Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford has been answering fan questions ever since the Borderlands 3 reveal at PAX East. Pitchford recently answered a fan Tweet, confirming that Borderlands 3 will not have the elemental type “Slag” but instead feature a radiation-based element.
For those of you who don’t know, Slag is an element that was introduced in Borderlands 2, it is a by-product of the Eridium refinement process. Slag elemental weapons coat enemies in slag. Slagged targets take increased damage from other weapons.
When a fan asked whether or not Borderlands 3 will feature Slag, Pitchford confirmed that Borderlands will have an alternative to slag.
There is no slag – we replaced it with something that actually makes a little sense. The new “element” damage type, which is like a nuclear radiation effect, has a similar effect to slag (increased vulnerability by those affected) and also has a damage-over-time component.
— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) April 16, 2019
Elemental types in the Borderlands franchise are known by their effects instead of their sources, this is another reason why Gearbox is implementing a nuclear radiation based element type. Pitchford believes that a nuclear radiation based elemental type would work best in Borderlands 3.
Right now, no one knows what kind of in-game damage effect this new element will yield. It could be similar to the Fire element that does damage over time or even the Shock element which does extra damage to shields and can crowd control an enemy. Fans of the Borderlands series will remember Corrosive, which burns through armor faster, and Explosive, which deals damage in the blast radius.
Whatever may be the case, it is likely Radiation will go well with these other damage types.
Recently, it was also confirmed that the fan-favorite voice actor, Troy Baker, won’t be reprising his role as Rhys in Borderlands 3. Baker confirmed that it was Gearbox’s decision and not his own. Of course, fans were disappointed but it is likely that Gearbox will find some way to make it up to the fans. Let’s wait and see.
Borderlands 3 developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games will release on September 13, 2019, for Sony’s PlayStation 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One and PC.
