Borderlands is a franchise that is no stranger to the weird and the whimsical. The games involved in the franchise are often jam-packed with mayhem and jokes. From references to other pieces of pop culture, and Easter eggs galore. It would make sense that Borderlands would embrace its weird side, and has done so with the most potential yet, with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands.
Not all weapons are impractical for the sake of the fun and silly. Some are just downright bad, with many players electing to leave the loot behind, or immediately sell it if they are unfortunate enough to receive such negative loot.
10 Manual Transmission, Tiny Tina's Wonderland
The newest entry into the Borderlands franchise wastes no time in introducing bizarre weapons. This theme is an ongoing one in the series, and the Manual Transmission manufactured by Stoker is not exempt from this rule. The gun reads "We're lights out", and has an increased fire rate and gun damage. However, the gun is essentially, a stick shift.
To utilize the gun, players must "switch gears" like they would in a manual transmission vehicle. If they change gears too early, the gun will stall, and cause a delay. The increasing of gears makes the gun fire insanely fast, but with a lack of accuracy and damage not worth the hassle of keeping your eyes on a gear shift when you're trying to shoot the mayhem.
9 The Lob, Borderlands 3
A rather peculiar-looking gun, The Lob, has a unique appearance to Borderlands 3. The tagline is well-suited for this legendary shotgun manufactured by Torgue, as it reads: “Everything has to be magical.” What this means is that the gun will always shoot an elemental orb. However, the gun has reduced weapon damage in favor of increased splash damage.
This weapon is often regarded as not worth the hassle since The Lob fires a slow-moving projectile orb, which damages enemies within its radius. However, since the orb continues to move, it’s rather ineffective at continuously damaging and killing enemies. Especially when it only explodes after finding a wall to hit into.
8 Cyclops, Borderlands 1
As a legendary weapon in the first Borderlands, players would expect this sniper rifle manufactured by Atlas to pack a real punch. The weapon’s special effect bolsters “I have you in my eye, sir.” And grants double bullet velocity. This means there’s a bonus critical hit damage upon using the scope.
Unfortunately for the Cyclops, the weapon’s zoom-in is almost unusable. It has a strengthened zoom over 5.2 times the normal sniper. This insane zoom-in makes hitting targets almost impossible considering how far zoomed players will be. It also doesn’t help that Borderlands 1 has bullets spread in sniper rifles, making misses almost a certainty, but this feature doesn't deter from what has aged well about Borderlands.
7 Tidal Wave, Borderlands 2
The Tidal Wave is a unique shotgun in Borderlands 2 that makes minor improvements from its predecessor, The TK’s Wave. The gun was designed by the blind and one-legged widower, TK Baha. Although it’s a unique shotgun, and a reward for siding with Hyperion instead of Una in the mission “Uncle Teddy”, it isn’t worth the guilt of denying a niece her uncle’s legacy.
“Flee the Wave, Dude!”, reads the shotgun manufactured by Jakobs. This weapon fires 13 horizontal and slow-moving projectiles. The animation is unique, as it takes the form of a wave, and can even ricochet off of surfaces. However, because of its horizontal angle, and slow speed, it’s a very impractical shotgun when there are so many superior guns out there.
6 Madhous!, Borderlands 2
The rather bizarrely titled gun is worthy of its name. The weapon truly is a madhouse. As a legendary assault rifle manufactured by Bandit, this AR notes “It’s a Madhouse! A MADHOUSE!!!” It couldn’t be more right. The gun has increased damage and magazine size, both positives. Yet there is a catch. Bullets fired will curve, and swerve at a 45-degree angle, with the promise of splitting the bullet into two if it hits a floor or wall.
As these bullets continue to ricochet, they bounce faster, almost promising to hit an enemy, but rarely do they hit their mark. The gun is rather impractical because of its uniqueness, and players are better off shooting a normal AR to avoid random luck chances.
5 Wildcat SMG, borderlands 1
From the manufacturers at Dahl comes the legendary submachine gun: The Wildcat. It’s described in its stats as “The ultimate close quarters feline”. This isn’t necessarily a compliment, due to the gun having a greatly extended magazine, but at the cost of terrible accuracy and insane recoil. Pairing these together, players might find themselves missing every shot fired unless the barrel of the gun is hugging an enemy.
What makes this gun so impractical is its very use. Ammo will be wasted like there’s no tomorrow, since its fire rate is quick, and the ammo counts the size of an LMG. Trying to hit an enemy is not worth the amount of time and ammo it takes for this weapon.
4 Bunny, Borderlands 2
Rocket launchers can be known in many games for their positives and negatives, and The Bunny is no exception. Manufactured by Tediore, this weapon goes “Hippity Hoppity!”. This means that when you reload the gun, it will bounce around wildly like a rabbit, hopping around in search of a target to explode upon.
However, like most rocket launchers in games, the player could be damaged by their explosion. Since The Bunny bounces randomly, the player could be in a Russian Roulette situation, where they could be the ones to be hit and killed, making this weapon not worth the risk every reloads.
3 Eridian Mega Canon, borderlands 1
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One of the more unique weapons on the list because of its rare design. The Eridian Mega Canon is an Eridian heavy weapon and boasts of its power. These weapons are often regarded as rare because of the manufacturer and link to the Guardians. The tagline itself is rather funny, as it’s a binary set “010011110100110101000111” which translates to “OMG”.
This gun is far from “OMG”, because, despite the power in its namesake, its slow rate of fire is not worth the extra damage. The gun simply fires too slow, and considering you can only charge around 3 shots, players will be quickly switching to a more efficient, quicker gun.
2 The Night Flyer, Borderlands 3
To sum up the gun in a few short words: It’s Batman if he was a gun. “I have one rule.”, reads the ominous red text of the weapon. Players might be curious as to what this rule is since the gun has a strange mechanic where it is burst-fire on the ground, but in the air, it is full-auto. As a legendary pistol by Dahl, the gimmick is soon clear. It cannot kill.
The gun can deal a nice amount of damage, but once the enemy is on 1 HP the gun will do no more, and all enemies will be “IMMUNE”. As hilarious as this gun is, it’s not worth switching out to a new weapon to get a kill shot, but doesn't take away from the best legendaries in Borderlands 3.
1 The Bane, Borderlands 2
One of the most unique weapons in the Borderlands franchise. This entirely cursed gun is manufactured by Hyperion, and describes itself as “in Spain, stays mainly on the plain.” With an increased damage output and magazine side, there surely can’t be any downsides? That is until you fire the gun.
The gun annoyingly screams as you fire, and it’s deafening. It also has an obnoxious reload voice done brilliantly by the iconic Tina Tina's actor, Ashly Burch. The gun has reduced accuracy and increased recoil. To top it all off, you can barely move when the gun is equipped. Nothing can stop the gun’s annoyance, as even with the in-game volume on 0, the player will suffer its wrath.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: Glutton's Gamble is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.