Gaige build idea from someone who is new to Gaige

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#1

So I decided to start a Gaige playthrough, and although I am still in NVHM, I tend to pour into research and planning for my playthroughs and builds. Gaige is a little foreign to me, but her playstyle suits mine so far. I am going to link my build idea with general gear concepts below. I just want to see if I am on the right track with this. Especially since it didn’t seem to be very similar to the existing builds on the master list. Normally, I wouldn’t reach out to the board this early in the process, but I just couldn’t resist

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550040150030550020150500413140151010
**Note the point distribution isn’t finalized, and will likely change a little as I progress. Especially with BSS, Fancy Mathematics, and The Better half.

The idea: Put the majority of DPS in Gaige’s hands, with Deathtrap being able to be summoned frequently to draw aggro, and only really be able to kill trash mobs. Fighting is up close and personal, primarily due to Anarchy. Discord in case of an accidental reload, and to help manage stacks if they get too high for my needs at the time. I want to try and stay away from Moxxi weapons, but I don’t know if that will be feasible in the end.

Primary Gear:
ROM - bandit or jakobs grip so smaller, faster, lighter leaves it with a full single shot, and to keep healing going with cooking up trouble. Also acts as the main stack builder. The side affects are countered by Gaige’s kill skills

Harold - Useful and reliable for when the stacks are at a good level and the ROM becomes too inaccurate. (this and the next gun would be the reason I may spec more points into the better half)

Thunderball Fists - I’m boosting shock, and this is a shock monster. A storm would likely work well in this spot too

FFYL Launcher - I like bandit launchers but this will all depend on what I pick up along the way, shock element. Best would probably be a shock Norfleet if the RNG smiles upon me at some point. Topnea would be good as well. I could probably also get away with a Nuke.

Legendary Mechromancer - boots cool down, and has pretty good skill distribution

Shock Bone - more boost to shock and cooldown

Blockade - Gaige has the skills to keep this up, for better tanking

Magic Missle - my favorite lil magical slagger

Aternate Gear:

Twister - this would be a monster with the shock bonuses, but a royal pain to farm

Hydra - kept in the backpack to swap out the ROM with when needed. Fixed pattern will help counteract high anarchy, I believe

Something for buzzards - I have no idea what would work for this just yet. Sans anarchy, there are a number of solid choices, but if my stacks are high, I don’t think i’m hitting anything at that distance. Solution will likely involve discord abuse

Storm - seems like a solid choice with Gaige

2 shot jacobs long rider or scatter gun (for pre-stacking needs if they arise)

Slag Transfusion - for additional healing when needed

Alright dudes, feel free to rip this one apart, I could use the learning.

EDIT: Build spec updated per initial advice that made a ton of sense

Looking for advice
What did you do in your most recent session, PT3!
#2

I’d run either Fancy Math or BSS, they aren’t very complimentary. I prefer BSS, the health penalty on kill is offset by my Hail though, so FM might win out on a moxxi-less build. The points could be used in Evil Enchantress perhaps?

A ricochet fibber pairs nicely with Gaige, and is my go to for anything airborne

Hope you have fun!!

#3

I didn’t even think about that. Good idea!!

Good point on Fancy Math vs BSS. If I go into BSS, I can add the extra points to the Better Half, but if I go into Fancy Math, that is more anarchy stacks and DT speed. I think cooking up trouble will keep me good on the health penalty, but only time will tell on that one.

I didn’t think about EE either. Maybe switching electrical burn to EE would be good. 30% damage bonus vs 20% burn chance.

Thank you for the advice. Gives my much to ponder as I continue to level Gaige.

So far though, she is a ton of fun!!

#4

Fun fact: the ricochet fibber doesn’t take the damage reduction from Close Enough :wink:

If pressed between the two I’d say EE is the better choice for the versatility.

I like a LBT heavy build but @Carlton_Slayer runs something closer to what you’re going for; he’s given me some tips in my thread so would be surprised if he doesn’t pop in with some good advice for you too

#5

Good to know. Would this act as almost an auto-target for airborn enemies then? Basically, since the ricochet effect is part of the gun, does it always trigger close enough?

#6

I’m pretty sure it still procs at 50%, the advantage comes from the barrel effect causing the new pellets to be generated on impact. I’ll take 50% over spraying into the air at high stacks though.

