How To Make Cold War Good

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Wilhelm the Enforcer
#11

I decided to run around with 11/5 in Cold War for the first time in over a year and I tried out a shock Mining Laser with it. As long as I could hit all three beams on target, it appeared to have about a 50% chance to freeze the enemy.

Normally, after applying a DoT to an enemy and not freezing him with it, you would have to wait for the DoT to wear off to get another chance to proc Cold War. To me, it seemed that as long as you can apply multiple DoTs at the same time, you could bypass this rule.

With a regular railgun, you would have a 40% chance for a DoT which would translate to a 22% to freeze with 11/5 in Cold War. The Mining Laser also has the 40% beam but it fires out three of them at the same time. So you have three chances to apply a DoT at the same time and because of that, you have a triple chance to freeze.

I could be wrong though. Maybe I just got lucky with the procs while I was testing all of this.

#12

I mean you could just use a cryo mining laser and save urself 5 points and a com 3 beams at 40% chance to freeze is essentially 100% chance to freeze vs 3x 20ish chance to freeze when you shock.

#13

I’m not trying to defend Cold War, I still think the skill is pretty crap. I’m just saying that this setup exists (I haven’t seen any people point out the potential synergy with the Mining Laser) and it’s pretty much the only way to make Cold War semi-viable IMO.

STILL, 11/5 in Cold War and the shock Mining Laser does have it’s benefits. First of all, it is much more reliable at freezing shielded targets since cryo suffers against shields. Second, it is able to take advantage of the full crit boost from using a non-cryo gun against a frozen target. And third, while you are in a vacuum, you could use the Duality Oz Kit that increases shock chance for a boost that seems to be a 80% proc chance.

I’ll say it again, I still think Cold War is crap, but this setup is pretty much the only way I know to make the skill somewhat viable.

And again, I am not really sure if the 3x beam of the Mining Laser actually has a better Cold War proc chance or if I have just gotten lucky with the procs. For all I know right now, it could have just been placebo all along.

#14

Well I think the only way to make it viable is to spam Storm fronts and pray.

#15

All guns get the 200% type A crit from an enemy being frozen. Cryo guns don’t get a reduced percentage to my knowledge.

#16

Doesn’t this interfere with the one DoT at a time rule? Teslas constantly apply DoTs to the enemy and if the first one doesn’t freeze anything, it’s not going to freeze unless the grenade expires. Unless of course, you were being sarcastic.

I’ve heard some people say that they do receive the penalty and it certainly feels like it for me. I can empty an entire mag of a cryo gun into some frozen dude’s face, but it takes about half as much ammo when I switch to a non-cryo weapon. Maybe i’m just imagining things, I don’t know.

#17

There’s things like explosive gets 200% multiplicative bonus on frozen enemies, or switching to a fire on flesh gets the 75% bonus. But 2 neutral elements like shock and cryo on flesh should preform the same.

At least that’s what I think Sljm’s findings were.

And shields resist cryo damage so there’s that. Basically everything gets 200%, but other things play roles too.

And when in doubt just go to the dummies and test it.

#18

Pure vanilla copy of the game, so no target dummies for me. If that is true however, then there really isn’t any reason to spec into Cold War.

The point about shielded targets still remains though, despite the gear limitations.

#19

Shock on shields does 6x the damage that cryo on shields does. Lost legion and guardians have more shields than health, so Cold War is amazing for the second half of the game.

If you’re in a vacuum, a shock duality Oz kit boosts elemental damage and DOT chance by over 40%. Cryo duality only boosts DOT chance, so shock does better DPS in a vacuum.

#20

After extensive testing, I have concluded that multiple chances to proc a DOT will not increase the proc rate of Cold War. Unless there’s something unique to the Mining Laser, you probably hit your targets just as their original shock DOT wore off, allowing you to proc a new DOT that appeared to be the extension of the original.

#21

But Cold War does improve freeze chances for Cryo weapons.
I’ve noticed a large difference in my freeze chance when using the skill with the Absolute Zero.

#22

For 5 skill points you go from a 21.2% freeze chance, to a 23.3% freeze chance with a Mali grip AZ. It’s a placebo effect, and your skill points are better spent basically anywhere else.

#23

With the added effect of freezing enemies by:
1: Landing a critical (Non Badass SCAVS)
2: DoT (Fire, Acid, Shock, AND asphyxiation)
3: 3DD.1.E.'s tethers.

So In my opinion no, I invested in the right skill, regardless of what gun I use.

#24

It is a 100% waste of skill points if you are using cryo damage. And that is the point I was trying to get across with the post you quoted and my recent response to your post.

I’m not saying it is a bad or good skill, but if you are using it with cryo damage it is in essence worthless.

#25

[/quote][/quote][quote=“khimerakiller, post:24, topic:668437”]
It is a 100% waste of skill points if you are using cryo damage.
[/quote]

Implying I only use Cryo weapons…

[quote=“NetherTraitor258, post:4, topic:668437”]
So when fighting non-badass Scavs, any critical hit has a chance to freeze enemies (even Jakobs guns that aren’t Too-Scoops!). Even Melee attacks can freeze foes as long as you get a crit and feel lucky enough.[/quote]

This should imply otherwise.

[quote=“NetherTraitor258, post:4, topic:668437”]
Tediore Lasers can freeze foes with their shock tethers when thrown (yes, even the Laser Disker).[/quote]

And this.

#26

The original dude said he was using cryo and a CoE, and you said you saw a large improvement in your AZ.

My statements were… “CW is bad for that set up” and “the improvement you saw in your AZ was a placebo” in so many words.

I didn’t say it was worthless because I though you only used the AZ, I said it was worthless for the AZ/cryo damage.

#27

When you put it like that I see your point somewhat.
But you made it sound like the moment you switch to a Cryo weapon it’s useless.
All you have to do is use a Spike/Nova shield along with an AoE grenade and 3DD.1.E and those skill points are always in use even if you use a Cryo weapon.

Besides, I use Cold War the same way I use Divert Power, as a helpful little nudge in the right direction during a bad situation and not something to rely on too much, hence why I use the AZ.

#28

To be fair, if you’re switching to a cryo weapon at any point… you do kinda defeat the entire purpose of Cold War, if you’re freely ok with mid battle cryo swapping…It’s kinda like using a slag weapon as maya.

1 Like
#29

Except slag on slag damage didn’t do anything, while cryo damage on cryo damage (so long as it’s a crit) does.

Besides, cryo weapons can actually be used for damage, unlike a lot of slag weapons, which while they could kill things, were first and foremost for slagging.

If they’re using cold war to freeze with the SF, then shoot them with the AZ, I can see how that would work. Or if it’s just an ace in the hole that will occasionally bump up their damage (basically just supplementary cryo for other gear in the loadout) then that could prove useful as well.

#30

In uvhm, slag does 50% increased damage against slaged enemies, and a lot of Zero players run primarily on a slag Pimp.

Personaly, I’d probably try to just run Cold war and a cryo slam, because I think cryo slams are enough cryo for most builds, but I’m not much of a willy player, so I can’t really say for sure.