Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel introduced a new class of weapon, lasers, which have fans really excited (after all who doesn’t love to go pew pew) but the class isn’t so cut and dry.
In fact even in lasers there is a huge variety available. Out of all the weapon manufacturers in the game, only Dahl, Hyperion, Maliwan and Tediore produce laser weapons.
For more help on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, read our Iwajira Boss Locations, Farming Loot and XP, How to Farm Unfarmable Bosses.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Lasers
Unlike other weapons, the barrel of a laser weapon mainly determines how the weapon will behave such as the ammo consumption.
Since the weapons can be modified to fit a different manufacturer barrel with a different weapon body, lasers are the most varied weapon in game providing a huge variety in gameplay.
Laser Types
The laser weapon class can further be divided into 4 categories, irrespective of the manufacturer:
Blasters: capable of firing out bolts of plasma at a decent rate. This is sort of like the assault rifle in lasers.
Beams: These are your typical laser weapons which fire a constant stream of laser energy.
Railguns: railguns are the sniper rifles in laser class. They are capable of firing highly damaging bolts of laser at long range but are very slow.
Splitters: these work just like shotguns but instead of firing pellets, they shoot multiple laser bolts simultaneously.
Laser Weapon Manufacturers
Dahl
As is the standard with each Dahl weapon, lasers also have reduced weapon recoil and burst fire while aiming down sights. Along with these two perks, Dahl lasers also pierce through enemies to damage the ones behind them.
Dahl blasters are the ideal choice when fighting a group of enemies due to their damage being close to Assault Rifles while being superior in other stats.
Combine that with the laser penetration and these make for an amazingly deadly weapon. Beams deal less damage but have a very high firing rate, which comes at the cost of increased recoil.
While Railguns are pretty similar to sniper rifles, they do tend to have significantly less damage however they make up for that with the increase magazine size.
Dahl railguns aren’t highly advisable though due to the fact that they consume 4 ammo per shot because of the burst fire feature while aiming.
Splitters are deadly at incredibly close range with their high damage comparable to regular shotguns and their increased rate of fire but anything short of point blank means it’s really difficult to get a kill with them.
Thankfully they have a large ammo pool so players can spam shoot without worrying about reloading. Most splitters consume 3 ammo per shot.
A laser with a Dahl blaster barrel and a Tediore body is the simplest kind of laser combination with reduced recoil along with the reload mechanism of Tediore which shocks nearby enemies and then explodes.
A Dahl laser body with any other barrel increases the penetration of the weapon as well as adding burst fire to the laser if zoomed in.
Hyperion
Hyperion lasers continue the trend of reverse recoil, the more players fire the lesser the recoil becomes. These lasers are also capable of having melee attachments for 50% increased melee damage.
Since Hyperion doesn’t have any assault rifles, a laser blaster is the closest players can have to the increased fire rate and high damage. Armed with a large ammo pool, a Hyperion blaster can be quite deadly when fired on critical spots.
Probably the best beam weapon manufacturer, Hyperion beams have no recoil and along with that their incredibly large ammo pool makes them an extremely deadly weapon at all ranges.
The railguns are another matter though since firing continuously makes them accurate which means a lot of ammo might be wasted initially. The stabilizers in Hyperion weapons really help increasing Splitter accuracy making them very deadly.
Adding a Hyperion barrel to any weapon will increase its base damage as well as accuracy while a body will add the feature of reverse recoil along with a highly increased critical damage.
Maliwan
Maliwan weapons have the highest elemental effect damage and chance among lasers and their damage keeps on increasing as the player holds the trigger.
Maliwan continuous firing bonuses are as follows:
- Splitters – +156%
- Railguns – +169%
- Blasters – +210%
- Beams – +218%
The amount of shots it takes to reach these bonuses are:
- Splitters – 9 shots
- Railguns – 7 shots
- Blasters – 20 shots
- Beams – 15 to 16 shots, varies on magazine size
A Maliwan blaster is probably the most deadly Maliwan laser since it has the firing bonus almost that of a beam without the recoil that comes with it.
The beams can be incredibly deadly but they suffer from horizontal recoil which takes a long time getting used to. Due to their elemental damage over time, Maliwan railguns are pretty decent with the firing bonus although still weaker than sniper rifles.
Maliwan barreled lasers have increased reload speed with the exception of a combination with Hyperion laser body while adding a Maliwan body adds the bonus damage upon continuous fire and a grip increases elemental effect chance.
Tediore
All Tediore weapons explode upon reloading however lasers have an added touch, they shock nearby enemies and explode. Tediore blasters are pretty much like assault rifles with the added bonus of shocking upon reload.
While beams have a large ammo pool, their damage is pretty low so it depends on the player whether they want a bigger magazine or kill enemies more quickly.
Railguns are pretty mediocre but it’s the Splitters where Tediore weapons really shine. Easily out damaging Hyperion and Dahl splitters, Tediore ones fire 6 projectiles instead of 3, so that’s double the shocking power.
A Tediore laser body is necessary for the bonus to shock enemies and explode upon reload while a barrel increases fire rate and damage.
Miscellaneous
Firestarta: a blaster with considerably less damage than a Dahl blaster but with increased accuracy, fire rate and elemental effect chance (fire).
Cat O’ Nine Tails: a pretty mediocre weapon with half the damage and fire rate of a Dahl blaster with just the added bonus of projectiles splitting into multiples upon striking a surface.
ZX-1: damage decreases with each consecutive shot and lacks any critical damage. The only benefit this blaster has is the somewhat of a homing beacon it has, if players manage to hit an enemy with it, all consecutive shots will definitely hit the target.
E-Gun: just like a standard incendiary Maliwan beam laser capable of killing Ghosts too.
Lazlo’s Freezeasy: has almost no damage at all and is only for freezing enemies, for which there are better options.
Miss Moxxi’s Vibra-Pulse: less damage, accuracy and ammo pool than a regular Maliwan beam but heals players for 2.5% of the damage they deal while also shocking enemies near their current target.
Thorny Ol’ Rosie: the deadliest beam weapon out there which has the 218% continuous firing bonus of a Maliwan beam along with an added 300% for a total of 518% continuous firing damage!
Toby’s Bright Spadroon: it’s just like a lightsaber from Star Wars with no range at all besides the melee one but has 50% more damage and a whopping 237 magazine size.
Vandergraffen: typical Tediore beam with a slightly decreased damage and accuracy which it makes up for by increasing the elemental effect chance.
Excalibastard: only available in Cryo element and feels like a true legendary weapon with a x4.2 Crit multiplier that almost always freezes enemies which can be frozen. Meleeing an enemy with this creates a nova which also freezes nearby enemies.
Mining Laser: a cross between a railgun and splitter which fires 3 projectiles for increased damage and elemental effect chance. The ammo consumption is pretty high but shots penetrate targets so is very useful on large groups.
Min Min Lighter: a shock only splitter that consumes 5 ammo per shot but fires a ball of electricity which shocks nearby enemies and detonates if shot at or after a small amount of time.
Zappinator: pretty much a useless weapon since the stats are even inferior than a standard Dahl splitter.
