Borderlands 3: All Gun Manufacturers, Ranked

There are nine distinct main gun manufacturers in Borderlands 3. Each of these manufacturers crafts their guns to have unique mechanics and perks that are usually amusing in their own way, and can often make an impact on the chaotic battlefield. While there is a degree of subjectivity to the mechanics and traits of each brand, some manufacturers overall are better than others in Borderlands 3, as is the case in its predecessors.

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By Aldous Foster

Further heightening the confusion amongst the endless slew of weapons, Gearbox has boosted and deboosted aspects of some manufacturers featured in past games, making it tricky to pin down the best brands to opt for. This list will set the record straight, while also highlighting some of the great legendary weapons tied to each manufacturer.

Updated August 30, 2024 by Stephen LaGioia: Even after the release of the fantasy satire spinoff Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, BL3 has remained a popular ARPG. This can be attributed to its huge lineup of awesome weapons and extensive content, not to mention various DLC. More recently, the release of the zany (but not terribly well-received) film adaptation and significant discounts have also spurred a BL3 resurgence.

Then there's the recent teaser of Borderlands 4, which has fans talking about the possibility of some new ideas manufacturer ideas, or the return of a few old ones. With this in mind, and the fact that we've since felt it necessary to mention a few more minor manufacturers — the non-gun variety — we thought we'd refresh and reload this list.

9 COV

Best Weapons: Psycho Stabber, Gargoyle, Tizzy, Major Kong, Pestilence, Sawbar

Children Of The Vault (COV) weapons are new to the Borderlands franchise with their inclusion in BL3. For one, these weapons, cobbled together by bandits, ironically boast some of the coolest designs, as they take on a distinctly gritty cyberpunk theme with a hodgepodge of elements. The main perk is that they don’t have to be reloaded, but they will often overheat if holding down the trigger too long. As such, they aren’t the most ammo efficient compared to the rest of the manufacturers, as well as having low accuracy.

They are fun to look at, but not the most resourceful — as most feel cheap, erratic, and unreliable. While their accuracy and ammo consumption can be frustrating, players will want to use some for their high-damage output. COV weapons are typically used for close-quarters combat. It’s always best to have one equipped for Fight For Your Life, as players can swiftly unload on a nearby target in Fight For Your Life without worrying about wasting time reloading.

One of the best COV legendary weapons is the Pestilence, especially with a Gamma Burst FL4K build or an elemental Amara. The Sawbar makes a return from Borderlands 2 as a COV weapon, and it's just as great. Then there's the Psycho Stabber, which isn’t too potent on its own, but its bladed end yields 120 percent melee damage, meaning Amara can be especially deadly with it if focusing on melee.

8 Tediore

Best Weapons: Bangarang, Baby Maker, Poybius, Ten Gallon, Anarchy

Even with BL3's expanded lineup of weapons, Tediore weapons are still typically considered the most unique in the game. In BL2, Tediore guns get tossed by the Vault Hunter automatically in place of reloading, which will cause an explosion. The more bullets left in the magazine, the more powerful the explosion is. Borderlands 3 builds on this concept by having Tediore weapons perform other actions besides just exploding while airborne.

Some of these bizarre weapons can be thrown as a mine or can bounce around, for instance. Of course, Tediore is best known in the game for introducing guns with legs. Instead of exploding, the gun can now become a temporary ally as a standing or running turret.

Among the best Tediore legendary weapons are the Polybius, the Baby Maker, and the Ten Gallon. Oddly enough, a purple rarity Tediore shotgun does the most damage out of all. If players can find one with Shock damage and equip a Transformer shield, they can obliterate the tricky boss WOTAN’s shield.

7 ATLAS

Best Weapons: OPQ System, Ruby's Wrath, The Freeman, Atlas Replay

Fans were stoked to see ATLAS weapons make a return from the first Borderlands. After the events of Tales From The Borderlands, Rhys became the new CEO of ATLAS. ATLAS has homing bullets attached to their guns, which are shot after the player uses a tracking bullet on an enemy. This will cause all bullets to now target that specific enemy — which can be useful given how many enemies scurry and shift around.

