2K Games
My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
One of the best parts about Borderlands 3 is the incredible amount of weapon variety. There are so, so, so many guns in the game, one could never possibly collect all of them. If you know anything about this game, you’ll know that getting the best guns should be your top priority in your playthrough. But out of all the many different guns there are, which ones should you get? Which weapons are worth picking up, and which should be sold to Marcus? We’ll be going over our picks for the best legendary guns in Borderlands 3, listing our favorite guns and how you can obtain them.
Top 12 Legendary Guns Ranked From Good to Best
With that introduction over and out… Let’s jump right into the ranking!
#12 King’s Call
The King’s Call is a really sick scoped pistol that deals high damage and comes packing a good fire rate and accuracy as well. One special thing about this weapon is the fact that the magazine will refill to capacity upon scoring a critical hit. This means that if you are good about getting headshots/landing critical hits, you will continuously be able to fire your weapon without having to reload. This makes it great for certain encounters where enemies just won’t stop coming.
To get the gun, you’ll be happy to know that any enemy in the game has a small chance of dropping this weapon upon death. According to the Borderlands Wiki, the final boss of the game has a higher chance of spawning this weapon upon death.
#11 Ion Cannon
Next is the Ion Cannon rocket launcher. With its strong damage and high accuracy, this gun makes for a good weapon to take in your explosives play through. The gun does require you to charge it up before it will release its projectile, however, meaning that you need to be careful with how and when you fire it in order for it to be an effective weapon. The Ion Cannon is better as a secondary weapon due to this charge-up.
To get your own Ion Cannon, you will need to find and kill the boss Fabricator. Upon killing it, this weapon will drop. This makes it a very straightforward and easy-to-acquire weapon, relatively speaking.
#10 Sand Hawk
The Sand Hawk is a really powerful sniper rifle that has a unique bullet spread. Upon being fired, the bullet that comes out of the gun will then transform into nine separate projectiles that travel toward your target. This is a really great weapon to have if you are looking for an elemental weapon. I recommend trying to find one that deals either fire or electric damage.
You can obtain this weapon by killing the boss Katagawa Jr, who you can find (somewhat) early on in your playthrough. However, this unique weapon will only drop if you are playing the campaign on at least Mayhem level six.
#9 Anarchy
Anarchy is the next weapon on this list. It is a shotgun that may not have the most impressive stats at first glance, but makes up for it with its special unique ability. For each enemy kill or reload you do with this weapon, you will gain a temporary damage bonus of +30%! This is really great, and it gets even better when you realize that you can keep getting kills or reloads to increase the damage even more each time. Pretty soon you’ll be able to one-shot almost anything.
If you want this gun, you will first need to purchase the DLC “Guns, Love, And Tentacles” if you have not already. Then, you can play through the DLC as normal. Every enemy in that specific DLC has a small chance of dropping this gun.
#8 O.P.Q System
The O.P.Q System is next. This is an Atlas-brand assault rifle that features very good stats. In addition to this, the gun has a very special feature. You can use it to deploy a robotic drone that will follow you around and attack nearby enemies for you, aiding you in combat. Because of this, it’s a very good gun to have when you are overwhelmed by enemies and need some help getting them off your back. Having a little companion in combat is always very welcome in games like Borderlands 3.
The gun was released as a part of the Revenge of the Cartels event. You have a chance of finding it by killing any enemy or looting and chest in the game, so while this gun is pretty straightforward to get it is quite a grind.
#7 Reflux
The next one up is Reflux. This very strong, corrosive shotgun will deal high damage per shot with a slow fire rate. Due to its corrosive damage, I find it to be very good when going up against most bosses in the game. This is a great secondary weapon, but I don’t recommend it as a primary, as you can only find it with the corrosive element tagged on. Additionally, this gun has a built-in shield that will protect you from harm.
To find this weapon, you will have to find and kill the deadly boss GenIVIV. As with many weapons on this list, you need to be playing on level six of the Mayhem Mode or higher.
#6 Dastardly Maggie
Up next is one of my personal favorite weapons in the game, Dastardly Maggie. This is a very strong, very rapid-fire pistol that splits its bullets into multiple projectiles on firing, each one dealing high damage. Combined with its GREAT fire rate, and you have one of the highest DPSs in the game. The magazine isn’t too big and you’ll end up reloading the weapon quite a lot, but the reload speed is pretty fast anyway. This is a good weapon to pick up if you are playing as the Operator class.
To get your hands on this weapon,
#5 Hellwalker
Hellwalker is a special double-barrel shotgun that deals very high damage against all targets. It also exclusively uses the fire element, meaning that it does extra high damage to flesh targets. While the gun does only hold two shells per reload, the strong damage makes up for it. This is a good companion weapon to a gun that does high damage to shields.
This weapon has a chance of spawning randomly just about anywhere in your play-through of the game. It is a bit more commonly found as a dropped item from Loot Tinks and the bosses of the game, however.
#4 The Monarch
Next on this list of the Top 12 Best Legendary Guns in Borderlands 3, we have a special assault rifle called The Monarch. Despite it being an assault rifle, the projectiles that this gun shoots out are split into 4 different pellets, like a shotgun. This is an automatic weapon, so as you can imagine it is incredibly powerful, especially in close-range combat encounters.
To get this gun, the first thing you will need to do is play the game on either Mayhem Mode level six or a higher level. The Monarch can then be obtained if you defeat the boss Killavolt (assuming you can make it through his incredibly cringey quest).
#3 Light Show
The Light Show is a pistol with high damage and high accuracy. This is one of the best pistols in the entire game, mainly due to its very strong DPS that comes from its previously mentioned high damage and its excellent fire rate. I recommend that you try and farm for a radiation variant of this gun, as the splash damage from radiation will make this already deadly weapon even deadlier.
The gun can spawn as a drop from any enemy and any loot source in the entire game. This makes it a fairly straightforward weapon to get, you just need to be patient and keep your eyes peeled when opening up your inventory.
#2 Backburner
The Blackburner is one of my favorite rocket launchers in the game. This is a high-damage splash weapon that fires out a special projectile. When the projectile comes into contact with a surface or enemy, it will turn into a miniature black hole that sucks in nearby foes! The Blackburner deals high amounts of splash damage that make it incredibly effective against groups of enemies. If you are doing an explosives build, this weapon is a must-get.
In order to acquire this gun, you will have to fight and kill the boss The Agonizer 9000. Just keep in mind that this weapon will only drop from him, you need to be playing on at least Mayhem Mode level six or higher.
#1 Plasma Coil
The Plasma Coil is an SMG with a lightning-fast fire rate. It has a really solid DPS that makes it great for a primary weapon. This gun will spawn as either a radiation weapon or an electric shock weapon. I recommend getting the radiation variant for it, as I’ve found this version to be far deadlier and more effective at killing enemies. Additionally, this gun will do splash damage, making it great for attacking big groups of enemies from a moderate distance.
To obtain this weapon, first, you will need to have purchased the Designer’s Cut DLC. Once you have it, you can get it by playing Arms Race.
Join the High Ground
We hope that you found this article ranking the top 12 best legendary guns in Borderlands 3! Did you find this article helpful? Be sure to let us know down in the comments if you did. And make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more regular content on all your favorite games.
Happy gaming!
