Spoilers Off for games prior to Borderlands 3 as well as for spoiler characters that are marked as such. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.
Playable Vault Hunters: Borderlands | Borderlands 2 (Krieg) | The Pre-Sequel (Claptrap) | Borderlands 3
Supporting Characters: Borderlands | Borderlands 2 (Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC) | The Pre-Sequel | Borderlands 3
Spinoffs and other media: Tales from the Borderlands | Tiny Tina's Wonderlands | New Tales from the Borderlands | Other media
Weapon Brands: Atlas | Dahl | Hyperion (Handsome Jack) | Maliwan | Jakobs | Torgue | Tediore | Other Weapon Brands
Other: Bandits and Bandit Factions (Children of the Vault) | Hodunk and Zaford Clans | Creatures (Eridians and Vault Monsters) | Raid Bosses
"What is up, my bandit legions?! God-Queen Tyreen comin' atcha live with my brother Troy. We're streamin', you're screamin', and we're ALL ready to open the Great Vault. And when we do, our holy family is gonna tear the whole galaxy a new one!"
In Borderlands 3, the Children of the Vault are the main antagonists. Led by Troy and Tyreen Calypso, this Cult is fanatically obsessed with the Vaults, and seeks to lay claim to them as part of their search for the Great Vault. To further this goal, they have begun manufacturing their own weapons.
Weapons made by the Children of the Vault are unique in that they don't use magazines; instead, they draw directly from your ammo reserves and overheat if fired for too long.
For the other bandit and bandit factions from all the pre-Borderlands 3 games, go here.
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In general
- The Aesthetics of Technology: Their guns draw heavily on The Apunkalypse, using bright neon colors, extraneous spikes and chains, and various tubes and nozzles. They also make use of seven year-old gun parts, most obviously the old Dahl assault rifle barrel from 2. They also use engines to power them, which must be turned on when the gun is pulled out or overheated.
- Army of Thieves and Whores: They're a colossal horde made up of the disparate bandit clans from the other games, all united behind Tyreen and Troy Calypso. Notably, the COV are the first real attempt anyone has made to unite the bandit clans, and they prove to be particularly deadly because their sheer numbers, fanaticism, and willingness to die.
- Bottomless Magazines: Their stock-in-trade, as per the tradition established by their Bandit forbearers. The main appeal of the COV line of weapons is the fact that - barring the overheating and running out of ammo - you can literally fire all day long.
- Cult: They are effectively the bandit clans of the previous games turned murderous cult.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: In contrast to regular Bandits, they have both men and women in their ranks all willing to throw their lives away for the Twins.
- Gatling Good: Some of their pistols and rifles use gatling gun barrels for extra Dakka. Considering that guns in 3 don't share parts between manufacturers anymore, they're either hand-made or (in the case of the rifles) repurposed from older Vladof guns.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Despite the fact that they're the central antagonist faction of 3 they're still willing to give Brand Loyalty rewards to you whenever you gain 100 kills with COV weapons, even if most of those kills are their own guys or those they're affiliated with.
- The mail messages that accompany said weapons even indicate as much, stating that if the recipient happened to victimize a group of COV members while earning the Brand Loyalty reward, it's of no concern to them, the more important part is that you killed a hundred people with their guns and therefore showed support of the COV.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: More like Elemental-Spewing Weapon. One of the three COV rocket launcher types, the Chucka, instead of firing an explosive projectile, instead spews a short-range elemental stream. Played straight if you find a Incendiary-elemental Chucka, which is pretty much a flamethrower.
- The Horde: The bandits of the galaxy are everywhere, and Tyreen calls them the broken leftovers of the Corporate War. Up until the point that the Calypsos form the COV, no one had tried uniting them despite the fact that they were the largest "untapped resource" in the galaxy. Under the banner of the COV they are a crude but terrifyingly powerful force who are able to go toe-to-toe with other armies through numbers and creative engineering.
- Low Culture, High Tech: The "culture" of the bandits doesn't go much past violence, looting, torture, and cannibalism, and most of their equipment matches that with cobbled-together weapons and scrapyard buildings. Nonetheless, they have a surprising knack for salvaging and repurposing technology, and are able to build enormous constructions like Carnivora and operate spacecraft and virtual-reality simulation equipment.
- Martyrdom Culture: The bandits have taken this up under Tyreen, gleefully sacrificing themselves to be devoured by her and volunteering to be brutally killed in the spotlight at Carnivoria.
- More Dakka: Just like the bandits of old, it's what their guns do best. COV guns aren't all that accurate, damaging or hold particularly fancy gimmicks, but they can fire away until the user runs out of ammo or the gun overheats and something on it explodes, breaks, or needs to be doused in water.
