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For other uses, see Psycho.

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.

Quick Answers

What event led to the Psychos in Borderlands becoming obsessed with the Vault? toggle section
The Psychos' obsession with the Vault in Borderlands stems from their insanity. The concept of Vaulthalla, a location within Psycho Krieg's mind, amplified this obsession. Both Sane Krieg and Psycho Krieg, different versions of Krieg, agreed to help the Vault Hunters find pieces of a statue to open Vaulthalla, further intensifying the Psychos' fixation on the Vault.
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What distinguishes the Psycho characters in Borderlands from other bandits? toggle section
Distinct from other bandits, Borderlands' Psycho characters are marked by their deranged behavior, white masks, and occasional armor or tattoos. They wield buzz-axes and grenades, often forming the front line in hostile bandit groups. Their obsession with the Vault is notable, as are their homicidal cries. Some, like the Burning Psycho, are characterized by red skin, red cargo pants, a flaming skull mask, and the ability to breathe fire.
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What is the significance of the Headstone Mine in the backstory of the Psychos in Borderlands? toggle section
Headstone Mine is a pivotal location in the Borderlands narrative, particularly for the Psychos. Initially a prosperous mine under Dahl corporation's control, a Vault key fragment was unearthed there. This fragment fell into the hands of Sledge, a bandit lord who gathered a bandit army, including Psychos, and made the mine their operational base.
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What is the typical attire of a Psycho in Borderlands? toggle section
In Borderlands, the character Psycho is a shirtless human mutant, donned in orange pants and a distinctive white mask. Some Psychos may have rudimentary armor or tattoos. A specific variant, the Burning Psycho, is characterized by red skin, red cargo pants, and a flaming skull mask. Their typical armament includes buzz-axes and grenades.
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What is the meaning behind the Psychos' white masks in Borderlands? toggle section
In the Borderlands series, the Psychos are bandits driven to insanity by their obsession for the Vault. Their distinctive white masks bear the Vault symbol, a common sight throughout the game. These deranged maniacs, often armed with buzz-axes and grenades, typically form the front line of hostile bandit groups.
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Background

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 deal tremendous amounts of damage compared to other enemies of their level, even able to kill skags and spiderants with ease whereas other bandits would struggle. Most psychos do not use shields.

When sufficiently hurt, psychos can flinch, letting a Vault Hunter get a short distance away or counterattack in melee. While only armed with a close combat weapon, psychos can also utilize it as a long ranged weapon if they cannot reach the Vault Hunter. This attack is extremely accurate, but deals much less damage than the melee attacks.

Should they sustain significant injury (which is always accompanied with them flinching), the psycho will toss their axe at the aggressor regardless of distance, pull out a grenade and set it off before running towards them. This attack is incredibly strong and can easily deplete shields and most, if not all, of their intended target's health, leaving them 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. This grenade can also hurt and kill other enemies close to it.

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

Burning Psycho

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 Psychos are much larger than the normal varieties, have a disproportionately enlarged right arm and a severely stunted left arm. Some Badass Psychos use shields. In combat, the Badass Psycho chases after his target and swings his axe multiple times upon reaching them. Unlike a normal or burning psycho, his attacks deal less damage, though he can take a significant amount of damage before falling. Similarly, he cannot throw his axe at the Vault Hunter if out of range, and like the Burning Psycho, does not make suicide grenade attacks.

Badass psycho

A useful strategy when fighting Badass Psychos is to shoot them while backing away. This keeps the Vault Hunter 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. They cannot throw their axes at distant targets, nor do they perform the suicide grenade attack.

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

Quotes

Borderlands oldart pizza 11765 screen

Psycho prior to the art change

  • 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.
  • I'll take pleasure in guttin' you... boy.
  • 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!
  • 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!
  • Strip the flesh, salt the wound! (maniacal laughter)
  • Time to play! Time to play!
  • Time to pound... some meat 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.

Notes

Trivia

Psycho Mask
  • The standard psycho face mask bears the Vault symbol seen in many places throughout the game.
  • Psychos are featured on the cover of Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, holding a finger gun to their temple.
    • Oddly enough, while appearing on the cover of the Pre-Sequel, the Psychos are not present anywhere in the game. They are replaced by Scav Lunatics (not to be confused with the Ultimate Vault Hunter variant of the Psycho)
  • 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.

See Also