Who doesn’t love firey blasts and explosions? Borderlands’ Mr. Torgue certainly does — and he crafted an entire weapon brand to adhere to these amusing traits.
While Torgue-made weaponry runs the gamut in terms of weapon types and traits, most tend to function like small rocket launchers on one level or another. Often, these weapons come laced with Incendiary or Explosive features, while packing raw power and often inflicting splash damage.
This tradition continues in the similarly explosive Borderlands 3. Despite hosting a more diverse array of Torgue guns, these weapons mostly stick to the Torgue trademark of lighting up — and blowing up — the battlefield at close range. This list will highlight the best guns bearing the name of this blast-loving gun manufacturer.
10 Unkempt Harold
This fan-favorite Legendary pistol from Borderlands 2 is back in all its glory. Though it isn’t exactly a god-tier weapon like in that game, it’s still a beast. This is especially true when wielded in medium-range — its sweet spot. Shots will split twice when fired, yielding four additional projectiles which pierce targets and inflict splash damage.
The straight trajectory and compact nature of the weapon make it easy to use, and its explosive shots coupled with elemental augments can inflict wicked DPS. Players will need the Bounty of Blood DLC to recapture this classic, specifically from the gunslingin’ miniboss Caber Dowd in Bloodsun Canyon.
9 Devils Foursum
This Legendary pistol can truly unload when it comes to pure damage output, especially between its elemental features and trio of projectiles. Accuracy is solid enough, and direct hits aren’t really needed anyway thanks to its crazy splash damage radius.
In a sense, this devilish gun is like a swifter version of the Harold, which is somewhat given away by its similar skin. Its speedy fire rate and reload time give it the feel of a Jakobs while still being equipped with the explosive qualities of a great Torgue.
The pistol can most often be found when slaying the respawnable minibosses known as Psychobilies in Ambermire.
8 Quickie
Despite their massive power, rocket launchers in the Borderlands games are often criticized for their sluggish, unreliable nature. This is especially the case in BL3, as the launchers seem to take a step back from the previous game as a whole. Luckily there’s a group of launchers, fittingly tagged “Quickie,” that rectify most of these issues.
Despite not being Legendary, the Quickie makes for one of the strongest, most effective launchers in the game. The weapon pumps out loads of damage with relative accuracy and speed, making it a great boss-killer with its spammable mechanics. Not only this, but the weapon is fairly easy to find, as it can drop from any loot source, and isn’t too rare.
7 Bangstick
Like the Quickie, this is a top-tier group of Torgues that prove quite powerful despite missing the Legendary tag. With a super-quick fire rate and decent accuracy (for a shotgun), this thing can unload with efficiency, peppering foes with Explosive shots. Of course, it helps to have one with augmentations and prefixes, but even the more common types can do work, especially from close range.
The weapon can be found from any loot source, especially in Mayhem Mode which yields purple guns more frequently. Start blasting, and watch the XP roll in.
6 Laser-Sploder
This weapon takes advantage of the erratic, run-and-gun nature of assault rifles, with its barrage of rockets and laser beams. Factor in the potent laser, sporadic rocket blasts, and elemental damage — and the ‘Sploder is a DPS monster.
Its relative speed and sharp accuracy ensure you’ll be able to pump ample damage in a focused manner, melting beefier foes with ease. This death machine can be obtained most often from Sylestro in Nekrotafeyo’s Tazendeer Ruins.
5 Scoville
This spicy Torgue pistol literally packs heat with amusing projectiles that take the form of hot sauce bottles, which blow up on impact. This certainly complements the Incendiary augment that sometimes comes with it.
Assuming one can get used to the slight arc trajectory of the shots and limited range, the Scoville can really light it up on the battlefield. It’s essentially a tiny rocket launcher in terms of damage and explosiveness, with a decent ammo supply to boot. The weapon can be secured by finishing the Torgue’s Marketing Mistake challenge.
4 Alchemist
This beast of an assault rifle can really shred enemies thanks to its massive power and solid stats across the board. The gun quickly racks up damage thanks to its ability to spam targets with Incendiary and sticky bullets. It does come with the quirk of inflicting 10% of its damage on the player as Shock damage, though it’s a minor annoyance usually worth dealing with.
The Alchemist is especially great against shielded baddies — as its stuck gyrojets pelt targets with Shock damage with a chance to inflict more over time. With relative speed and accuracy coupled with loads of fire and shock damage, this thing can be truly devastating.
3 Stranger
The Stranger is an assault rifle that can really hang with some of the better Legendaries despite coming in green, blue, and purple. Of course, this somewhat depends on augmentations and prefixes, but overall the Stranger can tear it up.
Besides the lack of (guaranteed) Incendiary, this rifle basically functions like a stronger Alchemist without the irritating self-inflicting Shock. With its speed, power, and versatility, the Stranger is effective when it comes to mowing down mobs as well as burning through bosses.
2 Protuberance
Despite taking the form of blue and purple rarities, this electrifying shotty stands as one of the most powerful Torgue guns. It fires explosive rounds in a vague arc trajectory, which disperses into three more blasts when hitting its target.
The weapon thus functions more like a compact crowd-control launcher versus a traditional shotgun — utilizing the best traits of both. The already potent gun can be further exploited with an elemental-focused Siren Amara, as the damage over time will be amplified.
1 The Lob
Though there’s some subjectivity when it comes to placement, most will agree that this shotgun is god-tier Torgue. Slow-moving shots aside, The Lob is an absolute force of nature. It’s essentially a mini nuclear weapon, which fires devastating orbs in a straight path that float through foes and deal damage amongst vast areas.
As long as it’s wielded at close range, this is a mob-clearing monster which instantly makes the game a whole lot easier. It’s most often dropped from a literal monster, The Graveward boss, who lurks beneath the grounds of Jakobs Estate on Eden-6’s Floating Tomb.
NEXT: Borderlands 3: Every Legendary Grenade, Ranked
