Playing in the OP levels. 
I play them all except Krieg (who may or may not be OP; his skill set just doesn’t have any game mechanics that I find interesting). Salvador I only play on occasion because he came with the original set of Vault Hunters, and because a few of his game mechanics are fun. Kinda. Otherwise I don’t really consider any of them so much more OP that I would handle them differently?
Whether or not a certain character is OP is certainly the subject of debate though. And when I say debate, I’m talking holy wars.
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I suppose a way to consider which character is ‘best’ would be to take the top gear for each character and try it on another (even though some gear is top gear for nearly everyone) or try what’s considered their weakest tree and see what you could do in one of the slaughter domes or against a certain raid boss…
Its kinda hard to really say what’s OP in a Borderlands type of game, cause its a Co-op game, not a competitive fps like CoD. That said, we can still have opinions on what would be considered OP. And for me, its just straight up Salvador. Grog+Harold. Need i say more? 
Borderlands really did a pretty great job with the character design. There isnt a single character who doesnt have at least ONE viable OP8 build. Its actually really cool how that happened, considering they didnt even think about making UVHM when the game first came out.
Lol holy wars
In theory, I would have no fun using a character who would be considered “OP”. I prefer a challenge.
Before we get in to tiering characters and which is better.
The following is my opinions on the matter.
I feel like this debate pops up 3 times a month, and it always goes in the exact same pattern. Although I do recognize that @Cody2Hottie may genuinely be bringing it forth as a hypothetical, and it is worth discussion in such a case.
Ah i see, well put man! But there’s a problem with your car analogy…
Yes, a Manual car does have a learning curve, and if you don’t master it, an automatic would perform better. in the reverse scenario, the manual clearly performs better. But this isnt the case with most of other characters. Other characters do require more skill than Sal, but even if you mastered them, Sal’s still nigh invincible and still has the highest DPS in the game. Im not bashing the other characters, im just saying that Sal’s pretty insane.
Im forgetting to mention that Zer0 can do some insane stuff as well but imo, hes the only character who can come close to Salvador DPS wise with mastery, but isnt anywhere close to invincible.
EDIT: Really, really bad wording, tried correcting it.
I’ve gone on online games with people playing Sal and saw them put that whole “Immortal” name to the test, only to see them fall like a sack of bricks during a reload as they didn’t realize the damage multiplier’s effect in 4p. Yes, he is exceptionally talented at doing many things in 1p mode with that build, and he has crazy DPS. I fully grant you that. He is also a very fun character, but the sheer number of people I see posting “Sal the Invincible” videos, with a clear gibbed Grog (which I sure as hell know 90% didn’t get during the Loot Hunt), and claiming invincibility due to that is surprisingly quaint.
Yes, there are genuinely talented Salvador players. Look @Chuck80, for an example, and there are brilliant Sal builds that are unique. But a crutch tactic isn’t something to be lauded.
I’m saying this as some one who gets a great deal of joy playing on Salvador, but I’ve seen everything done on practically every character.
@Voidslik, I am of course not accusing you of any of the above. You seem like you’re a very even headed individual who has a good deal of knowledge on the game. I do although feel that this “Salvador is OPest and Zer0 may be somewhere there” dialogue has cropped up at an incredible rate with no real resolution other than making the statement and leaving it at that.
I’ll take @Derch on a Nurse Maya build ahead of 3 Salvadors on my team, as I may actually live through the event, and I am certain to get support.
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After reading what you said about unique builds with Sal that don’t require the crutch gear, I looked up some builds, and to my amazement, they were somewhat diverse. Hell, after looking at some builds, I’m somewhat tempted to start a new Sal! Didn’t realize that there were other various methods to play him other than his Grog build, so you got me there.
That doesn’t entirely change that Grog+Harolding is somewhat insane on single player imo, but it does rule out Salvador by himself from being OP. Maybe its not really the characters by themselves that are to be judged, but the builds you can make around them. I understand now that I can’t judge Sal based off ONE out of many diverse builds. Thats just not fair to the midget man .
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None of your conclusion is in anyway unreasonable. It is a perfectly formulated opinion if you ask me.
Mine is different, but that is only a matter of perspective.
The one thing I am sure we can agree on is that a meta-statement of Salvador’s capacity (especially in a game which for all purposes was designed for it’s multiplayer mode) should be incredibly nuanced and not subject to a particular build which more often than not requires an illicit method of gaining a specific item.
I’ve played Sal to OP8 because I sort of felt like I had to and played Maya and Zero to OP2 and stopped there. I much prefer level 72 to OP levels. OP levels have helped push the game to it’s loftiest peaks and really forced theorycrafters to go as deep as possible, but ultimately it’s a bit of a grind and it makes choices more limited, especially for the more casual players.
