Alright so I’m going in to try out a second character in BL2. I’ve beaten all three playthroughs with Axton and I wanted to get some opinions on the best characters for solo play. Tell me what character and why you think they’re good for solo play! Thanks!!
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All the characters are good, although different players have their favourites. I’d suggest taking a scan through this thread, since much of what I would suggest is included there. The starting point would be what style of play you prefer - doing it all yourself, or sharing the work with a pet, for example. My first character was Axton, my second Maya - no regrets. (And yes, I have played them all, although a couple still need to get to level 72.)
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I’ve been thinking about trying Gaige, since I do like the feel of having a pet, making it a little less lonely during solo play. How is she?
Gaige is fun (I think they’re all fun, but Krieg hasn’t caught my interest). Have a look at their skill trees and see what you think. If you start with Gaige and she turns out not to be fun, there’s no harm in dropping her and trying something else.
I’ll put in a vote for Maya. For solo play, Phaselock can get you out of sticky situations the quickest and most reliably of all the characters. For example: a loot midget pops out of an ammo crate and healthgates you with a lucky shotgun blast. You’ve got just enough time to pull off one trick before he finishes the job (and that trick does not include a one-shot kill):
Axton: drop a turret between you and the midget and get to cover
Zer0: go into Decepti0n and run for it or take your chances with a kill
Gaige: toss Deathtrap and hope the midget takes the bait
Krieg: let him knock you into FFYL, and start hitting yourself in the head (that’s his action skill, right? Who plays that guy?) 
Maya: Phaselock the midget, immobilizing him, and stroll your way to safety or have a go at leisurely shooting him in the crit spot.
Maya can take care of herself for healing (since you won’t have a buddy around to pick you up) with Elated, Sweet Release, Life Tap, and Sustenance. If you’re interested in sniping as a side job, Maya is arguably second only to Zer0 for her potential as a sniper too.
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Maya + Cloud Kill 
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Gun Prefixes | Gun Parts | Max Stats
Maya OP8 | Banshee RR / NRR | Binder | Cat | Nurse | Siren | Trickster B / M
Maya is probably in just about everyone’s top 2 favorites, including mine. Her action skill allows her to create and manage time and space to work with. Her COMs are great, with a range of options from general use (Legendary Siren) to raw DPS (Cat) to sprinter (Breakneck Banshee) to boss annihilator (Blurred Trickster) and more. She is a top 2 sniper, probably closer to tied with Zero than really being a number 2. She’s one of the best with shotguns. She can be played with high speed or slow down styles and be equally effective. Short of some raid bosses, she is among the best choices for nearly all content when played solo.
Honestly, she’s an absolute blast, even after years running her.
I like Krieg, because he is very hard to learn to play properly.
When fighting, you WANT your shield gone, you want to be on fire and you want less than full health, because these things all give you bonus to melee (and, yes, you often hit yourself). Properly done, Krieg can melee just about anything to death very quickly, and the HUGE bonuses to explosion damage help you kill everything else.
It is not a char/class you start lightly, or you’ll just fail hard and fast.
Otherwise, I recommend Gaige. Very fun and Anarchy gets things crazy.
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Krieg is all about a solid risk-reward-ratio. A lot of his skills are complementing to his playstyle by giving higher recharge-delay to your shields or by setting yourself on fire. He is all about health and a bit of timing when it comes down to defense.
Also, melee-Krieg loves to be healthgated!
His offense can be all-around (elemental) gunplay (Hellborn/Bloodlust-trees) or next to weapon-less (Mania) and for grenade-Axton-players, you could easily build around grenades too!
Only letdown is the learning-curve of his playstyle, but you will get used to it in no time!
What exactly is the awesome thing about Maya? I’m asking because I honestly don’t know. Doesn’t she just have Phaselock that temporarily stuns an enemy for like 4 seconds?
And also, can she phaselock more than one enemy during her ability, and can she phaselock any bosses and things like constructors, etc?
Maya can slag, ignite, shock, and corrode, pretty much all at the same time with the right skill tree. Check out some of the updated builds/videos since her skill tree got buffed in the last update. She was a riot to play even before that. Then read the skill tree items e.g here
Maybe check out the pre and post buff videos in this thread:
One at a time, and most bosses can’t be PLed. However, this is an incomplete picture of PL.
With Converge, the PL creates a singularity, sucking others toward it and briefly stunning them. With Ruin, they are also slagged and shocked. With Helios, they are also hit with fire. While a target is PLed, you also get Wreck and Chain Reaction, which drive your damage output through the roof. With Cloudkill, you also create a corrosive cloud of substantial damage. For these reasons, Maya is among the best at mobbing.
When it comes to bosses, use the ads. For example, Son of Craw. Can’t PL him, but you can PL an ad to activate Wreck and Chain Reaction. Or, do as I do and take Thought Lock. That gets me Wreck and Chain Reaction, AND it turns the boss against his own ads when I TL them.
I would go Krieg with an explosive build, it is great fun to play.
Wait until you reach level 30 ish, develop left tree with Boodsplosion and explosive gears and you can clean an entire room just with one shoot…! 
I did enjoy playing as Lilith in BL1, so I’ll give Maya a shot. Does anyone have any recommended builds? Any will due. Want to look around and see what I like.
We’ve had a discussion going about various builds that people have been using. It’s here: “Smart Builds”: Maya
There are actually quite a few variations there, with some being very drastically different. For example, I go very heavy in Motion tree with a Thought Lock + Ruin build and have used that to solo through OP8, where Derch goes heavy in Harmony with a Scorn + Ruin build and has done just as much as I have. There is even a post in there from a guy who has been using a Legendary Nurse COM to be a little more tanky and pick up less offense.
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Out of curiosity, how far have you actuallly played Krieg? He’s one of my favorite characters and one of the easiest to stay alive with in my opinion, especially after you get Release the Beast. His massive melee damage makes dealing with even higher level enemies fairly easy. Also, Bloodsplosion is one of the most powerful skills in the game, allowing you to easily clear an entire room by meleeing one small enemy. I’ve even killed Pyro Pete the Invincible by simply throwing a few slag grenades and then meleeing one of the spiderants.
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Don’t listen to that guy, he hasn’t hit himself in the head often enough to appreciate the nuances of Krieg.
Yeah, I get the feeling that anyone who complains about Krieg’s surviveability or his strength in general either hasn’t played him long enough or doesn’t know what they’re doing.