This will get populated as the game goes but I will add stuff before I get to max level but will do heavy changes as the game progresses and we learn more, as well as with level caps.
Not all the guns will be put through extensive testing until I reach endgame and acquire them all but once they do I will judge them on the following criteria at max level running many maps
- DPS/Stopping power
- Ammo consumption
- Ease of use
- Effective range
- Versatility (comes in different elements)
- Other positive effects (moxxi, melee, other utility effects)
- Synergy with Athena’s skills
- Need to retreat with the gear in hand
- Co-op benefits
LASERS
Thorny Ol’ Rosie
Every thorn has it’s rose.
This is a unique Maliwan purple laser that’s special effect is an extra 368% multiplicative damage from continuous fire. A normal Maliwan Beam has 218% at max and they are powerful. Just hold down the trigger and profit between the Maelstrom you stack up and the almost 400%+ buff you get not much can survive this. It is the second highest DPS laser in the game.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Locked parts
- Obtaining: It is a reward for completing the final main story quest: The Beginning of the End (True Vault Hunter Mode and UVHM)
- Non Red Text Alternative: Maliwan Beam
Toby’s Bright Spadroon
The elegant way to be clumsy and random.
This is a unique Maliwan blue laser that is modeled after star wars light sabers, the special effect is that it has high base damage, a massive magazine and 214% damage from continuous fire, but it only shoots a very short distance that is pretty much melee range. This gun always comes in shock and works great with Athena because the Aspis lets you use this up close with little to no worry and its damage will tear down most enemies in no time at all. It has the highest DPS of any laser in the game if you can use it in range.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Locked parts
- Obtaining: It is a reward for completing the side quest These are the Bots in Vorago Solitude
- Non Red Text Alternative: Maliwan Beam
Miss Moxxi’s Vibra-Pulse
Why not turn me on?
This is a unique Maliwan blue Moxxi laser that has 2.5% life steal and it can bounce to nearby targets after a hit really raising its dps. Most Moxxi guns have a hidden crit bonus so some testing on this will be done to figure out all of its abilities. But for now Maliwan lasers are great with Athena and lifesteal is nothing to ignore.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Locked parts
- Obtaining: It is acquired by starting the mission Home Sweet Home and opening the weapon crate located in Moxxi’s Up & Over Bar in Concordia
- Non Red Text Alternative: Maliwan Beam
Honorable Mentions
ZX-1
Replay!
This is a legendary Dahl laser that after the first hit all shots will home into that target, it also has a very high DOT damage and always comes in fire, the homing effect ends when reloaded. This is great because once you land your first shot its easy to run and gun with as well as the high DOT working wonders with Maelstrom. It can be hard to crit with this but it rarely matters because of the massive damage output. Beware because it is Dahl you will not be able to burst fire with the Aspis up.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Parts are locked
- Obtaining: It can be obtained randomly from any suitable loot source, but has an increased chance to drop from Colonel Zarpedon in the Eye of Helios. It also has an increased chance to drop from The Invincible Empyrean Sentinel in Eleseer.
- Non Red Text Alternative: Dahl/Maliwan Blaster
Mining Laser
PROTOTYPE - Authorized personnel only.
This is a unique Hyperion rail gun that has 3 pellets that are in a set fire pattern retaining high accuracy, quickly gets to max accuracy from the Hyperion reverse recoil, has penetration, and can come with a blade. It has 50% crit bonus from the Hyperion laster body, and can get an additional 10% from a Hyperion stock so up to a 60% crit bonus. The downfalls of this is it consumes 7 ammo per shot and has a fire rate of 1. The fire rate is quickly negated by all of Athena’s fire rate buffs and because of how hard it hits the ammo is not really a concern, but if you are concerned about ammo Elemental Barrage can take care of that. Do to the 3 pellets and 40%+ chance to cause status effect this thing really does well building Maelstrom despite the low fire rate, and being Hyperion is works great from the hip.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Hyperion/Maliwan grip, Hyperion stock, Blade for Acc is the only option
- Obtaining: It is one of two possible rewards for completing the optional mission Infinite Loop. DAN-TRP will offer it as a reward if CLAP-9000 is disabled.
- Non Red Text Alternative: Hyperion Railgun
Excalibastard 
Though art most badass.
This is a legendary Hyperion laser that always spawns with a blade and in cryo, has 100% to freeze enemies on critical hit, and when you kill an enemy that is frozen they cryo nova releases freezing nearby enemies. This might be the best gun for Blood Rush in the game, frozen enemies are Blood Rushes best friend.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Parts are locked
- Obtaining:Obtained once per character from Stanton’s Liver where you can pull it out of a rock if you have bar over 2500.
