I love Axton, but reading about how good these other characters are makes me sad. Is he at least the most well rounded for all gameplay? Even his explosions are mostly neutral.
My main is also axton. But sadly he isn’t the best at anything except chcuking. Best all around class has to be Maya
They’re all fun in their own way - if you’ve never even tried another character, I would highly recommend taking one at least far enough into the game to get a few skill points and see what you like about their action skill. There may be one that you just don’t care for, but at least you’ll be able to say exactly what you don’t like about it. Highlights for me with non-Axton characters:
Maya tossing mobs around: Thoughtlocking the first enemy triggers Converge, which pulls all the other enemies onto him. Helios procs, which roasts them, and Ruin procs, which shocks, corrodes, and slags everyone in this mob. They are not focused on you, so they start laying into each other. Fire a couple of rounds into the mob, which most of them share due to Chain Reaction, and which triggers Cloud Kill, which starts roasting the slowly dispersing mob. The original target dies, the orb immediately re-acquires another target via Sub Sequence (since the enemies are still close together), and Converge re-groups them, Helios re-roasts them, Ruin re-electrocutes, corrodes, and slags them. However, before the mob dies, and because Blight Phoenix is up, you go strolling into this seething mass of softened enemies who aren’t really focusing on you, and you add to the roasting and corrosion. Because Sirens.
Gaige and shock kills - Grab the Storm and headshot an enemy. The enemy takes shock damage, enhanced by Wires Don’t Talk. Interspersed Outburst fires for bonus damage and the target is now slagged. The shock orbs surrounding the target apply electrocute damage, which is enhanced by both slag and Wires Don’t Talk. This electrocute damage procs Electrical Burn, which causes the target to catch on fire, which is also enhanced by the slag.
Zer0 stacking all his damage buffs into a single shot. Slag your target, swap to a Landscaper, and fire it at the ground (with Tw0 Fang helping unload the magazine quickly). Keep yourself near the target within melee range and let them hit you to proc Counter Strike. Immediately fire Decepti0n such that the hologram is between the target and the nest of Landscaper shot, but close enough to the target that it’s within melee range (so the target doesn’t back away), toss Kunai while maneuvering behind the enemy, and Execute. If you time it right, the following go into this hit (here’s a blow-by-blow play):
Slag increases the melee damage.
The Decepti0n timer increases the melee damage.
The Counter Strike timer should still be up from when you got hit for more melee damage.
The Be Like water timer should still be up from the time you shot him with the slag weapon for more melee damage.
Backstab gives you a melee damage bonus because you hit him in the back.
Ambush gives you a melee damage bonus because he’s paying attention to your hologram, not you.
Like the Wind gives you a melee damage bonus because you’re moving (via Execute).
Headshot gives you a damage bonus because you hit the enemy in the critical spot.
Iron Hand gives you a passive melee damage bonus.
Death Mark increases the damage from this hit because you hit the target with Kunai earlier.
This melee strike starts your first stack of Rising Sh0t
This takes a pretty good chunk out of the enemy’s health, knocking the enemy back. Because you’re an ace, you’ve lined the enemy up with your hologram and the pile of Landscaper shot. Because Decepti0n ended, Unf0rseen triggers, applying shock damage to the target in mid-knockback. Unf0rseen damage is enhanced by Death Mark and Slag. The enemy now flies into range of the Landscaper shot, which explodes one at a time, each explosion adding another stack to Rising Sh0t, further increasing their damage (in addition to being enhanced by Slag and Death Mark).
These are just examples of the many things you can do with some other characters during combat… give 'em a spin yourself.
edit - here’s a video of this shot with Zer0 (minus a couple of these mechanics: I don’t have Be Like Water nor Like the Wind, and I miss the Counter Strike timer and don’t get a critical hit, but you get the gist):
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I said that I was making an aside to signal that I was calling out a popular sentiment, rather than highlighting a thing you said.
Really, though… When players use an item in order to get success where they could not without the item, that is a crutch. When they use it to accomplish something that they can already do, but faster, that is an efficient tool. BeeHawking allows Ax to do what that he can’t do otherwise? Maybe Gee (worms)?
You are failing to understand my simple points.
You’re actually like I’m speaking for myself on this subject when I am parroting something that has been said for over two years on these forums which is “You can’t kill anything without soup ingredients.”
It’s untrue but that saying is exactly my point, proving it is a crutch for most players.
Then it entirely depends on you.
I personally love playing Sal, Maya and Gun Zero
I also really like playing Gaige, but only with a Catalyst build
I enjoy Hellborn Krieg for the same reason I enjoy Sal (so I don’t play that much… because Sal)
I have little fun with Axton personally, but a LOT of people do
Many people don’t like playing Sal… figures 
Basically, It’s really dependent on your personal preferences.
I suggest you try them all a bit, or if you already know what kind of playstyle you usually enjoy, the process could be a bit less random. If you describe it, we could come up with suggestions and educated guesses.
Once you know what you love, the forums are choke-full of advice to help you make the most out of the choice you make.
