DDD: Jack's skills for Bandits

Won’t take long to write out, some skills might change with multiplicative testing.

[SIZE=“5”]This will be on hold while we figure out the issues with some of the skills, for some information go here.[/SIZE]

Bad: These skill sucks, only spec in it to get further down the tree, and only if there are no better options for you.
mediocre: Very specific and it can be good but requires effort and the outcome tends to be lack luster.
Average: Can help, not bad choices for going down trees.
Good: Good skills are worth specing into, they will help without necessarily being the focus of your playstyle. Definitively worth taking.
Outstanding: Skills of this rating will be gamechangers and should be taken by almost all players.

Hero Of This Story

Best Foot Forward - Good
Keeping the clones out longer is rarely a bad thing, just waiting on testing for the diminishing returns.
While your Action Skill is active, killing an enemy increases your Action Skill’s Duration. This skill has diminishing returns. Summon Digi-Jack Duration: +0.5 seconds per kill.

Bolster – Bad
Because of the teleporting counting as a death this skill won’t get much use, it can be decent enough if you don’t move too much or are a sniper but that’s a stretch.

Increases the Maximum Health of you and your Digi-Jacks. Also, the longer a Digi-Jack is alive the more damage it does.
Max Health: +3% per level
Digi-Jack Max Health +6% per level
Digi-Jack Damage Bonus: +2% per second per level

Just Compensation – Good
This just screams IVF abuse on raids.
Increases Magazine Size with all gun types, as well as Grenade Damage. Bonuses increase for every Grenade missing from your supply. IF you are carrying the maximum number of grenades, you receive no bonus. Grenade Damage: Up to +8% per level, Magazine Size: Up to +12% per level.

You Have My Shield - average
Not a bad skill, but it’s mostly used for exploding jack builds. It flops in a lot of situations depending on what shield you use.

Your Digi-Jacks get a copy of your Shield

Take Their Freedom – good
Whenever you or your Digi-Jacks kill an enemy, you and your Digi-Jacks gain Health. Heals 2.5% of Max Health on kill.

Jack’s Cache – average
This can be really amazing if you throw a **** ton of grenades but even then there are times when it’s a dead skill and to keep consistancy you have to chuck one when you’re at 4 since it depletes all stacks so 5+ is wasting potential grenades.
Whenever you or your Digi-Jacks kill an enemy you get a stack of Cache. Throwing a Grenade when you have 4 stacks consumes all Cache stacks instead of Grenade ammo.

Inspire – Bad
Literally does nothing but has jack talk to you. It is quite hilarious and worth the point for laughing sake but for efficiency it’s completely useless.
This is a skill guide on how to min/max a build it will not be outstanding please stop suggesting it
Jack will occasionally Inspire you with words of Greatness.

Lean on Me – Average
This could turn out to be really bad.
Increases Fire Rate for you and gives your Digi- Jacks a chance to fire a Bonus Corrosive Shot based on how high your Health is. Fire Rate: Up to +7%, Digi-Jack extra shot chance: Up to +7% per level

On My Mark – Buggy
Press F during your Action Skill to cause your Digi-Jacks to throw a copy of your Grenade at an enemy under your crosshairs, You can do this once per Action Skill Activation.

Hero Pose – average
It’s not bad but the buffs are kind of low.
Increases Shield Capacity, Shield Recharge Rate, and Shield Recharge Delay.
Shield Capacity +4% Per level
Shield Recharge Rate +4% per level
Shield Recharge Delay -4% per level

Persistance – Average
It’s not a bad skill persay but just a bit weak.
While your Action Skill is cooling down, you gain Shield Capacity and Health Regeneration. The lower your Health, the stronger the Regeneration. Regenerates up to 2% of your Max Health / sec, Shield Capacity: +8%

Resolute – Average
You and your Digi-Jacks gain Damage Resistance and Weapon Damage for a few seconds after you take damage. Damage Resistance +4%, Weapon Damage +7% per level

Promote the Ranks – average
This is only average because of the digi-jack mechanics
Your first Digi-Jack spawned will be a Badass that deals Increased Damage, Increased Health, and can launch a powerful Digi-Missile Barrage. Each Digi-Jack spawned afterwards has a chance to be a Badass. Badass Digi-Jack Chance: 33%

