Projectile velocity is the speed at which a projectile travels. Bullets don't reach their targets instantaneously in Borderlands and this criteria should be taken into account when choosing a weapon. Not all weapons fire their projectiles at the same speed.
Description[]
While obviously things such as rockets will move slower than a bullet it is still worthwhile to note that not all bullets move at the same speed.
Some very high damage weapon variants, such as Cold Machine Pistols or Stomper Combat Rifles for example, come with a significant bullet velocity reduction.
Even as a whole some classes of weapons will simply have slower bullets, such as SMGs and Repeater Pistols. Combat Rifles and Revolvers, on the other hand, all have relatively high bullet velocities.
List[]
The following list contains the velocity of the projectiles of almost all the weapons in Borderlands. These speeds were measured by user Scottes in this Borderlands Forum Thread. Weapons with an asterisk (*) have not been directly measured but their speeds were extrapolated from existing data.
Speeds were originally measured in game "units". They are given as mph and also compared to the base speed of an SMG.
| Weapon | Speed (units) | Speed (mph) | Speed (Relative to SMG) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking | 500 | 4 | 0.04x |
| Running | 675 | 5.4 | 0.05x |
| Assault Shotgun | 20000 | 165 | 1.54x |
| Combat Shotgun | 20000 | 165 | 1.54x |
| Carnage* | 3000 | 24 | 0.22x |
| Combat Rifle | 22500 | 186 | 1.73x |
| Stomper* | 7500 | 62 | 0.58x |
| Machine Gun | 22500 | 186 | 1.73x |
| SMG | 13000 | 107 | 1.00x |
| Repeater Pistol | 15000 | 124 | 1.16x |
| Machine Pistol | 15000 | 124 | 1.16x |
| Cold Machine Pistol* | 3750 | 31 | 0.28x |
| Revolver | 25000 | 207 | 1.93x |
| Rocket Launcher | 3000 | 24 | 0.22x |
| Harpoon* | 6000 | 48 | 0.45x |
| Evil Rocket Launcher* | 6000 | 48 | 0.45x |
| Evil Harpoon* | 9000 | 72 | 0.67x |
| Scorpio Turret | 8000 | 66 | 0.62x |
| Sniper Rifle | 30000 | 248 | 2.31x |
| Semi-Automatic Sniper Rifle | 30000 | 248 | 2.31x |
| Cyclops | 60000 | 482 | 4.50x |
| Bessie* | 60000 | 482 | 4.50x |
| Eridian Cannon | 1200 | 9 | 0.08x |
| Eridian Thunder Storm | 8000 | 66 | 0.62x |
| Eridian Lightning | 80000 | 662 | 6.19x |
| Eridian Blaster | 3000 | 24 | 0.22x |
| Eridian Ball Blaster | 800 | 6 | 0.06x |
| Longbow Grenade | Not Measured | Not Measured | Not Measured |