Don’t worry: with the right gear and build, any of them can be terrifyingly good.
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I don’t actually have fun with axton, I just use him because he’s the easiest to test items with for a general basis.
I also like him because he isn’t overpowered.
I just like dual wielding sawbars and flakkers the most.
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Yeah but you’re a special case 
Yeah because all I do is test things.
I don’t think I’ve done anything that wasn’t testing ever since my switch to PC.
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I could not possibly care less about how often a wrong statement or belief is championed.
Is the Bee a constant go-to for many? Absolutely. There are many videos and posts to prove it. Is it a crutch to afford them success where they would otherwise fail? Only in rare cases (specifically, DPS races like killing the worms at Gee). Otherwise, what does it actually do for them? Nothing at all, unless they are playing such that they aren’t relying on it to stay alive.
On the other hand, there are people leaning on defensive skills like Grit and top tier defensive shields to get through areas like 4x Assassins, because they can’t get by without them. That is a crutch, sir.
If I am failing to understand anything here, it is this: a class that has never held me back, at the highest levels of difficulty, playing exclusively solo, is being called underpowered because it lacks a game breaking skill.
What you are failing to understand is that ‘overpowered’, ‘underpowered’, etc are subjective terms. These are not black and white issues, which is why I have offered specific filters for my definition.
If a class/item/subject does not hinder or prevent success, I call that good design.
No they aren’t they have clear cut meanings. I can be held accountable for people not understanding what they mean.
Never said that wasn’t. But no one has ever said they needed grit and a blockade to beat anything in the time I’ve been around here.
None of the classes hinder or prevent success.
If we include the bee in everything than we have a dps race of for raids of in order:
Sal/Krieg
Zero
gaige/maya
Axton
For mobbing:
Sal/Krieg
Maya
Zero
Axton
Gaige
Without on raiding:
Sal/Krieg
Zero
Gaige
Axton
Maya
Without on Mobbing:
Sal/Krieg
Maya
Zero
Axton/Gaige.
It has one of the highest survivability ratings and thats the only reason reason why he is a middle ground.
Don’t defend your personal love of him and try to make him out to be a god tier character.
He isn’t, everyone here who has done anything related to testing will agree he isn’t.
No one is saying he is bad, but in a comparison to the other characters he is underpowered.
He is not the best at anything but can do everything well but not great.
These are cold facts.
It appears that the impasse is in how we’re defining 'underpowered '. Yours is evidently based on where he stands with regard to the pack in terms of DPS, where I’m defining it based on ability to succeed in the game. I can’t (and wouldn’t) argue that his damage output isn’t lower than others.
So, we have a semantic disagreement.
As far as personal love goes… I don’t have a need for him to be anything. My reason for investing (a small amount of) time in this discussion is simply that I don’t want people to be turned off on a very fun class because someone declares that it is ‘underpowered’, despite the fact that you can easily succeed at the highest levels of difficulty with it, even in solo play.
Every class in this game can be effective and fun, and I would like for players to have a chance to experience that fun.
You can easily succeed at high levels WITH everyone.
Thats the part I keep saying you seem to be missing along with on comparison of skills.
He is no less easier to succeed at op8 than anyone else.
On a statistical(you know that math thing) base he is comparably underpowered.
This does not mean he is bad or weak, just means he is lacking a bit with extra ooph.
un·der·pow·ered
[ˌəndərˈpou(ə)rd]
ADJECTIVE
lacking sufficient mechanical, electrical, or other power.
See it fits. Hes lacking a lot. Compare him to everyone else, he is lacking power compared to everyone else.
His action skill is technically the best slag on raids but the only one that it matters on is terra.
Krieg can one shot raids with no gear.
Sal is sal.
Zero is the burst dps god and can technically oneshot raids without slag.
Maya is the best CC.
Gaige is a moving pet class.
You may notice in review of the posts you’re ignoring that I’ve called out that we’re using different filters. Let me make this easier:
‘Lacking’ is relative to a standard. The standard you’re using is the DPS of other classes. The standard I’m using is DPS sufficient to succeed at the game.
Per yours, he is ‘underpowered’. Against my filter, he is not.
So why do I use this particular filter?
Because I’m not into Time Trials. My objectives are fun via overcoming challenges within the game. Speed isn’t a huge consideration for me.
There are no filters, there is only one linear path in math.
MATHEMATICALLY he is worse because math.
You’re overthinking everything.
A Ferrari is underpowered if we rate speed vs a jet.
It is overpowered if we rate speed vs skateboard.
Different filters. Each mathematically correct.
Linear plane…
Enjoy your day.
For me? Zer0.
His damage is intense. With One Shot One Kill and B0re, grab an infinity and a DPUH, and you can crush enemies. I’ve used him to solo everything. Yes, sometimes I have to use Deception and run, hide, and heal, but for the most part he is intense.
I don’t get why people say he is hard to play, maybe he just fits my playstyle.
You are no longer welcome here.
He’s a glass cannon, that’s why.