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ATLAS weapons typically have high-damage output — even some non-legendaries. This is great since the homing bullets generally don’t pull off critical hits (aside from FL4K). If luck strikes, players can also find ATLAS weapons that have homing grenades, whose effectiveness speaks for itself. Ironically, the best legendary ATLAS weapons are its launchers: Ruby’s Wrath and The Freeman.

Both of these launchers are excellent for Fight For Your Life since players don’t need to do much aiming. ATLAS does it on its own. Still, outside of the tracking, there isn't much that Atlas offers here that Hyperion doesn't. There are few truly great weapons under this brand, and most lack elemental damage.

6 Maliwan

Best Weapons: Beacon, Plasma Coil, Flipper, Free Radical, Hellshock, Recursion, Cutsman

Maliwan guns have always been known for their elemental damage and that hasn’t changed in this game. The added bonus? Players can now switch between different elements, though this perk is somewhat balanced by the often-disrupting charge times of these weapons.

If playing an elemental Amara, it's a good idea to keep a Maliwan weapon handy, as they not only deal ample elemental damage, but their status effect chance is increased immensely. At launch, Maliwan weapons weren’t as great as they could have been — but currently, they bring some of the better weapons in the game, save perhaps for the shotgun category.

The two best weapons to use in the Maliwan Takedown are actually Maliwan weapons; the Recursion and Cutsman. The Recursion shotgun is honestly broken with how ridiculously powerful it is. The same can be said for the Cutsman, which seems to do among the most elemental damage in the game.

5 Hyperion

Best Weapons: The Face Puncher, The Crossroads, Brainstormer, The Butcher, Redistributor

Hyperion weapons since Borderlands 2 have always been known for their accuracy and solid feel. This benefit does make a return in Borderlands 3 but with an added perk of holding up a shield while aiming down the sights. In the first playthrough, this is quite helpful — though the same can’t be said for the more grueling Mayhem Mode. In Mayhem, players will frequently be hit from all directions, making the shield perk rather useless.

The equipped shield is the true source of defense in the endgame. The only exception to the shield perk is the one that absorbs bullets as ammo, which is mostly useful — unless players happen to be Moze. There are only a few truly great Hyperion legendary weapons that are worth using in Mayhem Mode such as The Butcher, The Face Puncher, and The Crossroads. Other than that, Hyperion is hit-and-miss as the game gets tougher.

It should be noted, however, that this is one of the best brands to opt for when it comes to shotguns.

4 DAHL

Best Weapons: The Hornet, Star Helix, Barrage, Night Hawkins, Breath of the Dying

DAHL weapons received a massive upgrade from Borderlands 2. While they weren’t terrible, they were pretty basic and didn’t offer much to work with. In the third game, DAHL is widely considered an upper-tier manufacturer in the game. This is due to its high-damage output paired with very low recoil. DAHL weapons are typically sharp, smooth, and accurate. They just feel plain good to use.

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One new game feature is the alternate firing modes, which DAHL takes the most advantage of. Players usually get two of these three firing modes: fully automatic, semi-automatic, or burst fire. This allows players to settle on weapons based on their play style. DAHL makes some fantastic legendary SMGs and assault rifles. These include the Barrage, Night Hawkins, Breath Of The Dying, and the Venomous Hornet.

As a side note: the Malak’s Bane received a major buff and is now considered just as solid as the Lyuda.

3 Vladof

Best Weapons: Lyuda, Lucian's Call, The Dictator, Faisor, Infinity

Aside from a few powerful guns, Vladof weapons can be a mixed bag. The main draw for Vladof guns is that they typically have the highest fire rate of any other manufacturer, though they eat through ammo quite a bit. For FL4K players, Vladofs can be insanely powerful with Fade Away. With the quasi-shotgun blasts many have, they can be very strong and versatile close-up and mid-range.

