Borderlands 4 offers many, really a lot of weapons. Players mostly look for legendary items. Currently, a purple shotgun is one of the best weapons in the game because it can defeat bosses easily with just one shot.
Which weapon are we talking about? Already in the first week after release, players and content creators are searching for the best classes, builds, and items in Borderlands 4. This quickly leads to legendary weapons, which, although they drop rarely, can often be farmed from specific bosses.
But one should also not forget the other rarities. One of the strongest weapons in the game is currently a random purple shotgun from Maliwan, the Quincunx Stellium. With this weapon, even the strongest bosses can be handled easily, but it is not that easy to get the shotgun.
You can find a good farming spot here:
A fantastic weapon that can handle almost everything
Why is the weapon so good? In a new YouTube video, content creator Moxsy presented the shotgun. In his video, you can see how he shoots the weapon at the ground and several explosions cause the boss to be defeated in a few seconds on the highest Ultimate Vault Hunter
rank.
Moxsy explains that the weapon is a pretty good alternative to the legendary Kickball because you probably won’t die using it. The Kickball serves a similar function, but there are so many explosions that you are likely to die from using it.
Important for the Quincunx Stellium is that your weapon has 2 specific rolls. You need the energy disc, which is an alternative fire mode that fires a larger projectile, and you need a Jacobs part on your weapon to ensure that your critical hits create bounces.
You can generate critical hits easily if you have a throwing knife, which is one of the best grenades in Borderlands 4. Here you need the Penetrator augment. If you hit the enemy with it, every damage you inflict will be a critical hit. This is how the sequence in battle looks:
- Throw your knife at the enemy
- Shoot the energy disc of your weapon at the ground, right in front of the enemy or boss
- Then an energy sphere is created that causes countless damage through bounces and further critical hits. Sometimes a single shot is enough for an entire boss.
The optimal character for this is Rafa; he benefits from splash damage and indirect damage from bounces, but you can actually use this attack combination on any character regardless of which class mods you possess.
How strong this is in combat against a boss, you can see in Moxsy’s video:
How to farm the strong shotgun
How do you farm this weapon? Unlike legendary weapons, which can often be dropped by a dedicated boss, you have the problem with this shotgun that it can only drop randomly. Moxsy recommends that you simply farm legendary items that you need for your build while keeping an eye out for the shotgun and the knife. For that, the early boss Splashzone is worthwhile. In summary, to achieve these high damage numbers you need:
- A Maliwan shotgun (the rarity is theoretically irrelevant) with weapon parts that give you the energy disc as an alternative fire option, and a Jacobs weapon part that turns your critical hits into bounces.
- A throwing knife with the Penetrator augmentation, which transforms all your damage sources into critical hits for a few seconds.
Due to the many random factors, it is not worth solely hunting for these items. Even if you do get the weapons to drop, the rolls must also be right. So just keep an eye out during other activities, and grab the items when you see them.
Borderlands 4 offers many builds and classes that let you experience different playstyles. If you’re still unsure about which class you want to play, check out our class list that presents the advantages of the characters: Borderlands 4: Best class for every player type