- The Extreme Hangin' Chadd pistol does not use ammo, only overheats after a literal thousand shots are fired without a break, and is fully-automatic.
- Mythology Gag: One of their sight options is a glass bottle with an X crudely drawn on it - not unlike the type seen in one pre-release image
for the second game. - Overheating: The main drawback to their guns: you never have to reload, but you will have to contend with the weapon overheating, possibly at an inopportune time. In some cases, this is more literal as they'll catch on fire and have to be cooled off with a water gun, bottled water or (for their launchers) a hose. Their item cards even replace Capacity with the most amount of bullets they can spit in one go before they blow up. In a more extreme example, the "Pain is Power" Legendary Rifle will cause the player to "overheat" by setting them on fire while still being able to fire.
- Recursive Ammo: The Legendary Yellowcake is a rocket launcher that fires an arching projectile that will split into two more projectiles which then split into four more projectiles, provided the shot has enough airtime to do so.
- The Sawbar, a returning weapon from 2, is an assault rifle that fire bullets which then detonate at a certain distance and emits a small explosive burst to all angles.
- Reliably Unreliable Guns: Closer to the trope than the old Bandit guns, as using them too often in one go will cause something to explode on it, mainly the motor (for pistols) or the barrel (for rifles). They need to be replaced and restarted before the gun is ready to fire again. On the bright side, they have heat-capacity meters so you'll always know how close to breaking down the gun is, and leaving it alone for a little while without it overheating will naturally let the gun cool off.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The COV are effectively replacements for Bandits both story-wise as well as being manufacturers, replacing large magazine size with an overheat mechanic that gives them theoretically Bottomless Magazines.
- Villain Team-Up: They have united Pandora's various bandit gangs under their banner. They're also allied with Maliwan, helping with their assault on the Atlas corporation as well as backing Aurelia Hammerlock's takeover of the Jakobs corporation.
- Turns into an Enemy Civil War with Maliwan if a certain sidequest revealing that Katagawa Jr. intends on backstabbing the Calypsos is completed.
- Unorthodox Reload: While COV guns don't need to reload, overheating them will still require a lengthy process akin to reloading. Some guns have them just replacing burnt-out parts, but some of the animations are... weird. One variation involves cooling down a gun by squirting it with a Dahl Kidz water pistol.
- We Have Reserves: Tyreen cheerfully eats hordes of her minions whenever she wants and she and Troy show little concern for the wellbeing of their troops in general, being more than happy to throw them at the Vault Hunters to keep them busy. Similarly, Brand Loyalty messages sent to the Vault Hunters from the COV state that they have no problem with their own troops being massacred by the guns they build.
Individuals
Tyreen Calypso
Voiced by: Elisa Melendez
A powerful Siren and full-time livestreamer, Tyreen leads the Children of the Vault alongside her brother Troy. Her ultimate goal is to capture the power of the Vaults and become a goddess.- Antagonistic Offspring: She and Troy are the twin children of the first Vault Hunter Typhon DeLeon, who became embittered and power-hungry after Typhon tried to keep them on Nekrotafeyo for their own safety.
- Attention Whore: She loves being in the spotlight, so much that she has an entire cult mostly dedicated to how glorious and benevolent she supposedly is. Toward the end of the game, her Motive Rant is about how she wants to be the biggest and brightest star in the galaxy, even if she has to become a god and snuff out the rest of the universe so that she's the only thing left.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: Her powers involve leeching energy off of others, leaving them a withered husk. Naturally she's the central antagonist of the game.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Tyreen's intro has her ending a livestream like a stereotypical Let's Player, and her demeanor is much the same... but she's still an extremely powerful Siren and cult leader who can leech the energy from any living thing.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: She and her brother are the central antagonists of 3. However, she's clearly the dominant of the two (as well as the Final Boss).
- Brains and Brawn: Her Siren powers make the brawn of the duo, while her brother is the brains.
- Body Horror: After fusing with the Destroyer, she turns into a giant creature rather resembling a bipedal version of Salazar's Las Plagas form from Resident Evil 4, right down to having the partially dissolved remains of her original torso as a brain/tongue.
- Breaking Old Trends: The Big Bads of the previous Borderlands usually end up being superceded as a threat by some kind of Eldritch Abomination, either being killed by it (Commandant Steele) or deliberately unleashing the creature as an act of spite and to draw away the Vault Hunters' attention (Handsome Jack). Tyreen, however, outright has a Fusion Dance with the Destroyer, massively boosting her threat level and allowing her to become the Final Boss while remaining the Big Bad.
- Can't Have Sex, Ever: She casually admits to the Vault Hunters that she "can't get laid" because she keeps "leeching [her] partners to death". She doesn’t specify if the act triggers her powers, or if it's poor impulse control on her part. Considering Troy does just fine once he realizes his powers, it is implied to be the latter.
- Catchphrase: "Don't forget to like, follow, and obey."
- Coat Cape: She drapes a massive fur coat across her shoulders.
- Conjoined Twins: She and Troy were conjoined until their father had to separate them, since Troy was a parasitic twin who fed off of Tyreen's powers in order to be kept alive.
- Control Freak: Makes it clear in her ECHO logs in Devil's Razor that she doesn't want her followers thinking for themselves, killing two out of three of them for getting a math problem right as an example. She also has another one killed during an audition for a new Mouthpiece for saying "The God Queen should make ME the new Mouthpiece", angered by him suggesting what she should do.
- The Corrupter: Downplayed. She's less of a corrupter and more of an inciter. After Rhys obliterates the Zanara she gives Katagawa Jr. the last push so he take matters into his own hands. While Troy was no angel by any means she was what drove him to leave Nekrotafeyo while Troy, at the time, listened and worried about Typhon's feelings.
- Fan Disservice: On one hand, she sheds a lot of clothes at one point... on the other, this happens only because combining with the Destroyer mutates her original body into a horrifying, scarred mess. So while using photo mode may allow you to see her buttocks, you won't enjoy the sight.
- Faux Affably Evil: Constantly wears a mask of cheerfulness, even when committing morally heinous acts.
- Final Boss: Unusual for Borderlands, Tyreen is both the Big Bad and the last boss of the main story mode, instead of it being given to a relatively unrelated Vault creature alone.
- For the Evulz: She wants to leech the power of the Vault Monsters so she can become a god, with no relatable motivations for doing so.
- Friendly Enemy: In contrast to Handsome Jack's open contempt and and seething hatred, Tyreen never treats her "Super Fans" with anything more than mild amusement and always tries to maintain a façade of cheeriness towards them (whereas Troy actually sees them as a threat and would rather kill them sooner than later).
- Fusion Dance: After Troy is killed, Tyreen fuses with his corpse to reclaim his powers. A better example is her fusing with the Destroyer to become Tyreen the Destroyer.
- A God Am I: Constantly calls herself "God-Queen Tyreen" and has the powers to back it up.
- Gratuitous Spanish: She occasionally speaks in Spanish, saying phrases like, "Ay, bendito."
- Hate Sink: And you thought Handsome Jack was annoying. She's obnoxiously cheerful and acts extremely silly, even when at war or when trying to kill you. Although the silliness is played up for her livestreams.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: She's powerful enough to drain the energy from even beings as powerful as Vault Guardians, and her master plan is to drain the Destroyer, an extra-dimensional Precursor Killer Eldritch Abomination powerful enough to destroy the universe, in order to become a god. She actually seems to succeed in the end, successfully draining the Destroyer and transforming into a bipedal version of it while maintaining her own will, becoming the Final Boss.
- It's All About Me: As far as she's concerned, everyone who isn't named Tyreen Calypso exists to serve Tyreen Calypso. Troy has to remind her at various points that both of them lead the cult, to which her response can basically be summed up as "Huh? Sure, whatever." And after Troy dies, she seems more gleeful about her impending success as a result of her brother's actions than upset over the fact that he's dead (though granted, he was getting a little too big for his britches ever since he discovered he could leech powers off of other Sirens than his sister).
- Karmic Death: Narrowly averted. For someone who spent the entire game stealing powers and leeching people to death, she nearly gets herself leeched by Troy, whom she considered a parasite, and almost certainly would have if the Vault Hunter hadn't killed him first.
- According to some data-mined audio files, this originally was going to happen, followed by Troy reviving her with Eridium afterwards.
- However, she has learned nothing from being saved thanks to the Vault Hunter, and decides to become the main threat to them herself again. So, they make sure to slaughter her as well.
- Neck Lift: She's very fond of doing this one-handed to anyone she's about to use in her capacity as a Power Parasite.
- The Nicknamer: She mockingly calls the Vault Hunter either "Super Fan" or "Vault Thief."
- Omnicidal Maniac: After Troy dies, she shifts her goal from achieving goddesshood to taking in the power of the Destroyer to wipe out all of the stars in the sky until only she remains.
- One-Winged Angel: Her fusion with the Destroyer.
- Oh, Crap!: Panics when it becomes clear that Troy is draining her so significantly in his battle with the Vault Hunter that she fears he is going to kill her.
- Pet the Dog: On Promethea, she actually complies with Maya when she threatens to shoot Troy in return for releasing Ava... she then proceeds to Kick the Dog right after.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's about a head shorter than Lilith or Maya, but is noticeably more muscular than them, and thanks to having spent her career powering herself up with her Mana Drain ability, is able to overpower both of them in both Siren abilities and raw physical strength.
- Please Subscribe to Our Channel: Her version of this is "Like, Follow/Comment and Obey."
- Power Parasite: She has the ability to drain others of their energy and/or powers.
- Resentful Guardian: Since Troy is a parasitic twin, Tyreen is the only person who can keep him alive by letting him absorb her powers. She doesn't seem to be too fond of this arrangement, as she begrudgingly releases Lilith after Troy begs her to help him. Towards the end, after Troy gets killed fighting the Vault Hunters, Tyreen is a little sentimental but otherwise not particularly upset.
- Self-Made Orphan: Troy implies she killed their mother with her powers. Her father died trying to kill her.
- Synchronization: Due to the fact that they were born as conjoined twins, both have Tyreen's power split between the two. Tyreen can parasitically absorb powers, whereas Troy needs the absorbed powers so he doesn't die.
- Taken for Granite: A good way to see if Tyreen has been nearby is if there's the petrified husks of people (often her own bandits) scattered about that she's fed on.
- Too Important to Walk: Has a habit of flashily teleporting to travel a few feet outside of combat.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Both Tyreen and Troy are very much conventionally attractive. Their father, Typhon DeLeon, could most generously be described as an overweight gnome.
- Villainous Breakdown: She starts losing her cool when Troy almost usurps her, but truly degenerates after he dies preparing the Great Vault, her final livescream being much more unhinged and not bothering with them afterwards. Even the subtitles are cut out for part of the speech, as if even the game can't handle her anymore. Capping it off, at the end of said speech, she punches the camera and leaves it behind as she teleports away, her distress causing her to abandon her Attention Whore attitude to focus on her attempted godhood.Tyreen Calypso: Ah ha ha ha! And we are live! Well, not them. They're SUPER dead. Aww, you thought you were gonna win! Maybe next time, superfans! Or not. That's just something people say. Game over, bitches! (punches the camera and leaves it behind as she teleports away)
- Wham Line: One to Typhon DeLeon:Tyreen: I know you're listening, Dad.
- Would Hurt a Child: An ECHO log titled "Poetry Contest" found in the Cathedral of the Twin Gods has her read off poems from Troy's "Praise Be the God-Queen" poetry competition. The poem from a young Psycho named Gut Rot is praiseworthy, but because he called her Vault Girl instead of God-Queen, he's marked for death.Tyreen: "Roses are red, but Pandora has none. Tyreen is the Vault Girl. She is my sun." Aw, that's so sweet! But he didn't get my title right, so... sacrifice him.
Bandit: He's only seven, God-Queen! And he's got a gimp leg!
Tyreen: Oh! [winces] Oh, I didn't realize. Then, he'll be easier to catch, won't he?
Troy Calypso
- Antagonistic Offspring: He and Tyreen are the twin children of the first Vault Hunter Typhon DeLeon, who became embittered and power-hungry after Typhon tried to keep them on Nekrotafeyo for their own safety.
- Artificial Limbs: He has a gigantic mechanical right arm.
- Attention Whore: Subtle, but it's there. It really starts to show after he kills Maya, takes her powers and starts hijacking Tyreen on the ECHO.
- Badass Boast: "Gods don't negotiate."
- Blessed with Suck: Being a previously conjoined twin to Tyreen, he has the appearance of a Siren but none of their powers, and needed Tyreen's help to sustain himself. However, once he accidentally grabbed Maya, he discovered that he could drain her powers as well, and became a full-fledged male Siren.
- Brains and Brawn: Troy is the brains. As the power behind the throne, he maintains Tyreen's publicity and power over the cult.
- BFS: Official game arts depicts him carrying a pretty big sword with his mechanical arm. He uses it in his boss battle and creates a gigantic stone club with it to squash you as one of his attacks.
- Can't Have Sex, Ever: Subverted, if not averted in Troy's case. While his sister in unable to bed her partners without killing them, Troy managed to not only have sex with Aurelia Hammerlock, but she also somehow survived, much to the disgust of Wainwright Jakobs.
- Chessmaster Sidekick: Troy is the one who helps to shape Tyreen's public image for maximum control over the masses, as well as remind her of their goals when she gets too distracted by her own fame.
- Climax Boss: Fought at the end of the second visit to Pandora with the entire planet's fate at stake. He's also the third to last boss faced in the game, which is followed by a hilarious fake ending that says the game will continue in Borderlands 4... 3... 2... 1...
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He tries to keep Tyreen's power high in check. Key word being "tries." He stops doing it when he realizes he can leech powers like Tyreen and goes completely off the deep end when he starts Phaselocking Elpis into Pandora.
- Conjoined Twins: He and Tyreen were conjoined twins, allowing some of Tyreen's Siren powers to manifest in him. However, the only Siren-related ability he has is a malformed, glowing Siren tattoo and a necessity to absorb Tyreen's powers for his own survival.
- The Dog Bites Back: Once he absorbs Maya's powers, it is implied that he plans to supplant Tyreen, having been tired of being overshadowed by her and being treated as a burden. It escalates to Troy siphoning so much of Tyreen's powers that he nearly kills her.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: After he kills Maya and absorbs her powers, he proceeds to take over Tyreen's livestreams by forcibly sidelining her publicly, including stealing her catchphrases and stepping on her feet. This culminates in a crazed attempt to crash Elpis into Pandora to unlock the Great Vault by phaselocking Elpis itself after juicing himself up on Eridium. After the Vault Hunters cut off his Eridium supply, he continues in his grand attempt by draining Tyreen's powers despite her very angry protests.
- For the Evulz: Along with his sister, he wants the power from the Vault Monsters to become a god, and has no relatable motivations.
- Freudian Excuse: Downplayed. Troy was born as a conjoined twin attached to Tyreen. They were separated, but it forced Troy to rely on his sister in order to keep himself alive. Part of the reason why he aspires to be a god is so he won't have to rely on Tyreen anymore for life support.
- Gender-Restricted Ability: He's an exception to the rule that Sirens are only female. As conjoined twins, Tyreen's Siren abilities bled over to him, causing him to be born with a red, malformed, glowing Siren tattoo. Since he was the parasitic twin, he shares his lifespan with Tyreen and needs to absorb some of her powers so he can survive and regenerate from his wounds. However, it's revealed by his desperate, lethal drain of Maya at the Promethea Vault that he can absorb from any Siren, with it clear that he had no idea this was possible, and neither did Tyreen.
- Handicapped Badass: His father had to cut him off of his sister when they were born as conjoined twins, requiring his right arm to be replaced with an artificial one. Due to his abnormal birth, his lifespan is shared with his sister. Doesn't make him any less of a threat though.
- Hate Sink: He's every bit as smug and irritating as his twin sister. While in the beginning he can be seen as a bit of a victim, being treated as a parasite, he switches from pitiful to loathsome as soon as he kills Maya and starts abusing his sister back.
- Hero Killer: He kills Maya by draining her powers so hard she crumbles to dust.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Played for Drama. He and Tyreen had no idea that he could actually drain any Sirens himself, rather than just her, and the revelation of this fact drives him to extreme power hunger.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Troy is Brick-sized (though much more Lean and Mean), while Tyreen is about a head shorter than the average Vault Hunter.
- Karmic Death: A twisted variation. His corpse is reduced to dust by Tyreen after she absorbs his powers for her own gain, just like he did with Maya.
- Kick the Dog: He literally kicks Lilith while she's down after Tyreen steals her powers and goes on to mock her misery. Later, he proves himself even more of a Jerkass by nonchalantly gloating over Maya's death, specifically pointing out that he's the one who killed her.
- Laughing Mad: He's cackling all the way through his boss battle to show how completely out of his mind he is.
- Large and in Charge: He's the co-leader of the Children of the Vault and of a size comparable to the likes of Brick or Mr. Torgue (though noticeably leaner than them).
- Lean and Mean: He's tall, fit and extremely sadistic.
- Mana Drain: He needs to share the energy Tyreen drains to keep himself from dying... or rather, energy from a Siren in general.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Once he discovers that he can also steal from Sirens, the power quickly goes to his head. He soon denounces the cult aspect of Tyreen's plan and even tries to usurp her as leader of the COV.
- Power Copying: He uses a number of stolen Siren abilities in his boss fight, most prominently the Firehawk abilities stolen from Lilith combined with Maya's ability to fire elemental energy orbs.
- Power Gives You Wings: When he finally fights you his Siren powers allows him to manifest wings like Lilith's.
- Power Parasite: As a formerly conjoined twin, Tyreen is the only person who can keep him alive by letting him absorb some of her powers. However, it's later revealed that he can absorb powers from any Siren.
- The Right Hand of Doom: His robotic limb is essentially the size of a Badass Psycho's mutated limb.
- Smug Snake: From the smile on his face down to his sneering tone, he's always thinking himself to be superior to everyone around him.
- Semi-Divine: He has one half of a Siren power and a natural red Siren tattoo. However, his half of the power is to restore his health by absorbing Siren energy.
- Synchronization: Due to the fact that they were born as conjoined twins, both have Tyreen's power split between the two. Tyreen can parasitically absorb powers, whereas Troy needs the absorbed powers so he doesn't die.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Troy sounds like he was nicer as a kid according to audio logs found on Nekrotafeyo. He originally was worried about upsetting their father by leaving and had to be goaded into it by Tyreen.
- Villainous Breakdown: In the mission "The Great Vault," he becomes increasingly frustrated with the Vault Hunter's refusal to die, completely stopping pretending to "coddle" the Children of the Vault and instead just shouting at them and insulting them for their incompetence, all justified by the fact that he is trying to focus on the difficult task of supercharging the moon Elpis with Eridium.
- Would Hit a Girl: Along with the above mentioned kicking of Lilith, he also kills Maya by completely absorbing her powers - something he is very glad to have done despite not even knowing he could - and will fight Moze and/or Amara to the death during his boss battle.
Shiv
Voiced by: Raison Varner
Brought a Knife to a Gun Fight
A large bandit leader that's taken over an outpost converted into a propaganda center, and the first obstacle the newest Vault Hunters must face.
- King Mook: He's a Badass Psycho and the first boss of the game.
- Warm-Up Boss: His main role in-game is just to be the last stepping stone before you get to Level 2 and unlock your Action Skill.
Mouthpiece
Voiced by: Connor Thomas Cleary
Sonic Doooom!!
A hype man that manages the Calypso's broadcast center. Being one of the most vocal supporters of the Twin Gods he riles up the bandits into doing the Calypsos bidding.
- Early-Bird Boss: Mouthpiece is the first big bandit to be fought and his shield makes him annoying to fight with what little you have when you reach him. Compare the first battle with him to when you fight later on a quest or in True Vault Hunter Mode and he won't be anywhere as threatening as he was before.
- Flunky Boss: He will sic his "Apocolytes" on you during the fight.
- Gale-Force Sound: Their boss arena is surrounded by large speakers that, when active, push the player away and causes damage.
- King Mook: Mouthpiece is essentially a souped up Enforcer with a special attack.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He uses a tower shield with a stereo sound bar on it.
- Mouth of Sauron: His name kind of gives it away.
- No Indoor Voice: "YOU! WILL! DIIIIIEEEEE!!!!". Again, his name kind of spoils the surprise, Mouthpiece's default speaking volume is "shouting".
- Villainous Legacy: A quest later in the game has the Calypso Twins organizing auditions for his replacement, and you have to crash them. The new Mouthpiece is ultimately picked because he looks and acts exactly like the old one.
- Warm-Up Boss: Mouthpiece isn't very difficult and while he hits hard he's mostly there to teach you the ropes of how boss battles work here. Since he'll probably down you a few times he's a good reminder to new players that you can get Second Winds by picking off more fragile enemies.
Killavolt
Voiced by: Kevin Duc
Killavolt aka Kenneth
One of Moxxi's ex-boyfriends, who coped with splitting up by drinking battery acid, starting up his own Battle Royale competition, and turning into an electricity-powered bazillionaire that make people fight for the chance to sleep with him.- Achilles' Heel: Radiation damage will work wonders to deal with him.
- Attack Its Weak Point: He constantly rotates to face one of the players, leaving his backpack vulnerable to the rest of the team.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He's treated as very gross and pathetic by Moxxi throughout his sidequest, his obnoxious announcements throughout his competition reinforcing her claims. When it comes time to face him though he is very tough.
- Groin Attack: Not only does Moxxi specifically ask you to shoot him in the dick, it also actually counts as a weak point, with "DICKED!" popping up upon a successful hit.
- King Mook: He's essentially an upgraded Enforcer who can electrify the arena you're fighting him in.
- Kavorka Man: An immense sleazebag who somehow has tons of women willing to fight to the death to sleep with him.
- Lightning Gun: His shield will fire a stream of lightning that will also electrify the ground he's aiming at.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He wields an energy shield in battle that he can Shield Bash players with.
- Optional Boss: While he's far from the only boss encountered in a side quest, he is the only one with his own top-of-screen health bar, which is otherwise reserved for story bosses.
- Shield Bash: He will charge at you after electrifying the ground around you.
- Shock and Awe: Has electrical powers as a result of drinking battery acid.
- Teeny Weenie: To hear Moxxi tell it.
- Too Much Information: One of his announcements has him state he hasn't shaved down there in a while...
- Wake-Up Call Boss: He's a step-up from most bosses encountered up to this point due to the fact that he's constantly electrifying the field, he carries a shield that blocks most frontal damage and he doesn't summon minions often to get Second Wind off of.
Warden
Voiced by: Chris Rager
Sadistic, Oafish, Eats Rocks
A Goliath in charge of keeping Sir Hammerlock in a cage.
- Fat Bastard: Shows off a huge gut that all Goliaths now sport in this game.
- Hulking Out: Just like all Goliaths in 3. However, he can partially control it by putting his helmet back on, giving him a boost to his strength in the process. His helmet doesn't come off until you remove his shield's health bar, after which he goes into full rage mode.
- King Mook: He's essentially just a large Goliath with some extra attacks and whose helmet can't be shot off, only going into rage mode when the fight reaches its second phase.
- Mook Debut Cutscene: He is the first Goliath you face in the game but acts as a boss fight.
Billy, The Anointed
Sick Burn, Bro
- Climax Boss: Billy is first Anointed enemy you fight and he's the last obstacle between you and the second piece of the Eden-6 Vault key.
- Degraded Boss: One of the types of Anointed that begin appearing after Billy's death are Anointed Goliaths, who are identical to him in both appearance and attacks.
- Lightning Bruiser: It's big, it's fast, hits like a truck and can take a lot of lead or laser before it dies.
- Mook Debut Cutscene: Similar to the Warden, he serves as the introduction to a new enemy type.
- One-Winged Angel: Troy transfers some of his stolen powers into an ordinary Goliath and transforms him into an elemental-based monster he christens "Anointed".
- Super Prototype: Of the "Anointed" enemies.
- Taken for Granite: He, as all future Anointed enemies, turn into statues of Eridium when defeated. Smashing the statues gives up their loot.
- Teleport Spam: His new powers allows him to instantly teleport where the player is. Considering he's an Enraged Goliath...
Carnivora
20,000 Tons of High-Octane Hate!
Click here to see Carnivora's true appearance.
A Pandora-themed carnival hosted by Pain and Terror.
- Base on Wheels: What it's revealed to be.
- Flunky Boss: It will deploy COV runners and Cyclones to pester you.
- "Get Back Here!" Boss: You must chase it and systematically break its parts until it can no longer run.
- Lightning Bruiser: As Tannis states, it's very fast despite its bulk.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: It's highly recommended you fight it in a vehicle. Destroying its parts without one is possible, but very impractical.
- Walking Spoiler: Carnivora is not only a festival, it's a colossal COV Base on Wheels that must be crippled before boarding it.
Pain and Terror
FEATURING THE AGONIZER 9000 (Click to see picture)
A pair of performers that capture Tannis. They hype up Tannis' execution with an Eridium donation drive to support the Calypsos in opening the Great Vault.
- Affably Evil: Pain seemingly sincerely thanks Tannis when she compliments the Agonizer 9000's engineering. Of course, he follows it up by bringing her closer to "get a better look," but he does seem to appreciate someone else complimenting his mechanical work.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Pain is built like a Bruiser/Enforcer, while Terror is a Tink with mildly more realistic proportions.
- Composite Character: Of Penn and Teller and Dr Dealgood from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
- Depraved Dwarf: Terror is small, blind in one eye and has his mouth stitched shut, he's also Pain's co-host.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Pain voices his frustration towards Marcus' lack of professionalism when he reads out a sponsorship, which consists of an insult towards the Children of the Vault.Pain: "Cult wackos, get stuffed"? Hey, pal— I'll take your money, but that's just unprofessional.
- Face Death with Dignity: Upon defeat, they don't say a word or attempt to run, and calmly accept their fate.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Pain dons a pair of glasses, and is notably cruel.
- Ink-Suit Actor: They are heavily inspired by the magician duo that voice them.
- Large-Ham Announcer: Pain is a showman who actively taunts the player and summons enemies to fight for him.
- Ludicrous Gibs: Whatever the player does to them after beating the Agonizer 9000 results in this.
- Mouth Stitched Shut: Terror has his mouth stitched shut, rendering him unable to speak.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Pain wears a suit which is torn in several places and has one of its sleeves torn off to show his biceps.
- Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: Averted, both are smartly dressed for the profession, but their clothes are either torn or covered in armour.
- The Speechless: Like his inspiration, Terror never actually talks. (Teller does, however, provide the voice for the side-mission character Ramsden.)
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Pain speaks in Penn’s signature soft-yet-firm style and feeds people through a massive meatgrinder.
- Stationary Boss: The Agonizer 9000 remains in the center of the arena, at most spinning in terms of moving around.