- Non Red Text Alternative: Niveous Lancer Railgun
SUB MACHINE GUNS
Hellfire
We don’t need no fire…
This is a legendary Maliwan smg that has 50% splash damage, a high elemental effect chance as well as damage, and of course is fire only. This is great for Maelstrom, splash damage means each shot has 2 chances to cause a DOT and the stacks add up fast. There are very few guns in the game with high fire rate and splash damage making this gun even more special. A regular Maliwan smg has a 14.4% effect chance compared to the 20.6% of this but also that is one chance with a regular and twice with the hellfire, the dot damage on the hellfire is also around 14% more powerful on the hellfire.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Maliwan grip, Dahl stock, Impetuous (fire rate/bullet speed) prefix
- Obtaining: This is a drop from RK5 in the Outfall Pumping Station
- Gameplay: SilkyGoodness burning up Hyperion scum and Taking on the Invincible Sentinel
- Non Red Text Alternative: Consummate Provacateur
IVF
OMG TWINS!!
This is a legendary Tediore smg that on a reload toss spawns 2 child smg’s that also explode on impact. I don’t yet know the damage of each child smg but if you build stacks and chuck this thing it will one shot bosses. Beware because it will eat your ammo up quick but you shouldn’t need much to win with this. If you are going to do some chucking with this I highly suggest maxing out Gathering Tempest for faster and bigger throws with that and high Maelstrom this is the single largest damage source in the game.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Bandit grip, Dahl stock, Hefty (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
- Non Red Text Alternative: Hefty Subcompact MG
Torrent
Spray it to slay it.
This is a legendary Dahl smg that has a larger than average burst but also has a really fast fire rate from the hip, and that is why its here. The torrent might be better to hip fire than to burst fire and Athena loves that, while you ADS it is more accurate but the hip fire accuracy is really good, it also comes in the right elements for Maelstrom as well.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Dahl grip, Dahl stock, Flying (fire rate) prefix
- Obtaining: It is a drop from Meg located in the Hyperion Hub of Heroism, she does not respawn if you turn in the side quest Kill Meg
- Gameplay: MightyCrawfish the Invisible using the Torrent to show Felicity and her minions what a true boss is made of
Fatale
Stone-cold killer.
This is a legendary Hyperion smg that has a 75% critical hit bonus, reduced time to max accuracy and always comes in cryo. While it only being in cryo can be a downfall for Athena the hip fire accuracy and the fact maelstrom comes after critical hits and cryo boosts crits this can be a very good gun to swap to and use with flash freeze as well. It does have a low effect chance but with its fire rate and storm weaving that is less of an issue.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Bandit Grip, Dahl stock, Rightsizing (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: World drop
- Non Red Text Alternative: Projectile Convergence
Fridgia
Icy Moon of Munga.
This is a blue unique Dahl smg that fires 2 bullets at once for the cost of 1 ammo in a set pattern that always comes in cryo, has no recoil, and has a really fast fire rate from the hip. While the accuracy on this isn’t great at distance it is very strong up front and between the fire rate, 2 pellets at a time, and the recoil means you know where the bullets will go. It is one of the better guns to freeze with in the game, but its also a killer in itself, not just a tool to freeze. This gun will mow down enemies quickly and ammo efficiently. It will not stack maelstrom, but it does get buffed by it and there are other ways to stack.
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Elements:
- Best Parts: Dahl grip, Dahl stock, Flying (fire rate)/Bladed (melee) prefix
- Obtaining: It is obtained from the side quest In Perfect Hibernation located in the Veins of Helios.
SHOTGUNS
Sledge’s Shotty
The legend lives.
This is a legendary Scav shotgun that shoots in a burst fire no matter if you ADS or hip fire, it has an extended magazine, and always spawns with a blade for an accessory. What makes this great wtih Athena is it can be elemental so the first shot can stack a decent amount of Maelstrom with 11 so the second shot in the burst hits even harder. We have the skills to close the gap to be close enough to use it with it’s lower accuracy as well. This might be the best shotgun for Athena.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental
- Best Parts: Bandit grip, Hyperion stock, acc locked.
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
- Gameplay: Expediter pulls and Oprah with Slede’s Shotty , you get a facefull of shotgun and you get a faceful of shotgun, everybody gets a faceful of shotgun
Flakker
Flak the world.
