Highlights

  • Torgue weapons in Borderlands games are known for their explosive capabilities, which have become much more lethal in recent games.
  • Torgue has maintained its identity as a manufacturer of explosive weaponry throughout the Borderlands franchise, including in spin-off games.
  • Torgue's strongest weapons include the Alchemist, Amber Management, Flakker, Hive, Moonfire, Nukem, Ragnarok, and Unkempt Harold, each with their own unique abilities and effectiveness.

There are a few special exceptions, but even as far back as the original Borderlands game, Torgue has primarily made weapons with explosive effects. In the older Borderlands games, Torgue weapons’ explosive capabilities were arguably more of a spectacle than an effective alternative to other elemental damage types. In the recent Borderlands games though, Torgue’s explosive weapons are much more lethal.

Torgue is one of the weapons manufacturers in the Borderlands games that hasn’t changed much throughout the franchise, including their appearance in the spin-off game Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. Even with Borderlands 3’s introduction of alternative firing modes for most weapons, Torgue has still retained its identity of explosive weaponry. For the most part, Torque weaponry excels at clearing crowds of enemies, although their weapons are also surprisingly effective against single targets.

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Torgue’s Strongest Weapons Throughout the Borderlands Franchise

Alchemist

The Alchemist is a powerful Torgue weapon, although it arguably relies on a specific legendary shield to reach its full potential. This assault rifle deals Shock damage when initially striking an enemy, followed by a delayed Incendiary explosion. The downside to using this weapon on its own is that it will deal Shock damage to the user. However, players can negate this weapon’s friendly fire by using the Transformer shield, which recharges itself whenever receiving Shock damage.

Amber Management

This weapon arguably proves the unwritten rule for Borderlands 3 that unique weapons can still be surprisingly effective despite not being legendary quality. The standard firing mode for this weapon progressively gets stronger with each kill, reaching up to double damage that lasts until players stow the weapon or change its firing mode. The alternate firing mode will heal players based on the damage they deal. While this weapon’s damage doesn’t always hold up in Borderlands 3’s endgame content, it’s still a revolutionary weapon.

Flakker

The Flakker is one of the handful of fortunate weapons that has gotten stronger throughout its repeat appearances in the Borderlands franchise. By Borderlands 3, this shotgun’s explosive projectiles often cover an entire battlefield with just a single shot, effectively destroying large crowds and striking big targets like Borderlands’ Raid bosses multiple times.

Hive

This returning rocket launcher is a fire-and-forget weapon that will spawn several homing projectiles from the initial rocket. The Hive is an incredibly effective way to strike multiple targets at once for massive overall damage, with the added benefit of being able to activate certain skills for Borderlands vault hunters who specialize in explosives or splash damage.

Moonfire

Moonfire is one of the many easter egg weapons in Borderlands games that references other media -- in this case, the Hawkmoon hand cannon from the Destiny games. Although the Moonfire doesn’t deal Torgue’s signature explosive damage, every third shot from this weapon deals triple damage, and every critical hit deals double damage. When pairing this weapon’s special effects together, it’s extremely powerful.

Nukem

This rocket is the ultimate power fantasy that effectively serves as the baseline to compare to other rockets throughout Borderlands’ endgame content. Complete with a comical mushroom-cloud explosion effect, this rocket is everything that a rocket should be in a looter-shooter, and then some.

Ragnarok

This legendary melee weapon from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands fires explosive projectiles after striking an enemy, making it surprisingly viable to use a melee weapon for crowd control. This weapon can come in any element, which makes its splash damage extremely effective for applying status effects as well.

Unkempt Harold

The main appeal of the Unkempt Harold is the sheer amount of high-damage explosive projectiles fired with each shot. Also, unlike most Torgue weapons, the Unkempt Harold can also come with any elemental damage type in Borderlands 3, proving extremely effective in the hands of any of Borderlands’ vault hunters, regardless of whether they specialize in elemental damage types or explosive weapons.