TORGUEMANDO: THE FINAL CUT
TORGUEMANDO is a longtime favorite playstyle of Axton players everywhere. It takes advantage of Axton’s numerous grenade damage bonuses and combines them with TORGUE weapons (the most common weapons that are buffed by said bonuses) for some truly devastating and EXPLOSIVE action. While perhaps not the best for raids (you’ll probably want to look into Tediore for that), the TORGUEMANDO way of life performs excellently against mobs and most bosses (in other words, the vast majority of the game) and works well for both leveling and endgame.
This guide is a replacement for my old TORGUEMANDO guide that I wrote back in 2015. It’s meant to be more comprehensive and flexible than the old one which I feel was basically just a detailing of my build at the time rather than a detailing of the TORGUEMANDO lifestyle in general like its title suggested (imho it was also written kinda cringily).
This guide is written for both vanilla game players and players using the Unofficial Community Patch (UCP) and accommodates for differences between the two versions of the game.
Skills
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Skills that you should DEFINITELY take
Steady, Battlefront and Do or Die
- Basically the reason why TORGUEMANDO even exists. The buffs to grenade damage that these skills provide also increase the splash damage of your TORGUE guns, provided the splash of said guns is counted by the game as grenade damage (more info on that here). They also increase the damage of your grenades (duh), which is neat as well because better EXPLOSIONS, obviously.
Onslaught, Impact and (again) Battlefront
- These skills provide gun damage buffs that will make your grenade damage buffs even better. They increase the damage of all parts of your TORGUE bullets (including the parts that don’t get grenade damage) and are multiplicative with your grenade damage buffs, making the EXPLODEY parts of those bullets even more EXPLODEYER. You should definitely have these even in the rare occasion that you aren’t using TORGUE guns.
Ready and Pressure
- TORGUE guns typically have slow reloads. These skills increase your reload speed by a lot and will greatly improve the performance of your TORGUE guns.
Metal Storm
- TORGUE guns also typically have slow fire rates. This skill will help a lot with that.
Willing, Preparation, (again) Pressure and Quick Charge
- Axton’s shield skills. These along with the Sabre Turret form the core of his defense, and every TORGUEMANDO should definitely take them.
Longbow Turret
- Most of Axton’s gamechanger skills (except for Do or Die which you should definitely take anyway) modify the Sabre Turret and which ones you should take is ultimately up to you but Longbow Turret is the one turret gamechanger that everybody takes. While everything about it is amazing, its namesake longbow ability in particular is great for TORGUEMANDOS because it’s extremely helpful for giving you enough space to use those TORGUE guns that can’t be easily used at close range.
Sentry and Resourceful
- These skills let you use the turret more, which is obviously awesome but especially so for TORGUEMANDOS because it means Battlefront is active more often. More Battlefront = more gun and grenade damage = better EXPLOSIONS!
- Note that if you’re playing with the UCP then Resourceful will be in Guerrilla instead of Survival and you might consider skipping it if there’s another skill in that tree which you find more desirable.
Skills that you might consider taking
Able and Grit
- These along with Preparation are Axton’s healing skills. Both are great (especially Grit) but Axton’s general survival strategy revolves around taking as little health damage as possible and some players find just Preparation and/or life steal to be enough. I personally always take them but whether you want to is up to you.
Grenadier
- This skill lets you carry more grenades which means you can create more EXPLOSIONS! However, not every player relies on grenades as a major part of their playstyle and also some people find that the grenade regen provided by the Dragon Keep magic grenades is enough, so I’m not counting it as a required skill but am recommending it nonetheless because it’s super fun, it can be boosted by Grenadier COMs and it also goes extremely well with the TORGUE theme.
Scorched Earth
- The first step to making your turret deal EXPLOSIONS, too. This will help the turret wreck face at lower levels and while it might not be as much of a killer in UVHM it generally doesn’t hurt to have it.
Mag-Lock
Overload
- In the vanilla game it only increases assault rifle magazine size and isn’t worth it unless you’re trying to get to Nuke and you use the KerBlaster a lot. With the UCP however it increases the magazine size of all your guns as well as your max ammo capacity and is great for TORGUE shotguns and especially rocket launchers.
Capstone skills
The capstones are enough of a unique case for Axton that they get their own category in this guide. You should definitely have at least one of them and ideally two; however any combination of them will work great and all of them have something to offer to the TORGUEMANDO experience. Which ones will work best is ultimately contingent on your playstyle and I suggest trying all three before settling on which ones you want in your final build.