This is a legendary Torgue shotgun that shoots 3 bullets (5 with vertical prefix) and each of those spawn 10 child pellets that shoot off in a large cone shaped spread and explode with a decently large splash radius each. Each pellet that shoots off is a pellet and it is not pure splash so you can land quite a few crits, it also has 100% splash damage. While not great on small targets, on medium to large targets there are few guns that can match the raw damage of this, add in the fact that it is explosive and therefor boosted by Maelstrom stacks this thing will hit harder than maybe any gun in the game.
- Elements: Explosive
- Best Parts: Torgue grip, Hyperion stock, Casual (extra pellets) acc
- Obtaining: This drops from the Even-More-Disgusting Tork during the side quest All The Little Creatures in Stanton’s Liver
- Gameplay: Sljm with the Flakker vs Iwajira
Partyline
[color=red]Excellent![/color]
This is a blue unique Tediore shotgun wtih 2 special effects, the first is a skyrocket type throw on reload, and the second is more skyrocket explosions around the shot similar to the flakker. It is also locked in fire and the skyrocket splash is 100% damage. So like other guns with splash damage you are getting more stacks with more hits and a much higher chance at dots which also means more stacks, then on the throw you can get even more stacks again. This gun almost seems like it was made for athena. Like most Tediore shotguns this should be shot and not thrown with full clips, the mag is not deep enough, shotgun ammo is too limited and the throw damage is based off of a single pellet damage not all of them.
- Elements: Fire
- Best Parts: Bandit grip, Hyperion stock, Gentle (extra pellets) acc
- Obtaining: You get this as a quest reward from the holodome or can be dropped by Ophas in the holodome
Torguemada
THE HAMMER OF HERETICS! SUBTLE HISTORY REFEREEEEEEENCE!
This is a unique blue Torgue shotgun that shoots 5 pellets each with 100% splash bonus and each pellet puts out 3 flacks that are also 100% splash damage. While at face value this looks like a mini flakker its much more. Even though its a bandit or triple barrel it only takes 1 ammo per shot and it is also much faster than the flakker with both fire rate and reload speed. So yes its a mini flakker but that is a good thing, this can be much better for mobbing and smaller targets and is much much more ammo efficient. Each bullet without any skills or gear can do up to an additional 400% damage with all the splash and flaks. When you compare it to the flakker this has 7 shots per mag compared to the flakkers 3 and also it has just shy of triple the fire rate as well.
- Elements: Explosive
- Best Parts: Torgue grip, Hyperion stock, Casual (extra pellets) acc
- Obtaining: Quest reward from “Torgue-o! Torgue-o!”
Octo
Octo means 9.
This is a unique blue Tediore shotgun that fires in a set sine wave pattern where the bullets converge in and out around a center point, this is the same if you ADS or hipfire making it really strong while your Aspis is up and it also stacks Maelstrom well being an elemental shotgun. The throw is nice as well because Tediore reloads do get Maelstrom stacks but like most Tediore shotguns this should be shot and not thrown with full clips, the mag is not deep enough, shotgun ammo is too limited and the throw damage is based off of a single pellet damage not all of them.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental.
- Best Parts: Bandit grip, Hyperion stock, Gentle (extra pellets) acc
- Obtaining: You get this as a quest reward from a side quest Lab 19 in Research and Development
Bullpup
One bad pup!
This is a blue unique Hyperion Shotgun that has 2 special effects that are rather simple. First it has stats in-between the old and new Hyperion shoguns, new has more damage but less fire rate, reload, and accuracy, the old is the opposite, the Bullpup is right in the middle. Second it has an increased mag size that is almost double, with matching parts other Hyperion shotguns have a mag of 10, this one has 19. Almost doubling the mag and really solid other stats make this a very very good shotgun. The deep mag and accuracy make it great for Maelstrom and it comes in all elements to make it better for that. Since it is also a Hyperion barrel it means that its only 1 ammo consumed per shot so its a true 19 shot shotgun. With Gathering Tempest at 10/5 this thing can have 34 in the mag, and add in Elemental Barrage you would easily see around 70 shots before a reload is needed.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental.
- Best Parts: Locked grip/stock, Crit Acc
- Obtaining: You get this as a veteran reward for having bl1 save files on your platform but you can get it at any level following these steps
- Gameplay Sljm destroying Iwajira with the Bullpup l CharCross rapid firing the Bullpup to dominate the Sentinal
PISTOLS
T4s-R
I politely request that you do not T4s-R me. good sir.
This is a blue unique Hyperion pistol that has increased fire rate, magazine size, and elemental effect chance while it has lowered damage. The reason those things add up to make it top gear is of course Maelstrom, fire rate means more stacks and it has 7.5 compared to 5 without a fire rate acc, the elemental effect chance is doubled from 12% to 24% and 24% on a gun with such fire rate is really impressive but even better with Athena because of the reverse recoil making it great with hip firing. Lastly adding 5 ammo to the magazine is quite nice also upping your DPS and stacks. Since this is somewhat low damage high fire rate you want to stay away from increasing fire rate but focus on parts that increase damage.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental.
