I’m still working on maxing my Mordecai in BL1, but I like to pre-plan my builds in advance so I figure I’ll get a head start if I can.
I know I want to do a melee build. I’m just not sure which tree to venture down at the start. I play by myself, and I’m not very good at making up my own builds. So if someone could help me (or create one for me) make a build, I’d be grateful.
I’ve never tried a melee character in Borderlands before, so any advice or gear to look out for would be great too. It will be a new challenge but I feel like it’ll be a fun one.
Side note: Every video I see of people playing a rampaging melee Krieg, when do you stop to loot? haha. Guess you don’t need to if you’re showing off your maxed out build, but still.
Anyway, I appreciate any help/advice before I venture forth and axe some questions. (questions = faces)
Fair warning, Melee in this game is very different that using guns. I think it’s kinda obvious, but it needs to be said.
The awesome thing about Melee Krieg, is that he is very gear independant. As long as you keep on top of upgrading your shield, you shouldn’t have any problems. In fact it is possible to get all the way to level 72 firing only a handfull of bullets.
if you plan to start off with mania (it is a very viable way to start, regardless of what some people say) there are a few things you should know:
Buzz axe rampage (BXR) has it’s cooldown reduced when you take damage (both to your sheild and health bars)
This effect stacks with Fuel the rampage, so before you get to level 31, fuel the rampage is awesome
becasue you don’t have a good way to heal yourself in the early game, Embrace the pain and Feed the meat should be avoided becasue of the sheild recharge delay increases, however at levels 31+ they are both quite strong.
Thrill of the kill is really good in the early game, giving you a way to heal yourself outside of BXR, (don’t put more than one point into it though, you don’t get nearly as much value as the first point)
Redeem the soul is good in solo becasue of the FFYL time, likewise, don’t underestimate Light the fuse in normal and UVHM, espicially if you dont have great gear (but don’t use it in TVHM, it does no damage in that mode)
I recomend taking Silence the Voices early, jsut so you can get used to playing with it before the game actually gets hard, but it’s not mandatory.
before level 31, look for shields that have reletively quick rechage rates and can take a few hits, you can use them to get BXR back up faster.
Regardless of how you got to this point, when you hit level 31, the build you want to switch to is this or the StV-less version.
You can take the point out of light the fuse and put it in salt the wound if you want, this is just my preference.
After this point, you have to make a decision; you can either go with a mania/bloodlust build or a mania/hellborn build.
Note that I skiped Pain is Power in both builds, while it does give melee damage, with all of your other melee bonuses, it ends up not giving much and you lose a ton of damage on crits if you take it.
As far as gear goes, after level 31, look for Roid or Addaptive shields, Sickle COMs, and slag grenades, for guns, pretty much anything will work, but most of your damage will probably come from Release the beast anyway, so don’t worry too much about it.