Have we exhausted build variety with TPS? Or can you give me examples of undocumented builds?

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel BL: TPS Gameplay Discussion (Spoilers!)
#1

I was surprised to find that there were still some build variety at level 70 where you could spec fully into all 3 trees, but I’m starting to think that we may have hit the cap with build variety.

Athena:

  • Generic Build - Spec into all 3 trees, looks something like Derch’s original Deputy Athena.
  • CS Build - skips the Xiphos tree mostly, spec into something like my DoT build.
  • Tanking build - BookEmDano’s build
  • Melee Build - it should look pretty much similar to Derch’s Deputy Athena 2.0 (with Jakobs) but with COM/Oz kit switched out
  • Raid Build - Hyperion Shotguns, Rocket Launcher spams, and storm COM. Maybe w/ Flash Freeze
  • SMG Build - Generic Build but just with Femme Fatale

Nisha:

  • CoE Build
  • Jakobs Nisha
  • Kid
  • And pretty much every build is built around 9~11/5 Tombstone.

Claptrap:

  • Cookie Cutter
  • Cookie Cutter + RNG build (spec into all 3 trees)

Jack:

  • Deputy Jack (high points into AA)
  • Cel. Doppelganger Jack (you can use anything, but Rosie is a popular choice)
  • Glitch Jack w/ enough points into Marginal Benefit, focused on keeping red/yellow glitches up
  • Cryo jack (Derch)

Wilhelm:

  • Cel. Enforcer build
  • CoE build
  • Blaster build

Aurelia:

  • Cryo + Sniper (change up COM as your preference)
  • Non-sniper jakobs build (derch)
  • Cryo + explosive build

I’m not claiming I understand all these characters completely (although I’m pretty close to doing that with Athena), but if you look at these already well-documented builds, you can notice that many of these builds are just variations of others.

For example, raid build is based on CS build for Athena, SMG build is based on generic build on Athena, for Nisha you just slap on whatever you like with at least 9/5 on Tombstone, etc.

I do not count moving a couple of points to be enough of a difference to classify it as a new build, since these few points are mostly up to people’s personal preference.

So my point is, have we already covered every (viable) build in TPS or is there some unknown combination of spec, COM, unusual gear that we haven’t discovered yet to warrant it the title of a “new build”?

I honestly feel like after khimera’s Excalibastard build, Derch’s deputy Aurelia build, and my DoT Athena build we as the community pretty much covered all possible builds - I’ve been trying to look at different approaches these past few days, but really, I can’t see another way since everything has been covered.

I’d love your input on this.

And for Jack’s sake, let’s keep the conversation civil.

Good discussion, but instead of saying “lol ur wrong” PLEASE give me examples. I’d love to try out new builds!

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#2

I’m currently working on my winter soldier Athena, upgrading it to 70. I think its pretty unique.

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#3

I’m also playing with a Jack sniper build and Nisha Gattling Gun build.

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#4

I’m trying to sort out a build around the Gwen’s Head that involves using two Heads at the same time, however I’m only at lvl64 at the moment so it’s gonna take some time, as well as refarming for lvl70 Heads for the base damage.

I’ve come to realise that fire rate is useless to use in a build like this, as the Head isn’t affected by it (not to my knowledge, anyway).

This build will only be using 5/5 in Tombstone, and will be trying to make the most out of hipfiring with the ricochet skill active.

It’d be interesting to know if two Heads make any difference to Crit damage, but I’m fairly sure it doesn’t.

If this build doesn’t work out as I’d hoped, then I’ll start on a fire rate/elemental Anarchist build.

Different enough for ya!? :wink:

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#5

The issue with the Gwens Head is that is always comes with the x2 acc, so that is 14 ammo per trigger pull. It just burns through ammo.

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#6

Oh God yes, it is SERIOUSLY ammo heavy.

That is the only thing that is stopping this build being what it could be. If there was a way to counter the ammo consumption, I reckon it’d be a very strong build. Maybe I’ll start looking into Pickpocket and stuff, maybe the “reloads a portion of ammo when entering and exiting Showdown” would be useful here.