- Best Parts: Scav/Jakobs grip, Win-Win (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: This can be obtained from the holodome for both beating it in different rounds, or enemies in the dome can drop it as well.
Zarpedon’s Cyber Eagle
Feel like I’m gonna break this damn thing!
This is a blue unique Jakobs pistol that comes in shock and has 100% accuracy with no accuracy loss. A few things make this great with Athena, first its shock so it works with maelstrom, the accuracy lets you hip fire it without issue which is great with the Aspis, the fire rate is great for stacking Maelstrom as well. Also since it is Jakobs it has the standard 25% crit bonus which as far as I know is still type B but that requires further testing.
- Elements: Shock
- Best Parts: Locked parts
- Obtaining: Found in chest at the end of “The Secret Chamber” side quest in Pity’s Fall.
Miss Moxxi’s Probe
Go deep enough, who knows what you’ll find.
This is a blue unique Maliwan Moxxi pistol that has around 5% lifesteal. This honestly isn’t needed for CS/Phalanx builds but for melee builds I’m sure it will be very helpful.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo
- Best Parts: Maliwan grip, Eviscerating (melee ) prefix
- Obtaining: It is a mission item for the Torgue-o Torgue-o side quest in Serenity’s Waste, you have to keep the quest open to keep this gun.
- Gameplay: TOG showing a dinosaur how to properly heal
Maggie
Monty’s wife don’t take no guff.
This is a legendary Jakobs pistol that shoots a shotgun like spread of 6 bullets at a time, but unlike a shotgun it has pistol qualities. So high accuracy meaning a tight spread, a bigger magazine, really fast reload. If you used the Maggie in bl2 this might look the same but it’s not. They drastically lowered the recoil making it far easier to manage and keep your shots on target, you can now hip fire it and hit things. Being a Jakobs pistol it also has a 25% type B crit bonus. This isn’t for CS builds but it is still amazing on Athena.
- Elements: None Elemental
- Best Parts: Jakobs grip, Dastardly (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
88 Fragnum
It’ll blow your head clean off.
This is a legendary Torgue pistol that shoots a spread of 5 pellets, one center pellet and 2 child pellets on each side. This like most the Torgue guns on here are on here because of what it can do with stacks of Maelstrom, also the spread of this makes it more like a mini shotgun but faster and with more range than a typical shotgun.
- Elements: None Elemental
- Best Parts: Torgue grip, Hard (damage) or Intense (fire rate) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
ASSAULT RIFLES
Hail
What plaything can you offer me today?
This is a unique blue Vladof AR that has a bunch of special effects. To start with this gun shoots in an arc and as the bullets come down from the arc they split into 2 each doing full card damage. On the bullets themselves they have 80% splash damage, 200% type A crit bonus, and the typical 20% AR type C crit as well. Lastly you have the Moxxi 2% healing on top of it. This is one of the most complete guns in the game, high crit and high splash, comes in all elements, fast fire rate, deep ammo pool, little to no recoil, healing, and unlisted pellets, but you have to learn to shoot it. The arc can take some practice to get used to but when you do there are few guns that can match this. The critical hit bonus is extra important on Athena since she doesn’t have any of those in her skill tree means there are 0 diminishing returns on that damage boost making it that much bigger with a character with 3 separate large multiplicative buffs. Also since each bullet can hit 4 times and it has a very fast fire rate this is also one of the best guns in the game for stacking.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, and Cryo
- Best Parts: Vladof/Bandit grip, Vladof/Dahl stock, Rabid (damage + fire rate) prefix
- Obtaining: Drops from Iwajira
Shredifier
Speed kills
This is a Vladof legendary assault rifle with a spin barrel and its special effect is its fire rate partialy due to decreased spool time to get to max fire rate faster and a very large mag size. Since this comes in shock and fires so fast this is a great gun for Athena players. You can stack like crazy with this and put out a ton of damage.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, and Non elemental.
- Best Parts: Vladof grip, Vladof/Dahl stock, Swift (fire rate) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Hammer Buster II
My dad… scientist… you know the drill.
This is a legendary Jakobs assault rifle that has a massively increased base damage, comes with a dahl barrel so the recoil is low, and has penetration or what we used to call pseudo b0re. Penetration is when bullets hit enemies they keep moving and can hit enemies behind them. Since this is a Jakobs it has an extra crit bonus that is 15% type B. I know this is a non elemental gun and we are talking about Athena but this thing hits really hard and not everyone wants to play CS builds.