Double Up
Nuke
Gemini
Leveling tips
Gear
(something)
Basic setup
Close-range TORGUE weapon
- For when enemies get too close to you and you need to blow them up quickly without hurting yourself. This role is usually filled by a TORGUE shotgun.
Mid-range TORGUE weapon
- For when enemies are far away enough from you that you can’t easily blow them up with your close-range TORGUE weapon. This role is usually filled by a TORGUE pistol or assault rifle.
- Do note that the TORGUE Torpedo assault rifle (the one with the big fat TORGUE barrel) in the vanilla version of the game does not get grenade damage and is also generally not very good and should thus be avoided (the UCP version is fine).
TORGUE rocket launcher
- For blowing up large groups of enemies and getting Second Winds. They may not get grenade damage but it should be noted that every skill that increases grenade damage also increases rocket launcher damage (additively) which is nice.
Slagging tool
- You won’t need this in your first two playthroughs but in UVHM it’s basically required for every character and unfortunately TORGUE doesn’t make any gear that comes in slag so you’ll need a non-TORGUE gun or grenade to fill this role.
Something to use against EXPLOSION-resistant enemies
- Enemies that are resistant to EXPLOSIONS are rare but they do exist and unless you’re looking for a serious challenge it’s a good idea to keep a non-TORGUE weapon in handy just in case you run into one (unless you’re planning to kill them with a Peak Opener or a World Burn in case please use that).
Something to use against aerial enemies
Endgame gear
This is a list of gear that should be of particular interest to TORGUEMANDOS at endgame. For non-TORGUE guns and grenades as well as gear that works great for Axton in general, please refer to Axton’s top gear guide.
Gear is listed by type and in release order.
Pistols
Unkempt Harold
- If you’re reading this guide then chances are you’ve heard all about this weapon but for the uninitiated, it ■■■■■■■ wrecks, it gets grenade damage, it has unlisted projectiles, it’s easy to use and it’s easy to acquire as well. Every TORGUEMANDO should have one.
Devastator
Pocket Rocket
Assault Rifles
Shotguns
Flakker
- Despite having an infamously high learning curve and not getting grenade damage it’s still capable of absolutely wrecking face and you should definitely try to acquire one. Plus it looks ■■■■■■■ awesome.
Landscaper
- This shotgun is infamous for being one of the worst weapons in the vanilla game but with the UCP it becomes an extremely helpful weapon and the only red text TORGUE shotgun that can be safely used at close range. Its child projectiles are great for taking out armored psychos, EXP loaders and other annoying enemies that like to rush you but are also subject to Borderlands terrain wonkiness so keep that in mind.
Ravager
SWORDSPLOSION!!!
Carnage
- As of UCP 4.2 this is the only red text TORGUE shotgun other than the Flakker that doesn’t get grenade damage and thus won’t deal as much damage as other options on here but it’s still solid for mobbing as a TORGUEMANDO (if you’re savvy with modding you might consider changing its splash type to grenade). Its projectiles are fast and explode on impact making it considerably easier to use than other weapons in which you can hurt yourself with.
Unicornsplosion
- Literally SWORDSPLOSION!!! but Butt Stallion-themed and 300% more obnoxious. It’s ■■■■■■■ amazing.
Rocket Launchers
Shields
The Bee
Deadly Bloom
The Sham
Captain Blade’s Manly Man Shield
- It’s pretty crap in the vanilla game but in the UCP it gets a massive buff and now gets grenade damage. Add to that the fact that you get the melee damage boost whether or not your shields are depleted and you get a shield that finally allows for melee Axton (and better yet, melee TORGUEMANDO) builds to happen. It’s nowhere as fluid as melee Zer0 or Krieg but if you’re looking to ■■■■ around and the prospect of meleeing enemies so hard they EXPLODE sounds appealing then this shield is for you.
Big Boom Blaster
Blockade
- A lot of endgame TORGUE weapons are easy to hurt yourself with so if you’re using one of them you might consider using this shield to help with that.
Class Mods
Grenadier
Legendary Soldier
Rifleman
Specialist
Legendary Engineer
Legendary Grenadier
Grenade Mods
Bonus Package
- This is basically a MIRV made up of several smaller MIRVs which means a metric ■■■■ ton of EXPLOSIONS!!! Just be careful with it or else you’ll go down, too.
Captain Blade’s Midnight Star
Meteor Shower
- It’s literally the Bonus Package but better, which means an even metric-ier metric ■■■■ ton of EXPLOSIONS!!!
Relics
Strategy
EXPLOSIONS!?!?!?!?!?!?