Certain Launcher from DLC is more balanced than you think

Borderlands 3 Loot and Weapons
#1

Hi all. I have seen a lot of people commenting on how good the ion cannon is, how it’s OP, or even that it should get nerfed. I actually think this is one of the more balanced launchers they have put in the game, and it’s not as OP as everyone is making it out to be.

A little about me, because I know some people are going to wonder why they should even listen to what I have to say, I play a launcher fl4k almost exclusively. I work with many people on fl4k launcher builds (including some popular people on YouTube), and I enjoy breaking down the different damage properties of launchers to find what people miss with anointments and stats on class mods/artifacts to make them more effective. With only launchers I solo slaughter shaft M4 TVHM quickly and efficiently, as well as Maliwan takedown. I intentionally try to break the game with launchers and pass on my knowledge to others. When I use the ion cannon I routinely hit for 5 to 14 million damage (NOT in fade away and NON-crits) with consistency, and don’t have ammo issues. Does that mean my word is gospel? Not at all, but I know a thing or two about launchers and the ion cannon.

The ion cannon is really good against single targets or super tightly packed enemies, but still isn’t as good as other launchers in the game for more wide spread groups, slaughter shaft, trials, etc. and other launchers in game perform just as well for what it is great at. It’s still one of the top 3 best launchers in the game, and it’s ONE of my favorite single target launchers, but that’s not saying much and doesn’t exactly make it nerf worthy. The launchers that are better for more things, and almost as good for single targets, generally aren’t even legendaries. There are so many non-launcher weapons that kill groups faster that are usable by everyone that it makes the notion of needing this one almost laughable. I think why many people are so excited about it is because launchers in general have a reputation of being terrible, and this is the first decent one people have had easy access to that isn’t.

I think this brings a few things to light about launchers in general. First, I think that many of the other launchers (legendaries in particular) need a buff. I’m just going to leave that there. Second, the good NON-legendary launchers are waaaaaaaay too hard to farm for. Because the only launchers that competitive with non-launcher weapons must have certain stats and anointments, even if you do happen to get one it will likely not even be close to the one with the right rolls to be usable in M4. This is further compounded by the fact that they have no dedicated loot source. Third, lastly, and possibly the most disappointing (and I can say this without breaking forum rules because they were droppable in a certain event in beta and people I know used them at the event) is that there are some launchers that are in the core game that have not been droppable since beta that don’t need work.

So, can everyone please calm down about the nerf talk with the ion cannon? And for the devs, can you please look at the other items I brought up?

18 Likes
#2

I agree people are freaking out about the big base damage numbers but don’t realize it’s really not too big comparatively. For example the Scourge is still the king of rocket damage as I show with my Zane videos from before the patch one-shotting many bosses on M4 with Zane. People see a 2million hit with Zane or 8 million with Fl4k and think it’s OP but they don’t realize other launchers hit that high already but aren’t as straight forward on the card. Traunt on M4 for example has several millions of HP but I was already able to 1-shot both Captain and General Traunts(even more hp on General). Other launchers were dishing out this insane amounts of damage previously as well. The one thing about the ION is it has a low ammo consumption so it’s a lot more sustainable but there were already many ways to have sustainable rocket ammo on other big name launchers.

4 Likes
#3

I’m not a launcher fan by any means, but I did notice the new launcher is great for single enemies. But man oh man can it really destroy you if your not careful

1 Like
#4

Hahaha all launchers can! And there are ways that ammo is never an issue for launchers with every class (except for maybe Amara because she performs so much better with a different artifact).

#5

I hope they don’t nerf it, it is op though, but I think they either don’t care about this one or made the same mistake as the flakker when they didn’t think it would have been so effective.

#6

What makes it “OP” though? Please explain. As a couple of us already explained in this topic it’s not even as powerful as several already existing launchers. So why is this one OP?

#7

You can’t even rocket the damage up with Zane because it won’t charge before a slide ends

#8

You can actually get a shot off during a snowdrift slide. But it’s still not any stronger then other options.