- Elements: Non elemental
- Best Parts: Jackobs grip, Dahl stock, Boss (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Kerboom
Torgue got smarter BOOM!
This is a Torgue assault rifle that shoots a high damage explosive splash round and also drops a grenade on impact for a secondary explosion. This is very good for Athena because explosive damage receives Maelstrom boosts but also you can shoot it at close range and the secondary grenade can cause self inflicted damage and charge up your Aspis. Also since the second explosion is delayed there is a good chance the enemy will be at 50% health and the second impact can more likely have Omega-Senshu to boost it.
- Elements: Explosive
- Best Parts: Torgue grip, Dahl stock, Nasty (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Boomer is a non-repeatable boss during the quest “Never is never an option.”
SNIPER RIFLES
Pitchfork
Mainstream’d!
This is a legendary Dahl sniper that shoots 5 bullets per shot for the cost of 2 ammo instead of one, it has an extra 6 ammo in the magazine from a normal purple Dahl sniper, less damage (which is more than offset by the 5 pellets). Since this is Dahl it does burst fire while you ADS 4 rounds if you don’t have a Dahl stock, 5 if you do have a Dahl stock. While you can’t ADS if the Aspis is up 5 high damage pellets with a decent proc chance is a great thing and while your Apsis is down putting out 25 pellets in a single trigger pull is massive. While this is an ammo hog Elemental Barrage can help greatly with that. It also has low recoil so hipfiring it isn’t terrible as far as snipers go.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental
- Best Parts: Dahl/Jakobs grip, Dahl stock, Pacifying (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Snider
This is a regular Maliwan barreled Maliwan sniper. What makes this so good is they have 50% splash damage added to them as well as very solid all around stats. The splash means just on a hit you have at least 2 hits just from an impact but both hits also can proc a DOT and yes DOTs can stack. I’ve seen up to 17 Maelstrom stacks just from a single shot. These also have some of the highest elemental effect chance in the game of any gun.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Non Elemental
- Best Parts: Maliwan grip, Dahl/Hyperion stock, Banbury (fire rate) or Barking (damage) prefix
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
LAUNCHERS
Nukem
Name dropper.
This is a legendary Torgue launcher that shoots in an arc and on impact it has a massive “Nuke” type explosion with a mushroom cloud. One of the issues of this gun in bl2 was that the explosion was so big people often killed themselves with it on accident, but we have a little thing called the Aspis that can absorb the entire explosion and get to its damage cap in one shot. So not only does this launcher destroy enemies but now it also makes us much stronger. It’s a great combo and really satisfying after so many accidental deaths from this gun in the past.
- Elements: Explosive
- Obtaining: Drops from Flame Knuckle which is non repeatable, so best luck might be the grinder.
Mongol
The horde will always return!
This is a legendary Vladof launcher that shoots off its main rocket and as it travels explosive child rockets spawn off and hit nearby targets. Since we don’t have etech launchers this is most likely the best FFYL launcher, the main rocket can be any element and even the explosive child rockets get boosted by maelstrom. With the damage Athena can give to this, the AOE with all the childs splitting off and the fact the speed of a Vladof launcher makes this very effective wtih FFYL and just in general for taking out big crowds quick.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Explosive
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Badaboom
Multi-kill.
This is legendary Scav rocket launcher that shoots 6 rockets per shot for the price of 1 ammo instead of the typical 3. That is really all there is too it, massive damage from 6 rockets as well as a decent AOE from all of those, making it the best launcher with Maelstrom because of the 6 rockets hitting. It is also very very ammo efficient only using 1 rocket for all those, and with such a small ammo pool that is very important.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Explosive
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
GRENADES
Stormfront
Sometimes lighting does strike twice
This is a legendary Vladof tesla grenade that spawns multiple child teslas around it for a massive AOE or shock dots. There just isn’t anything in the game that can put out as many dots as this and for Maelstrom I don’t think there is a better grenade in the game. This is also amazing because it is one of if not the best grenade for melee set ups and stripping your shield.
- Elements: Shock
- Best Parts: Longbow
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Quasar
E = mc^(OMG)/wtf
This is a legendary Hyperion singularity grenade that has the biggest singularity in the game as well as an added tesla effect. When you throw this there is damage on the initial pull, then a tesla effect, then a massive strong shock AOE. This if placed well can out dot a storm front because enemies can’t walk out of it, can be better on mobs but not as good on large slow moving bosses. It will also work great with Wrath of the Godess, Smite, and Zues’ Rage by grouping everyone up.
