WAIT I used to ditch the pet (afraid of the elemental dot) and tried to keep cycling Fad eaways so I would always crit and keep the stacks but It never worked for me
Sir show me the path!
Firestorm and Storm are pretty cool too, IMHO. And I grew fond of one of their non-legendary ones too (Proton? Particle rifle?) - the one which charges, but does not go to autofire after that.
Heck, I even enjoyed Malak’s Bane few levels ago.
1 Like
I go full glass cannon with burst in mind because these snipers need to pack a punch to keep the damage going. All of these are using Fade away for distancing, burst and pet taunt.
Id like to say that although Im sucessful because of my aiming (lol) I am aware that viable wouldnt be the word since snipers never that went well with this franchise. I do run maliwan tkdw in any difficulty (Guardian needs some try hard set up, since the bad scalling is dps based and snipers lack of balancing towards dps really hurt them there)
-
Always same manufacturer for the bonuses.
Jakobs: (focus on the type of enemy)
Human enemies: monocle + cocky bastard (underrated) + skullmasher (close encounters) + Hunt(ress)
Creatures: Headsplosion(cleans the field since these enemies got erratic movement) + skullmasher (close) + unseen threat + Hunt(er)
Robots: Unseen + cocky bastard + Hunt(ed)
guardians: Cocky bastard + skullmasher/unseen+ monocle
Always have a 200 ASA and 300/90 of similar guns to complement each other so you dont fall in the damage stacking (I know ASE is meta, but Im keep it Jakobs)
Dahl: sandhawk (boring) + Stalker (you need the whole terror set up, and its REALLY strong) + a purple ASP or diamondback with 200 asa or 300/90. Need more testing with the Auto Aimè
Maliwan: Storm 300/90 and the krakatoa 200 asa (you need guerrila for this one), complex root for guardian, firestorm is good. ASMD is great, need more testing tho.
Hyperion: Crossbow is GREAT, I used to run maliwan tkdw without the buff, it was a struggle. Now it steamrolls (never tried on guardian tho since guardian loves dps not burst, hate that place)
NARP is the one Im currently using, its great. Focus on reload and mag size the reload effect will give you the base damage you need. Focus on burst anointments because it needs to pack a punch in its first hits to keep the damage going. 300/90 or 200 asa are a must imo. Tankman is inferior unfortunately. I will work of the woodblocker soon.
Vladof: I use the lyuda here and there but since I focus on burst… its one of the most viable ones tho, vladof is more… meta overall but I dont play with ARs lol -
skullmasher or stageboach or a 21x hyperion shotgun. Also fadeaway allows you to reposition specially with the taunt augment
-
PET ALWAYS for bonuses and taunt. Also, the distance of combat in this franchise is not great for sniping, the enemies usually spawn in waves and some only when youre close so the pet making them aggro is good. Fadeaway allows you to reposition and makes long range sniping actually exist
4)Jokes aside about vladof snipers being ARs, no I dont. But there is viability keeping your distance. (use ASA + guerrila or ASE elemental anointments with these snipers theyre not burst reliant)
-
Since the focus is burst most of these make every bullet count so the only ones who need ammo are the Dahl and Vladof ones (stalker terror build has incredible ammo regen)
-
Amp shield with the lowest recharge possible
Rerouter for jakobs because you need the power inside bonus and aiming witha jakobs leaves you vulnerable. 0M for hyperion since the shield of the snipers will help you aim safely and stand your ground inside the circle of death. Old god for dahl, vladof and maliwan.
Class mod: De4deye. IF you dont 1 shot the boss then cosmic stalker for burst reliant snipers and bounty hunter for dps faster firing snipers.
Grenades: its piss! but for more fadeaway cycling reliant snipers (faster firing less burst). get your megavore skill and keep it cycling with a mitosis hunter seeker.
Relics: Victory rush+ice breaker for stalker
+snowdrift for others (pearl for vladof and krakatoa).
I dont use +cutpurse but it would be nice for vladof.
Gearbox please give anointments to the ice queen. lol
1 Like
Yes pets actually help a lot.
bonsu stats + taunt
Also plp saying they aggro enemies way to early are wrong. Borderlands was never about long range, there are places that enemies only spawn when youre right beside the spawn point so you will need to reposition anyway.
Totally forgot about the Storm and Firestorm. Yes those too 
The Complex Root if you can figure out how to not kill yourself with it. I feel sure there’s a trick to it, but I have never been able to figure it out. So I just don’t use it.
@luka777torms You should try a Gamma Burst setup for sniping. I used to think Fade Away or Rakk Attack was better for sniping, but the aggro relief and safety of the Red Fang taunt changed my mind on it. You do have more damage with Rakks or FA, but if you bring the amp shield and more frequent amp shots into the mix (because you don’t get nearly as many amp shots when enemies are more focused on Fl4k), I feel like it at least evens out, and the survival is much better with Gamma. Go the Urad Deathless route, not the Front Loader - Pearl route.
