History Borderlands2 / TropesDToN

** The UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 version moves the aim and shoot buttons from the analog triggers to the shoulder buttons and uses the triggers to throw grenades and use action skills. Those used to the first game's control layout may find themselves inadvertently using their action skills and blowing themselves up with their own grenades. You are, however, able to change the control scheme to "Classic" ''Borderlands'' in the options menu.

* DevelopmentGag:
** The "No Vacancy" quest has you restore power to a motel truck stop by repairing its generator. The three components you need are a [[Creator/GearboxSoftware Gearbox]], a Creator/{{Valve}}, and a Platform/{{Steam}} capacitor. Scooter then makes an in-universe application of this trope, narrating allusions to the development process of the game from the 3 aforementioned parts. Plus, the statement where "the steam pumps used to run on a different power source, until people complained and they changed it." is an allusion to how the PC port of this game now runs on the Steam matchmaking system instead of the more problematic [=GameSpy=] system used in the first game. In addition, [[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce this isn't the first time a Gearbox and a Valve were used to solve a particular problem]], though thankfully this time the mission doesn't involve a boss.
** One NPC in Sanctuary says "If you're not a fan of Bambugira's latest single you should be shot to death. Just a fact, man." Bamboo is an automatic software deployment tool, and JIRA is a bug-tracking system.

** After [[spoiler:Sanctuary lifts off]], you get access to the "Clan War" sidequest chain. Completing it before any other mission grants you access to two powerful Slag weapons, provided [[spoiler:you side with the Zafords]]: the Chulainn (a dual-element weapon -Slag and Shock- that has the unfortunate side effect of [[HoistedByHisOwnPetard slagging you as well]]) and the Slagga (a Bandit SMG with the highest chance of slagging an enemy).

** The "No Vacancy" quest has you restore power to a motel truck stop by repairing its generator. The three components you need are a [[Creator/GearboxSoftware Gearbox]], a Creator/{{Valve}}, and a UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} capacitor. Scooter then makes an in-universe application of this trope, narrating allusions to the development process of the game from the 3 aforementioned parts. Plus, the statement where "the steam pumps used to run on a different power source, until people complained and they changed it." is an allusion to how the PC port of this game now runs on the Steam matchmaking system instead of the more problematic [=GameSpy=] system used in the first game. In addition, [[VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce this isn't the first time a Gearbox and a Valve were used to solve a particular problem]], though thankfully this time the mission doesn't involve a boss.

** One quest line follows Taggart, an ex-boyfriend of Sir Hammerlock, where you find several of Taggart's ECHO recordings to his mother, ending with you looting what was supposed to be a Mother's Day gift. Which gives off one heck of an OedipusComplex...

* MommasBoy: Taggart was one of Hammerlock's exes and was very close to his mother. Prior to his death, he was looking for his lost Mother's Day gift (which was hand-made) and it does initially look innocent since Henry earned Taggart's admiration by [[MamaBear teaching him how to survive]]. However, as the mission progresses, Taggart's behavior sounds more and more [[OedipusComplex oedipal]], whether it was intentional or not on Taggart's part is uncertain. At the end of the mission, the shield can be found under the name of [[SexualEuphemism "Love Thumper"]] and it has the inscription [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny "If thumping you is wrong, I don't want to be right"]]. Aside from the shield name, Taggart has a [[KnuckleTattoos knuckle tattoo]] of the word "Mama", he named a stalker after his mother, and [[IWantMyMommy he dies yelling for his mother to save him]]. The quest completion notice is mockingly blunt about it:

** "That buttcrap with General Rancid" (whoever he is..)

* DeepImmersionGaming: Invoked in ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''. While you're using your regular characters, in-game its presented as Brick, Mordecai, and Lilith playing the [[MagicAmpersand Bunkers & Badasses]] game hosted by Tina. They will comment regularly throughout some of the story missions, as well as some sidequests.

* HopelessBossFight: Happens at the beginning of ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''. With Tina as DM for a game called ''[[MagicAmpersand Bunkers & Badasses]]'', she sends down a dragon just as the Vault Hunters approach Flamerock Refuge. Weapons are ineffective and its attack results in a OneHitKO.[[note]]It's technically possible to survive the attack if Axton's '''Grit''' skill kicks in, or if you run through the area fast enough to dodge it completely. However, it has no effect on what follows.[[/note]] When called out for this severe imbalance, Tina revives everyone and substitutes the dragon for a different boss.

* MagicAmpersand: The "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep" DLC has the vault hunters sitting down at a table and playing a game of "Bunkers & Badasses".

** The slag mechanic is exclusive to ''Borderlands 2''. This is because Slag is a by-product of Eridium processing, which is an activity that only takes place in this game as Handsome Jack is pouring all of Hyperion's resources into tapping the newly formed Eridium; refining all that Eridium produces a lot of Slag, enough to pollute the entire planet with it, and you can use it because in this game it's ''everyhwere''. It doesn't show up in ''Borderlands 1'' because Eridium only started forming once the first Vault was opened, it only shows up in a few select occasions in ''The Pre-Sequel'' because Eridium had been only recently discovered ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard a few bosses use Slag, but you can't]]), and it doesn't show up in ''Borderlands 3'' because the major factions are too busy fighting each other to refine Eridium and because the main corporation that used Slag (Hyperion) underwent a santization overhaul in order to distantiate from their past president.