- Elements: Shock
- Best Parts: Longbow
- Obtaining: This is a drop from Felicity Rampant in Titan Robot Production Plant
Fire Bee
Bees are coming!
This is a legendary Vladof AOE grenade that spins and spurts out fire for a very long duration but also shoots out homing “fire bees” that seek out and hit enemies, it also has a massive radius and very high DOT damage. This will stack really fast and do massive damage, more so indoors but to flesh enemies outdoors its amazing even in a vacuum.
- Elements: Fire
- Best Parts: Longbow
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
SHIELDS
Prismatic Bulwark
Full spectrum.
This is a Legendary absorb shield that has a lot of abilities and has very nice base stats which is rare for many legendary shields. This thing has upwards of 70%+ chance to absorb lasers, has added laser damage and has laser resistance for that odd time one doesn’t get absorbed. Even if you are not using a lot of lasers, which most CS Athenas do, its a solid sheild because so many enemies have lasers. If you are maining lasers, this is 3DD1.E add a lot to your damage and durability, making it one of if not the best shield for CS Athenas.
- Elements: None
- Best Parts: Hyperion, Hyperion, Hyperion
- Obtaining: You can get this from beating Zarpedon Ascendedwhich is a non-repeatable boss during the main quest line. Other than that Vendors/Grinder.
Black Hole
You are the center of the universe.
This is a legendary Maliwan nova shield that also has a singularity to it pulling enemies in and then releasing a nova. This is really nice with Athena because it is always shock and gets buffed by Maelstrom, but also Omega Senshu if they are below half health and also Clear! if you are under 50% health and go down in one hit. This can do major damage but also it helps group up enemies so they can get hit multiple times by a thrown Aspis if they survive the hit at all.
- Elements: None, Shock
- Best Parts: Maliwan, Maliwan, Maliwan (shock resistant)/Hyperion (max nova)
- Obtaining: Drops from The invincible Sentinel
Haymaker
Return to sender.
This is an unique Dahl adaptive shield that adds the last element you were hit with to your melee strikes and adds more health than a typical adaptive shield. Adding the element to your melee goes great with hybrid builds using Blood Rush as well as having a really good capacity, delay, recharge, as well as resistance percent. A nice tanky shield with an extra boost, whats not to love.
- Elements: None
- Best Parts: Hyperion, Hyperion, Hyperion
- Obtaining: Requires Shock Drop Slaughter Pit DLC, beat round 5 and you are rewarded with this.
Sham
Wow, I CAN do this all day.
This is a legendary Vladof absorb shield that has a higher than average chance to absorb bullets and lasers, up to 94% at a cost of very low capacity. While the Aspis protects 90 degrees of your front arc shields that can take some punishment for the rest of your arc or when it is down are all great choices with Athena, and this will also keep your ammo pools more full.
- Elements: None
- Best Parts: Maliwan, Maliwan, Hyperion
- Obtaining: unknown
Asteroid Belt
Straight from the bug homeworld.
This is a blue unique Torgue shield that has a chance when you are hit to shoot explosive homing meteors at the enemies that attacked you. This is good on Athena for a few reasons, many play-styles are up close and you are taking hits, also once again Maelstrom boost explosive damage, so you can make these do quite a bit of damage with high stacks, and lastly if enemies melee you and proc this is goes right at them knocking them back and often preventing a second attack.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Explosive, None
- Best Parts: Maliwan, Maliwan, Maliwan (elemental resist)
- Obtaining: Quest reward from “Guardian Hunters.”
Avalanche
I’ll bury you.
This is a legendary Maliwan roid shield that is loaded with special effects. Firstly it has the second highest roid damage in the game, and like the Hide of Terra it has spike and nova damage as well but this time all in cryo which goes quite nice with melee since there is a big damage boost to frozen enemies.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Explosive, None
- Best Parts: Maliwan, Maliwan, Maliwan (elemental resist)/Hyperion (max roid)
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
The Shooting Star
Don’t look up
This is a legendary Scav roid shield with the second biggest roid damage in the game and the longest delay of any roid shields, but only by a second. It also hits enemies that you strike with melee with an explosive attack from above like a shooting star.
- Elements: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, Cryo, Explosive, None
- Best Parts: Maliwan, Maliwan, Maliwan (elemental resist)/Hyperion (max roid)
- Obtaining: Power Suit Noob is a non-repeatable boss during the quest “Red, then dead.”
