Accuracy



Intuitively speaking, the word "accuracy" describes how far the player's shots will deviate from where the player (initially) puts the reticule. Unfortunately, in Borderlands, the term "accuracy" is used to describe any of several related game mechanics.

Overview
When the player fires a weapon, the shots will not go perfectly towards the reticule. Instead, they will fire at random angles into a cone. The angle of this cone depends on several internal game parameters, the most important of which are spread and accuracyPool, both measured in degrees.

The full angle of the firing cone (far side to far side) equals spread + accuracyPool.

Spread

 * Main article: Accuracy (weapon)

Base spread is completely determined by the weapon type. The parts of the weapon may modify the weapon's spread; the resulting spread completely determines the "Accuracy" on the weapon card. 100 weapon card Accuracy means 0 spread, and every 12 points of weapon card Accuracy below that is equal to 1 "degree" of spread. As a formula:
 * spread = (100 &minus; weapon card accuracy)/12
 * weapon card accuracy = 100 &minus; spread &times; 12

Spread is affected by:


 * Skills that affect "accuracy", namely Focus, Enforcer, and Scattershot.
 * Loyalty COMs.
 * Weapon scopes when aiming down the sights. Unlike other modifiers, this multiplies the spread directly.

AccuracyPool

 * Main article: Accuracy (character)

AccuracyPool is a dynamic value and depends on several other statistics:


 * accuracyMinimum
 * accuracyMaximum
 * recoil
 * accuracyIdleRegenDelay
 * accuracyRegenRate

AccuracyPool starts at accuracyMinimum. Whenever the character fires a shot, it increases by recoil, up to a maximum of accuracyMaximum. If you stop firing, after a delay of accuracyIdleRegenDelay, it begins to decrease at a rate of accuracyRegenRate until the character fires again or it reaches accuracyMinimum.

Like spread, the base value for all of these five statistics is completely determined by the weapon type. Of these five statistics, only recoil modifiers are visible in the in-game text, as "Recoil Reduction".

Scope sway
When aiming down the sights of a sniper rifle, the player's scope will move randomly.

Shake and muzzle climb
In addition to the above effects, firing a weapon may cause the player's screen to "shake" randomly. Often this movement has an upwards bias, which simulates muzzle climb of the weapon. These effects seem to be proportional to recoil; weapon parts that reduce recoil also reduce these effects.

Base values
The base values of accuracyIdleRegenDelay and accuracyRegenRate are currently unknown. The rest of the values are taken from the Gear Calculator.

Summary
This table gives a complete listing of what affects or is affected by each stat: