Borderlands 3 COV guns are a special beast. These weird amalgams of various types of tech are vastly different from other gun providers in Borderlands 3. That's why we felt the Children of Vault weapons were just the right thing to wrap up our gun manufacturer article series with. Here, you'll read what makes these Rube Goldberg-looking weapons unique, and why you, too might want to lug a few around.
We'll also be talking a bit about Borderlands 3 COV Legendaries, which is always a curious topic. If you thought previously discussed gun manufacturers were weird, boy are you in for a treat with COV. Basically, this article will tell you all the saucy stuff that you didn't even know you wanted to know about. Let us begin!
What does a Borderlands 3 COV do?
Unlike virtually any other Borderlands 3 gun manufacturer, the Children of Vault weapons are hardly official. In fact, COV isn't even a company per se. Their firearms are most alike to the Bandit weapons from Borderlands 2, which were, in turn, a replacement for Borderlands 1's S&S Munitions. Yours truly was a big fan of S&S and their big, bulky, and incredibly yellow guns. Neither Bandit nor the contemporary COV guns look the same, but they sure do fill the same niche. The whole jig with S&S, Bandit, and - indeed - COV weaponry is that they've got huge magazines. Of course, that notion has evolved in Borderlands 3, as COV guns don't need to reload.
Though we fully understand if you find COV aesthetics to be off-putting, there's something to be said about not ever needing to reload your gun. Instead, a Borderlands 3 COV gun will "randomly" overheat and require a short cooldown period. There was even some hubbub over them completely breaking down if pushed to their absolute limits, though we're yet to find evidence of that ever happening.
In any case, the gimmick is obvious! COV guns:
- do not need to reload
- fire dozens of rounds downrange in short succession
- look like they should fall apart
Quite charming, wouldn't you agree?
Why are all Borderlands 3 COV Guns so beat up?
On the topic of aesthetics - what the hell is up with COV, anyway? The answer is as simple as it is obvious: Children of Vault don't care much about form, and they're all about function. Crazy, borderline ridiculous function. The obvious downside to not having to reload is the fact that your duct-taped gun will inevitably overheat. From what we can tell, this is because all of COV's guns are made practically out of scrap metal.
Upon closer inspection, Borderlands veterans may notice that contemporary COV firearms are built out of Borderlands 2 weapon parts. An odd Dahl receiver or a Jakobs trigger assembly here or there. A great example of subtle background world-building right there, we think. Since it's basically bandits who are creating them, it's a given that COV guns will all be beat-up and borderline broken.
It is worth pointing out that the majority of COV firearms do incorporate some sort of Eridian tech into their designs. This may well be the secret behind them working in the first place, even. We're not sure if COV is a suitable replacement for the revered E-Tech designs of Borderlands 2, but it is what it is!
It seems that bandits' technical prowess in gun-making is somewhat limited, too. COV produces only three types of firearms: pistols, assault rifles, and rocket launchers. Who knows what sort of havoc could infinite magazine shotguns and submachine guns dish out, so that might be for the best, anyway. We wouldn't bet against Gearbox introducing new weapon archetypes to popular gun manufacturers, but take that with a pinch of salt!
What about Borderlands 3 COV Legendaries?
As you can probably imagine, COV legendaries are an erratic bunch. With their guns being so ridiculously over-designed and nutty, is a knife-firing revolver really that weird? Yes, the Psycho Stabber is, in fact, a thing. Similarly, the Sawbar assault rifle always generates an incendiary damage module, has a greatly reduced overheat gauge, and its projectiles split into three angled bits of shrapnel. They do cut your enemies into bits and pieces, before you ask.
If you're hunting for COV legendaries, it's this sort of awesome ridiculousness that you should expect, and the game is all the better for it. We've no doubt future DLC will introduce even wackier designs into the mix, and we eagerly await them!
It's taken us a few months, but we're at the end of the line. This article concludes our exploration of all the gun manufacturers of Borderlands 3. If you haven't been keeping up, we invite you to check out all the other articles we've prepared. Here's a handy list!
We hope you find them as fun to read as it was to write them. Stay tuned for plenty more Borderlands 3 content in the coming days!
Borderlands 3 COV guns are a special beast. These weird amalgams of various types of tech are vastly different from other gun providers in Borderlands 3. That’s why we felt the Children of Vault weapons were just the right thing to wrap up our gun manufacturer article series with. Here, you’ll read what makes these Rube Goldberg-looking weapons […]
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