The Bekah is a beast, but it’s hard to find
The next best thing IMO is the Gatling.
Jakobs ARs are different, they require you to play differently than you would with a Torgue or Vladof AR (although the playstyle is sorta similar to Dahl’s)
They have a crit bonus while every other AR has a crit penalty, so aiming for crits is recommended. Think of them as fast, mid-range snipers with a very large pool of ammo.
I love Gattling Guns on Zer0 and the Bekah is one of the best weapons in the game for practically every character. They’re both very reliable, powerful weapons. The thing is, they’re semi-automatic, so you shouldn’t even be trying to use them like automatic ARs from other manufacturers. You’re not supposed to spam the trigger, but fire them in short bursts, correcting your aim as you need and always going for crits. The Hammer Buster is kinda like a compact, faster sniper rifle, and should be used as such. In my opinion, their higher base damage, crit bonus and multiple projectiles (on some of them) more than make up for the technically slow fire rate. I love them. Actually, I love all of the non-unique weapons manufactured by Jakobs. They make my favorite non-unique sniper rifles, shotguns, pistols and assault rifles. They won’t fit everyone’s playstyle the same, but they’re very far from being worthless.
[quote=“anextantaddress, post:1, topic:1378491”]Anyone else find them completely useless?[/quote]Not a chance… I get that that not everyone likes the Jakobs semi-auto gimmick, and I get that not everyone likes assault rifles in general (actually I don’t get that, but that’s another story), but I love them. As an example, I play the Hyperion Circle of Slaughter with the Stinkpot as my only corrosive weapon.
To give them an honest try, put a Hammer Buster in Zer0’s hands and hit some enemies in the head a couple of times; if that doesn’t sell you, it just wasn’t meant to be. Alternately, give them to Axton with a number of points in Steady and/or get your hands on an allegiance relic that mitigates the recoil.
I do find AR’s really weak in BL2 that’s why I don’t use them after BL1 AR’S haven’t had the chance to try the bekah but I did try the hammer buster in BL2 and TPS and I have to say that TPS nerfed the gun IMO, they might have the same stats idk but it just seemed weaker even using Nisha.
Edit: loved the hammer buster btw actually can’t wait to try it on maya due to CK might be nice until I can find a bekah
Your a mad man!
[quote=“anextantaddress, post:1, topic:1378491, full:true”]
Anyone else find them completely useless? The fire rate thing that they have going on, which works great for their other guns, but with something like an assault rifle it’s burdensome. Clicking that much for a few tight shots is really disorienting. Even the Hammer Buster felt kinda mediocre. This is just how I feel based on my play style preferences, maybe you’re a Jakobs rifle guru who hits every time with a lightning finger, but to me, these are as worthless as a Davis Pickle
[/quote]Use them as pseudo-sniper rifles – lower damage, higher fire rate, larger magazine, ammo’s more common.
I love other Jakobs things, I just haven’t gotten around to using ARs as they should be,
I have been awoken from my slumber…who dares insult Jakobs?!
Most Jakobs ARS need to be treated like sniper rifles and aim for critical hit locations with slag needing to be tossed into the equation. The Hammer Buster, Damned Cowboy, and Stomper benefit the most from such tactics. Gatling guns can shred enemies to bits and especially so if the target has a large critical hit location.
Until I acquired a Bekah I used the Hammer Buster to take down UBA loaders on Maya and I use a purple quality gatling gun on Axton when I do not feel like using the ROM.
Me! Whatcha gonna do 'bout it? 
I don’t have anything against Jakobs, I just prefer to use elemental weaponry: whether it’s melting faces with Maya or blowing them up with Krieg, I go either Maliwan or Torgue respectively. I do use a Twister and a Rough Rider, so Jakobs isn’t completely useless. 
I’ll figure something out.
I had to like both of those posts lol
Also of note is the Damned Cowboy has the highest magnification in the game for assault rifles (5.7 with a Jakobs scope) which when combined with its critical damage bonus allowing it to out damage the Hammer Buster per bullet makes it more of a sniper rifle than an assault rifle. It is quite potent when used with generous amounts of slag.
Maya is great with Jacobs ARs since you can really lay into some face while they’re phaselocked. I mainly play zero though, and I find the majority of them (outside the bekah, gatling gun, and maybe the hammer buster) to be short on stopping power for OP 8. Outside of the trashiest mobs at least.
Or maybe its just because of how much more I like their shotguns.
Maya is great with Jakobs in general and in my opinion she is the THE best with the company due to all the abilities she has at her disposal. Zer0 has a much higher damage ceiling with the company’s western styled firearms but Maya is the only character that can use nothing but Jakobs firearms without severely crippling herself (my Peacekeeper build is evidence) unlike the other Vault Hunters.
The only two characters that really do not do well with Jakobs are Gaige and Krieg–though @MidnightNova has created an all Jakobs Gaige build. It is just Maya is better at it than most. Some will argue Zer0 is better due to the crazy amount of damage he can do with Jakobs but I prefer Maya over the two. It has nothing to do with me sucking at playing Zer0. 
Since you mentioned me here. I’d like to let you know that I made a gameplay video where i’m not half asleep. Might interest you once it is uploaded.
I’ll have to watch it sometime. I really should do the same for my two builds but I am super lazy.
I just started watching your videos. They’re great, man! Now I know what to do if I use Scorn.
Scorn is amazing, when TPS came out I kept hitting melee on athena hoping to get scorn
Is Athena your favorite to play as? She is mine, mainly because of the Ceraunic Storm tree.
Jack is hard to beat for me, I also love Aurelia