Gaige build idea from someone who is new to Gaige

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#80

DFA is mostly viable in a low anarchy build where you use it along with discord and rational anarchist to create a loop. It’s a nice alternative to using 100+ stacks as you still get higher damage but you retain your accuracy and don’t need to spend time stacking it beforehand. It’s a little less potent though.

I don’t think it’s compatible with a typical high anarchy build: every single time you are on half a step in the air or on uneven ground, you’re gonna see stacks drop. That has always been the biggest caveat people had with that skill. Spending stacks by accident is easier than keeping them up.

#81

I think that, with TI, stacking again the ones lost is pretty fast. I have yet to run with it in the higher levels, but the 2 sec CD is enough time to allow you get the stacks. Especially with a low mag Shottie such as Jakobs.
You can get 2 from the reload and two from the kill, basically making up for the loss.
11/5 is another story, thou.

#82

I am just trying it out. Just got into UVHM, and now have enough points to test a few options to see what I like moving forward.

#83

@Carlton_Slayer @l_gabrielcruz I have been mulling over some weapon choices as I move forward, and curious about your opinions on this (since you both appear to run a more LBT focused build). If I were to not spec down LBT, but use something like a shock pimp as one of the primary weapons, would that still be a good choice? I am really curious about going to the LBT tree as I try out a few things, but kind of curious about the viable of a shock based weapon as a primary on a non dot build (was planning on using a shock bone if I go this route). Basically, would a shock pimp be good on an anarchy BFF build, if I am not boosting shock outside of a bone?

Edit: Also thinking about this as an alternate, primarily for the boost via WDT, but I don’t know if the 15% is going to do much without being buffed to 10/5 on WDT (would be using a leg anarchist com with this route)

#84

Your suggested alternative is similar to what I’m currently running, which is a variant of the level 72 builds in this post using mostly shock weapons, and it’s a blast. (The level 50 variant with a shock Hail and Kitten are also good fun!) I’m favouring Electrical Burn over Shock Storm, and I take the points from Strength of Five Gorillas and put them elsewhere if I’m some place DT won’t be much help. I need to get a level 72 Hail still, but a shock Kitten, Storm, shock Rubi, and a shock Conference Call are pretty efficient for most mobs.

I think you’d be at a disadvantage using a shock weapon as a primary if you don’t invest into the relevant bits of LBT. You’d be better off going non-elemental, plus being able to swap between elements as needed for matching (e.g. corrosive on armoured etc.) So a good fire and corrosive always ready. If you’re keeping the IO for slag duties, then a good Tesla, Quasar, or Storm Front for shield removal lets you keep more options open in your primary gun slots.

#85

I was thinking that too. For versatility, I could element match pimps (go for an anarchy stacker, Fire and corrosive pimp, and an oh shit gun). If I did this, I wouldn’t go down LBT much, and stick with something more along the lines of this. Slag from MM, and maybe the sharing of the antagonist, and a lot of defense (FM is due to extra points not really going anywhere else, and is nice for Bosses w/o minions and BAs where the mob has died). Still planning on only using small mag guns and natural healing (although I could replace one of the slots with a rubi/grob and do more weapon swap outs). So suffice it to say, the more I think about game progression with Gaige, the more questions I have.

#86

There’s only one way to know for sure! I always find it interesting to see what other people come up with, and how they reached that point. Lot of experimentation involved!

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#87

Very true. I just got into UVHM, so now its full on experimentation time, haha

#88

Outside of a EB build with the Legendary Catalyst, shock weapons are viable if you get a Chaotic Good/Evil/Neutral that boosts WDT to +6/5. 30% multiplicative damage boost is solid and allows you to go with shock guns without trouble.

If you are not boosting WDT, match elements and go to town. Your two pimps + a stacker seems like Derch Twisted Pimp build, what is a good setup with Nth Degree.
Too bad Gaige does not have all that Slag built in her kit.

