#8

Hey there!

My first impulse in this answer is like everyone else: play Gaige and see how you like to play. Then that will help make the decision. She can be played a lot of ways. The best thing for you to do is ask yourself how you usually play shooters.

Would you rather play a shooter where you use cover often, and have another party member to help distract enemies? If so, then try a build based around Deathtrap utilizing thre BFF and LBT trees.

Do you enjoy playing shooters like DOOM and Quake where you are constantly moving and getting in the face of enemies? Then definitely give the Ordered Chaos tree and Aanarchy a shot.

Gaige really is a double sided coin. She can be the easiest character to pick up and play (just start down the BFF tree and let DT do a lot of the work), and she also has the highest ceiling to master (at least to me). Master her though, and she is a chaotic bomb wrecking everything in front of her with a legless torso of pure awesomeness fighting right beside her.

Regardless of how you begin to develop her I would suggest that at level 16 you take a moment respec her, and try out the Anarchy mechanic. It will let you know if that is the style of play for you or not. Just put your point in Anarchy, the 4 in Smaller Lighter Faster, 5 in Blood Soaked Shields, and your last point in Discord. Then take it out and give it a spin. That is the base of many Anarchy builds. It gives you Anarchy, the best shield skill in the game (BSS), and a great buff and accidental reload protection (Discord).

I hope you enjoy playing Gaige as she is, IMHO, the best character in Borderlands.

~Rathmaker~

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#9

The only thing about BSS is that I wouldn’t take it unless you have a way to quickly regain health, either by taking Cooking Up Trouble or via a Moxxie weapon, as the loss of health at lower levels can be significant if you run into a large mob- sure, you’ll get the kills to get your shield back but it will eat into your health with a quickness (not sure if Gaige has class mods that regenerate her health)…

#10

IMO everyone should get Cooking Up Trouble anyway (I like Close Enough but I still prioritize CuT over it).

You can never have enough self-healing ability, and since Gaige only has 3 healing skills and all of them are situational, you should grab at least two of them in every build (With Claws is somewhat a different matter, being a capstone means it’s hard to fit it into non-OC-heavy builds).

2 Likes
#11

Try this build if you want the best of both worlds with Gaige. Well if you can get all the way up to level 72 anyway. A Leg. Anarchist COM works best with this build as you’ll be speced into everything the COM adds points too, and who doesn’t like more gun damage?

#12

No discord ?
No Robot Rampage ?
No Blood soaked shield ?
5/5 in annoyed android ?
No Nth degree ?
5/5 more pep in a non-shock build ?

#13

I’ve just started a new Gaige (named her Queen Scream) and am leaning towards this when I hit level 72. As is the purpose with my new characters on the XBox One I’m starting in a different tree than I did with my first Gaige, so for me this means I start with the OC tree, get Cooking Up Trouble, Close Enough and Upshot Robot and then move towards the LBT tree.
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550000100000150055150501415150151050

#14

Ooo lots of replies! Thanks everyone who commented, I’m taking it all in whilst playing.

I think ultimately I’m going to need something with plenty of DPS and also utilise DT to draw a bit of attention from time to time (mostly whilst I revive my gf) … my girlfriend isn’t exactly experience in FPS games and I seem to be doing most of the work anyway bless her haha :grin:

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#15

More pep helps more than just shock. Yes 5/5 in annoyed android because without it deathtrap is slow af. Discord is pointless because the only time I ever reload is when my weapon runs out of ammo (and who the fuck reloads prematurely while running anarchy anyway?). Your shield regenerates fast enough on its own as is because of some of Gaige’s other skills that you’re going to be speced into with this build. You’re already speced into close enough, so Nth degree is pointless, and you can take a point out of unstoppable force, and drop it into robot rampage since unstoppable force will still be at 8/5 because of the Leg. Anarchist COM.