Greater Good

Integrity – Outstanding
You deal bonus Weapon Damage against enemies who are below 40% Health. If you have not damaged the enemy previously and the enemy is under 40% health, you deal extra Weapon Damage. Damage bonus: +8%/level, Bonus Multiplier: 4

Collaborate – Lime
Whenever A Digi-Jack dies, you gain a stack of Collaborate. You and your Digi-Jacks gain a Damage Bonus equal to the number of Collaborate Stacks you have. All Collaborate Stacks are lost when your Action Skill ends. Damage Bonus +1%/stack, Digi-Jack Damage Bonus +1%/stack, Max Stacks: 10

Diversify – Mediocre
Your Digi-Jack’s wrist laser is now a Shotgun Laser.

Synergy – Outstanding
Kill Skill. Killing an enemy grants increased Weapon Damage and Critical Damage for a short time. Weapon Damage and Critical Damage +6%/level

Teamwork – Outstanding
/5 you get 2.5% healing per second for each stack, and its not hard to get stacks. At 10 stacks thats 25% health back per second and unlike collaborate this stays for a duration after your skill ends. It is so powerful I have mostly been running it at 3/5 or 4/5 because 5/5 is overkill healing. Skills that are so good you don’t need to max them out are outstanding. - Derch

If an ally enters Fight For Your Life or a Digi-Jack dies, you regenerate Health for a few seconds. This effect can stack up to 10 times. Regeneration rate: +0.5% of Max Health/second.

Commitment – Bad
Right now I can’t seem to get this past 4 stacks and they seem to go away to fast. Sure your digi jacks die quickly but 6 seconds a stack decays, and your jacks are living long enough for when they die again your previous stack is gone. So at MAX you are getting a fire rate boost of 8% and reload of 16%, but most of the time less. Sure its one point but this tree has 5 one point skills, if you invest in them all because they are one point that is an entire 5/5 skill you loose. Skip it - Derch

Whenever a Digi-Jack dies or a friend goes into Fight For Your Life, you gain a stack of Commitment. The longer your friends are in Fight For Your Life, the more stacks you gain. Stacks granted when a Digi-Jack dies last for 6 seconds, and stacks gained from other players are quickly lost when they exit Fight For Your Life. You get a bonus to Fire Rate and Reload Speed for each stack of Commitment. Fire Rate Bonus: +2%/stack Reload Speed Bonus: +4%/stack per level.

Optimism – medicore
I haven’t noticed the damage really destroying enemies and this is normal mode and its a rank skill so I have doubts on the scaling of this one. The most I have put into it is 4/5 but on normal mode I should notice this more. I say skip it there are better skills. Also it can back fire by the explosion blowing up barrels in your face. - Derch

When one of your Digi-Jacks dies, he sets off an explosion, damaging all nearby enemies. Also the next Digi-Jack will spawn with less Health.

Winning - Bugged

Kill Skill. Killing an enemy increases your Movement Speed for a short time and instantly restores a portion of your Shields. Movement Speed Bonus: +4%/level Shield Restore: +5% of Max Capacity.

Accountability – mediocre
When a friend or a Digi-Jack takes Damage, you gain a stac of Accountability. When you take Damage, you lose half of your Accountability stacks,and when you go into Fight For Your Life you lose ALL stacks of Accountability. You gain bonus Fire Rate based on how many Accountability stacks you currently have. Fire Rate Bonus: +1%/stack, Reload Speed Bonus: +2%/stack per level Max 50 stacks.

Believe – Good
This is what ranger should of been, at 5/5 you get 25% additive damage, 20% fire rate, reload speed and accuracy. Also this com is boosted by a com that also boost synergy. So that at 11/5 and this at 10/5 is really good dps. Why it might be average and not great is that it is tier 5 and a kill skill so not always on, but then again kills are easy and the capstone helps with that. -derch

Kill Skill. Killing An Enemy increases your Weapon Damage, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Accuracy for a short time.
Weapon Damage: +5% per level
Fire Rate: +4% per level
Reload Speed: +4% per level
Accuracy: +4% per level

Delegation – average
A portion of Damage dealt to you is redistributed to your Digi-Jacks instead. Redistributed Damage: 5% per level.

