Phase Mechanics
| Phase | Element | Resistance | Weakness | Attack Changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 (100%-66%) | 🔥 Incendiary | Incendiary | Shock, Cryo | Fire breath cone, flame pillars from ground |
| Phase 2 (66%-33%) | 🧪 Corrosive | Corrosive | Incendiary, Cryo | Acid pools, corrosive spit projectiles, DOT aura |
| Phase 3 (33%-0%) | ⚡ Shock | Shock | Corrosive, Radiation | Chain lightning, shock novas, teleport strike |
Attack Patterns
| Attack | Phase | Damage | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Breath | 1 | High incendiary cone | Strafe sideways, don't backpedal |
| Flame Pillars | 1 | Medium, ground indicators | Watch for glowing circles, dodge roll |
| Acid Spit | 2 | Medium DOT, leaves pools | Keep moving, pool area denial |
| Corrosive Aura | 2 | Low but constant DOT | Shields with elemental resist help |
| Chain Lightning | 3 | High, chains to nearby | Spread out in co-op, don't cluster |
| Teleport Strike | 3 | Very High melee | Watch for vanish animation, slide away |
Farming Strategy
Honestly the weapon loadout for this fight matters a lot you're gonna want at least 2 elements shock for Phase 1 incendiary for Phase 2 and corrosive or radiation for Phase 3 or whatever you've got that works and if you're on Amara Ties That Bind plus Reflux just melts through all the phases like it's not even fair ngl and Infusion lets you swap elements on the fly which is pretty much cheating
Dedicated Loot Table
| Weapon | Type | Element | Drop Chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucian's Call | AR | Cryo | 10% |
| Malak's Bane | Shotgun | Any | 10% |
| Krakatoa | Sniper | Incendiary | 10% |
| NoPewPew | AR | Incendiary | 10% |
| Rampager's Roar | Artifact | , | 10% |
Best Weapons for Rampager
| Weapon | Type | Synergy | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reflux | SMG | Corrosive chains between boss and minions | Hyperion |
| Free Radical | Pistol | Shock splash for Phase 1 and shields | Maliwan |
| Flipper | SMG | 9 projectiles, element swapping covers phases | Maliwan |
| Plasma Coil | SMG | Shock/Radiation covers multiple phases | Maliwan |
| Unkempt Harold | Shotgun | Splash damage ignores elemental resist | Torgue |
Detailed Fight Strategy
So you fight the Rampager in the Forgotten Basilica on Promethea and the arena is this ancient temple chamber with two levels there's a central platform where the boss spawns and upper balconies you can jump to the fight has three phases based on the Rampager's health percentage and each phase changes its elemental type you need to swap weapons for each phase or you'll be doing half damage and I learned this the hard way honestly I went in with just a shock weapon my first time and Phase 2 took forever it was miserable ngl I'm pretty sure I wiped like 6 times before I figured out what was going on and then I felt dumb but you know that's Borderlands for you and honestly after all these runs I still mess up the element swaps sometimes especially when I'm tired or whatever
Phase 1 is incendiary 100 percent to 66 percent HP he breathes fire in a cone that covers a huge area and flame pillars erupt from the ground with glowing circle indicators the fire breath you dodge by strafing sideways never backpedal because the cone extends forward and if you back up you stay in it longer which I definitely did my first few attempts and died immediately lol the flame pillars give you about 1.5 seconds of warning watch for the glowing circles and dodge roll immediately during this phase use shock weapons they get bonus damage against his incendiary form Cryo also works but shock is better imo
Then Phase 2 switches to corrosive at 66 percent to 33 percent HP he starts spitting acid projectiles that leave pools on the ground and there's this constant corrosive DOT aura around him that chips your health the acid pools are area denial they force you to keep moving don't stand still in this phase ever I mean it the corrosive aura isn't super high damage but it adds up over time a shield with elemental resistance helps a lot this phase you need incendiary weapons tbh I sometimes forget to swap and then wonder why my damage is garbage
Phase 3 at 33 percent HP and below he switches to shock element he gains a chain lightning attack that bounces between players in co-op and a teleport strike where he vanishes and reappears on top of you which has killed me more times than I can count the teleport has a distinct sound cue you'll hear a crackling noise before he reappears slide away the moment you hear it and don't try to finish your mag just move for this phase use corrosive or radiation weapons the upper balconies in the arena are great for dodging the chain lightning since it can't bounce if you're not near anyone and honestly those balconies saved my life so many times you get the idea
Best Vault Hunters for This Boss
