Ultimate Borderlands 2 DPS Calculator
Analyze your weapon’s performance with our detailed borderlands 2 calculator. Find your true Damage Per Second (DPS) to optimize your build and dominate Pandora.
The damage number listed on the weapon card.
Rounds per second, as shown on the weapon card.
Time in seconds to reload the weapon.
How many bullets are in a full magazine.
Your chance to land a critical hit (base + skills).
Total bonus damage from crits (weapon + skills + badass rank).
Burst DPS
0
Damage Per Mag
0
Cycle Time
0s
DPS Comparison
Visual comparison of Burst vs. Sustained DPS.
What is a Borderlands 2 DPS Calculator?
A borderlands 2 calculator for Damage Per Second (DPS) is a vital tool for any serious Vault Hunter. It allows you to move beyond the simple damage number on a weapon card to understand its true, effective damage output over time. In a game with frantic firefights, knowing whether a gun with high fire rate beats a slow, heavy hitter is key to survival and optimization. This calculator helps you compare weapons and understand how stats like reload speed and magazine size critically impact your combat effectiveness. Whether you’re a beginner or tackling Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, a DPS calculator provides the data needed for an optimized borderlands 2 character builds.
The Borderlands 2 Calculator Formula and Explanation
This calculator uses two primary formulas to determine weapon effectiveness: Burst DPS and Sustained DPS. Understanding both is essential for choosing the right tool for the job.
Burst DPS Formula: Burst DPS = Base Damage * Fire Rate
This measures the weapon’s damage output in a perfect scenario, assuming you are just holding down the trigger with a full magazine. It’s useful for understanding how quickly you can eliminate a low-health target.
Sustained DPS Formula: Sustained DPS = Total Damage Per Cycle / Total Cycle Time
This is the most important metric for overall performance. It accounts for the entire cycle of emptying a magazine and reloading it. A weapon might have great Burst DPS but be crippled by a tiny magazine and a long reload time. The Sustained DPS gives you a much more realistic measure of a weapon’s damage in a prolonged fight. For a deep dive, check out our bl2 weapon damage guide.
| Variable | Meaning | Unit | Typical Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Damage | The damage value on the weapon card. | Damage Points | 10 – 1,000,000+ |
| Fire Rate | How many bullets the gun fires per second. | Rounds/sec | 0.5 – 15.0 |
| Reload Speed | Time it takes to perform a full reload. | Seconds | 1.0 – 7.0 |
| Magazine Size | Number of rounds in one magazine. | Rounds | 3 – 150+ |
| Crit Chance / Bonus | The probability and damage multiplier of a critical hit. | Percentage (%) | 5% – 1000%+ |
Practical Examples
Let’s compare two hypothetical weapons to see how the borderlands 2 calculator works in practice.
Example 1: The “Vladof Anarchy” SMG
- Inputs: Base Damage: 4500, Fire Rate: 10.2, Reload Speed: 2.2s, Magazine Size: 48
- Results: This weapon excels in Burst DPS due to its high fire rate. It can quickly eliminate shields and unarmored enemies. However, its Sustained DPS is balanced by its moderate reload speed. It’s a classic spray-and-pray weapon ideal for close-quarters combat.
Example 2: The “Jakobs Dead-Eye” Rifle
- Inputs: Base Damage: 25000, Fire Rate: 1.5, Reload Speed: 4.5s, Magazine Size: 6
- Results: The Burst DPS is lower than the SMG, but each shot hits like a truck. Its major weakness is the very long reload speed and small magazine, which significantly lowers its Sustained DPS. This weapon is best used for landing precise, high-impact shots from a distance rather than for clearing mobs. Using a borderlands 2 skill tree planner can help mitigate this weakness with reload speed skills.
How to Use This Borderlands 2 DPS Calculator
Using this calculator is simple. Follow these steps to find your weapon’s true power:
- Enter Base Stats: Input the Base Damage, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Magazine Size directly from your weapon’s item card in-game.
- Add Critical Hit Info: Input your estimated Critical Hit Chance and total Critical Hit Damage bonus. Remember to add bonuses from skills, class mods, and Badass Rank.
- Analyze the Results: The calculator will instantly update. The “Sustained DPS” is your primary result for overall effectiveness. Use “Burst DPS” to gauge initial damage and “Damage Per Mag” to see how much damage you can do before needing to reload.
- Compare and Conquer: Run different weapons through the calculator to see which one truly performs better for your needs. A higher item score doesn’t always mean higher DPS!
Key Factors That Affect Weapon DPS
The numbers on the card are just the beginning. Several other factors dramatically influence your real-world damage output.
- Character Skills: Many skills boost fire rate, reload speed, magazine size, or add gun damage. These are essential for maximizing DPS.
- Badass Rank: Tokens spent on Gun Damage, Fire Rate, and Reload Speed provide a constant, powerful boost.
- Class Mods: A good Class Mod can add points to key DPS skills and provide passive buffs to gun damage or fire rate.
- Relics: Allegiance or specific weapon-type relics can offer huge boosts to damage, magazine size, or other vital stats.
- Elemental Multipliers: Using the correct element (Fire vs. Flesh, Corrosive vs. Armor) provides a massive damage bonus that isn’t reflected in the base DPS calculation. Learn more by reading about understanding elemental damage in BL2.
- Weapon Parts: The grip, stock, and barrel on a weapon can subtly alter its stats, leading to variations even among weapons with the same name. Finding one with matching manufacturer parts is key to understanding the best weapon parts in BL2.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- How do I find my total critical hit bonus?
- You must manually add the base critical bonus of the weapon type (e.g., +50% for pistols) with all additional bonuses from your skill tree, class mod, and Badass Rank.
- Does this calculator account for elemental damage?
- No, this calculator focuses on the raw kinetic DPS. Elemental damage-over-time (DoT) is calculated separately and depends on the enemy type. Use this calculator to compare the core performance of weapons, then factor in elemental bonuses mentally.
- Why is my Sustained DPS lower than my Burst DPS?
- Sustained DPS always includes reload time, which is “dead time” where you aren’t doing damage. Burst DPS ignores reloading. Therefore, unless your reload speed is zero, Sustained DPS will always be lower.
- Is higher DPS always better?
- Mostly, yes. But not always. A sniper rifle will have lower Sustained DPS than an SMG, but its ability to one-shot a dangerous enemy from afar is a tactical advantage that DPS doesn’t measure. Use this borderlands 2 calculator as a primary tool, but don’t ignore utility.
- How do skills like Zer0’s “B0re” affect DPS?
- Skills with complex mechanics like B0re, which adds massive damage for projectile pass-throughs, cannot be easily modeled. This calculator provides a baseline DPS; you must consider the impact of such skills qualitatively.
- Where can I find stats for legendary weapons?
- Our BL2 legendary weapon guide is a great resource for finding the base stats and special effects of Pandora’s most powerful gear.
- How important is accuracy?
- Extremely important, but hard to quantify in a formula. This calculator assumes you hit every shot. If a weapon has low accuracy, its real-world DPS will be much lower than calculated. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
- Does this work for True and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode?
- Yes. The formulas are the same regardless of game mode. The calculator is even more crucial in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode tips, where enemy health is vastly increased and every point of damage matters.