Potential - good
I really notice the damage on this, unlike Optimism and its only a 1 pointer. The additional benefit of being able to spawn your jacks in ffyl is really nice. Also the nova is shock and in tvhm a lot of enemies have shields so its quite nice with that. - Derch
When your Digi-Jack spawns he sets off a Shock Nova. Also, you can use your Action Skill while in Fight For Your Life.

Leadership – Outsanding
While this has excited less people than badass jacks and cool weapon swapping shenanigans this is an really impressive kill skill. This whole tree is about letting your jacks die easy and kill skills last for 7 seconds. So for your action skill’s duration you don’t have to worry about them ever being down and on many bosses that really comes in handy. Also this tree has 3 kill skills in it alone. The ffyl bonus is nice as well and will come in handy with increased difficulty.- Derch

When a Digi-Jack dies, it counts as if you had killed an enemy. This can grant you Second Wind. Second Wind can be generated once per Action Skill use.

Expendable Assets

High-Frequency Trading – Mediocre
It’s just weapon swap speed, it’s helpful but not one of those massive buffs just on it’s own.
Increases Weapon Swap Speed. 15%/level

Incentives – mediocre
You honestly have to swap weapons way too much and lose a lot of efficiency with it and can lose a lot of potential dps.
Swapping weapons increases Fire Rate for a short time. Each stack lasts 10 seconds and all stacks are lost if you do not swap weapons after 10 seconds. 2%/stack Max 4 stacks.

Marginal Benefit – average
It’s not terrible at all, helpful but it is a fairly low chance.
Throwing a Grenade has a chance to Reload all equipped weapons. 9% chance/level

Compound Interest – Good
Shooting an enemy applies Compound Interest to that enemy, causing it to accrue interest for 5 seconds. Shooting the same enemy with a different gun consumes Compound Interest and deals Explosive Damage based on your skill rank and the amount of interest accrue. Only works with bullet and laser guns. Interest rate 14%/sec per level.

Money is Power – Almost outstanding
Can take a long time to get max stacks and has a lot of issues but the potential is amazing, the only reason why its almost is because its easier to screw up than anarchy was plus anarchy had discord.
Picking up money grats you a Money is Power stack. You gain increased Damage with all gun types for every Money is Power stack you currently have. All stacks are lost upon dying or spending money (Max of 999 stacks). Bonus damage +0.25%/stack
Tips on how to get max stacks:

Merger
Melee Override Skill. Press to fire Shock lasers from your wrists. This ability has a cooldown. 20 second cooldown/(lowers with level?)

Taxation of Trade Routes – Buggy

Increases your Fire Rate with all gun types. The bonus is based on how many bullets are currently in the magazines of all your equipped guns. The emptier your gun’s magazines, the greater the bonus. Fire rate increased by up to +12%/level

Company Man – Outstanding
The bonus here can turn out to be nuts, if this is 5/5 having one hyperion item is 10%, with bulwark and 3dd1.3 both being hyperion and some of the most used items it’s looking at a 20% increase, mix that with quasar possibly the celestial, this skill is going to get a large damage buff for basically nothing but having normal items on you.
Gain increased Accuracy and Critical Hit Damage with all gun types based on the number of pieces of Hyperion gear you have equipped. Accuracy +1.5% per Hyperion item/level Critical hit damage +2% per Hyperion item equipped/level

Absolute Advantage – Outstanding
This is almost a required skill for jack.
Kill Skill. Killing an enemy causes your shots to have a chance to not consume ammo for a short time. Rocket Launchers have a reduced chance to not consume ammo. Free ammo chance 8%/level, Free rocket chance 4%/level

Supply and Demand – BAD/Medicore
This skill more than likely will face the issue of regening so little when you have higher health it will mean nothing, plus 20% means so very little.
Grants you and your allies constant Health Regeneration. The lower your health the more powerful the regeneration. Regenerates up to 1% of your Max Health/second per level, Allies receive 20% of this bonus.

