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Enemies

Enemies in Borderlands 2 come in three basic classes: Creatures, Human/Humanoid, and Machines. All are potentially life-threatening, and pose a threat to the player with the exception of civilians and certain types of robots. As a general rule though, most of the entities that you encounter in the wild tend to be a threat.

Creatures

The animal life on Pandora basically, and save for when you are specifically engaged in settlements, towns, and bases where you will encounter more human/humanoid enemies, these are the most likely foe you will encounter in the wild.

Bullymongs

The Bullymong is an ape-like four-armed beast whose over-developed arms are used for locomotion as well as for climbing and throwing large objects at things and people it does not like. And it does not like you! While it has a set of legs they are small and underdeveloped, being used mainly for standing and little else. When the Bullymong is moving it tucks its legs up under its body.

Bullymongs come in several variates, including:

Monglet: Young and immature, Monglets lack fully developed legs but the same cannot be said for their arms, which are well along the process of development.

Brat Bullymong: The juvenile form of the Bullymong, these guys are not as dangerous as the Adult, but are a bit more dangerous than Monglets.

Adult Bullymong: The most common form that is encountered in the wild, and considering that the Adult Bullymong has lots of muscle and lots of attitude, specializing in a combination of melee and flung attacks, they are not the sort of encounter that you want to have in large numbers.

Bedrock Bullymong: The difference between this type and the regular is the rock-hard skin. Bedrock's are particularly resistant to damage, which means you want to bring your A-Game when you go up against them, and you might want to avoid large groups. Just saying.

Bullymong Slinger: These guys prefer to attack from a distance, going at their enemies from an impersonal distance. Even when they end up face-to-face with the enemy, the try to open up a gap between them and combat.

In addition to the regular Bullymongs listed above, there are some named mongs wandering around that you should know about - there is the Donkey Mong, Knuckle Dragger, King Mong, and Midge-Mong, and assuming you are there to spring for the DLC, you can add Grendel to the list.

Knuckle Dragger is the first boss mob that you face, but you will have handled him easily.

Donkey Mong is found roaming around the Eridium Blight. Basically he is an homage of Donkey Kong - you do the math.

King Mong is generally encountered in the Eridium Blight, along the slope leading to Hero's Pass, or directly in front of the bridge to the Arid Boneyard. The important thing you need to remember about this mong is the fact that he has a small chance to drop the legendary Bandit-made rocket launcher, Badaboom, which makes him an attractive target.

Midge-Mong on the other hand is a midget who rides full-sized bullymongs. Wait, can we say that? Midget? Is that PC? The Midge is part of an optional mission, so you may or may not have the pleasure...

Grendel is the named Bullymong added by the first DLC. They are found in Hayter's Folly, during the mission "Grendel" just so you know.

Crystalisks

These guys are the crystaline monsters of Borderlands 2, having three limbs and representing a complex threat to the player thanks to their AOE attack which is accomplished by pounding the ground with one of their powerful limbs, creating shock waves that can be pretty powerful. In addition to that they have a ranged attack that consists of a flechette cloud, and a ranged explosive attack that launches a crystal that is similar to a bomb or grenade, easily embedding in practically any surface and then exploding after a few seconds.

Dealing with these guys means dumping huge amounts of ammo if you spray-and-pray, but a calm attack that targets their weak points can be very effective - assuming you can figure out where those are. Hint: you are looking to shoot the crystals on their limbs - but once you do and the larger crystal on their back starts to glow you want to run like hell, because that is the sign they are about to detonate.

Taking these guys on with melee attacks that target the legs seem to work better, but missing can cost you, just saying.

The Crystalisk you will encounter are:

Cave Crystalisk: Encountered in Hayter's Folly as part of the Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty content, these blue Crystalisks are largely the same as the Volatile Crystalisks, save for their attacks inflicting shock damage.

Mini Crystalisk: These are basically young ones, and while they are easier to kill, they also tend to be more melee-focused and aggressive. On the plus side they are also more rare than the others.

Volatile Crystalisk: The most frequently encountered, these guys are the strongest and potentially the most dangerous. They are also smart enough to try to shelter their last weak point when attacked, so usually putting an end to them requires a bit of aggressive action.

Volcanic Crystalisk: Encountered in the Vault of the Warrior, these guys are weaker than the others and taking them down only requires nailing two of their limbs, just mind the explosion.

In addition to the above types, there is a named Boss mob called Blue who can be found in the Caustic Caverns - and you should bear in mind that he is no push-over. The battle with him will take some time and quite a bit of effort, largely because while his basic tactics are similar to the other types you have faced, it is like he is on a cocaine-and-roids cocktail, so the hits come harder and faster, and you will notice that he rather enjoys knocking enemies in to the corrosive ponds around the battle. You will want to look out for his AOE attacks and keep some distance from them, and lay on the hurt when you can.

Rakk

These are the flying roughly bird-shaped beasts that you see in the sky and kill when they attack you - they do pretty good damage with their tail attack, but they also happen to be fairly vulnerable to gun shot wounds, particularly shotgun damage, so keep that in mind. In addition to the regular Rakk there are:

Slagged Rakk: These guys often fly with regular Rakk, and attack with their Slag Attack - which lays a Slag Debuff on the player.

Volcanic Rakk: Only encountered in the Vault of the Warrior, these guys are not as hard to take down as other types but seem to be far more aggressive and more likely to quickly attack without delay.

Skags

The armored canine of Pandora, they can be found wandering around close to the openings of their underground dens, and will occasionally pop-out of them in significant numbers to try to do you in. While they hunt alone they are known to attack in packs, which is good, because it gives you lots of targets, and bad because it gives you lots of targets.

Dealing with Skags usually works best with either high-powered pistols or shotguns, primarily targeted at their open mouths. They are particularly vulnerable to incendiary rounds so that is a good way to go...

Spiderants

This insect-like creature has a fairly heavily armored head, making its lightly armored body a more effective target for quickly taking it down. While they live in burrows under the ground, their burrows are not easy to spot (actually it is not clear that they can be spotted at all) which means that often they simply appear out of the ground with no warning...

Since these guys favor melee attacks, your best strategy for dealing with them is to either use a heavy weapon to do massive damage (repeated hard shots to the head will confuse them) or target their relatively small body from a distance using a sniper rifle.

Stalkers

These are a new enemy in Borderlands 2, and in addition to using the tactic that their name suggests, they have a special gland that allows them to build an electric charge and then use it to blend into the environment with a sort of invisibility power. Well, not really invisibility - blend was a more accurate word - but either way that makes them an unpredictable foe.

While these guys have a preference for direct melee attack, they are equipped with a ranged attack, being able to launch barbed spines a fair distance. They also have a natural shield that, as long as they have a charge, provides significant protection. That shield is very weak to Shock damage however, and once the shield is down they cannot turn invisible until they have recharged using the solar cells that are part of their back armor.

Threshers

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Varkids

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Human / Humanoid

Bandits

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Rats

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Hyperion Infantry

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Sand Pirates

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Torgue

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Machines

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Hyperion Machines

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Robots

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