#89

Actually I haven’t run a LBT build since I started UVHM with Gaige so it’s been a few years :grin: The build you have here is close to what I’m currently running but to answer your question if you aren’t going much beyond the 2nd tier of skills in LBT then I’d say that just using element matching with the relevant Bone is most likely the best way to go. I’ve been farming the HS with her lately using a N.E Redundant Fibber so I use the Sheriff’s Badge a lot for that…

#90

hahaha, that was a good part of my influence in that. That and a few of your posts talking about the pimp’s interaction with nth degree really piqued my interest (I also have a full set of them for level 72 waiting for me). Very true on the slag. This is the first time I am planning on using grenades as my only slag source, although I am tempted to work in a grog or rubi into the main gear

Seems to be the consensus that I would be better off matching elements if I don’t go full LBT.

Thank you for all the advice as well, everybody. I greatly appreciate having the board to spitball ideas on. Absolutely rules!!

#91

The Fibber is also quite good with Nth Degree, so you can use fire/corrosive ones and stick with the Sheriff Badge if you want. Your DPS would still be amazing without the trouble of swaping bones.
The bad thing about it is the CDR loss and tha the Pimp interaction with Nth Degree is stronger, but you can always use a slag Pimp to slag/bring mult entity enemies down faster or even keep a corrosive one in the backpack for that fcking Saturn or OMGWTH.

#92

The journey has completed. Got Gaige to 72. Tested out many a variation on this, see what I like. DFA ended up being fun, but seemed to lack enough oomph to make it worthwhile. With Claws wasn’t bad, but feels like a double edged sword. If I take the time to swipe for health, I just end up getting shot or hit again, unable to turn the tide of battle.

The earlier leg mechro and heavy jakobs shotgun use allowed for CUT (10/5) to cover almost all healing, but had it’s limitations since I don’t get much out of more pep or the better half, so switched to a leg anarchist to up my DPS a little, and I love a 10/5 in UF. With the switch, transfusions started getting used to cover healing. Felt a little better out of the gate as well, as I don’t pre-stack, and the extra damage on the card is nice when stacks are low, plus the additional speed after a kill let’s me get within range of my next target more easily. Essential for a shot gunner.

Current skill distribution: http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#555000150551050050000000412150151050

Aside from the 5 points in FM, this is pretty much it. Those last five can really go anywhere, but FM seemed the most useful of the three likely places it could go (More Pep, Better Half, Pre-Shrunk/Better Half). Better Half doesn’t give me much with my loadout aside from boosting FR for the Slagga, which really isn’t necessary. Nothing else has a big enough mag for it to make much of a difference. I may max out pre-shrunk, but 250 stacks feels good, and I can one-shot UBAs at it, while still being able to hit a buzzard or a surveyor when I need to. More Pep really doesn’t do much either, and FM has it’s moments on bosses and when I get myself into a sticky situation.

Gear:

Twister (slot 1) - all the time I spent farming for this was worth it. Tediore grip on the one I have so it is a one shot mag, and has a good reload speed. This thing is a monster. Now that I have finally gotten my hands on one, I can see why it’s on almost all of the top gear lists. This is my primary gun. It works really well with 10/5 in UF since it allows me to get in the face of whatever I need to and pop a shot before my shields are down. Generally, that one shot is all I seem to need. Even on the likes of UBAs and Scorch. One-shotting many a rabid stalker was one of the highlights of my last session thanks to this gem

Slagga (slot 2) - primary slag tool. Can kill trash mobs as well, but not really using it for damage. Would benefit from the better half, but it would be the only gun that did, and really not necessary with this. The Slagga also has a pretty decent FR without any boosts by skill, com, or prefix.

Pimpernels - fire, corrosive, and shock. Fire and corrosive are the primaries (slots 3 and 4), with shock in the backpack for some situations. Never really utilized the pimp before, but I am digging them with Gaige. Was able to oneshot a BA marauder in FFYL during Bandit Slaughter with my fire one.