Laser Surplus
The video from pax made this look sort of weak but he was level 30 and fighting level 7s.
Slam Augment. When you Slam you shoot a Cone of Lasers in front of you.

Sponsored By… – Outstanding
The wording on this sounds really confusing but it basically means when you switch to a new weapon the that weapon will get one of the below abilities based off the weapon you switched from.
Your gun gains a Manufacturer Bonus based on the last gun you held in your hands.
Dahl – Recoil Reduction: +50%
Hyperion – Accuracy: +30%
Jakobs – Weapon Damage +30%
Maliwan – +25% Damage as Elemental
Scav – Magazine Size: +35%
Tediore – Reload Speed: +35%
Torgue – +25% Damage as Explosive
Vladof – Fire Rate: +35%

5 Likes

I did a few tests fiddling around with some of the damage buff skills.
Mostly to figure out how integrity works.

I’ve got a few notes on some things I noticed with integrity.

  • Integrity seems to add a secondary damage instance, kinda like splash damage.
  • Integrity checks for for its bonus after the damage is dealt.
  • If your first shot brings target below 40% health, 4x multiplier is applied.
  • 4x multiplier is the bonus on the skill. 40% x 4= 160%
  • The target can die before the damage is applied

Here are the numbers i got.

Base Damage

  • Jakobs Pistol: 108 damage/ 269 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 8828 damage/ 45905 crit

5/5 Synergy

  • Jakobs Pistol: 140 damage/ 454 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 11477 damage/ 66562

5/5 Integrity

  • Jakobs Pistol: 151 damage/376 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 12359 damage/ 64267 crit

5/5 Collaborate 10 stacks

  • Jakobs pistol: 161 damage/ 403 crit
  • Jakobs sniper: 13242 damage / 68857 crit

5/5 Synergy + 5/5 Collaborate 10 stacks

  • Jakobs Pistol: 194 damage/ 628 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 15891 damage / 92163 crit

5/5 integrity + 5/5 Syngergy

  • Jakobs Pistol: 196 damage/ 635 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 16067 damage/ (could’nt get the crit damage)

5/5 Integrity + 5/5 Collaborate 10 stacks

  • Jakobs Pistol: 226 damage/ 564 crit
  • Jakobs Sniper: 18539 damage/ 96400 crit

5/5 Integrity + 5/5 Synergy + 5/5 Collaborate 10 stacks

  • Jakobs pistol: 271 damage / 879 crit
  • Jakobs sniper: 22247 damage / (couldn’t get the crit damage )

5/5 Integrity 4x bonus

  • Jakobs Pistol: 279 damage/ 269+430
  • Jakobs sniper 22952 damage/ 119k crit

So it is multiplicative but now we need to know if it works with splash, fun…

Thanks for doing this, very helpful

I did try and test splash also, but stopped part-way through because it was such a pain in the butt.
here are the numbers if you want em.

Base Damage

  • Torgue pistol: 171 damage/256 crit/ 86 splash only
  • Maliwan fire pistol: 193 damage/ 299 crit/ 86 splash only
  • Maliwan fire sniper: 245 damage/ 733 crit/ 82 splash only

5/5 Integrity

  • Torgue Pistol: 205 damage/ 324 crit/ 86 splash only
  • Maliwan fire pistol: 193+75 damage/299+150 crit/ 86 splash only
  • Maliwan fire sniper: 245+114 damage/ 733+456 crit/ 82 splash only

Cool, I’ll work on that stuff on monday.

1 Like

The more i read about Integrity the better that skill gets. Just think about a shotgun taking down a badass under 40%.
OVERKILL!!!

1 Like

Any chance of getting the op changed over to using a 1-4 stars for the skills instead of the current color coding? The colors make it very hard to read on the forum’s background.

Does Leadership cause Take their Freedom to proc when a DigiJack dies?

No it doesn’t.

That was never talked about or agreed upon with the committee.
It was only done because we didn’t have colours.

Since Winning was fixed and the site now has proper colors, any chance of this guide getting an update?

When I’m not freaking out about how I’m going to pay rent this month.

Marginal Benefits deserved an upgrade with Glitch Weapons. Combined with Absolute Advantage, you can keep glitches going for ages.