I used to play 95% Rakks, 5% Fade, now I have switched to 100% Gamma Urad Deathless. I don’t even really enjoy the Rakks very much any more, because the Gamma build is so much more fun for me and my playstyle.
1 Like
Oh Gamma burst with red fang is actually optimal for sniping.
The situation is like Maya vs Zer0
Gamma burst is like maya: safer, better cc, easier and more reliable. (still good damage)
Fade away is like zer0: obnoxious burst and good repositioning but lacks survivability and you need to be on point because every mistake you be more punished
I do like both styles (and I love the fact that one vh alone can have both, that shows really good design), but Im a high risk high reward dude so I prefer fade away. I do believe fade away is completely inferior with vladof and krakatoa tho
2 Likes
I like the way you think. Almost exactly like that, really good comparison!
But really Amara is Maya and Fl4k is Zero if we were doing BL3 comparisons IMO. But your point is correct - pure glass cannon DPS vs. crowd control (but still a high damage ceiling, there’s just not much burst).
Holding enemies still (i.e., in place) is a really powerful and under-appreciated skill as far as increasing your DPS. Borderlands is all about crits and when the enemy is still as a result of whatever mechanic (frozen or phasegrasped), the gameplay becomes much more straightforward. Frozen Heart can do some of that heavy lifting in a Rakk build.
1 Like
Oh of course there is amara who can be maya 2.0 indeed hahah
I never used frozen heart with rakks (what would be the augments? is this a cryo build?)
Now, this just reminded me how Zane disrupted such a nice balance of dynamics… even in such a gimmicky niche as sniping. 
I use a Deathless/URad build with my Frozen Heart. If you can get your hands on a URad Unforgiven this can boost the Rakk damage really high on crit. This is hardly a sniping build though, you really need to stay close enough to catch as many as possible with the nova.
2 Likes
A Urad Rakk ASS Frozen Heart Deathless build (hopefully that describes it well enough LOL) can work really well. It is True Maliwan Takedown worthy, but not a GTD build. Still really solid. The best way to go on the Rakk build is ASS Stop Gap IMO, but it just feels like cheating to play it that way, honestly, so I don’t like playing it like that. The Frozen Heart Rakk build is really fun and challenging.
You can use cryo Rakks with an Ice Breaker (Victory Rush or Otto Idol) if you want to go with the cryo theme. I don’t feel like that is the most effective way to play it personally, as I like Deathless variant better. But both work. Also, fire Rakks work just as well, your Rakks aren’t really the focus of your damage anyways.
I prefer Cryo Rakk with the Urad/Deathless theme. Since you have no health, Falconers Feast offers no benefit. The bonus elements on Rakk gain crit bonuses, so that +150% Radiation damage can gain the crit bonus from the Unforgiven. You can get upwards of 20M(Cryo+Rad) per Rakk hit in perfect conditions.
I’m gonna shut up now as I feel the slippery slope of thread derailment upon me 
2 Likes
You can also go Flock 'n Load and Rakkcelerate with a cryo build. I know most players don’t use Rakkcelerate but if you are running ASS Frozen Heart or Stop Gap, the extra 2 charges can help. But I agree that ROACO and Flock 'n Load probably are better choices for the build both thematically and practically.
And I kind of figured the thread derailment was acceptable since the OP (@luka777torms) was participating in their own thread derailment. 
2 Likes
while we waiting for the mentioned plp to reply (maybe never? lol)
Why not? LMAO
2 Likes
Ricochets that result in a crit (be it from Megavore/Fade Away/Natural Crit) won’t reset St4ckbot. Otherwise, they will reset it.
Basically means it will reset most of the time when not in Fade Away, since you’d need the Ricochets to directly hit critical spots or proc Megavore, both being very unreliable/unlikely to happen in any consistent enough manner for St4ckbot stacking.
Fade will guarantee a Fade crit on [most] ricochets, and that will count for stacking.
4 Likes
That is how I figured it worked, shame this COM has such potential. Otherwise it would have been much easier to forget, like that COM from DLC2.
1 Like
That’s kind of it? Watch for barrels, and just know that some random thing is out there ready to ding them without being a crit.
Proton Rifle: will fire immediately with no charge, but can also be charged and held for a bigger zap when you’re ready to let go of the trigger.
2 Likes
I see… but how are you cycling Fade aways without ruining the stacks tho?
avoiding jakobs (given how ricochets do reset stacks )
What gear you use in these st4ckbot builds?
BTW about the maliwan proton rifle: that thing does DOUBLE the damage when fully charged
This… even the skills that receive points are really good to have.
A shame indeed, its not forgotten because the potential is huge and leads to pretty engaging gameplay
unfortunately all that is on paper.
Thank you so much for the info!
The lack of synergy with jakobs is really underwhelming
How we can cycle fade away without reseting stacks?
I believe the lowest FA cooldown is 11s with all the diminishing return rate?