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Borderlands 3 represents a streamlining and evolution of the franchise's variety of gun manufacturers. Borderlands 3 Maliwan guns, for example, have become a far more specialized tool than a simple gun! Make no mistake - a Maliwan can very well kill stuff left and right. That said, we've discovered that a Borderlands 3 Maliwan is best used as a buffer for other, more hard-hitting weapons. Disagree? Fair! However, let us explain why we believe this is the case.
Ever since the first Borderlands game, Maliwan is all about elements. Up until now, however, they still developed kinetic shooters. Slug throwers, if you will. In Borderlands 3, they've gone through a period of specialization, and now produce pure energy-repeaters! This is why they're less about pure destructive power and more about ticking specific niches in combat situations. You can still go full Maliwan, but your best bet will almost always be to have a Dahl or a Jakobs at the ready, too. This makes for a fun combat dynamic!
The Maliwan Elegance Combo
If you've already started playing Borderlands 3 in Mayhem Mode, you've surely discovered that elemental affinity is very important in the endgame. There are several types of health in Borderlands 3: shields (blue), armor (yellow) and health (red), and if you wish to maximize your damage output, you need to match those with specific elemental effects. Shock eliminates shields. Corrosive wrecks armor. Incendiary burns health to a crisp. It's a simple equation at face value, though there are more moving parts than that. Now, you may get lucky and roll a non-Maliwan elemental from time to time, but this is rarer than you might think. Your main elemental driver will (and should) usually be a Maliwan, because these things specialize in dealing with barriers in particular!
It's worth pointing out that certain Legendary-tier Maliwan guns do, in fact, dish out insane damage. The Stark Krakatoa sniper rifle, for example, will even spawn volcanoes on kills, which is awesome even if you're not too keen on energy guns. Majority of Maliwan's arsenal is fairly gimmicky, mind. Expect charge-times even on submachine guns and shotguns, but if you use them well, it shouldn't be a problem.
A certain Maliwan shotgun will spawn two massive orbs of Shock that will allow you to nullify enemy shields in a very wide AOE. It won't do much good against armor and health, is the kicker. For those moments, we feel that a good Jakobs will go a long way. Pair this Maliwan shotgun with a Jakobs hand cannon or an assault rifle, and you'll chew through enemies faster than you can say 'plasma'.
Borderlands 3 Maliwan Guns serve a specific purpose
Keeping in mind what we said above, it seems like Maliwan guns perform best when they're provided a support role. This is true! The company manufactures a wide variety of weapons:
- Pistols (Energy blasters, mostly)
- Charged Submachine guns
- Shotguns
- Long-range Blasters ("Snipers")
No matter what sort of niche you need Maliwan to fulfill, chances are that they've made a gun that does just that. Even if you're playing solo, you'll find that Maliwan will often be your best bet for dealing with truly powerful barriers. Badass enemies, in particular, are incredibly difficult to deal with if you don't have an appropriate elemental combo. Since the majority of your elemental arsenal will, indeed, be Maliwan, keeping a few of their guns at hand is just common sense.
The fact that a Maliwan is best used in conjunction with a different, more hard-hitting gun, may sound weird. It fosters an interesting combat meta, however, which rewards tactical gunplay and clever combination of elements with kinetic weaponry. If you've not yet used a Maliwan as a buffer for your other firearms, we recommend you give it a shot!
Maliwan: the King of Elements
The logical conclusion of this article is that nothing beats a good Maliwan if you need elemental damage. Sure, other guns can and will roll elemental firearms, but nothing beats a dedicated Maliwan anti-shield shottie.
In case you didn't know, there's a big Maliwan-themed event coming up later this year: the Takedown at Maliwan's Blacksite is bound to feature a bunch more Maliwan lore. We're quite excited to see what Gearbox has in store for us. Perhaps there's a piece of DLC coming for each gun manufacturer? We can hope! In the meantime, check out our Borderlands 3 deals and stay tuned for next week's Atlas featurette.
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