Help with the Hail!

Borderlands 2 Loot and Weapons
#1

Ave!

I’m in the process of porting a Gaige build from the old forums that is based around a shock Hail. The original build description includes a fairly extensive quote from another old forum post on how the various prefixes/parts affect base damage. Unfortunately, that particular post didn’t make it into the snapshot archive and is no longer available, leaving me with some unanswered questions.

Primarily, I don’t know what level the information was derived for, although I suspect it wasn’t level 72 (maybe 50 or 61?). This in turn means that I really have no idea how useful the information might still be.

So, does anyone have any links to current forum posts or other reliable sources that I can reference instead? Any sense on how useful the information might be?

For reference, this is the original build, and it cites work by DDuckMan (dead link). Here’s the first part of the quoted material, just to give some idea:

Originally Posted by DDuckMan
This is an expanded repost of a summary I made a while back:

Highest base damage for each prefix (grip):

Rabid ----- 6848 (Jakobs)
Ferocious - 6848 (Jakobs)
Swift ----- 6167 (Jakobs)
Sapping – 6167 (Jakobs)
.
.
Lowest — 5582 (Vladof, Dahl)

Highest DPS all prefixes (grip):

Rabid (Vladof) ---- 67.7k
Rabid (Torgue) ---- 65.5k
Rabid (Bandit) ---- 62.7k
Rabid (Jakobs) ---- 61.6k
Swift (Vladof) ---- 61.4k
Rabid (Dahl) ------ 60.8k
Swift (Torgue) ---- 60.7k
Swift (Bandit) ---- 57.8k
Swift (Jakobs) ---- 56.7k
Swift (Dahl) ------ 55.8k
Ferocious (Vladof) - 54.5k
Sapping (Vladof) — 54.1k *no prefix
Sapping (Torgue) – 52.8k *no prefix
(remainder snipped)

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[Build] Cykotr0n's The Shocking B!tch
#2

Can’t help you much but I have always found that a straight Sapping model Hail with a FR of 9.0 and no sight to be absolutely adequate…in fact it will be superb.

The key to the Hail is learning how to employ it and firing it while ADS which tightens the shot group meaning more critical hits falling on the enemies head.

Bullets Split…The Critical Hit Bonus is the highest of an AR in the game AND you get Splash Damage AND you get Grenade Damage bonuses. If not for the aiming mechanic…it would far and away be the BEST AR in the game, Bar None.

You do NOT want any kind of scope on the Hail as it will block peripheral vision while ADS. You are virtually pointing it down and want at least the top of the sight picture visible.

Bottom Line is that ANY shock Hail will be an excellent Shock Hail.

My personal favorite however was a Swift version with a Vladof Grip I got at Level 61, The FR was just superb and I got pretty good at ADS and just dropping a heavy amount of firepower down on an enemy’s head.

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#3

Thanks. Was the Swift also a shock hail, or is the shock version always sapping? I’ve been looking through, and every shock version of the Hail, Kitten, or Sandhawk I’ve seen has been sapping, but my sample size is small. I never played with the Hail that much before taking on this build, but the level 50 version is pretty devastating - especially on Gaige. Looking forward to trying the level 72 one!

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#4

Sapping is the prefix it gets for being shock. Accessory prefix has priority, so you will only see Sapping if there is no accessory to overwrite it.

Rabid is the preferred prefix for the Hail. It boosts damage AND fire rate, but it does horrible things to your accuracy. Thankfully, the Hail has a weird pattern that makes the loss in accuracy hardly noticeable, and Gaige doesn’t really care about accuracy to begin with.

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#5

Good to know. And also frustrating - my Sapping Hail was the first shock version in 20 tries. (Mostly rolled slag, then fire, then corrosive.)

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#6

How does Rabid do with ADS?

Because that…at least to me…was the way to make the Hail just sing with Axton…using ADS.

But Gaige…with Close Enough…I can see why accuracy loss means nothing.

I’d go with Chuck’s suggestion the more I think about it. But you may have to farm a LOT. Almost all of my Hails in 2200 hours of game play were the non accessory versions…Sapping, Hot, Corrosive.

But these are really quite good as well.

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#7

For me, I’m quite content with the sapping, especially as it was only a level 50 for testing out a build I volunteered to port from the old forums. Frankly, I don’t have the patience for accessory farming!

With the level 50 version, I’ve found with Close Enough that run’n’gun play with short bursts to keep on target works pretty effectively. I don’t really remember doing much ADS, largely because if you’re in the thick of combat you don’t get that luxury. I will definitely check it out when I go back in though.

And thanks to both @Chuck80 and @johnrr6 - I’ve got quite a few good tips and info form the two of you that I can include to update the build with!

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