Nonelemental damage or Explosive damage builds?

Borderlands 2 Axton the Commando
#62

Iā€™ve been told that it doesnā€™t get boosted by grenade damage.

Good

  • DPUH
  • Kerblaster (The Ogre is better, but you already said you couldnā€™t get that. But you should try out a purple Torgue Spitter if you ever come across one.)
  • Norfleet (If you want to go purely explosive the Badaboom is a good option.)
  • +39% explosive relic
  • Legendary Soldier com

Things to consider

  • Antagonist - Iā€™d recommend the Blockade instead if youā€™re able to get one. The Sham is also one of my personal go to shields for Axton, and it gives him a much better defense than most people think.
  • Fastball - As a damage grenade this is probably the best, but since you have so many heavy hitting weapons Iā€™d suggest a support grenade instead. Like a purple Magic Missiles, slag Betty, Quasar, Chain Lightning (For Moxxi healing), ectā€¦
  • Ravager - You should get a Casual SWORDSPLOSION!!! instead. It conserves ammo better, has better range, a bigger mag, and hits just as hard. Its easy to get, and with smart play its easy to avoid the child grenades that can cause self harm.
  • Iā€™d recommend a support weapon like the Slagga or Grog as youā€™ll want/need the slag because ā€˜Double Upā€™ is only so efficient and it wonā€™t always be up or targeting the enemy you want targeted. Plus the Grog will give you 65% life steal when you hold it, if you need it.
2 Likes
#63

Even if the Norfleet is not buffed by grenade damage it is still the most powerful rocket launcher in the game and you can just slap on an elemental relic that matches the Norfleet. Being an E-tech the Norfleet ignores cover when the rounds detonate, enabling it to kill enemies regardless if they are behind a wall or not but this also goes for the wielder as well.

I would stay away from the Antagonist shield. I used to love it but it has a habit of slagging you if you are struck while standing behind waist high cover and the slag orbs have a very low chance of slagging. You can either use the Blockade as Khimerakiller mentioned or if you want to replenish your grenades and rockets without relying on ammunition drops the Big Boom Blaster shield should be considered as the boosters it drops give one grenade and one rocket each.

If you want to carpet bomb entire areas with grenades get either the Bonus Package or the Shooting Star. The Shooting Star has more risk involved but if you toss into a confined space full enemies it will do a lot of damage. Or if youā€™re struggling with slagging either the 2x or 4x magic missiles will work and also make it easier to get out of FFYL if you have Do or Die. Not saying the Fast Ball is bad (there are videos out there of Axton players one-shotting everything with it) just throwing more options out there for you.

If you want to have a more ā€œQuick and the Deadā€ setup use a Legendary Ranger instead and just move some skills around to get the most out of it when the kills start rolling in. Granted with the Legendary Ranger COM you develop a glass jaw but you can also bulldoze enemies left and right.

1 Like
#64

Thank you both for the advice! Is the Basaboom with damage prefix and Explosive even more powerfil, consodering all my grenade buffs and explosive relic?

#65

Also, I promise iā€™m not illiterate, i just have really chubby thumbs on a tiny Vita.

#66

The explosive relic gets it closer, but the versatility of the Norfleetā€™s massive explosion radius that can go through walls still makes it top dog even without a Bone to back it. Where with the Badaboom you need to basically d-impact the enemy.

I only mentioned it because it is the best FFYL launcher that can come in explosive IMO, if you wanted to stick to the theme of the build.

#67

I assume you meant the meteor shower :wink:.

#68

Yeahā€¦that doohicky.

#69

Thank you for all the help, guys! one last question: i am running a slag Avenger, DPUH, Kerblaster, shock Norfleet, legendary soldier, Fastball, and an Antagonist. (cant get Blockade) Would an explosive +39% relic or a 39% capacity, recharge rate, 33 shcok resisyance, and 25.5% nonelemental resistance Skin of Ancients be better?

#70

Explosion noise! :boom: If youā€™re not in danger of dying a lot, go with the extra damage.

#71

What about the Rolling Thunder? A little trickier to use, but toss it down into a canyon, along a corridor, or into a room, and it can be quite effective against mobs.

#72

My problem with the Rolling Thunder is the same with every other bouncing grenade in that enemies can avoid it and when compared to the Bonus package and Meteor Shower it is not as good in terms of final explosion. In a crowded room with little to no room or lots of enemies clumped together (Badass Bar, Lilithā€™s Hidey Hole, Brickā€™s Throne Room, ect) it works great but so do the other two grenades with the Meteor Shower being down right devastating when all the bomblets are forced into one giant area.

If you get one as a drop and donā€™t have the others, thatā€™s great, but I would not substitute the Bonus Package or Meteor Shower for a Rolling Thunder.

3 Likes
#73

Bonus Package = Good

Meteor Shower = Better

IMHO

And custom Meteor Showers with the fuse and delivery you want are sooooo easy to get.

1 Like
#74

So as a general consensus, everyone agrees that an explosive relic is better than a Skin of Ancients on Axton?

#75

Yes

(Sigh) Gifs donā€™t like me :frowning:

#76

Double Yesā€¦SoA is a niche relicā€¦albeit a good oneā€¦with the right combo.

Explosive damage relic you will use almost constantly

#77

Doesnt the explosive relic remain literally 39%z therefore basically increasing the damage on a weapon cardby that amount? Skinbof Ancients only boosted my shield by 400000.

#78

But you are only talking about ONE of the boosts an SoA can give you.

A great SoA relic can give up to four boosts.

3 resistances and one shield boost
Or 2 resistances and 2 shield boosts

Shield boost are always Cap and Rechargeā€¦one or the otherā€¦or both.

Even with all those boosts thoughā€¦on Axtonā€¦90% of the time you want him wearing an Explosive Damage relic.

#79

Do you think a Fastball can eplace a Norfleet? iā€™m thinking of swapping it forbanbexplosive Ravager. it isbabsutely absud in Axtons hands.

#80

The Fastball and the Norfleet really have quite different uses, so it would be awkward.

#81

With Do or Die in your spec you can use the Fastball as a FFYL tool, if it was what you meant. This way you free your launcher slot for the Ravager, but I would always use the Swordsplosion instead. If you want to use something at short range the UH can fill this role easily.