Relic: Shock Bone (primary). Since the Twister is my main gun, this is what I boost (Fire and Corrosive bones in backpack for when needed)

Shield: Hide of Terra. I tried a variety of others, but for mobbing, this one has been the most fun

Grenade: Slag O-Negative. Got lucky and had a sticky longbow one drop from Pete. Fuse time is 2.2, which is meh, but I got used to it fast, and worked it into my timing. This is my primary healing source. CuT without 10/5 is mainly to top off and give health between fights (10/5 in CuT with a shotgun as a primary was all the healing I needed before). Dischord is still there when needed.

Backpack:

Fire Bone
Corrosive Bone
Blockade (for bosses or times when DT can’t melee when summoned)
Leg Mechro (some times a com switch is needed. Less cooldown on the leg anarchist hasn’t been an issue)
Harold (not a DPUH. Currently using Explicit with a Torgue Grip. DPUH is unreliable at 250 stacks, but a regular Harold still seems to work pretty well at 250)

The build won’t do much on raids, but for mobbing and story bosses, it has been damn fun.

Thank you all for your advice along the way. I don’t think I could have come to this without everyone’s advice. Granted, I pretty much just went for a Gaige version of Derch’s Maya build.

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#93

Congratulations, Max! Your build and inventory looks really solid, good job! Especially on farming the Twister, haha.
Too bad you cant spec WDT to further increase your Twister damage output, but it is OK. Have you thought about SaAH? It is a Tesla-like DoT around you for just one point and you are reloading a lot anyway. You also got the shock Bone, so could be a good call.

Also, about the DPUH: Discord makes the spread really tight. Same for the Flakker. That said, both are amazing guns to use against large bosses like the Saturn, Dukinos Mom and etc when Discord is on.

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#94

Thank you!! Much appreciated, as was all of your advice.

The twister took me ages to get, but totally worth it. Ammo consumption isn’t bad either due to the sheer power of it.

I agree on the WDT point. The entire time I was figuring out the skill point distribution, I kept wishing EB and WDT were switched around on tier so I could spec into it, but even without it, the Twister is annihilating just about everything without the additional boost. I may do a temp respec to see the Twister at full glory.

I did play around with SaAH a bit. I like it, especially since my primary through out everything has been some sort of Jakobs shottie, but at the same time, I tend to kill myself a little too often since I tend to focus on enemy distribution more so than barrels. Granted I could pay more attention, hahah.

The DPUH one is interesting. Above 200 stacks the top row had a tendency to shoot high and the bottom to shoot low, completely missing what I was shooting. Discord does make up for this a bit though. The clincher ended up being FR and need. If I go into OP, DPUH will liekely be more necessary. The FR on my current Harold is the equivalent of a DPUH + Discord. I am also able to very reliably use this at high stacks, and tend to not use Discord often because of it and O-Negative for healing. I am not actually far enough in the story line (just recruited Brick) to see how the regular Harold performs against something like Saturn with Gaige (granted corrosive pimp and bone should handle that one nicely), so there is a chance I will end up farming a DPUH eventually. On a more personal preference style, except for on Sal and Maya, I prefer Intense or Crammed as my Harold prefix (granted, I settled on Explicit since that is what dropped on level with a torgue grip). It’s a bit more ammo efficient, and with Gaige, very reliable sans Discord on 250 stacks.

#95

Your build is pretty much what I run now and congrats on the Twister and HoT- those two and a handful of other rare weapons are what I’m still playing this game for (like a Hawkeye, Devastator, Ogre or Chopper)…

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#96

Thank you, duder!!

The Twister, especially, was one of those ones I never thought I would get my grubby hands on. I have cheesed out and used my abundance of seraph crystals on Sal to test out a lot of the seraph gear at level 50, but it really isn’t the same as getting them in UVHM with a full skill spec

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#97

Sorry for going off topic, but if I can round up
Enough good lvl 72 gear for my gaige can I hop in your game sometime and test the stuff. I can’t do it in my game because this gaige was powerleveled and is still in nvhm. Sadly I’m not motivated enough to play bl2 very often atm.

#98

Never played co-op before, but I’m down. Just let me know when you’re ready. I should get some play time in in the next couple days.

#99

I’ll shoot you a message when I’m on. If your busy or something just say so. I find the game to be a lot more fun in co-op