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#7

Seems like more than a fair trade to me. Thank you for the clarification. Besides, it is hitting something versus, most likely hitting nothing. I will definitely take hitting something.

#8

No problem, I got plenty of help along the way so I’m happy to pay it forward as I’m able

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#9

That burn chance is much more effective than it looks, especially if you’re delivering electrocute DoT. There’s a thread about it following on from the buffs in the Oct. 2015 patch.

#10

EB didn’t get any buff. But it didn’t need any. :slight_smile:

Just equip a catalyst COM and a chain lightning and you can mob with EB alone (in flesh areas of course)
Shock and Aaaargh is a good source of shock DoT in a pinch.

Slag is what makes it work though. Since the Burn DoT is based on the shock DoT’s damage, the slag multiplier gets applied twice.

#11

I was thinking of this in reference to a similar skill Nisha has with crits doing burn damage (although tombstone makes that stupidly powerful). In fleshy areas, EB would be far superior. I am still torn between the two. One will make 75% of the game easier, the other wouldn’t do as much in the long run, but boosting shock as much as I can is great since it is a neutral element. Although I wonder if More Pep boosts EB chances too. That may be the deal sealer on this one since the com I plan on using boosts it. I also wonder if EE is additive or multiplicative, as that may affect this as well.

That’s why I am planning on speccing that. Also, this is going to be pretty much a point blank playstyle for the most part with a one-shot shotgun as the primary so it will get procced often. I do like the idea of having additional damage potential not be related to a kill skill, but at the same time, I like the boosts of additional shock damage too.

Sooo torn on this one. It’s going to be a bit until I am at a high enough level to have that specced. The LBT tree is the final leg of leveling for this in my mind.

Thanks for the additional info dudes!!

#12

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550000100000550025150521412150151050
If you’re going to run a Fibber based Gaige I would suggest this at level 72, especially if you get the ricochet version (shock Redundant Fibber FTW) . To that end I’d really suggest a fully specced Nth Degree, and if you’re going to use small mag weapons I don’t think you’ll benefit greatly from The Better Half. It’s also my understanding that Wires Don’t Talk has been fixed to apply its benefits properly, so between that EE and EB the only shielded flesh enemies to give you trouble might be shield carrying nomads. With this build DT is definitely more of a distraction than a badass robotic killer but Make It Sparkle should help him out. Class mods for this would of course be a L. Catalyst but even a L. Anarchist or Zapper would work- and if you get a Neutral/True Neutral Necromancer class mod from the Tiny Tina dlc with the mag size increase you could even use an Infinity with this build…:grinning:

#13

I appreciate the info, but please see my original post for what I am going for. Your build looks rad, but it is also quite different from what I have going on in my mind. The Fibber came out as a suggestion for buzzards, but outside of that, I don’t know if I am going to rely on it. Better half is to get further down the tree (to get 20% cooler), and I figure it will help with the harold and thurnderball fist. I would be boosting shock with a shock bone and WDT (and maybe EE if I can ever decide). Leg Mechromancer for additional cooldown primarily and DPS via smaller, faster, ligher. Some of the skill specs are to get the most out of my planned com

The focus of my idea was tanking through DT as a distraction (heavy, heavy cooldown bonuses) and shield skills (BSS and UF, plus a bonus to movement speed is nice for how up close I will need to be with this).

All of that being said, if my idea is ■■■■, I am totally cool with that, and will likely shift gears towards something a little different, but I was mainly curious if my initial idea had a leg to stand on.

EDIT: in regards to nth degree, from research, this seems to be a one point or all point skill. I figured one would be enough, and allow me to balance with additional cooldown to have DT on deck as often as possible.

#14

IMO, you should focus a bit more on something instead of spreading out. That would make your main strategy more efficient. Right now you have points in all 3 trees but none of them is really potent because you just dabble in them.

If you’re going for LBT, go all in and invest in EB and IO. If you go DT, you have to reach SICaring and get a few DT boosts. As it is now, you’re not producing enough shock DoT for EE to be worth anything, and without EB those DoTs would be useless anyway. Likewise a DT-focused build that has neither Make it sparkle or SIC is lacking.

You can reasonably expect to “max out” 2 trees and focus your strategy on that. You can main DT and support him through shock damage and make it sparkle, or get some anarchy and make it a tag team.

