once they get close, they detonate the grenade, blowing themselves up and dealing extreme damage to anything nearby. If however, they cannot get close, they will simply chuck grenades like a normal enemy. If they are killed before they get close, they drop a live grenade which blows up after a few seconds. They also have a midget variety.
 * Burning Psycho - Behaves very similar to regular Psychos, except that they have red skin and wear a flaming skull mask. In addition to swiping at players with their flaming axes, they can breath fire at them as well. Their attacks also have a chance to set things on fire. Also, unlike in the first game, they are not immune to fire damage. They too have a Midget variety.
 * Slagged Psycho - Psychos appear the same as regular ones, save that they are Eridium purple and slightly more emaciated looking. They can inflict Slag with each melee swipe and have the ability to vomit Slag goop on their enemies as well.
 * Midget Boner - Smash Head's midget allies.
 * Armored Maniac - Psychos that wear pieces of old Crimson Lance armor, and as such are substantially tougher and stronger than regular psychos. Because of their armor, they are classified as armored foes and as such take more damage from Corrosive attacks. They only appear during True Vault Hunter Mode.
 * Gravedigger - Psychos that attack with a shovel and throw corrosive Skulls. They only appear during True Vault Hunter Mode.

Badasses

 * Badass Psycho - Very large and surprisingly fast, and inflict heavy damage. otherwise act the same as regular psychos
 * Chubby Midget - Slower than regular psychos, but have more health and deal more damage.
 * Loot Midget Psycho - A Psycho Midget that hides in large containers.

Bosses

 * Dubert, Hubert, and Lubert - Three midgets that are chained to Bad Maw's shield.
 * Flesh-Stick - A psycho 'guest' for a tea party.
 * Incinerator Clayton - The Burning Psycho leader of the Firehawk Cult.
 * McNally - A psycho fought during "The Bane"
 * Mad Dog - A psycho with dynamite who must be fought during Breaking the Bank.
 * Assassin Reeth - The third of the assassins fought during Assassinate the Assassins.
 * Savage Lee - A psycho who lives in the wilderness of Three Horns with multiple bullymongs.
 * Shorty - A blue speckled midget in Swallowed Whole.
 * Geary - A weak, diminutive psycho found in the Eridium Blight in the northwest of the map. Always drops a head skin and is part of a special loot quest in True Vault Hunter Mode.

Borderlands

 * Ahh, another victim!
 * Another walking meat puppet!
 * Come closer, I can almost smell you.
 * Another slave! To feed me.
 * Blood! Blood! BLOOD!
 * I wonder what your face, would look like on mine. (reference to Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
 * I'll take pleasure in guttin' you... boy. (reference to the movie The Rock)
 * I'm gonna eat you when I'm done!
 * I'm gonna rip off your arm and beat your baby with it!
 * I'm gonna skin ya, put on your face, and say Hi to your momma!
 * I'm gonna squeeze you 'til you bleed blood
 * It's time, ahahahaha, for another pound of flesh!
 * It's time for my pound of flesh! Hahahahahaha! (reference to the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare)
 * It's time to paint this body with blood!
 * Just three more steps, and I got me dinner.
 * Keep walkin', keeeep walkin'.
 * Look boys! Its some fresh meat!
 * MORE! More meat for me!
 * No, don't run away, I need your face! (Another reference of Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
 * Strip the flesh, salt the wounb! (maniacal laughter)
 * Time to play! Time to play! (reference to the movie "Child's Play")
 * Time to pound... some meat puppies! (actual word is "puppet" not "puppies")
 * Why don't you come over here, I got a little present for you!
 * Yeah that's right..Closer! Closer!
 * Yes, Yes, YES! It's dinner time!
 * You remind me of my mother... I ate my mother. (reference to movie The Dark Knight)

Standard Psycho

 * Bring me a bucket, and I'll show you a bucket!
 * Death...gurgle...
 * I can't wait to take your picture!
 * I need more heads for my merry-go-round - YOURS IS PERFECT!
 * I require a strong woman right now!
 * I want my hit points back!
 * I wonder, if I plant you in the ground, will you grow taller?
 * I'm gonna floss my teeth... with your face!
 * I'm gonna make condoms, from your eye lids!
 * I'm gonna wear your face as a condom!
 * It's time for the meat puppet!
 * It's time for three pounds of flesh!
 * Look at me when I stare at you!
 * Look at me when I'm charging at you!
 * Never gonna give you up... (Reference to the song Never gonna give you up by Rick Astley)
 * O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon against self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on't, ah fie, 'tis an unweeded garden, That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. That it should come to this! But two months dead, not so much, not two, So excellent a king, that was, to this Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother That he might not beteem the wings of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth, Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, As if the increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on; and yet within a month -- Let me think not on't; frailty, thy name is woman -- A little month, or ere these shoes were old With which she followed my poor father's body Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she-- O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason Would have mourned longer -- married with my uncle, My father's brother, but no more like my father Than I to Hercules. Within a month, Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her gall'd eyes, She married. O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestous sheets! It is not, nor it cannot come to good. But break my heart, for I must hold my tounge. (Too Solid Flesh soliloquy from Hamlet)
 * Sweet Marcus!
 * The meat puppies, they come to the slaughter, like children to an ice cream truck!
 * This is prison and we're the guys in the shower!
 * This meat isn't organic!
 * Will you marrow me?
 * You smell like my little girl!
 * It's inside me! IT'S INSIDE ME!

Suicide Psycho

 * YOLO! (when about to blow himself up, acronym for "You Only Live Once")

Trivia

 * The standard psycho face mask bears the Vault symbol seen in many places throughout the game.
 * A psycho is featured on the cover of Borderlands and Borderlands 2.
 * Roland is shown holding a psycho mask on his "Wanted" poster.
 * When a Psycho says "Time to pound some meat puppets!", the subtitles will say "puppies" instead of puppets.