How do extremely low accuracy levels work?

Question

With Gaige's Anarchy skill it's entirely possible to gain a -100% or greater accuracy penalty. Borderlands' accuracy was always sort of funny so 0% accuracy (which I think was possible with Sledge's Shotgun) didn't quite mean "your bullets can literally go anywhere".

So in Borderlands 2 what happens with extremely low accuracy values, below 0%? Does it bottom out at 0%? What exactly does 0% accuracy mean in this case?

Answer 1

Quoted From Borderlands Wiki http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Stat_modifiers

Negative totals

When the total is negative, borderlands uses another formula. Instead of directly applying the modifier, Borderlands applies it to a reciprocal function. For example, for a gun with a spread modifier of -130% from a barrel5, the modifier will be of 1/(1 + 1.3); if that gun had a base spread of 2, the final spread would be 0.87.

The rationale for this mechanic is to have the same scale of effect, regardless of the modifier's sign.

A notable list of stats that are affected by this rule are:

-Damage: Many weapon parts actually have negative bonuses.
-Spread: Very often breaks the -100% bar.
-Damage reduction: Brick's Juggernaut skill; Lilith's Silent Resolve and Resilience skills; Roland's Grit skill.
    -50% Damage Reduction => Player takes 66% Damage
    -100% Damage => Player takes 50% Damage 
-Recoil: Internally, the game uses a "Recoil" stat, which it displays as its inverse, "Recoil Reduction"

So I think it will be same for borderlands 2 :)

Answer 2

I tend to think of accuracy more along the lines of 'effective range'. For example, with Sledge's Shotgun in the first game, you pretty much had to be hugging an enemy to get the full blast of the shotgun to hit them.

As far as percentages go, I believe it would bottom out at 0%.

Answer 3

Voice of experience on this since I have used Gaige with 600 stacks of Anarchy (-1050% accuracy if I'm doing my math right).

I can confirm that you will have pellets coming out of the barrel of a shotgun that go more-or-less straight up/down/left/right, based on the "dummy target" in Marcus' shop and the bullet holes that I was leaving in the counter/ceiling/walls. I didn't actually check behind me... but I... well, I'm not going to claim that I didn't shoot backwards at that point.

Seriously, if you are going to take Anarchy past 200 stacks or so, you basically need to be using something with homing bullets or the "Close Enough" skill from the BFF tree. That, or you need to be ready to press the muzzle of your gun into every enemy you intend to hit.

Answer 4

I know this is old but still a relevant search topic.

I've run the Anarchy tree for a while and observed the effects as I grew from 0-400 stacks. What I can assume is it cannot go below 0%, but I do know that the bullets will have an insane spread at range. Practically useless without certain... Compensators.

1. Close Enough - +50% ricochet chance TOWARD an enemy. Shooting the ground in front of an enemy generally lands hits regularly. I've watched bullets make sharp bounces in order to hit an enemy.
2. The Nth Degree - every 9-5th bullet that hits an enemy will reflect toward another nearby. Minor, but useful, addition.
3. Probably the most important for best results. The Fibber pistol with ricochet. The bullet will hit and ricochet into 9 bullets. Those bullets ignore the -50% damage reduction from Close Enough. This gun also has a 100% ricochet chance, but I think there is still only a 50% chance of ricocheting toward an enemy rather than just ricocheting.

With these abilities my lvl 28 Granular Fibber is still dealing substantial damage to lvl 47 enemies. At the time I acquired it it was far more powerful than any other weapon at my lvl. Aiming is almost unnecessary and killing enemies behind cover is also easier. Basically accuracy is pointless with this setup and is not even a downside.