For OP 0 to OP 8 : more health or more dmg reduction?

Borderlands 2 Krieg the Psycho
#1

Hi :smile: !

My Krieg toon is about to hit lvl 61 (also have Gaige and Maya at 61, and Zero at 56) and thus I think I’m going to be ready to get the Digistruck peak addon.

So far my Krieg is about Mania/Bloodlust and has this build and using rough rider. I think it’s pretty common build. I used to use salt meat mod when levelling and at lvl 61 I’ll be switching to tasty crunch for damage reduction, until I can find a legendary sickle.

So far my dilemna is about the relic : I currently have a most excellent one (blood of ancient) giving health, shotgun ammo and RL ammo. I find it excellent for the ammo choice, couldn’t be better for the way I play.
But I’ve been wondering if it was viable for OP0 to OP8 or if I should instead switch to Skin of the ancient for dmg reduction instead of more health.

Thanks in advance :blush: !

#2

DR has diminishing returns, so I prioritize health and melee damage over it. 5/5 taste of blood is fine combined with a RR and a Blood; a leg. sickle would bump that up to 10/5, which is almost required in the OP levels for a melee Krieg. I would swap out the crunch mod for a blue rage or scream sickle that had 6 as its primary stat if you an find one because that’ll serve you well until you can get a leg. sickle.

I will warn you that the Peak is a pita, so make sure you bring your A game when you step foot into there, as well as a way to deal with surveyors.

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#3

I would go with health over dr

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#4

Ok thanks guys, very appreciated :blush: !

As for my A game, I don’t have any, so will be a pita but on the bright side it means “lots” of content to go through :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: !

#5

Here’s the build I use for general mobbing. It got me through the peak, but I had help from Maya and Gaige, so your mileage may vary. Combine that with a high health rough rider and a BoA, and you should be good to go. Just be careful that you don’t smack yourself into FFYL. Spamming the melee button is not a good idea. Sure it’s 12% per swing, but the more you swing, the more chances you have of hitting yourself. I use a storm front, but a low level (-50) slag bouncing betty/biddy will also work provided you throw them out before you rampage. If you need slag, I’d go with the grenade so you can keep your weapon slots open for high damage Torgue weaponry.

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#6

I’m so glad I did some right choices by myself and see them validated.

Let me explain :blush: :

I’ve checked several builds posted here and there or on YouTube, etc, and tried several variations, sometimes moving points around. But there is this single thing that I couldn’t make Krieg work with : Blood Trance. I decided that I would be a single snowflake (lol) and would not use it so as to be able to “heal” more often since the innate/super action move, when used right, is “already” infinite with the use of release the beast.

On each and every of my other toons I always max any skill that prolongs the innate/super action move. Whereas on Krieg, with release the beast : it should be the contrary. I believe, and understand, Blood trance is in the bloodlust tree as a helper for people not playing mania.

Well in the end it happens I’m not that special snowflake :laughing: but hey at least I know I did something right.

Now at the same time I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be worth it, at lvl 72, to get 11 points in the Hellborn tree to get the damage reduction from numbed nerves, and get the one-pointer above : delusional damage, while we’re at it. As such I’m thinking the first 5 points should be on fuel the fire, but maybe I’m wrong and they should be at burn baby burn ? or split 3/2 between those 2 ?

Because that would mean DR not only when in beast mode, but also in between beast periods (provided you are able to stay in between :wink: in digistruck, an experience I don’t posess yet since I’m only lvl 60 as of this post).

What do you guys think ?

That would be this build at 72.

Lastly I have a question on redeem the soul : it specifies (that’s for the team revive) that it can only be used once, and that is when Buzz axe is on cd : but in the mania tree, if done well you never have the axe on cd, or rarely ? And secondly does the 50% bonus time only work when you down yourself by reviving a team mate, or does it also work all the time when playing solo ?

#7

Numbed nerves is great, but not at the expense of your damage abilities like strip the flesh and blood bath. Hellborn is one of those trees that if you’re not going to fully invest in it, it’s generally not worth putting any points in it. Again, DR has diminishing returns, so while having 170%+ DR might sound good on paper, you’re looking at 1.7% damage reduction. So, following this formula, if you’re hit for 1k damage, you would still take 370 points of damage and OP enemies hit far harder than just 1k per shot. Couple that with the fact that you have to be on fire for NN to process and you’re looking at trading damage for situational defense. I’d go with the damage and not worry about defense. Just stack up your health and you’ll be fine since Krieg gets all of his health back when making a kill while rampaging.

5/5 Strip the Flesh increases the damage of your bloodsplosion and buzz ax bombardier. It also increases damage from Torgue weapons and grenades, as well as weapons that use the Torgue barrel or unique ones like the Cobra. If it explodes, StF boosts it.
5/5 blood bath increases the chance you’ll get free grenades from using bloodsplosion, and it’ll increase your gun damage if you use one that processes it. See Blut’s thread for weapons that do.
Redeem the soul gives you an extra 50% FFYL in both single player and co-op. I like using it with Maya who has res specced: if she goes down, I can get her back up and immediately activate Release the Beast after she raises me. With RtB, you can RtS almost indefinitely until your FFYL just runs out, which can happen (it’s happen to me a few times). Still, it’s 1 point and will always give you 50% extra time (or should - FFYL is a bit bugged, so don’t rely on it).

#8

Yep, blood trance is whack, with no way to slag or burst heal during rampage (besides killing). And I’d also pick health over damage reduction. Krieg gets plenty DR even if you don’t focus on it

#9

I’d have to agree. It’s either all in or not. But…

Hellborn is worthy of investment if you want the tankiest melee build. What you gain is a massive difference in Krieg’s ability to absorb damage during Rampage. Numbed Nerves adds a very noticeable difference in damage reduction, diminishing returns or not, but the real game changer for Hellborn is the addition of Elemental Empathy+Raving Retribution which means constant life steal during Rampage which is something Bloodlust-Mania builds sorely lack. This comes at the expense of Bloodsplosion but all that means is more fun with the Buzzaxe. Decisions, decisions…

#10

Look I just started playing with Bloodsplosion recently (I’m 61 currently and got it at 57) : it’s too funny to use, I’m not going to drop it soon :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: !

Either I go up to delusional damage or I don’t invest point at all in the Hellborn tree, but whatever I do I’ll keep Bloodsplosion. So either the build I was suggesting or something very close to it, OR what Gulwulf was suggesting above.

Naw naw naw : can’t let go of Bloodsplosion :blush: !

#11

Suit yourself. I just wanted to give you an alternative view of melee builds that included Hellborn.

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#12

Well so far the conscensus with Mania seems to be either invest fully in Bloodlust or fully invest in Hellborn but not : just enough in Bloodlust to get the capstone and rest in Hellborn as I was thinking. I may just go with Gulfwulf’s build then, since I don’t want to drop the Bloodlust capstone.

Anyhow thanks all for all the tips, and also my biggest dilemna was for the relic in the first place.

:wink:

#13

Blood of the Ancients for any melee build.

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#14

Yes that’s what I got from previous posters and I’m very happy with my current lvl 59 one since it boosts shotgun and launcher ammo :blush: !

#15

Oh btw I swapped today (am 61 now) to a purple sickle mod that has +5 in StV : I do notice a difference :blush: (for the better of course) !

#16

A blue can go up to +6, but a purple’s a great one. I like the leg. sickle the best because it increases just about every melee skill I use on Krieg aside from Pain is Power. Plus its melee bonus is higher. Still, you can’t go wrong with a purple scream sickle.

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