Just recently, Borderlands 3 received an update for Mayhem Mode that increased the level you can play at to ten. Long story short, this allows for players who are at the top of their game to receive even more powerful versions of their favorite weapons. Aside from that, the update comes with a new degree of difficulty, increased enemy health and shields, and modifiers that completely change how the game functions.
While some welcome these challenges, others find that grinding up to Mayhem 10 poses a real problem and not all weapons perform as well with a higher degree of difficulty. So, here is a list of weapons to help decide which weapons you should be using when you finally reach Mayhem 10 (and perhaps 11, if seeking a little more punishment).
Updated March 31, 2022, by Stephen LaGioia: Since the increase to Mayhem 10 that allows players to get an improved loot drop chance and a greater challenge, Gearbox released the Mayhem 11 update, which further amps up the toughness of this grind. This difficulty mode is similar to Mayhem 10 but decreases the loot chance percentage, while also getting rid of the modifiers that players needed to deal with.
With these added challenges—and the release of the third and final Vault Card, which adds some new items—we felt it fitting to revisit this piece. After all, there are so many awesome legendary guns to be had in BL3, there's always room for more on this powerhouse of a list.
15 Sand Hawk
- Obtained from the boss Katagawa Jr. at Mayhem 6 or higher.
- Fires bursts of seven projectiles in a bird shape, with opening wings as it glides.
- Can come in any elemental variant.
This legendary Dahl sniper can be an ammo glutton, consuming three per shot, and a bit slow when it comes to bullet speed. Otherwise, though, it is very worthwhile, even for those who don't favor the clunky sluggishness of snipers.
With loads of damage-dealing and a widespread that continues expanding, this is a rare sniper that's solid for both boss fights and crowd control. This can also be tightened up with its semi-auto firing mode, which keeps the spread closer and more reliable. Factor this in with the exponentially strong elementals, and the Hawk is a true killer as close and medium range.
14 Cutsman
- Obtained randomly, with an increased chance from respawnable mini-boss Borman Nates in Promethea's Meridian Outskirts.
- Shoots a duo of explosive orbs that expand on the horizontal axis when gliding.
- Can come in incendiary, shock, or corrosive.
This distinct weapon doubles as a short-range slicer, with its surprisingly potent blade attachment. But the Cutsman still effectively shoots as well, with its great DPS by way of its bomb-like orbs tethered by a potent laser beam.
Fittingly, the gliding laser also yields a sort of "cutting" effect, as it can inflict damage on targets multiple times while traveling through them. Provided this is mostly kept at medium range, the Cutsman is a damage-dealing machine. The status effect damage, spread, and multiple hits prove a great fit for the barrage of beefy foes in Mayhem 10—as players can whittle them down over time at fairly safe distances.
13 The Lob
- Obtained from the boss The Graveward on Eden-6's Floating Tomb.
- Fires sizable but slow-moving orbs that travel through foes.
- Always elemental, and can come in any elemental variant.
When it comes to Mayhem 10's many typically lumbering Badasses, the Lob is truly second to none. It can essentially cut through gaggles of enemies like butter.
While it spits out sluggish shots in the form of floating orbs, these orbs are tremendously impactful when finding their mark. They deal loads of area-of-effect damage and explode upon impact or reaching their maximum distance.
12 Unkempt Harold
- Obtained randomly but with an increased chance to drop from respawnable mini-boss Caber Dowd in Bloodsun Canyon, exclusive to the Bounty of Blood DLC.
- Fires shots that split twice to form four additional projectiles that deal splash damage.
- Comes in any elemental variant.
This iconic Torgue gun from BL2 blasts its way back onto the scene, and in a convincing fashion. The weapon resembles its predecessor, with a few alterations. Being average in terms of accuracy, and launching diverging shots, it's best to use the Harold at medium or long-range.
But when this is done, the fan-favorite gun is a tiny powerhouse—even without the now-absent "Double Penetrating" prefix.
11 Multi-Tap
- Obtained from the boss Katagawa Ball at Mayhem 6 or above.
- Fully automatic and fires two bullets for the cost of one.
- Alternative Fire mode fires a grenade that tracks targets in range, allowing it to fire at each tagged target at no ammo cost.
Like the Katagawa Ball from which it spawns, this Torgue gun is a technological beast with loads of tricks up its sleeve. It has a number of unique perks that make it effective for crowd control and those grind-it-out Mayhem 10 runs. It's tough to really find a blemish here, aside from the Multi-tap's sluggish reload.
Beyond the cool perk of peppering foes with swift cryo rockets via tracking grenade, it's also just a great DPS pistol in its own right. It's a powerful, versatile, and fairly accurate gun.
10 Tizzy
- Obtained from the Arms Race game mode in the Designer's Cut DLC.
- The high fire rate increases the longer the trigger is held.
- Can drop in any elemental variant.
Possibly the fastest firing gun in the game, the Tizzy pistol can easily plow through enemies like they are nothing. This gun can also come in a X2 and X3 variant that will unleash even more mayhem on the battlefield.
The downside to this weapon is that it can eat through ammo faster than any other gun in the game. Players should use this weapon wisely or risk not having ammo when they need it the most. Moze can utilize this weapon the best thanks to her ammo regeneration perks.
9 Flipper
- Obtained from respawnable mini-boss Minosaur in Bloodsun Canyon from DLC 3 Bounty of Blood.