1 Like

Gonna throw an asterisk after the comment on Money is Power.

We say there, that it’s easier to screw up than was Gaige’s Anarchy skill. THAT, however, depends very much on the player’s style. For instance, I have a habit from the old Ghost Recon days, of reloading after a kill (unless I have to turn immediately on another target). THAT doesn’t mix well with Anarchy. I DO NOT have a habit of buying things from vendors, save the occasional legendary item. I usually grind up better gear, and old STALKER habits have me checking every odd corner of the map for stashes. So, I tend to build up money pretty quickly, and hold on to it. For ME, it’s a LOT easier to hold on to stacks of MiP than Anarchy.

Also of interest? I found out kinda by accident, that if you buy-back an item that you sold to a vendor, at least on the same interaction with that vendor machine, you do NOT lose your MiP stacks. Kind of a rare situation, I know, Nonetheless, if you accidentally sell an item, don’t get worried about dumping your 999 stacks of MiP. Just buy it back.

Cool guide, BTDubbs. Could you change the dark font colors on some of those skill names, though? They are almost entirely unreadable against the default background.

Glad to see the DDD guides showing up on the new forum!

1 Like

When discourse is working on my computer yeah. It’s not loading ■■■■ right now.

Tips for getting mad stacks?

1.) Raid all the loot sources in Concordia at startup, every time, all of the time. That’s 20-30 stacks without even going on the roof.

2.) Run through Serenity’s Waste. Crack open every Kragon pile, kill every kragon, and especially, look out for Phonic. SW alone usually nets me 80-100 stacks. Add in Iwajira for another 20-ish. We’re up to 120-150 stacks already. That’s 30-38 percent gun damage buff, nearly as much as a level 70 Hero COM.

3.) ALWAYS check the lootables, wherever you are. Rubbish piles, creature refuse piles (TONS of them in R&D), dumpsters, those small strongboxes, and lockers.

4.) If you have an enemy to kill, but he/she is over an off-the-map area (some of the Dahl jetpack dudes on Helios, or jetpack scavs in Crisis Scar wandering over lava), wait for them to get over something you can stand on. If they drop money out of bounds, it does you no good. This is only usually a problem for trash enemies, so it’s not likely to cost you your life (and all your stacks).

5.) Have a plan. For instance, I usually do the Concordia run first, then Serenity’s Waste, and THEN I go after whatever I fired up for. Often I’ll go after Felicity Rampant next, even though there isn’t THAT much money to be found on that run. This will build me about 180 stacks, typically. 45% is a decent start.

This also means checking vendors FIRST, before you start collecting stacks. If there’s something nice in the vendor, you have to choose between owning it and losing your stacks. May as well have NO stacks when you check the vendor, then, so you lose nothing.

6.) Know your easy bosses. Most bosses drop a butt load of cash. RK5, the Sentinel, Iwajira… We don’t always agree on who’s easiest to kill, though. So, know which bosses are easiest for you, and go after them first. If it drops you 20 cash stacks, that’s a 5% buff to gun damage.

7.) LEADERSHIP! There’s hardly a worse feeling, than knowing your would-have-second-winded-me enemy died a quarter-second after you did, but there go all 999 of your stacks anyhow (happened to me once, and I hated it). Give yourself a fighting chance to be revived by your digiJacks. NOT dying means collecting more stacks.

8.) Know which common enemies drop more cash more often, and avoid the stingy ones. I almost always find a few cash stacks under shugguraths. Much less often under wraiths or other Eridian critters. Better to farm for stacks in Triton Flats than in Tycho’s Ribs or Eleseer.

9.) Speaking of Triton Flats… ALWAYS break open those red meteorites! And be careful on a Stingray–you may not always pick up money or ammo simply by riding over it. Either slam on it, or get off the Stingray and pick it up.

That’s whats up.

OK, so here goes my first attempt at using images from my Steam account in a post on this new forum…

To demonstrate my above advice on building MiP stacks, I went for a light jog around Elpis and Helios earlier this evening. This represented about an hour of game time (I was occasionally interrupted by IRL stuff like laundry).