** There is also an area of the game called "Thousand Cuts." Perhaps not coincidentally, [[spoiler:the BonusBoss "Terramorphous the Invincible" (which must be taken down by this method, raid-style) appears just below this area.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** Defied in general. It's apparently such a problem in bandit camps the port-a-potties have a notice against hogging them for this.
** {{Invoked|Trope}} by Captain Flynt. There are three containers in the lower deck of his ship that appear to be set up for exactly this. One has copies of the local porn mags (and used tissues), one has posters of [[MsFanservice Moxxi]] (and used tissues), and the last has a dismembered teddy bear (and [[RuleOfThree used tissues]]).

* GagBoobs: Moxxi. Jack even refers to her as "Ol' balloon-tits".

* TheManIsStickingItToTheMan: The Vladof Corporation highly encourages you to buy glorious Vladof proletariat firearms to overthrow the [[{{Hypocrisy}} capitalist pigs]] in a glorious revolution.

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** After [[spoiler:Sanctuary lifts off]], you get access to the "Clan War" sidequest chain. Completing it before any other mission grants you access to two powerful Slag weapons: the Chulainn (a dual-element weapon -Slag and Shock- that has the unfortunate side effect of [[HoistedByHisOwnPetard slagging you as well]]) and the Slagga (a Bandit SMG with the highest chance of slagging an enemy).
* DifficultButAwesome:
** [=Zer0=] seems to have been tailored to this - one of his skills gives you a stacking damage bonus when you get a critical hit, but you lose it if you ''don't'' get a critical. Also it fades over time, and is exclusive to sniper rifle crits. He also has no early health-restoration abilities, unlike everyone else, forcing you to rely on health vial drops to restore yourself (assuming you don't have a buddy who can heal you or a health-regenerating class mod). Most of the rest of his skills are based around high-risk, high-reward strategies involving in-your-face melee or distant-but-precise sniping.
** Gaige's Ordered Chaos skill tree caters to this as well. Its primary – and mandatory – skill is "Anarchy", which stacks every time Gaige kills an enemy or reloads from a completely dry mag. The more Anarchy you've got, the more damage you do, but the more inaccurate you become, and this can stack all the way up to +700% Damage (and -700% Accuracy!). Other skills in the tree make use of Anarchy and do awesome things like creating explosions if you shoot at an enemy while jumping through the air or forming health-stealing claws in melee.
** Hyperion weapons in general. The whole schtick of Hyperion weaponry - that they become more accurate as they fire - is so counterintuitive to every FPS out there that many players just don't use them. However, Hyperion weaponry also has consistently superior stats to just about everything else, so once you manage to get accustomed to the weirdness of using such a counterintuitive weapon family, they become devastatingly effective.
** Torgue weaponry has the slowest bullet speed of any weapon in the game, and in some cases the bullet speed and firing rate are variable. This makes leading the target difficult. However, Torgue weapons deal explosive damage, which damages ''everything'' pretty well, even shields (which it has a 20% damage penalty). And on top of that, the damage listed in their description card is actually the ''splash damage'' from when the shot detonates close to the target instead of on it. The actual damage dealt by a direct hit is about twice as high. Now, couple Torgue weapons with Axton, who has skills that buff both gun ''and'' grenade damage, and remember that Torgue bullets count ''as both bullets and grenades''. [[StuffBlowingUp Yeah]].
** A Mania-centered Krieg build focused mostly on taking damage and meleeing, can be difficult to play (especially early on until you can get "Release The Beast" at the very bottom of the skill tree). But utilizing it properly, he can chew through waves of both regular {{Mook}}s and even some badass ones with little trouble, and a particularly skilled player can chain cast his Buzz Axe Rampage skill, showing bandits, dangerous creatures, and Hyperion just how dangerous a psychos can get when he's on the Vault Hunters' side.
** Certain orange items with very bizarre/non-traditional weapon behavior but great stats can also fit this. One example is the Fastball, a legendary Tediore grenade. It is thrown (so it has travel time, unlike a longbow grenades), but it has much higher velocity and nearly no arc. It has incredibly high damage, but practically no splash damage, making it tricky to use at long distance but incredibly powerful if you can hit with it. Many other orange weapons have similarly strange abilities but great potential, such as a Tediore shotgun that ''homes in'' on nearby enemies when thrown, firing off any remaining cartridges in the magazine on the way, before exploding on impact.
** Tediore Guns are frustrating to use if you're a compulsive reloader, but can be utterly devastating if you know about the heightened damage and instead use them as effectively extra grenades. They make farming certain bosses hilariously easy; simply toss an almost-full gun at them once or twice and the boss is guaranteed to drop. Their fast loading also makes them excellent in a firefight, where you absolutely cannot waste time reloading.