- Fires additional projectiles in a diamond pattern that increase the longer the trigger is held.
- Can come in any elemental variant.
The bullets of this potent weapon fire in a diamond pattern and it fires additional projectiles the longer you fire it.
Its projectiles count as splash damage which can easily be taken advantage of by the gunner Moze or Siren Amara. It also has a larger magazine size which can be extremely useful for most of the characters who can further increase it with their skills.
8 Monarch
- Obtained from mini-boss Killavolt (Lectra City) on Mayhem level 6 or above.
- Can come in any elemental variant.
- Fires 3 - 10 bullets per shot in a square shape.
The Monarch was released with the Mayhem 2.0 update and can only drop from Killavolt on Mayhem level six or above. It has a high fire rate and shoots multiple projectiles at once. It can drop in multiple elements and can be used for a multitude of situations. It has two fire modes that players can take advantage of.
The regular fire mode still deals decent damage and allows for better mobility, but when switched to bipod mode it doubles the damage output at the cost of restricted movement. The lack of movement is absolutely worth it though when tearing through enemies with ease.
7 Convergence
- Obtained from any source in DLC 4: Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck.
- Additional projectiles rain down on the target for each bullet that hits it.
The Convergence shotgun is amazing for each of the Vault Hunters. The additional projectiles that rain down on the targets hit by this weapon cause more damage than players realize. This weapon is capable of taking down enemies very fast.
This gun is able to drop in any elemental variant. It can also drop in an X4, X6, or X8 variant for increased firepower. Many players have come to realize that the X4 variant is the best of an already beastly gun.
6 Torrent
- Obtained from the Arms Race game mode in the Designer's Cut DLC.
- Can switch between automatic and burst fire modes.
- Every 10th bullet deals shock damage.
Those who have played the Pre-Sequel will recognize the Torrent, and the returning weapon is now better than it ever was. This gun only comes in three elemental variants; fire, corrosive, and radiation.
The weapon will also always deal shock damage. Every 10th shot fired from this gun is a shock bullet that deals increased damage. The Torrent can also come in a X2 variant, but it also comes at the cost of two bullets per shot. This makes the gun run out of ammo rather quickly; but it's a fair trade given its sharp, steady firing and penetrating bullets.
5 Light Show
- Obtained from the Bounty of Blood DLC's Lasodactyl.
- Can come in any elemental variant.
- Fires four projectiles at once in a cross pattern.
The Light Show is a spectacle, to say the least. It has a high fire rate that shoots multiple shots at one time, giving it a massive damage potential. It can drop from any loot source but has an increased chance to drop from the Lasodactyl in the Obsidian Forest.
It can come in any element giving it a place in almost any build and despite the cone shape that it fires in has good accuracy. It has the potential to melt almost any enemy in the game and has become a fan favorite to use for boss farming.
4 Free Radical
- Obtainable from Beef Plisskon in Karass Canyon. Only obtainable from the Director's Cut DLC.
- Projectiles hit a target and spawn a homing projectile.
- Always comes in the Shock element
The Free Radical is a Maliwan pistol that always comes in the shock element making it good against shields. This gun summons secondary projectiles, but can easily take down enemies before those projectiles even hit the target.
The Free Radical is like having an enhanced version of the Queen's Call pistol, except secondary projectiles will always fire when a target is hit and not just when they are hit with a critical. The secondary projectiles do deal splash damage, but the original shots do not.
3 Backburner
- Obtained from the Agonizer 9000 boss while playing on Mayhem level 6 or above.
- Fires an energy ball that causes a singularity on impact.
- Can deal friendly fire damage.
The Backburner rocket launcher has become a favorite for builds, especially on Zane. This is because of the massive damage that it can cause. The singularity effect of the energy balls it fires causes multiple projectiles to spawn out of the impact site and deal more splash damage.
Zane can take advantage of his clone to prevent the friendly fire damage that this weapon can dish out. Players just need to equip a Transformer shield on Zane and use a shock variant of the Backburner to prevent friendly fire damage.
2 Atlas Replay
- Obtained from respawnable raid boss Hemovorous the Invincible in the Director's Cut DLC or from The Seer.
- Tracker Darts ignore walls.
- Fast fire rate that increases as more enemies are tracked.
The Atlas Replay is the perfect gun for any character. It is also one of the few Atlas weapons that promote the use of its secondary fire mode, which shoots out tracker darts that home in on enemies. For every enemy that is hit by the tracker darts, the fire rate of the weapon increases. This often more than doubles the fire rate of the weapon and allows the bullets to home in on the tracked targets.
While the Atlas Replay doesn't come in any elements, it doesn't need to. The raw firepower that this gun possesses is more than enough to take enemies down quickly.
1 Plasma Coil
- The Plasma Coil is found in the Arms Race game mode obtainable in the Designer's Cut.
- Fast fire rate that shoots out 16 bullet bursts.
- Deal splash damage and always comes in the shock/radiation variant.
This Maliwan SMG quickly became a fan favorite after it was released with the Arms Race game mode back in the fall of 2020. This weapon shoots out 16 bullet shots before it pauses, but that doesn't mean it has a bad fire rate. In fact, the Maliwan SMG shoots extremely fast and hits incredibly hard to boot.
This gun is capable of killing enemies with a single burst and has a very large magazine size. The Maliwan SMG always comes in the shock and radiation combo making it good against shields and for general mobbing.
Borderlands 3 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.