But then, I figure it would still be bad on ammo, as it’s not regenerating base ammo, just what’s in your gun. I’ll play around with it and see what I can come up with. I’ve got the basic build down, so it’s not too hard to tweak/see where it’ll be at 70. But the ammo consumption is the biggest problem with it.

Also, congrats on being made a mod Derch! I would post it on the “Welcome New Moderators” thread and congratulate Giuv as well, but it seems to have disappeared when I go searching for it.

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#7

Thanks, I can see Jack or Athena doing a good Gwen’s Head build because they can counter ammo consumption. Gwen’s Head also has a Type B crit bonus, so Jack loves it.

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#8

No problem, you and Giuv do loads for this community, it was a no-brainer really!

I’m currently in the process of levelling my Athena up, she’s currently around lvl11. My Jack is sat in Opportunity at lvl5.

My focus has been on getting Clappy through UVHM and Nisha to lvl70 and finish off my (rather stupid) UVHM reset with her, so it’ll be a while until I start with Jack and Athena. I haven’t bought Aurelia yet, and Wilhelm is at the same point as Jack.

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#9

Thanks mate. :slight_smile:

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#10

The problem with build diversity in TPS is that there is too many skill points available, so there are no real choices to make. Sure gear is a big part of the equation but at one point it will all be a bit similar.

There are unique builds out there but don’t expect too much variations overall.

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#11

Just saying, even though it isn’t too popular on the forums apparently, Jack builds with the badass jacks are still fairly popular elsewhere, along with ninja clappys.

There are thousands of people playing this game, I doubt every one of them has posted their spec on the internet. There are builds that you guys have in the works that someone has been doing for months now. I doubt absolutely everything has been covered on the forums yet.

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#12

Nice to see there’s still more to be done in this game. I just felt like we’ve exhausted every option.

Gwen’s Head isn’t that good with Athena either - taser is just so much better most of the time.

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#13

Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking. Glad to hear that coming from someone who knows more about this game than I do.

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#14

Yep. That was pretty much the discussion when we were surprised with the additional 10 levels with Clappy’s DLC. I remember looking at Athena’s skill tree thinking where I was going to put them because I already had the really important skills at level 60. I had more fun this go around just because of character design.

It really reminded me of the jump from 61 to 72 in BL2. Level 60ish always felt the most fun to me because you can do just enough to really create something powerful and unique. In the end I guess it was good overall for the player base and most players welcome additional points. The biggest issue for me really wasn’t even with skill points it was with gear. Re-farming all that stuff again. Ugh.

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#15

At least with lv72 BL2 you had to choose 2 of 3 trees. But with lv70 TPS, you can literally go down all 3 trees and just vary a couple of points depending on the situation, and you get every situation covered.

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#16

But even with that I think I have 9 or 10 TPS builds over 3 characters I use and only 1 has all 3 capstones.

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#17

That’s true but we had fewer weak skills in TPS than we did in BL2. I felt less need to explore options in BL2 because there were a lot of issues with character balance. Not in TPS. I could have went all three trees with Athena but chose to stack two. Pretty much the same with my other characters. I don’t think I went all three trees with any of them.

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#18

Right, Mr. Wayne.

But just how different are those builds? For instance, you could slap on Storm COM and HSGs on my DoT build and call it a raid build. Like I mentioned in original post, even though the number of builds seem high, they’re all pretty much derivations of 1 or 2 builds per character.

And is there much potential left? Particularly in characters like Nisha or Clappy, there really isn’t much, if any, left.

(and do note that part of my intention of posting this thread was to bring out legitimately every last possible options & variations of builds left available in TPS, so go wild with your “but here’s my counterexamples X, Y, Z!”)

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#19

I don’t think its that bad, I have 4 Jack builds alone that all play totally different, and I don’t even have a pet build. I could make one and then have 5 totally different builds on just one character.

I have 3 totally different Athena Builds, and 2 Aurelia builds.

That again just me. I don’t think there is a lack of build diversity, maybe a lack of creativity.

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#20

Mind elaborating on that a bit, Mr. Wayne?

Because it sounds an awful lot like what I’ve been saying about many builds being just a slight variation of standard builds.

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