If you’ve been scouting around for the Cloud Kill SMG in Borderlands 3, then we’ve got a handy guide on how to get it for you. However, what we might not have elaborated too much on is the fact that you’ve got to nail a boss at the end of the quest in order to actually get the weapon. Semantics for an experienced Vault Hunter, surely, but we want to be thorough. It’s not all just bullets and brawn! Check out our Rampager Borderlands 3 guide to tackle this bad boy as part of your weapon-collecting efforts.
Rampager Borderlands 3 Guide: Defeating the Rampager Boss
Killing the Rampager is something that you can’t escape as part of the main story quest in Borderlands 3. You’ll net the quest called Beneath the Meridian from Rhys and be tasked with opening your first vault and taking out whatever crawls out of it. In order to get to the bit where you’re having to fight the Rampager, you’ll have to have completed these other quest steps:
- Spoken to Tannis
- Arrived at the Meridian Metroplex and dispatched Maliwan forces
- Taken Maya to Apollyon Station after fighting your way through enemy vehicles
- Killed Vault Guardians and unlocked the Vault
Now, here is where things get a little tricky. The Rampager, like most bosses, has multiple phases and can prove to be a problem if you’re not prepared for all its quirks. Luckily, we’ll go through some of its phases and how to defeat it.
Rampager Borderlands 3 Guide: The Three Rampager Stages
The Rampager fight has three distinctly different stages. It also does three different kinds of elemental damage, which correspond to the various stages that will tick over with every third of its health bar lost, so keep an eye out for that. When blue orbs spawn in the air between stages, we’d recommend taking them down to refresh your ammo and your HP. We would also take down the adds as soon as they spawn so they’re not a distraction when you’re trying to frantically avoid being hit.
The first stage is where the Rampager does Radiation Damage. Take an Explosive weapon to this fight. Now, the name of the game here is pretty straightforward: please don’t get hit by the balls that fly around the battlefield. The Rampager will try and get frisky too by pummeling you and generally staying out of melee range unless it wants to attack, so we would definitely recommend keeping your distance to make the dodge minigame easier and to enable you to do consistent damage. Go for the head!
The second stage of the Rampager is Corrosive Damage, and your Explosive weapon will work fine still. Coincidentally, the type of damage that the Cloud Kill SMG will do once you’ve netted it upon completion of the Beneath the Meridian quest. The Rampager will start to compromise the structural integrity of your surroundings, and we would now urge caution when it comes to getting clipped by it at all. It will be constantly moving, so stay on your toes. Remember, the Rampager won’t leap around forever, so when it does stay still we would recommend emptying a clip into its noggin.
The third stage of the Rampager fight is when it really pulls out all the stops and just straight up starts breathing fire. Yeah, we were incredibly horrified when we made this discovery too. Here, it’s going to start dive-bombing you with fireballs which is honestly just another thing for you to learn how to avoid as you go. Make sure that you’re doing Cyro damage for maximum efficiency in this last bit of the fight and keep staying far away.
Now that you’ve got our Rampager Borderlands 3 guide in hand, taking down this boss should be a piece of cake. Once you’ve done so, follow the story cutscenes through and you’ll be able to hand in the Beneath the Meridian quest and get your Legendary SMG as a fitting reward. Need help with something else in the wastelands? Check out our guide on getting the Lyuda sniper rifle.