Class Mods
Celestial Gladiator
“Sitrap: Were about to kick some ass”
- Fire Rate
- Max Health
- Your shield begins to recharge instantly when you activate your Aspis
- +5 Gathering Tempest
- +5 Hold the Line
- +5 Gun Kata
- +5 Vanguard
- +5 Conduit
- +Clarity of Purpose
This is our first legendary com and its pretty nice but not perfect. Fire rate is a nice boost and always welcome, the max health might not be a huge help in endgame. Hitting 6 skills is great but 4 of them being tier two and the level cap currently at 50 can be a bit limiting on builds. The extra card buff of your shield recharging as soon as you activate Aspis will certainly save some lives and will be very nice vs DOTS. But you are already strong and hard to take down with the Aspis up so I would of rather seen a buff when its down. I know I don’t sound thrilled about this com but hey boosting 6 skills is boosting 6 skills and with all of those you will be much stronger, and well fire rate is always a very nice DPS boost.
Crimson Dominator
-
Fire Rate
- +5 Tear
- +4 Mercurial
- +4 Gathering Tempest
This is a great DPS com that is pretty flexible on builds, other than Tear the other 2 skills are tier 2 and easy to reach. Tear is a massive DPS skill at 70% multiplicative at 10/5 as long as the enemy has a bleed dot on them, add in fire rate and the DPS boost from Gathering Tempest and you have a great com. Mercurial is a nice balance to this, the movement speed is really helpful but also the Damage Reduction while your Aspis is down is very handy. That being said there is a strong case for picking up a blue version of this and leaving Mercurial off of it for higher DPS boosts. I would argue at this point of difficulty that might be overkill and a purple is a more rounded com.
Obliterating Cannoness
- Shotgun Fire Rate
-
Shotgun Reload Speed
- +6 Omega-Senshu
- +5 Ephodos or Path to Glory
If you like shotguns this is a great com for you. Both the card buffs are really nice and address most shotguns weaknesses. Omega-Senshu being multiplicative to all of your damage is too good to not max out, the second skill is hard, both are great. Ephodos can be more consistent and the movement speed is great, but PtG has more potential damage added. Either way this is all amazing with shotguns, you will need to be up close so movement speed is key but you will also take in a lot of damage so PtG can be big. A purple com with +5 to OS and +4 to the other 2 is also a great option.
Eternal Protector
-
Team Cool Down Rate
- +6 Hold the Line
- +5 United Front or Vanguard
This is meant to be a team support com but I think its going to turn into a great solo com for many play styles. Normally the naked action skill is 11 seconds in and 16 seconds out. With this at level 50 and +6 to hold the line you can be 23.1 seconds in your action skill and 13 seconds out assuming that at max level it is around 20% cool down. Before the loop was 60% out of your Action skill and 40% in, now it can be 64% in and 36% out. With skills like PtG this is major for both getting stacks and them lasting longer but also for durability, movement speed, some many buffs are around your Aspis being up.
Relentless Femme Fatale
- SMG Damage
-
SMG Magazine Size
- +6 Unrelenting
- +5 Gathering Tempest
These 2 skills are perfect for your SMG Ceraunic Storm build. Mag size on the card is great for building stacks and of course the damage is amazing and even more so with the stack building. Add the fire rate buff from Unrelenting and even more mag size from GT with reload as well to make sure you keep those stacks climbing. There will be some amazing things done with this com and SMG’s.
Surging/Raging Storm
-
Electrocute Damage
- +6 Unrelenting(surging) +6 Storm Weaving (raging)
- +5 Storm Weaving(surging) +5 Unrelenting (raging)
This com is great for all of your Maelstrom needs, focused on shock but since in a vacuum fire doesn’t dot this is very friendly to us. Unlike bl2 coms that added to Electrocute damage this com boosts both gun damage and DOT damage making the card buff very very powerful for us. The skills are also all about fire rate and therefor building stacks to take advantage of that massive shock damage. Both Surging and Unrelenting can be the best, at around 115 stacks you get more fire rate from Surging and the most stacks the gap gets pretty wide but the extra 225% proc chance compared to 100% does make a pretty big difference as well as fire rate caps depending on your hardware and frames. So choose the one that suits you best.
Marauding Dragon
- Burn Damage
- +5 Omega-Senshu
- +4 Gathering Tempest
- +4 Overload
This com isn’t quite like the storm of fire because the burn damage on this only effects your fire dots which can only happen in atmosphere, but that is ok because the skills are great. Omega-Senshu alone makes this com worth having 70% multiplicative bonus to all your damage to enemies with under 50% health is huge but add Gathering Tempest to that and you really have a great com. Gathering Tempest might not sound flashy but its amazing and always worth buffing, it will help you build stacks and is a really big DPS buff. at 9/5 you are getting 72% magazine size and 45% reload speed. Then since Overload is one of those skills the is best used if you can boost it is 81% chance to spread dots at 9/5 and that is pretty much near guaranteed, the extra 20 stacks each time that happens is huge and just spreading to the next enemy can put them in OS range for trash mob enemies saving you some ammo.
