Some players hear "sidearm" and think to themselves, "That's a weapon that will pretty much never get used." In fairness to them, there are several games where the pistol is nothing more than a backup plan. That's not how Outriders works. At World Tier 15, primary ammunition will be depleted quickly against tough bosses and those who aren't regularly using their pistols will be significantly holding their team back.

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Every class uses pistols, so it makes sense that the simplest way to be better than the other players on the team is to have better pistols than them. There are only two sets of legendary pistols to try and get that extra firepower, but they both have unique personalities that will drastically change how they are used in the heat of combat. There will be a lot of debate focused on these four guns and it's best to have all the information before making a personal commitment.

Nobody can guarantee a drop on any piece of legendary loot, but to maximize the odds, be sure to follow these tips:

• Play on World Tier 5 or higher.
• Enemies and bosses have a chance to drop legendary guns.
• Repeatable side quests have a chance to offer a legendary gun as a reward.
• Legendary drops cannot come from chests.

• Shots mark enemies. When reloading, marked enemies will take 5 times the weapon's damage. Marks are removed when weapons are changed.
• Reloading deals damage to enemies within a 5-meter radius.

With a game as long as Outriders is, players are going to find themselves in a lot of hairy circumstances. These pistols have a nice synergy in that both of their mods work when reloading the gun. The idea is to shoot as many enemies as possible once, then get into the middle of the fray and reload. This deals a nice burst of damage that exceeds what any pistol is capable of doing by firing conventionally.

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The biggest problem with the Torment & Agony is that they are most useful when completely surrounded by enemy units. For those who understand the world tiers, imagine using pistols when being overwhelmed. The concept of these guns works on easier settings, but they will not even come close to doing the work of a shotgun or melee attack when in these difficult situations.

• Shots link up to four enemies, dealing 30% of their weapon damage and 10% of their Anomaly damage to them (4-second cooldown).
• Shots link up to five enemies in a 5-meter radius and deal electric damage to each of them (2-second cooldown).

Outriders doesn't have a flamethrower or grenade launcher. So how does one go about clearing out large groups of tough enemies? The answer to that question is the Bolt & Thunder. Using these pistols ensures that damage against clusters of mobs will never be an issue, freeing up other equipment slots to do all the single target damage that is needed.

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The String of Gauss mod is self-explanatory when it comes to doing group damage. The real shining star here is the Damage Link mod, which does damage to enemies based on their own firepower and Anomaly Power. This ensures that this weapon will always be relevant because the harder the enemies hit, the harder these pistols will hit. And don't forget about the small amount of Life Leech on the guns, which becomes very high when factoring in group damage the pistols are capable of.

Plenty of players will die and try to figure out how to save the game after a particularly difficult boss. With the Bolt & Thunder, the boss fights, mobs and all, can actually be the easiest part of the mission thanks to the armor-piercing ability the guns have as well. They're there when things get dicey and, really, isn't that what having a sidearm is all about?

NEXT: Outsiders Complete Guide - Builds, Tips, Tricks, And Help