[Guide] Top tier gear for everyone

Borderlands 2 Loot and Weapons
#1

#Work in progress

(Spiffy picture goes here)

Since we already have Top gear threads for all characters, I think the logical extension is a list of stuff that is very good on almost all characters, but are not “Top Gear material” so to speak. All the things I will list here are perfectly capable of taking you to OP8 and in some cases, are just as good as the stuff found on the Top Gear lists. By its nature, this list is going to be much more generic, with mostly purple gear, but maybe a few uniques and legendaries might make their way in, especially if they are good overall, but not on most top gears.

##If you don’t see something you think should be here, it is most likely because it is featured in many of the Top gear threads already

Special thanks to @Derch, who’s Youtube channel sparked the idea, and @Hoyle4 for being my edition monkey (I.E. actually doing all the work) since i’m using his formatting again.

Notes:

  • The best stock is almost always Dahl on Weapons that can have them, with Hyperion being the runner-up. For Shotguns, the Hyperion Stock is the best, except for Hyperion Shotguns, where it’s a tossup between Torgue and Hyperion, depending on preference.

  • In the same vein, Most grenades benefit from as short a fuse time as possible, and longbow is usually the preferred delivery mechanism. Shields that can have them usually benefit from a Maliwan capacitor for DoT immunity and relics benefit from having high rarity parts. COMs are outside of the scope of this guide obviously, since they are character-specific, and are already the subject of their own guides.

  • I will not list where to find everything on the list. Almost all non-unique guns are world drops, can be had from the golden chest in Sanctuary or from feeding Butt Stalion. I will list the location in the description when an exception occurs.

  • Likewise, Most purple guns are available in all elements (except explosive), or non-elemental, except for Jakobs where no element is possible, and Torgue where only explosive is possible. I will also say so in the description in the case of an exception.

Also, since this is intended as a community guide, feel free to suggest additions, edits and so forth.

##Table of Contents

  1. Weapons
    1.1 Pistols
    1.2 Shotguns
    1.3 Rocket Launchers
    1.4 Sniper Rifles
    1.5 Assault Rifles
    1.6 Submachine Guns

  2. Items
    2.1 Grenade Mods
    2.2 Shields
    2.3 Relics

#Pistols
(back to top)

###Vladof pistols
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Vladof barrel
    Vladof grip Grip
    Vengeful Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Teapot
Text goes here (note about accuracy)

  • Best Parts:
    Torgue Grip
    Double Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone except Salvador


#Shotguns
(back to top)

###Torgue Ravagers
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Torgue Grip
    Any Prefix except blade and mag size
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Jolly Roger
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Bandit Grip
    Crit Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Jakobs Coach guns
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Jakobs Grip
    Doc’a Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Hyperion single barrels
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Hyperion or Bandit Grip
    Crit or vertical grip Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Rocket Launchers
(back to top)

###Bandit Rocket Launchers
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Bandit Barrel
    Bandit Grip
    ??? exhaust
    Swap speed Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Tediore E-Tech Launchers
Text goes here (note about free rockets)
(Other note about PBFGs)

  • Best Parts:
    ??? Barrel
    ??? Grip
    ??? exhaust
    Fire rate or Reload speed Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Sniper Rifles
(back to top)

###Vladof Snipers
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Vladof Barrel
    Vladof Grip
    Grumky Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Dahl Terror
Terrors are Dahl snipers with the Jakobs barrel Text goes here (Note about Total damage)

  • Best Parts:
    Jakobs Grip
    Pacifying Prefix
    Non-Dahl Stock (Hyperion is best)
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Jakobs Calipeens
Text goes here (note about recoil)

  • Best Parts:
    Dahl Barrel
    Jakobs Grip
    Skookum Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone except Salvador and Krieg

###Maliwan Sniders
Text goes here (note about splash)

  • Best Parts:
    Maliwan Barrel
    Maliwan Grip
    Barking Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Assault Rifles
(back to top)

###Jakobs Gatlings
Text goes here (note about fire rate)

  • Best Parts:
    Jakobs Grip
    Boss Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone but Salvador and Krieg

###Dahl Minigun
Text goes here (note about fire rate)

  • Best Parts:
    Dahl Grip
    "Wild" Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone but Salvador

###Torgue Spiniguns
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Torgue Grip
    Damage Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Submachine Guns
(back to top)

###Lascaux
Text goes here (note about Locked element)

  • Best Parts:
    Dahl Grip
    Damage Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Tediore Plasma Casters
Text goes here (throw damage)

  • Best Parts:
    Tediore Grip
    Mag size Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone, especially Salvador, Krieg and Axton

###Bandit SMGs
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Bandit Barrel
    Bandit Grip
    Damage Prefix
  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Tattler
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Bandit Grip
    Prefix is fixed
  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Grenade Mods
(back to top)

###Transfusions
Text goes here (Slag)

  • Good for:
    Everyone, especially Zero

###Singularities
Text goes here (note about crowd control)

  • Good for:
    Everyone, especially Zero and Maya

###Vladof Grenades
Text goes here

  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Kiss of death
Text goes here

  • Good for:
    Everyone


#Shields
(back to top)