Beef Plissken
A surprisingly friendly bandit chief on Pandora. The Vault Hunters investigate him to solve the murder of a Crimson Raider nearby his camp for Ava's podcast.
- Affably Evil: In a departure from the usual bandit chiefs, he doesn't try to kill the VH on sight and asks what they need help with when they meet him. He's cooperative with their questions at first and even offers to subscribe to Ava's podcast just from hearing about it. They only come into conflict because of good ol' Claptrap opposing that.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: The Seer possesses him into diving him into a meat grinder.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: The moment his health gets low enough, his fight with the Vh immediately stops with him opening a door and offering up the Crimson Raider head they've been looking for in exchange for not killing him. He's also willing to give them his chests when they ask for loot.
- Verbal Tic: "Bud"
- Villains Out Shopping: He watches Bunkers and Badasses Podcasts, and was going to subscribe to Ava's until Claptrap antagonized him.
Forces
Anointed
Super-powered henchmen created by Troy after he acquired his new powers.
- Elite Mooks: They are more powerful than the COV's, deadlier than Badass COV enemies, other various mooks, and the first Anointed encountered serves as the boss for that level.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: While Hardened Badass Zealots and Hardened Tink Tanks are no slouch these guys takes truly massive amounts of punishment, especially in higher Mayhem levels, easily comparable to actual bosses.
- Degraded Boss: After their surprise introduction as proper boss battles, they're found and fought as minibosses. In higher Mayhem levels, they start showing up pretty much all the time in small groups per COV-controlled arenas.
- Lightning Bruiser: How much each one is depends on a unit-by-unit basis, but they're pretty fast and tend to go for the kill by teleporting right in the player's face, beating them senseless and then teleporting away before they can deal meaningful damage right back at them.
- Literally Shattered Lives: When killed, they'll writhe and clench in pain as their bodies crystalizes into a person-shaped eridium statue. To get their item drops, you'll have to melee them into pieces.
- Purple Is Powerful: They have purple skin, and are far harder to take down than normal enemies.
- Shield-Bearing Mook: Anointed Militants usually keeps an impenetrable frontal shield on top of already being sturdy.
- Sizeshifter: Anointed enemies grow to enormous sizes when blessed, and the Anointed Tinks in particular frequently shift in sizes between hand-sized powerhouses to 'giant' versions of themselves (grow a bit taller than a normal human's height).
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Functionally and thematically, they're pretty similar to the Eternals fought in The Pre-Sequel, being Elite Mooks who can mimic Siren abilities. But while Eternals rely on self-healing and numbers, the Anointed rely on sheer speed, innate toughness and invincibility phases.
- Superpowered Mooks: Have teleportation and elemental powers common to many Sirens, albeit at relatively decreased capacity.
Tinks
Renamed from and given larger roles than their Midget predecessors, Tinks serve as the loyal yet still diminutive worshippers for the COV. Aside their size, what separates them from their Fanatic counterparts is their ability to construct sentry guns from pile of scrap metal in a few seconds.
- Meaningful Name: 'Tink' is short for 'Tinkerer', and they're more or less the Turret Masters for the COV.
- Metal Slime: Loot Tinks, which are practically the same thing as Loot Midgets from previous games, are rare spawns that have a hefty boost to rare drop rates and plenty of cash, provided you can catch and kill them in time. They have a tendency to run around aimlessly if you hurt them enough, making it something of a wild goose chase if he's got backup keeping you at bay.
- Mini Mook: They're very short and sport a less than generous amount of HP, and better yet they've got disproportionately large heads and tend to stand still in battle, making most of them convenient Second Wind targets.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They are the Midgets from the previous games rebranded with a less culturally insensitive label.
- The Turret Master: Tinks near piles of scrap will dive into the pile, rummage around and eventually erect a sentry that auto-targets the player. Badass Tinks can do the same, which in turn creates a Badass Turret.
Hags
The hulking and heavily armored heavy hitters of the COV, Hags will stand in the backlines firing their arm-cannons while carrying Tink support on their backs.
- Brawn Hilda: Towering, freakishly and disproportionately muscular (even beating out the Goliaths in girth), and vicious.
- Distaff Counterpart: To the Bruisers/Enforcers and Goliaths.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Kill their Tink and they'll pause to mourn for them. This is an excellent opening to take her down too.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Downplayed since this is a shooter where 90% of humanoid enemies use guns, but while the Enforcers are armed with shields used for blocking and bashing, the Hags focus on long ranged elemental attacks or vortexes.
- Shoulder Teammate: Similar to Midgets to Goliaths before, Tinks ride on Hags to support each other.
- Ground Pound: Get too close and they'll force you to back off via a deadly shockwave.