Seems like quite a few people, myself included, misunderstood this topic 
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I was genuinely about to speak on the same topic as you, until I looked and saw a few of the other responses.
Unfortunately, I too misunderstood what the OP was posting in regards to so called “OP” characters.
I believed he was asking about playing characters at the OP levels.
I am therefore forced to change my original, one word retort of “Yes” to a much more garrulous one…
“Hell Yes.”
Since he specifically referenced selection of ‘safe’ characters, I got the impression that the OP was speaking in terms of character selection. If I’m mistaken, and the question is about playing at OP levels, then: YES!
I haven’t created a Gunzerker, since I prefer a character who isn’t inherently OP even if that was intentional on the part of GBX. So, for me the answer is ‘No’.
The lovely thing about this is that you can have more than 1 character. I’ve gone solo into OP levels with 4 classes. when I run Sal, being powerful is the whole point. I generally prefer a more tactics oriented style (thus my preference for Maya and Axton), but it is fun to face roll everything from time to time.
All of the characters can be OP if built in certain ways with particular gear. Sal is ust the simplest to get going becuase the gear needed to make him OP is very easy to get.
The fact that all of the characters can solo the raids seems to me to indicate that they are all OP in their own way. Sometimes it’s just a case of finding out what the key is.
Gaige was hopless for me until I worked out the BSS + crazy Anarchy stuff. Axton uses fast recharge shields so well he becomes almost impervious to danger. Zero was squishy until I worked out that a plain old Turtle Shield works on him so well.
Kreig is the character that I have had the most trouble with. He just dies a lot for me. But I just worked out the +50% FFYL, which I’d previously overlooked. Now he’s getting there!
Maya, I haven’t played for some time, but I seem to remember her having little trouble staying alive.
I never read builds though, so that’s why I have to work things out the slow way. Good old trial and error; it may be a lot slower, but hey - I’m still getting a lot out of this game where others have long since left.
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Don’t forget that if he is not geared and played properly, Salvador is probably the weakest of the characters in the game. His strength is having 2 guns, but if both suck, you will still suck. Sal would not be that great if the guns available in the game weren’t so good. Axton, maya and all the others have some ways to hurt outside of your gun (turret, DT, the slag from phaselock, melee for both Krieg and Zero, Kunais, etc…) Sal has nothing of the sort, so his OPness is really an end-game thing. as you’re leveling he’s pretty much on par with everyone else.
Once you have top gear at your disposal, he uses them better than most though
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I’m comfortable playing up to OP4 solo, but anything I get from that in no way compensates for how the OP levels absolutely ruined the game. It destroyed the balance of the game.Maybe if they had ever fixed (or designed) the lobby to work just like the other levels. 99%of OP8 players scammed their way there, we all know it…and virtually 100% of OP8 gear wasn’t obtained legit. But not being able to play publicly at whatever level you choose without an OP8 DB showing up and ruining the fun for others just ruined the game, and people fled in droves. I worry for those that are inspired by the awesomeness of OP8 players with BARs of 500% and 1307 backpacks. I hope they never run into somebody offering to sell them drugs, they’d be a quick sell. I guess Gearbox and Sony don’t really care anymore about ToS either, from the constant streaming these guys do on ps4.
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I cannot really begin to express how concise and well stated this part of the post is, and how much I agree with it.
Now, I am far removed from some one who would reap any amusement watching some one else stream a game. If that gets some one’s dandy up, well that is great, to each their own. It would bore me to tears.
If some one would stream though, I don’t understand the purpose of using exploits in order to silently compete with everyone else.
I remember ages ago, playing Rome: Total War (the original) at roughly the age of 17, and seeing the lengths people would go to (using the same map, 3 phalanx units on a bridge and 18 Catapults) in order to win a game by an exploit.
I remember Fifa in my early 20’s, where everyone would use a lag spike in order to win at a game.
I never understood the satisfaction in it. How dark of a place some one must be in to draw the need to exploit an online game in order to rack up fictional wins that no human being on the planet genuinely gives two expletives about.
Same thing strikes me when you see some one with 500% Bar, entering a room in order to ruin everyone’s gaming experience with a display of their ‘potency’. Relying on gibbed items to out perform people who genuinely probably don’t give a damn and are just trying to have a good time.
It isn’t even good old fashioned trolling, they don’t want a laugh from it, they crave the admiration.
Hell, use any exploit you want in order to perpetuate your game. That is fine by me. Don’t go ruining other’s experience just because you need that desperate pick me up.
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