Or you can forego DT and focus on the synergy between shock damage and anarchy and play at max stacks for ludicrous numbers.

Or you can main LBT and focus on shock damage through DoTs and get additional support from either DT or a bit of anarchy

There are a lot of options, but you have to PICK ONE :stuck_out_tongue:

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#15

That was exactly what I was worried about.

LBT was more of an “this seems like a nice addition”, but really, my focus was anarachy and having DT out all the time for distraction and a psuedo-team play. Granted I just whipped this together as an idea foregoing most of LBT except for a little since I will still be right up in the mix, and although doubtful on it being my final build, would something like below be more along the line of what you were getting at (kept shock and ahhhhhhhhh since I will still be using a shock bone for added cooldown)
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550050150051150050100000414150151051

EDIT: granted, I can already see much fine tuning to be done, and thoughts of whether 400 stacks of anarchy is complete overkill or not, but it does increase my cooldown bonuses even further

#16

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550050150451050050000000413150151050

Annoyed android is not as useful as you would think. DT already moves pretty fast

the difference between 4/5 and 5/5 in BSS is worth it, especially since you might use a nova shield for DT. it’s worth the extra point, trust me.

Shock and Aaaargh is not useful if you don’t rely on shock DoT, it barely does anything…even with a bones…

Made of sterner stuff is pretty good: it helps you survive, it helps DT survive and it it makes him more powerful, I would drop the points left there.

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#17

Good to know, thank you. The only reason I was keeping that in was I though a Shock bone would help with it, more than it apparantly does. The only reason MOSS wasn’t specced into was the damage reduction for Gaige seemed, well, underwhelming on paper, but I never thought of it as a means of boosting DT. Didn’t realize it before, but with your variation, I could back up with a leg anarchist when needed as well. Maybe move one from So5G to MOSS since both coms Id potentially be using boost So5G. My original idea with only 4 in BSS is because of unstoppable force and my leaning towards a blockage as the shield of choice. 80% up front, and 4% per second to fight dots and the self harm from the ROM (which is erased by BSS anyway for the most part)

Well ■■■■, I recant my original build idea. This does boost DT nicely while keeping me with the enjoyment of anarchy management and up close death dealing.

Plus, I can stick with primarily NE weaponry, which I have a sick enjoyment of since I am doing nothing to boost elemental attacks

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#18

Well, your spec is pretty good for what you want: the power in Gaige hands.
There are only a few things that I would change, personally.

  1. COM. The Legendary Mechromancer is the one that puts DT out faster so, if you havent speced into SiC and MiS, you are kinda wasting your COM. I would rather equip a Legendary Anarchist for heavy shield support through Myelin and Unstoppable Force or the Necromancer COM.
    Talking about the Necromancer COM, it could be the best for you if you want to use shock guns like the TBall Fist or the Twister as it boosts WDT, an amazing skill that is multiplicative with Anarchy. The card boosts are amazing too, try the Chaotic Good version.

  2. Spec. DT is a bullet sponge, so skills like 20% Cooler and So5G dont matter this much. The CDR from the Bone is enough to get DT out whenever you need it.
    Also, I would spec into EB instead of EE. The burn damage helps negate the health regen in UVHM, especially if the target is slaged. EE wont help you a lot actually, and SaAH is a good skill to spread EB.
    Maybe you can use some points to fill Nth Degree, it is amazing with some guns. Just chech the thread!

  3. Guns. While the ROM is pretty amazing by itself, maybe you should swap it for a shock shotty to benefit from Anarchy + Wires Don’t Talk. While the Twister is a pain to farm, I found the Jolly Roger to be a good replacement. Maybe you should try it sometime!
    As for Buzzards, the Hornet is still accurate with some anarchy stacked. Or you can quickly use Diacord to burst your accuracy and deal with them with fast firing guns: Vladof pistols, Hyperion shotguns or SMG, etc.

#19

For fun, how fast is Deathteap with +11 in Annoyed Android? Could he keep up with you in a barreled Technical with boost on? That’s a small use case, but would be fun to see.

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#20

Hahaha! Never tried. I would like to see a video of that :stuck_out_tongue:

The ROM (and other Jakobs) have the added advantage of stacking anarchy, while the JR doesn’t help much there

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