Reaping Bloodthirster
- Melee Damage
-
Health Regeneration
- +6 Omega-Senshu
- +5 Clarity of Purpose
This is the best Melee com for Athena because of Omega-Senshu, most trash mobs will die in 1 hit and badasses in 2 in the current state of the game even without a Melee com. The reason O-S is so good is because its a major multiplicative buff when you need it and that is enemies with health bars big enough to take multiple hits like bosses. With this com that is a 77% multiplicative melee buff. The card buffs work well to, melee for obvious reasons but the health regen while not huge is a welcome addition allowing people to combine that with skills like Vanguard or Bloodlust and not be so tied to moxxi guns to run melee. When compared to the Blademaster that boost 2 additive skills, and mercurial, the Blademaster will give you more damage mobbing but its overkill damage and you will get less on bosses when you need it.
OZ KITS
3DD1.E
Beep boop beep.
- Shield Capacity
- Laser Damage
-
Air Control
- Explosive
- Medium to High Slam Damage
This is a legendary Dahl Oz kit is hard to pass up because of all of its hidden talents. It can heal you and your shield, shock near by enemies, drop care packages of ammo, and it beeps like R2D2. If you are maining lasers its a no brainer, lots of protection, added damage. It only comes in explosive slam is the only real draw back to it.
- Obtaining: drop from CL4P-L3K if it is destroyed in the side mission Eradicate!, or capture CL4P-L3K and farm for this after you turn the mission in.
Systems Purge
Emergency Systems Purge in 3… 2… 1…
- O2 on a kill
- Shockwave damage if you have over 75 units of O2
-
Shockwave has a radius
- Comes in all elements
- Low slam damage
This is a unique blue Tediore Oz kit that has an amp type added damage with a decent size nova that goes off if you have more than 75 units of O2, you also gain 12 units of O2 back on a kill. This is great because its its like an amp shield but the nova does a good job of hitting grouped up enemies, as well as hitting barrels as well as your enemies, both killing faster and making the field safer for you. I’m not sure yet on the math of where the damage comes in but it does add a lot of damage. If you are in a Vacuum its on almost every shot you take unless your fire rate is pretty high.
- Obtaining: is obtained from the mission Eradicate! located in Veins of Helios.
Bomber
- Free grenade chance while airborn
-
Grenade Damage
- Comes in all elements
- Medium to low slam damage
These Torgue Oz kits are great because nothing can stack Maelstrom like grenades and getting free grenades is huge, the chance is up to just under 50%, then you add damage to that grenade. The thing some might miss is the Aspis is grenade damage so you are also increasing the Aspis damage as well, and grenade damage also boosts a lot of splash damage as well. I prefer them in shock to build more stacks but this isn’t a kit for heavy slammers, you want to use this at somewhat of a distance to toss grenades more than slam.
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Juggernaut
- Up to 3 types of resistances, one of each element or non elemental
-
Shatters Air masks
- Comes in all elements
- Highest slam damage
This Torgue Oz kit is perfect for those who like to be up close, massive slam damage and a lot of protection for when your Aspis is down, it also shatters air masks of enemies caught in the blast giving you a bit more time to kill them or slightly less agro after you slam. If you need survival because Athena has all the DPS she needs this is the kit for you. If you are doing shotgun or melee builds its also amazing.
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
Acrobat
- Air Control
- Airborne Melee Damage
-
Speed Boost after slam
- Comes in all elements
- Medium slam damage
This Hyperion Oz kit is a Melee players best friend, the air control really comes in handy for air to air melee but also setting up Blood Rush, the airborne melee damage is additive sure but it is a very solid buff % that you will notice as well as with Blood Rush it is easy to do airborne melee, lastly the speed boost is also welcome. Blood Rush does have a limited range and although its big if you miss your target you have to wait for its cool down, with this Oz kit you can have up to 3 speed boosts, Ephodos, Mecurial, and the kit. Add all of those together and closing the gap to Blood Rush or getting to your target while it is on cool down will be pretty easy.
- Obtaining: Unknown/World Drop farming vendors and the grinder are your best options.
You can find the other characters Top Gear threads below
Jack the Doppelganger
Wilhelm the Enforcer
Nisha the Lawbringer
others are still being ported over
