Someone over at Gamefaqs actually told me also that CK makes the game easy mode. Sounds like hell of an ability.
It certainly doesnāt make it harder. 
Iāve used Cloud Kill and a slag Rubi or Grog to take out constructors, Saturn, and OMGWTH in relative safety. Thatās some pretty potent power for a skill you can spec by level 16. Add Converge to become a part time mass murderer. 
As for the original question, if I could do it again Iād start with Maya. She was the last one I started, and by the time she got to the end of NVHM I was kicking myself for waiting that long. Sheās plenty powerful, even without Cloud Kill, and possibly the most versatile of the six. Sheās definitely the most forgiving.
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I have no idea what youāre talking about lol. New player remember.
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Sorry about that, Iāve forgotten that new game feeling already. Apologies. The three things I mentioned are larger than average robots with varying amounts of mobility and more health than any of us would like them to have. The third is something youāll only see if youāre trying Digistruct Peak for the Over Power levels. Basically theyāre 3 potentially very aggravating enemies that Cloud Kill can trivialize if you use it correctly.
Ahhh, I got you. Noted lol. I am focusing more on the left tree Motion atm. Some pretty cool looking skills in that one.
Yeah it is. Keep in mind though that veteran players with 100s or even 1000s of hours know the gameās mechanics well, and knowing them allows you to exploit them to make everything much easier.
On top of that, BL2 has this badass rank system. Unlike in BL1 where weapon proficiency bonuses were tied to one character, in BL2 your badass ranks apply to all of your characters, and the longer you play the more of 'em you get. For example, Iāve got about +20% gun damage, +20% crit dmg, +20% fire rate, +20% elemental chance and +20% elemental damage. Combined they provide a massive DPS increase. This makes the game much easier even before you factor in your experience. Itās kind of a stupid system that puts new players at a disadvantage, but thatās how it is.
So for a veteran player normal mode is a walk in the park anyway and theyāll be quick to tell you that making it even easier with Cloud Kill is just BS. However, if youāre new to the game, not knowing the mechanics inside out and not having a lot of badass ranks, even normal mode can be quite difficult and there are some pretty nasty difficulty spikes. Veteran players often forget that. I think the most frustrating run Iāve had with this game was the first one on normal.
So take it if youāre struggling, ditch it if youāre bored. Thankfully you can respec anytime in Borderlands.
One more note: if youāre looking up Maya build guides on the internet, you may be surprised to find many that say Cloud Kill is useless. Thatās because it actually was useless at start, but some 2-3 years after release a patch boosted its damage byā¦ 10x? 50x? I donāt even know, but it turned it from seriously underpowered to seriously overpowered.
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Once again, very informative. Thanks Doctor Strange. And no I have not looked up build guides, I donāt feel I need it for a game like this tbh.
Yeah, I didnāt too first. Later in TVHM and UVHM I wanted to learn more about how to make the most of my character. So when they said CK is useless I had no f*cking idea what they were talking about. Eventually I found out, just a heads up.
3700% buff IIRC during the October 2015 update
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And the prettiest.
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Probably hopping in late, but if you still desire an answer Iād say it depends on how you want to play. If you want a challenge, go Zer0. If you want a consistent plugānāplay character with a decent learning curve, go Maya. If you want to go for the big cheese, go Salvador and offhand a Grog Nozzle.
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I know Iām late to this, but I had a few thoughts. I too tended to prefer Mordecai in BL1 (which I logged over 2k hours on over the years). I was rather surprised when, after like 400+ hours in BL2 spread across all 6 characters, Maya became my favorite of the 6 of them. I was expecting, going in that either Zer0 or Salvador would end up with that title, but I found Zer0 to be more pigeon-holed into sniping (or some shotgun/pistol play) or melee than I liked (he is arguably the least flexible of the 6 VHs in BL2, but doing what heās good at, he is VERY good at, and feels very rewarding when played well; high effort, high reward for success). Salvador, while potentially a damage dealing monster isnāt all that innately tanky without Brawn tree investment (which I wasnāt planning on doing), and the lack of aiming down sights while dual-wielding limits his effective range. So he isnāt as much of an unkillable juggernaut as I was expecting (the damage is there, and then some, but you donāt get to just wade into a horde of enemies the way gun-build Brick could in BL1 and not care that they are attacking you). Maya however became my favorite because of something I almost didnāt even think about: control. She has, more than the other VHs of BL2, the ability to dictate the terms of an engagement thanks to Phaselockās preventing many enemies from being able to act, and the many skills she has that work with it (Converge especially, which I rushed first thing with her; then hard down Cataclysm tree grabbing Cloud Kill and Ruin among other things). Eventually she becomes a queen of mobbing (my favorite type of BL gameplay), able to control and destroy groups of enemies with ease, which is just SO much fun.
I should mention of the BL1 characters, from my initial impressions of them from playing them through to PT2.5 to my current opinions of them my love for the other 3 grew a lot as I played them more, perhaps most of all for Brick, who felt pretty awful to me initially, but eventually was okā¦then I really learned WTF youāre really supposed to do with him and then it became way more fun and enjoyable (more than any of the other BL1 VHs, I found Brick actually required the most understanding of the game, and him as a character from a gameplay perspective to know what to do to be effective with him. In hindsight, itās no wonder so many people didnāt end up liking him at first and found him frustrating/unfun to play, they didnāt know wtf they really weāre supposed to do)