It is more accessible to more builds due to the low consumption of ammo, but damage wise, it does not out perform.

1 Like
#9

stop calling nerf on something just because they are good , this is ■■■■■■■■ . that not how borderlands or a loot game works . keep on nerfing and it will also nerf the diversity , let people use what they like .

2 Likes
#10

You described how effective Zane can be with scourge, I still run into people who think that launcher is trash.
Anyone with any spec or mod can one shot enemies, and as I found out keep stacking overkill damage with ease.
You can’t tell me you’re not trying to think of how high the numbers on this thing can get when spec’d right too.

#11

Oh, I have. The game caps my damage. I have been messing around with builds to get to the damage cap without having to spec too many points into damage and have faster cooldown and/or more survivability.

#12

Yah I’m not saying it’s not strong, it’s very strong. Just saying it’s not ‘overpowered’ especially when compared to other options already in the game nobody ever complained about.

4 Likes
#13

You can get 100k with a Jakobs crit modifier on both your sniper and your Troublemaker com plus PD. What’s possible with Zane is a bit funny compared to older Jack of All Trades characters. We always make this about Zane, either way it’s a 10K HW. Ruby’s Wrath is around there. It’s not insane. The Creamer though. That’s the best RL. Healing, plus a double explosion at around 30 yards. that’s just broken. Do not patch pls

#14

Nobody notices because those other op options aren’t advertised by certain people, and take a little more bit work but you’re right no one complained when Zane one shot the graveward.

2 Likes
#15

Agreed. Been working on a Moze heavy specialist for awhile. (There are ones that work, but didn’t feel good to play for me personally.)

This rocket launcher is great on Moze given her fantastic ammo sustain with relatively little investment.

It is not OP. It is top tier for single targets, but only if you are getting consistent crits and have full guardian ranks, Overkill in particular shines here.

A lot of great launchers are purple and blue, and as a result tend to get ignored. (One of my favorite things about Bl3 compared to previous titles is that purple and blues can actually be amazing, not just Legendaries.)

If anything, this shows that snipers and many other launchers need to be reworked. Also, as OP said, the ability to get “lower quality” heavy weapons with good annointments and stats need to be easier to get. I spent longer farming for good gruppa and Strack launchers than any other gear I have… Let alone the Borgnak or whatever. (Alien barrel vladof, a worse version of Ion Cannon.)

2 Likes
#16

I currently don’t see how the ION Cannon is broken. If I want to be efficient without risking anything, then I’ll just use a Hive for mobbing, which is arguably the best mobbing launcher for armored enemies. It’s basically as if you shot a launcher with a 100 feet blast radius that cannot hurt you. The ION Cannon lies on the complete opposite side of the spectrum as it’s great for single targets, but suicidal at close range and is pretty balanced considering it’s charge up time and effective uses. It’s a boss weapon if I have ever seen one. Also, as with most heavy guns in this game, without ammo regen it’s hard to maintain it (which is why Moze feels especially broken with it).

Snipers in BL3 are outright bad in most cases with the Lyuda and AutoAimé being probably the best ones. The game needs better one shot one kill snipers that do not work exclusively at long range (looking at the Monocle here). Even the Muckamuck doesn’t feel good to use this time. But that’s a deep-rooted problem as snipers of all gun types suffer by far the most from the increased mobility.

4 Likes
#17

wow u just assume everybody only follow the trend except u .

#18

i can already see the ion cannon build happening , because the thing can spawn with large mag size , u cant possibly run out of ammo with moze

2 Likes
#19

It’s the first viable launcher we’ve gotten! Don’t nerf it!

5 Likes
#20

You surely can run out, except if you stack ammo regen per anointments on top of Moze’s natural ammo regen. But that’s the beauty of Moze: She can stack damage on top of an already strong gun and can still maintain it, especially with clever uses of Some for the Road.

1 Like