The problem with improving Monty’s accuracy at range, is that the damage falloff stays the same. Even though you might be hitting with rounds still from a distance, they’re doing far less damage than they would if his target were close and slowed. From point blank, I’ve seen Monty tick of 28 damage a slug on someone. But at the limits of what I would normally fire at, I’ve seen SINGLE digit damage counts in some cases. That’s a lot of damage sway to be putting into range. I’m not saying it can’t work, but I can’t honestly say if it’s worth the effort you’re going to put into the gear and helix build package to make it work. If you’re looking to just threaten someone’s shields, it’ll work fine unless they have a shield heavy build. Otherwise, I don’t quite think the damage is there for the effort put out.
His damage fall off is that bad? That’s a little awkward for the more heavy ranged role Firestorm seems to fill.
Guess there can be only one flaming muscle man in Gearbox’s heart.
Kills only matter in points. All that really matters is playing the objective, and knowing when to run away. Kills don’t matter, getting killed does.
But I love my firestorm 
Also the little time ive played Montana I’ve done better with it. On solo encounters with melee it is so much more effective. Also with randoms I find that in a lot of cases playing for yourself is better and even in pre-made teams don’t always coordinate with you.
Also smart Montana’s seem to start fire storm on low heat to keep applying its effects to get the burst damage and push opponents back, which is ultimately your goal as a tank.
Test it yourself. Go solo PvE on the Algorithm mission and at the start, move as far away from the first minions as you can, then fire. Watch your damage numbers as the small minions walk towards you.
Whenever I see a Monty with a Firestorm setup, I do what I can to get close. All that heat and hate, only works as long as you’re under his crosshair. Since he has no slow now, I just juke to the sides, and you’ll spend more time spinning him than taking the damage the limited time Firestorm will be up. After that, he’s either overheated or cooking himself, and will be running or dying 
That’s what I save my lumberjack dash for to get the stun. I almost never run in a situation where a wall is near me as a tank, even as Kelvin. I’ve been frequently good at landing it for a stun. But then again I come from using Boldur as my main. with Boldur dash it is a lot harder to hit due to body size and less control.
I also go for mob clears often so I’m not hit by everything under the blue moon.
True, but now you’ve also blown your only escape tool. By this point in the fight, you’ve either decided to take me down, or are trying to stun me and run away. Turn your back to me, and you’re eating someone’s stun or slow. If you try and take me down, I can fairly well stall until I get backup, or I counterstun/slow you and swing momentum back in my favor.
Please understand, I’m not tryin to bash you. But you are giving up a LONG, sustained targeting slow, for a few extra ticks of damage…and that’s all it will ever be. In a melee fight, I have about 60% of the advantage, because you can’t slow me and stall me out. Montana’s quick melee and a flip to Hailstorm slowing me, keeps me from getting into melee range again easy. I have to blow a cooldown to do it, and even then, i could miss if you get off the trigger at the right time and strafe. But with Firestorm, even if you LJD-stun me, the second I come out of it I’m back in melee range with you. if I’m Shayne, I can actually stall out Firestorm by stealthing, If it’s Galilea or Attikus, hello stun. if it’s Caldy or Deande, massive headfake with grenades or a holotwin. And dear god…Mellka? Slow, DoT, Boost to Melee damage against you, and I’m probably flying OVER you at this point, getting shots on your back.
That’s also implying that I don’t have players around me. I don’t over commit with Montana and am fine camping until a teammate is around me. No point in absorbing unnessary damage to risk a flank on the verge of a kill. I watch my map consistently, a tactic I pulled from using ghalt. If I am in a situation with Montana where I’m easily able to get flanked with no help then I’m not using him right.
I dunno, ive yet to go negative in the games I’ve used Montana and I’ve played a few premades and i use firestorm. But I also run health regeneration, attack speed and movement speed too so I get out of a few situations normal Montana’s don’t.
I can show pics of my current stats when I’m home tomorrow
No need. I don’t think you’re lying. I just think you’d do better with a chill Monty than you are with a hot one. You sound like a good Monty tank. But as much damage as you do with Firestorm, the extra damage is like the extra damage a support can do: fine in it’s own right, but not worth sacrificing a core mechanic of the class.
I won’t lie you have peaked my interest so I may try it a few times and see how I like it
I just got Master of Montana, and I approve this post. I will add that even though I do a strict survivability build with all the frosty goodness I can cram, even using Swole Shield instead of Icicles, I still tend to top the DPS charts. It’s all about managing heat so you never have to stop shooting. 100% of the time I see a flaming Montana coming around the corner I smile, because the other team’s tank has neutered himself, and I tend to spend the entire round reminding them of the fact.
I take it you fire in bursts? I try to manage my heat, but it isn’t always easy when the other team is pressing hard. Then again, the attack speed item I use probably isn’t helping much…I do use the cooler, barrel cooling, and Monty’s legendary. I may have to see if I can work in a low-cost cooldown item instead of the attack speed one so I can keep Hailstorm up more often.
During sustained team fights I’ll fire in bursts (Montana’s legendary helps with this as the bursts can be a bit longer due to lessened heat generation at over 85% heat), trying to go for weakened units or minions, then as soon as I can activate freezy bullets, I do. Early game in particular it’s tough to mitigate the heat without running away (it takes about as long for the gun to cool as it does for the shield to recharge anyway), but by level 7 I’m able to fire pretty much nonstop during sustained fights with little pause to the action (save for the need to heal or whatever).
Hopefully this helps! Unless you see me on the battlefield, in which case, gosh darnit I just gave away all my secrets!
Bursting works great in minion clear but save the heat for your real targets; enemy PC’s. Try to manage a burst every five or ten seconds on the minions. Your goal isn’t so much trying to kill them(though that’ll probably happen) but it’s to make sure you get credit for them when they DO drop as an assist. Nothing fancy or elegant; just splash em all with a coat of damage, and wait a few seconds before doing it again or turning to an enemy. If it’s something you NEED to stop advancing(Bot or Thrall) give it a bit more priority, but save your Hailstorm for the last minute. Odds are, someone’s waiting for that to pop so they can go HAAM on you now that you gave up your slow.
Thanks guys. I do pretty good with Monty in PVP, but any tips are appreciated.
Sooooo I tried an ice build and yea in almost every way its better for PvP seeing as minions are tougher. This has really started making me think of trying ghalt movement speed or no interruption instead of the fire. Maaaaan, I’ll prolly stick to the fire augment
For ghalt, he’s more damage focused. Id say to go attack speed, and a movement speed item, but save the helix for the flames. You’ll do better damage and get almost ad much speed.
Attack speed and damage is what I run. It seems the attack damage increases his base damage for his ultimate. I know attack speed effects it
Though I don’t play Montana I really appreciate the quality and depth of your post. Thanks!