#16

If I might offer my own thoughts: Not knowing the platform you’re using but there is always the chance that you might reload when opening containers (on the XBox the X button both reloads and opens containers IIRC), unless you go into your inventory and swap weapons. BSS really isn’t needed- I didn’t spec into it with my first Gaige until I started doing Peak runs- but I did have both Fancy Mathematics and Unstoppable Force maxed. The Nth Degree works well with Close Enough as it does give you added chances of causing more damage, which is always a plus. And More Pep is good at one point when boosted by a com- the other 4 points can be used elsewhere…

#17

I’m on Ps3, and the square button for me does the same as the X button for you. As far as reloading goes, I always make sure that my magazine is full via shooting whatever is left after I’m done dispatching whatever enemies I may be fighting, so inadvertently reloading while picking up ammo, and other drops isn’t a problem for me (usually anyway I’m not gonna act like it hasn’t happened because I’m pretty sure it’s happened to anyone who’s ever played Gaige). I never switch COMS, so having a point in More Pep will be pointless if it’s not maxed.

#18

I reworked my build. Here it is. What do you think? Note: My Leg. Anarchist COM boosts Unstoppable Force, and Typecast Iconoclast putting them at 7/5, and 8/5 respectively.

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#19

Sorry for the late response, but sometimes life gets in the way.

The reason I mentioned waiting for level 16 is so that a new Gaige can pick up Discord. One of Discord’s uses is as a healing skill much like Cooking Up Trouble… only Discord can be used mid combat at the cost of anarchy stacks. When I first started playing around with Anarchy I really only looked at Discord as a fail safe for prematurely reloading, but it is so much more than that. The moment I realized this (which sadly, but honestly, was while I was getting my teeth kicked in during that first UVHM trip) I felt myself “level up” in Gaige understanding. I started to look at Anarchy not just as a damage bonus, but a resource with multiple uses. Do you need the increased fire rate 99% of the time? Nope, but if you practice using it then you will remember it is right at your finger tips for those few times you do need it. Likewise, the health regeneration can allow a player that extra couple of seconds to take a target down instead going into ffyl or running for cover.

I suggested trying the build out at level 16 so that hopefully the new Gaige player will come to that realization far earlier than I did.

Hoping for good loot drops for you all…

~Rathmaker~

2 Likes
#20

Not bad- between Upshot Robot and Robot Rampage I might take the former but both of them are good 1 point skills…

#21

People who do so accidentaly
People who need the healing
People in FFYL who really need the accuracy boost

…I don’t see a reason to skip it honestly

#22

Someone doesn’t know how great Nth degree is :slight_smile: Bore-like skills are beyond good.
there is absolutely no comparison between those 2 skills, they don’t do the same thing at all.

1 Like
#23

I recently started a Gaige and have had a blast over the past month or so. I also loved (still do) Maya amongst others but Gaige is very different as many have already noted.
I found a vid on YouTube from a while ago that pokashine did explaining how to level a Gaige thru normal and it really helped to spell things out for me.

3 Likes
#24

Someone didn’t look at my reworked build. I’m speced into Nth Degree, but I’m still not (and probably never will) use discord.

#25

no, I did not see that

Your loss :stuck_out_tongue:

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#26

With how careful I am about not reloading unless my mag is empty when playing as Gaige, I’m not losing anything.

#27

Ignoring how late this reply is:
This is also my first Gaige character and much like you I wanted a balanced build with potential flexibility to suit individual play style. I’m currently only level 47, but through a constant stream of tweaks I’ve finally found one I like. My DT can hold his own when summoned and draws plenty of enemy attention. On the flipside Gaige’s self applied skills let me fight without him confidently.

In regards to Anarchy, I’m an impartial sort of user. I use it mostly when I feel it suits me. For this reason I don’t utitilize Discord. And through experimenting I have found Close Enough to not matter in relation to Anarchy IMO. Here’s my current build using the OC tree:

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#250050120400050050120000410050000000

I do have a version without using the OC tree as well. Doesn’t seem as strong and sustainable, but its still a WIP.
And I’ll happily answer whatever questions you might have about it.