The problem is that the high fire rate usually comes at the cost of lower damage. Certain weapons like The Ogre and Shredifier rapidly spray bullets but don’t deal enough damage to warrant use. One's best bet is the Lyuda, which was the best sniper rifle in the game at launch. The Lucian’s Call is also a fantastic assault rifle that’s very ammo-efficient. Still, with an abundance of unique perk-laden weapons, high DPS, as well as elemental and splash damage, some of these guns can steamroll crowds of foes.

2 Torgue

Best Weapons: Flakker, Devil's Foursum, and the Lob

Torgue weapons need little explanation. To put it simply, they're all about powerful explosions. Though already potent, Torgue weapons became even better as compared to Borderlands 2. In that game, guns only fired explosive projectiles, but their range and fire rate were lackluster.

In Borderlands 3, they’ve introduced sticky bullets in Torgue guns, which all explode after reloading. This allows players to completely melt some potent bosses and enemies more reliably, especially with a Torgue assault rifle. Demolition Moze is the obvious choice for exploiting Torgue weapons. As it's become apparent in Borderlands, the best solution for victory is often just to blow stuff up.

1 Jakobs

Best Weapons: Unforgiven, Maggie, King's / Queen's Call, Stagecoach, Lucky 7, Hellwalker, Bekah, Skullmasher

If one sought to look a bit old-fashioned, they could opt for a Jakobs weapon. Jakobs weapons essentially give Borderlands its Old Western feel. What they lack in fire rate, they make up for in damage, especially critical hit damage. Now, if players nail a critical with a Jakobs weapon, that bullet will ricochet.

This perk makes it quite ammo efficient and one can get some lucky kills without really attempting it. One effective method is to pair a Jakobs shotgun (which fires multiple pellets) with FL4K’s Fade Away. If one has a mob of enemies to deal with — just shooting one enemy will have all of those bullets ricochet toward everyone else, clearing out numerous targets with just one shot.

There are so many fantastic Jakobs weapons in Borderlands 3. There's the Unforgiven, Maggie, King’s Call, Queen’s Call, as well as the Wedding Invitation legendary sniper rifle, added during the Broken Hearts Day event. Aside from the lack of elemental perks, there's little holding back this strong, satisfying brand of guns.

Special Mention: Pangolin And Anshin

While these more obscure manufacturers date back to the original Borderlands in some fashion, they've remained very much in the background. This is because they don't actually produce the bread and butter of Borderlands — guns. However, they have released a handful of class and grenade mods as well as shields. The few pieces of gear that do exist are a mixed bag, though there are a few hidden gems to be had in this category.

Pangolin is known for their distinct shields which boast particularly high capacity, but at the expense of recharge delay. Shields such as the Mana Well provide tens of thousands in capacity at its highest level. However, one of its more notable shields, appropriately tagged the M.E.A.T. Shield, yields zero capacity, though grants loads of added health and a small bump to movement speed when depleted.

When it comes to the Japanese-crafted Anshin, the traits and strengths are largely flipped. Their rare shields are low (or absent) in capacity but sky-high in recharge delay. The coveted Rough Rider is a staple item of this manufacturer. It mitigates incoming damage and boosts health, but offers no actual capacity.

Special Mention: Eridian Fabricator

This alien weapon is something of a paradox wrapped in a gun-ception — as it's a gun that doesn't actually do damage, but rather, fires guns themselves. Only in the Borderlands series could players churn out dozens of weapons running the gamut in terms of gun types and rarities.

As one might expect, this sophisticated gun machine, crafted by the Eridians, serves as more of an asterisk rather than a true manufacturer. Though it is a terrific tool in powering up players with an endless bounty of potentially awesome guns.

The Fabricator is also a useful and resourceful way to spend Eridium. Ten guns of green to purple rarity will spit out of its large barrel for the cost of ten Eridium, while its alternate firing mode yields one to four legendary or mission-unique weapons at the cost of a whopping 250 Eridium. Spend it wisely!

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