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"We make tough, and we make them heavy," says the official sales pitch for Torgue weapons in Borderlands and, more specifically, Borderlands 3. Fun! Like every other gun manufacturer in Borderlands, Torgue had gone through a very eclectic evolution since the first game. This time around, they're all about gyrojets, explosions, and weird, borderline unusable gimmicks. Their guns are about as awesome as awesome gets, though.
If your main goal in Borderlands 3 is to get the biggest, baddest, most explodiest gun around, well, you need a Torgue. This manufacturer's weaponry doesn't even fire bullets. Instead, they propel high-velocity gyrojets or micro-missiles. As you might've guessed, these babies do in fact explode. Most of Torgue weapons let you choose between sticky and contact rounds, too. We'll talk about this distinction a bit later on. The core of it all is that these are the guns you want if it's explosions you need.
These big, bulky firearms also look pretty neat, if we're being honest. Designers seem to have been inspired by war-plane designs from WW2, in fact. The literal exhaust pipes attached to the side are just an additional bonus.
How do Borderlands 3 Torgue Weapons behave?
Turn a honey-badger into a gun. There, that's Torgue for you. Slow-firing, high-recoil weapon platforms that will cause explosions no matter what. All you really got to do is point them in the right direction, and hope for the best! In truth, Torgue weapons aren't the most practical thing to lug around. They can be quite erratic and difficult to use - especially Torgue Legendary weapons - but they're fun.
If you're looking for a regular gun that's got fancy attachments and stuff, Dahl is your pal. A Vladof is a very competent alternative, also. It's important to understand that about 90% of weapons that Torgue makes are essentially rocket-launchers in disguise. When you accept that, their niche becomes more apparent.
To be exact, that niche is splash damage - especially when you come across an elemental Torgue. These guns are rarely any good at taking down large targets, but they're downright phenomenal at chipping away at many enemies' health at the same time. Our strategy, for the most part, has been to use Torgues to wound enemies, then finish them off with something less explodey and more precise. It's a simple tactic, but it works!
As we said above, most of the Torgue firearms can switch between sticky and contact gyrojets. In practice, this means your shots can do damage on impact or in bursts. It depends entirely on your preference for the most part. Of course, certain Torgue Legendary guns offer alternative functionality.
Any Borderlands 3 Torgue Legendary Guns to keep in mind?
There's a wide variety of Unique and Legendary Torgue weapons we'd love to single out! Since there's no room to describe all of them, let us pick a few. Depicted in the screenshot above is the Rorschach test-themed Amber Management. While not overly powerful, this curious weapon switches between Anger and Happiness modes to dish out incendiary damage and heal you, respectively. Far less practical and far more awesome is the aptly-named Boring Gun. This weird creature fires triplet sawblades that shred anything and everything in their way. The spread is considerable, though, so it's not very easy or practical to use.
Of Torgue's other weapon classes, we've got the awesome Quadomizer rocket launcher, which fires 4 separate rockets in a horizontal line. What makes it as good as it is is that it rotates between radiation, corrosive, and incendiary. It's a real and proper toolbox. Of explosions, of course. The Occultist hand cannon follows on a similar note. This beauty always rolls incendiary, and spawns additional projectiles around its main gyrojet. Target the ground under the enemies' feet for maximum effect!
As you can see, Torgue Legendary weapons are hardly afraid of getting weird. If you're anything like us, though, you're wondering about a very particular weapon class, even after all of this.
And what about Torgue Shotguns, specifically?
A person of taste, aren't you? No worries - Torgue shotguns are hardly neutered. Quite the opposite, these things fire massive globs of explosive rounds that are very useful at dishing out crowd control in busy spaces. These beastly things are usually great for all sorts of area-of-effect damage, and the Legendary Torgue shotguns are nothing short of awesome. For example! The Lob behaves much as a Maliwan would, but with the added bonus of causing an AoE explosion upon touching a solid object. More unique is the Flakker, as it launches a slow and invisible flak-gyrojet that creates a series of explosions in its wake. Classy!
In more general terms, you're going to want to be on the lookout for elemental Tediore shotguns. Since you'll be relying on AoE damage effects to dish out punishment, why not make it elemental? Corrosive and shock will both serve you well, though it's hard to quantify which is better. It depends on the encounter, of course, but by now you're bound to have a varied arsenal on hand to deal with all sorts of threats.
Aside from shotguns, Torgue also produces hand cannons, assault rifles, and rocket launchers. Not a big selection of gun archetypes, but there's plenty of variety present within those limits.
Hey, if you enjoyed this short overview of Borderlands 3 Torgue, we've also got similar articles on other manufacturers:
Next week, we'll be wrapping up this series of articles with the infamously ridiculous COV weapons. Stay tuned!
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