Since this game’s release, I have tried so many times to love Zer0. I love the idea of his character, big risk big reward. In theory, glass cannon characters always seem more interesting to me. However, every time I actually try and play him, I feel like I’m playing a glass character that they forgot to actually attach the cannon to. It feels like the game is infinitely harder when playing as him with little to no reward for doing so. Now I will admit, I am mainly a Maya player, so I’m used to a lot more healing and crowd control. But I’m not even referring to Zer0’s lack of survival skills here; the main point I’m trying to make is that I do not feel like I am killing enemies any faster with Zer0 than I could with Maya (in fact, I feel like clearing rooms is a hell of a lot slower).
Ultimately, I just wanted to see how other people feel on this subject and maybe hear some input from the long time Zer0 pros. Is there a specific way to play him that will make him really shine? Or is the “cannon” aspect of Zer0’s “glass cannon” ideology applicable only to raid bosses. I read a lot of posts saying things like “He is so rewarding at level 72,” I just have yet to actually see any evidence of this being true.
Disclaimer: Not trying to bash this character or anything, simply looking for some motivation and/or videos/testimonials to make me understand why the people that love him feel the way they do. Also, this post is obviously about Gun builds, not melee.
When done right zer0 can pretty much out shoot anyone in the game, so yeah.
Zer0 is maybe the most difficult player but also gives the most reward for high level play. I like this design and its not for everyone but that’s the beauty of having multiple characters.
Zer0’s damage isn’t as easy as Axton or Maya you have to build it, but when you do its huge.
Zero is so freakin’ fragile that a mosquito could bring him down. But in all seriousness…
Zero isn’t necessarily an easy character to transition into. Especially if you get used to the kinda cavalier gameplay that most other characters allow. Let’s take Maya for example: Whenever I play Maya, I know that it’s time to relax a little. I won’t have to strategize every last little thing that I do. I know that the character is rugged enough to survive ambushes, outputs enough damage to quickly eliminate most enemy types, and can easily recover health when things get a bit dicey. She’s a fun character to play. She’s also a very easy character to play - at least until it comes to boss fights.
Zero on the other hand, is a different beast entirely. There’s a keen relationship between how you spec him and the loot that you carry. Once you nail down, you’ll then need to accept that you can no longer stroll into a situation and candidly own everything around you, ala, Zerker style. To play Zero effectively, you’ll need to constantly use your surroundings for cover, you’ll need to strategize, and you need to be pretty good at executing your strategy.
Yeah, it can be frustrating - and if you aren’t doing things right - you won’t output much more damage than Maya or most of the other characters. But when you start getting the hang of things, Zero becomes a DPS monster. There’s a chaotic madness to Zero’s gameplay style, which is why I love the character so much. That, and his gameplay is superbly balanced and versatile once you figure it out.
Anyways, at the end of the day… Zero ain’t for everyone. Keep trying. If it works out for you, great! If not, then hey, there are plenty of other solid characters to wreck Pandora with.
I should add, you can make him tougher than he gets credit for. A blockade/Antagonist makes it so you can take some hits, grim is kinda a must. A legendary hunter com, with a bone, blockade, and a skin relic you can take some punishment. Or even with a bone and insanly fast cooldown paired with a quasar for inbetween deceptions you can survive a lot.
I think he seems fragile because his self-healing skill is the weakest in the game? When damage digs into your health bar, and you don’t have gear-based healing, Innervate takes a few repeated applications to refill it. Resurgence adds a bit more health, but it’s a kill skill.
That said, for me, it’s not just his weapon damage that offsets his thin skin; he’s sitting on a lot of skills that bring game mechanics to the game that are very fun to use, which make the trade off worth it.
When I play him and I get low HP; I just stealth, switch to Moxxie weapon and Kunai-spam. Then play defensively until stealth is available again & repeat. I find the close to 100% chance to double shoot and explosive weapons a good dmg combo. I did a OP8 playthrough with explosive Axton (26/26/15) & Explosive Zero (25/27/15), and i found Zero much smoother and faster. But both Gun-Zero and Axton lacks behind Maya in mobbing.