###Adaptive Shields
Text goes here (note about health stacking)

  • Best Parts:

  • Good for:
    Salvador, Krieg, Axton, Maya

###Turtle shields
Text goes here (note about shield stacking)

  • Best Parts:

  • Good for:
    Zero, Gaige, Axton

###Tediore shields
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:
    Tediore parts

  • Good for:
    Maya, Zero, Axton


#Relics
(back to top)

###Blood of the ancient
Text goes here

  • Good for:
    Everyone

###Allegiance relics
Text goes here

  • Best Parts:

  • Good for:
    Everyone

8 Likes
What Makes Top Gear, Top Gear?
#2

As a “good on anyone”, Moxxi Bad & Good Touch and Heartbreaker come to mind. The Kiss of Death is problematic to me because it always seems to have a long fuse time (is it fixed at 3.0 s, or am I just really unlucky?)

Also, good to see you back @Chuck80!

3 Likes
#3

Good and Bad touch are great additions
Heartbreaker is already regarded as great and is on many top gears if I remember correctly

Yes it is fixed, and you wouldn’t want it to be lower because it’s less a fuse as a damage duration. It hits for 3 seconds, then explodes into health trails.

Yes, the Kiss of death deserves a fair shake indeed :slight_smile:

1 Like
#4

Hmm… I knew about the damage while it stuck, but I didn’t realise that was the actually fuse time. Given how long it takes to find and attach to a target, I thought the fuse time referred to that. Interesting. I do agree that it’s overlooked, and should be given more opportunity. (See what I did there? :smiley: )

2 Likes
#5

Suggest adding Krieg to being especially good for Tediore PC’s?

1 Like
#6

I might have more later but right off the bat…

The area of effect grenades.

Telsa
Corrosive Cloud
Fire Burst

1 Like
#7

I use the Shock KoD grenade with Moxxi Maya and it works great. The key is to be holding a Rubi or Grog while it is hugging face so you get the healz from the 3.0 fuse time.

1 Like
#8

My favorite aspect of these weapons, a truly understated and oft ignored criteria. Well said.

:smiley: On a serious note this looks to be a great start to a great thread. Unfortunately I can’t tell one part from the next half the time. I wish they listed the parts if you brought them up in the Examine screen.

2 Likes
#9

Why aren’t Maliwan weapons on that list? The spash damage alone makes them better.

#10

Because this list is still a work in progress :wink:

I will include Maliwan snipers, but I’m not sure other weapon types deserve a spot

1 Like
#11

While the fire rate is average and it uses two bullets, the splash damage on the pistol puts it on par is elemental vladof pistols. And the SMGs are consistent.

#12

I don’t understand why the best grip for the Teapot (a Dahl pistol) is the Torgue one… could/would someone enlighten me, please?

#13

I’m pretty sure we deemed the Kiss of Death to be “trash” tier in your Nisha TG? Unless it preforms differently in BL2 it truly isn’t a good grenade.

Around post 508-521. If you need me to test in game first just ask.

1 Like
#14

Um… I’ll be abstaining from contributions here. :laughing:

1 Like
#15

Not sure if this is good but the seraph Patriot is a good replacement for a Lyuda.

#16

The Dahl grip lowers damage (not good) increases accuracy (the gun is already in the 90s) and the matching grip bonus gives extra reload speed and mag size to a gun that already does both very well. The extra damage from a Torgue grip is noticeable, and the drawback (lower accuracy) isn’t.

The Dahl grip is still a great choice, but I think the Torgue one is a bit better.

3 Likes
#17

Different game. TPS suffers much less from Moxxi-itis than BL2. Having a weapon source of healing is a given for a lot of characters. It doesn’t work well as a damage dealer, but it serves both as a long duration AOE damage source (when you’re holding a Moxxi gun) and it has the healing trails on top.

Still, it should be tested.

The notion that the KoD might have been good in TPS came from the fact that it is great in BL2.

#18

I have tried the Patriot a few times, and my conclusion is that Salvador can make reasonable use of it, but otherwise, a purple Droog is almost always better. And the Droog definitely makes the list here. :slight_smile:

#19

I disagree, they are not on par.

Vladof pistols may not have splash, and if they were twice as fast they would be comparable… But they are closer to 4x as fast… With more than 4x the mag size (and more if you consider ammo spent per shot)

…And that’s not considering that splash can’t crit.

I love Maliwan pistols, but Vladof are objectively better.

I’m on the fence about including them really. Maybe other people have an opinion on them to help me decide?

As for Maliwan SMGs, they don’t have splash. What the have over other brands is higher DoT chance and damage, which isn’t really relevant at higher level unless you’re Krieg… And if you’re Krieg, the Hellfire has even higher DoT values and DOES have splash.

Bandit makes much better basic SMGs than Maliwan. (Which reminds me to put them on the list)

#20

Fair enough. I guess Maliwan pistols aren’t a good “Everyone” pistol for your thread.

As for SMG’s I now they don’t have splash, but I’ve always liked them, probably because of BL1. I just take which ever SMG is best at the given level.

1 Like