Amara is honestly the best for this fight and I'm not just saying that because I main her well maybe I am but still her Infusion skill lets you add her action skill element to all weapon damage which means you can essentially ignore the elemental phase matching to some degree Ties That Bind with a Reflux just melts through every phase the chain damage doesn't care about elemental resists at all and her sustain from Samsara stacks keeps her alive through the corrosive DOT aura in phase 2 it's pretty much easy mode tbh, for Moze Blast Master splash damage ignores elemental resistances entirely so you can use the same Flipper or Plasma Coil through all three phases without swapping and Short Fuse procs also help a ton, Fl4k with Fade Away and a good Jakobs weapon can delete each phase before the elemental mechanics even matter which is kinda hilarious to watch but Zane is probably the weakest here because his damage relies on kill skills and there aren't any adds in the Rampager fight to keep his momentum up so who knows maybe if you're really good with Zane you can make it work but for most people the ranking is Amara then Moze then Fl4k then Zane imo I mean that's just how it is
Mayhem Mode Differences
At M4 plus the elemental resistances on each phase become much stronger like at M4 matching the wrong element only does about 60 percent damage and at M10 wrong element damage is cut to something like 30 percent so you absolutely need to bring at least two weapons with different elements or you'll literally be there all day the phase transitions also happen faster at higher Mayhem because you're presumably doing more damage which means more frequent element swaps and more attack pattern mixing it gets pretty chaotic ngl and I love it but it's also kind of a pain sometimes especially when you get Dazed and Infused as a modifier ugh
But at M8 plus the flame pillars in phase 1 start one shotting like even with 100k shields if you stand in a flame pillar for more than a second you're dead and the corrosive DOT aura in phase 2 gets way more aggressive it can out damage most shield recharge rates which honestly sucks, at M10 the teleport strike in phase 3 becomes the most dangerous attack because the damage scales so high that it's basically a one shot for non tank builds and I've been deleted by it so many times you wouldn't believe, modifier wise Big Kick Energy is funny but doesn't help Speed Demon is great for dodging flame pillars and teleports Dazed and Infused is the absolute worst here because random elemental immunities can make an entire phase take forever Galaxy Brain makes his head easier to crit during phase transitions and Post Mortem is death because the environmental hazards stack with the acid pools so yeah pick your modifiers carefully or you're gonna have a bad time tbh and stuff like that
Speed Farming Tips
This is a decent farm once you get the rotation down and honestly I've spent way too many hours farming this guy the fast travel station at Forgotten Basilica is right before the boss room maybe a 25 second run the key to speed is recognizing the phase transitions and swapping elements before the visual change happens you can tell which phase is coming by his HP bar percentage and after a while you just kinda feel it you know what I mean anyway for the fastest kills bring three weapons a shock weapon for phase 1 an incendiary weapon for phase 2 and a corrosive or radiation weapon for phase 3 use quick swap weapon slots so you don't waste time in menus Amara with Ties That Bind and a Reflux can kill all three phases in under a minute with optimized gear which is honestly insane Moze with Iron Bear and Vanquisher Rocket Pods is also very fast because the rocket pods do splash damage that ignores resists don't bother going to the upper balconies during speed runs they waste time stay on the main floor keep the boss in the center and just dodge his attacks while unloading the dedicated loot is honestly worth farming Lucian's Call and Krakatoa are both excellent weapons and NoPewPew is underrated imo so yeah go farm it you get the idea
Common Death Causes
The teleport strike in phase 3 kills more people than anything else and I'm definitely one of those people you're focusing on shooting the boss vanishes and suddenly you're dead from a melee hit you never saw coming listen for the crackling sound cue and slide immediately don't try to finish your mag just move seriously I cannot stress this enough the flame pillars in phase 1 are the second biggest killer people get greedy trying to DPS and ignore the glowing circles on the ground two flame pillars overlapping can kill you instantly even through shields and I've definitely been guilty of this more times than I'd like to admit
The chain lightning in phase 3 is especially deadly in co-op if all four players are clustered together one chain lightning bolt bounces through everyone and wipes the whole team so spread out during phase 3 or you're all going down and that's a wipe, the corrosive DOT aura in phase 2 catches people who are low on health from phase 1 by the time you're halfway through phase 2 the chip damage from the aura has worn your health down and one acid spit projectile finishes you off bring some form of health regen or lifesteal for this fight a Otto Idol artifact or a Vampiric Grenade makes a huge difference tbh, last thing don't use incendiary weapons in phase 1 corrosive weapons in phase 2 or shock weapons in phase 3 the boss is immune to its own element and I see new players do this constantly it makes the fight take 10 times longer and honestly it's kinda painful to watch but you know we've all been there etc