Hey all! I’ve been messing around with Krieg recently and came up with something I think is pretty interesting, I’ll go over the skills and gear first, followed up with a bit of analysis and some tips at the end. I’d love to hear your feedback and/or questions.
Oh, and yes, this build is viable at OP8, I developed it there.
##The Spec
###In Bloodlust:
- Pretty boring, just the normal gun-centric stuff.
###In Mania:
- Skip all melee skills, those skill points are needed elsewhere
- Feed the Meat is great, scales well with the RR and Numbed Nerves
- Embrace the Pain is some nice fire rate, it’s not 100% necessary, but there’s not much else to do with these points. The shield downtime is nice though
- Thrill of the Kill is key. It makes up the majority of health restoration in this build. more than one point is unnecessary though, as the heal per rank is reduced and the Reaper COM boosts it anyway
- Strip the Flesh is a nice multiplicative damage increase, works well with BB and PiP. Unfortunately, not enough points to max it.
###In Hellborn:
- Burn Baby Burn increases healing, but but there are not enough spare points to max it
- Fuel the Fire is a nice buff that makes slagging easier, it’s boosted by the Reaper COM so we only have to put one point in
- Numbed Nerves is 100% necessary, the damage reduction is critical to the function of this build
- Pain is Power is some nice damage, it’s easy to proc to get the ball running on more important skills, also the crit penalty doesn’t effect this build much (even if you use the swordsplosion), however there are more important skills so it’s not worth maxing
- Delusional Damage is 100% necessary for self ignition
- Flame Flare is awesome, without it, this build can have issues keeping the self ignition up, and the alternatives primarily give fire rate and accuracy, both stats that aren’t terribly important for this build (thanks to @the_Nocturni for setting me on to this)
- Elemental Empathy is some nice passive healing, it really helps smooth out the survivability in this build.
- Raving Retribution is great for procing Elemental Empathy, it is they key that allows this build to function with the RR
##The gear:
###Carnage:
The Bread and Butter of the build, this gun is insane; it procs Blood Bath, has a high base damage (working well with all of the damage buffs in this build and Thrill of the Kill), pretty decent accuracy, a large splash radius. The only downside is that it pulls from a somewhat small ammo pool.
Key parts:
The fore grip (casual prefix) is the most important part by far, don’t bother with versions lacking it, the Kerblaster is much better than them.
After that, a Torgue grip is nice I guess.
###Kerblaster:
Not as good as the Carnage, but a lot easier to get. It has a higher fire rate but lower damage. The child nades may have a tendency to kill you. Even if you have a Carnage, the Kerblaster is useful for conserving ammunition and for dealing with badasses (as it does a bit higher DPS than the Carnage against enemies that don’t die instantly).
Key parts:
I like the Wild prefix because mag size is a non-issue with BFG.
Other than that, A Torgue grip is nice for the reload and mag size.
###Slagga:
This is primary slag tool while kill skills are up; with fuel the fire, it has a very high slag chance, combine this with a high fire rate and extra projectiles, and the Slagga becomes the perfect weapon for efficient slagging through the visual pollution generated by this build.
Key parts:
Pretty much whatever, the important parts are fixed. But I like the fire rate accessory (bulets go fasterifed) and Bandit Grip. The level doesn’t matter that much either.
###Pimpernel:
Any very high slag chance weapon will work here, notable alternatives are the grog and sniders. This weapon is here to to slag the first enemy(ies) to proc Blood Bath and start the ball rolling
Key parts:
I like Maliwan grip and fire rate accessory (Banbury) but any slag variant will work.
###Quasar:
Half Singularity, Half Storm front, this thing is great for grouping up/staggering enemies and putting out shock DoTs for Delusional Damage. Spam away, the only things that don’t proc BB in this build are the slag weapons.
###Legendary Reaper:
Boosting BB, TotK, FtF, and kill skill time, the L.Reaper is simply the best option for this build.
###Rough Rider:
The massive health and always on damage reduction are exactly what this build, and really just Krieg in general, wants in a shield.
Key parts:
As much health as you can get.
###Explosive relic
The primary alternative is a Blood, but the health is a bit redundant with all of the tankieness from hellborn, this relic also gives a ton of damage.
##Alternative Gear:
###Swordsplosion:
This is the highest damage non-launcher weapon possible for this build; it does the highest burst damage and the highest DPS, has low ammo consumption, and is pinpoint accurate. Unfortunately, it is at least as efficient at dealing self damage as it is at damaging enemies
Key parts:
The fore grip (casual prefix) is the most important part by far.
After that, a Torgue grip is nice I guess.
Pros:
- low ammo consumption
- pinpoint accuracy
- creates a raging swordnado of death, eviscerating everything inside a massive radius
Cons:
- somewhat unreliable BB procs
- creates a raging swordnado of death, eviscerating everything inside a massive radius
###Omen:
Sacrificing some damage for ammo efficiency, the omen is a very viable alternative to the Carnage. Though it does make the build somewhat more difficult to play. Unlike most of the other good weapons for this build, the Omen does not do any self damage, making is useful when fighting rabids, ironclads, and the like.
Pros:
- low ammo consumption
- works well with the fire rate from EtP
- no self-damage
Cons:
- competes with the Carnage for a weapon slot
- less damage output
- weaker TotK healing
- less reliable BB procing
- less upfront damage without BB
- can be difficult to use
###Torpedo:
Pros:
- a somewhat less powerful version of the Kerblaster
Cons:
- a somewhat less powerful version of the Kerblaster
###Slow Hand:
This weapon can replace both the Pimp and the Slagga, opening up another weapon slot, but doing so will result in massive ammo issues, and there aren’t really a lot of good options for that open slot anyway.
Pros:
- can replace both the pimp and the Slagga in this build
- moxie
Cons:
- cannot proc BB
- draws from the same ammo pool as some of the most powerful weapons for this build
- moxie is mostly unnecessary for this build
- not a lot of good options for filling the weapon slot it opens
##Traps/Weapons to avoid:
###Ravager:
Puts out competitive damage, however, the ravager requires very short distances to be effective, directly countering one of the strongest points of this build. Additionally, it has very inconsistent TotK procs. Combined with even worse ammo efficiency than a Carnage, there is no place in this build for this gun.
###Unkempt Harold:
It’s essentially the same as the Ravager, though it suffers less from the ammo efficiency and more from the poor TotK procs.
###Flakker:
It’s a shame it doesn’t proc BB, this build would have been the perfect excuse for me to actually learn how to use the flakker
##Playstlye/Tips
The playstyle is pretty simple really, to begin an encounter, just toss a few Quasars and paint a trash mob or two with the pimp, then swap to your chosen primary weapon and go to town. After that, just alternate between the Slagga and your 2 damage weapons as necessary, spamming more quasars to group up and stagger enemies.
. That would’ve been something to see.