First, to Serenity’s Waste. I started with the Kragons right by the entrance to Iwajira’s lair. Killed Iwajira next. Then on to Springs’s old shop, then to the back entrance to Regolith Range. Got lucky and met Phuper Phonic, and off the other side of his plateau, ran into a Bulwarked Badass Kragon. WHAT GOOD FORTUNE! THEN, I made a pit stop to visit Son of Flamey. I stayed on the near side of the lava, BTW. Stacks? 143.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/45377296709584869/BF9F0C6A40EF143134B230B6DE29B4C218B4BFF2/

Next, I made a pit stop in Concordia, to check the vendors and loot some stuff. I did NOT go onto the roof. Stacks? 34, for a total of 177.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/45377296709584952/0A06849D3802E8B039E20A4A93DC2AEFAB8FCAA5/

NEXT, I made a trip to the Research and Development area. LOTS of critters there that bring the $tacks. Went up the grass all the way, then in Dr. Langois’s office, through to the big area past where DAN-TRP and CLP9000 are. I did NOT go through the area with Dahl troops fighting torks, and not above the aquarium. Stacks? 96, for a grand total of 273.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/45377296709585037/9BF81F9DD64EB412D03BC2D64CE1720886994154/

And finally, I went and had a poke at the Invincible Sentinel and his big brother, the Invincible Empyrean Sentinel. Killed a minimum of critters on the way there, and didn’t spend any time rooting around in the various loot sources in Eleseer. Killed him off as normal, not wasting any time trying to farm his minions for ca$h. Stacks? 112, for a whopping grand total of 385.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/45377296709585121/0BDC5F18FB45821A3D72B3F447D6B496F2051F34/

That’s a 71% boost to gun damage across the board.

Sure, it’s a good chunk of time. There are no easy solutions to this question of how to farm max stacks quickly. It takes a little grinding.

That said, You’re always wise to kill Iwajira right away. After all, if you don’t like loot, then WTF are you doing playing this game? So yeah, you may as well. And you’re also always well served by checking out all of the vendors wherever you go, and checking all the high vendor density areas (Concordia, Deck 13-1/2), every time you click ‘CONTINUE’. May as well kick some ass while you’re there.

So, once again, there are some fertile stack-farming lands. R&D and Serenity’s Waste are a couple of favorites, just to get things off the ground. The creepy badass stalker in R&D has a chance to drop a legendary COM, IIRC. Iwajira has an impressive loot pool, and an assigned legendary. She also drops Hail, which is a VERY good weapon for certain situations (I use a corrosive Hail against Felicity Rampant, and it melts the turrets right off of her). You run a good chance lately of finding a Four Seasons running through Serenity’s Waste (last two BA Kragons I found there have BOTH dropped it)–may not be a very good grenade mod, but it’s orange grinder food. Even if you’re not feeling up to the Invincible Sentinel, you can always (as long as you haven’t taken the mission for the Invincible Sentinel) go back and fight the Ho-Hum Sentinel, for good loot and lots of MiP stacks.

MiP is one of the most awesome skills in the game for me. I play mostly solo, and mostly on days off from work. It’s nothing unusual for me to drop a whole 14-hour day in the winter on Borderlands games. I’ve built 999 stacks before (took a few hours), and it is unholy. Every weapon feels like the finger of God (not the Godfinger, as it’s one of the few BL2 weapons I’ve still never gotten).

MiP isn’t such a great skill for the quick-in-and-out players, and for folks that like to run quick raids in MP. It’s still a worthwhile investment, as it’s only a single skill point, but maybe that’s more end-game for some players.

With a little time and patience, though, this skill will definitely enhance your I-AM-DEATH-IN-THE-DIGITAL-FLESH experience.

2 Likes

After a VERY quick visit to Concordia, R&D, Serenity’s Waste w/Iwajira, rounds 2 & 3 of the Holodome, Sponx and Denial & Self-Loathing, and the Invincible Sentinel:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/46503411549512179/3B3FEF647FE07E13D34478D40309B4F9524A4797/

(Not a half-bad shotgun, either, I must say.)

Is Taxation Of Trade Routes still bugged?