Assault Rifle Build Discussion

Borderlands 2 BL2 General Discussion
#1

I will soon have this game on PC, but a couple years ago I spent a lot of time playing on an Xbox 360. I played as a siren with lots of elememtal Maliwan SMGs. This time around I am looking to play with Jakobs and Dahl semi automatic and burst fire assault rifles. With this in mind I need a character suited to a medium/long range playstyle. At first I was leaning towards Zer0 but as I would like to avoid sniper rifles some of his later skills will not be helpful. I am also not that interested in his melee abilities. Axton on the other hand, I read that his class mods often buff assault rifle stats and gun skills. But I’m unsure who would have the greatest DPS with these guns. I haven’t seriously considered any of the other characters for this role but i’m open to unusual character builds if any of them can pull this off. If any of you have built a similar character revolving around the semi auto and burst fire rifles I’d appreciate hearing about it!

#2

Zer0 has only two skills that are exclusive to sniper rifles. He’s pretty damn good with shotguns, pistols and assault rifles, and he has great synergy with Jakobs. I use mostly Jakobs shotguns and assault rifles on him and it gets the job done. You’ll be fine as long as you’re getting critical hits. I’m not specced into Critical Ascension or At One With the Gun and I honestly don’t miss those skills. Also, some of his early melee skills are actually useful on other types of playstyle as well. There are a lot of effective ways to play Zer0 other than sniping or melee and he has a lot of diversity in builds. The only capstone you absolutely need to get on practically every Zer0 build is Death Blossom (in combination with Death Mark).

Although Axton is very good with assault rifles in general, he’s generally better off with Torgue because of his boosts to grenade damage, but Dahl is also great on him. It’s probably my second favorite manufacturer for Axton. He has a lot of boosts to base damage, fire rate, recoil reduction and reload speed that synergize well with Dahl guns.

My personal advice to you would be to go with Axton if you’re leaning towards Dahl and Zer0 if you’re going Jakobs (but Zer0 can be good with Dahl too - just remember to get those crits).

NOTE: I hope you don’t take this the wrong way (I mean well, I swear), but you didn’t need to start this thread on multiple subforums. I think only one would be better to keep the discussion all in the same place. Most people here have played multiple characters and check all the character forums anyway. Maybe a mod could merge them all into this one and close the others. You’re asking for advice on multiple characters, after all

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#3

Torgue AR’s on Axton are superb…and he even has an AR mod that you can build an AR exclusive type of play.

Dahl too…

And there is one easy to get Blue Dahl AR…the Scorpio…that is SUPERB with a Bee…out DPS’s purples and even a few Legendaries. Burst is very tight and all 5-7 shots get Amp Damage.

Without a Bee…Dahl Miniguns are quite good.

Corrosive Veruc is EXCELLENT on Bots. Seraphim is good with Fire on flesh.

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#4

[quote=“BungalowDyl, post:1, topic:1485232”]With this in mind I need a character suited to a medium/long range playstyle.[/quote]What character isn’t suited to medium- to long-range combat?

Zer0: only a few of the skills in his Sniper tree are specific to a sniper rifle; the rest are generally pretty stellar for any weapon. If you’re not after melee either, consider this build (assuming you’re at max level). It avoids the sniper-specific and most melee-specific skills (Killing Bl0w is just to get to the skills below it). If these skills aren’t your cup of tea, I’d pass.

Axton: he’s only got one class mod that buffs assault rifles specifically, but it is very good. I still think that, outside of Torgue assault rifles, Zer0 will produce more DPS with them. I use Axton as my Dahl allegiance character (who leans heavily on assault rifles of both the semi-auto and burst-fire type). I still don’t think he can get the most out of those weapons; he’s my Dahl rep for other reasons. Axton is also my Torgue rep, and he’s brutal with those weapons.

That said, it’s not like Maya and Gaige (who also has a COM specific to assault rifles) will fare poorly with them. I’m sure Krieg can too… I just can’t personally vouch for that. I would consider choosing the character on what skills look appealing to you, and let the weapons come as they may.

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#5

A non-Hellborn specced Krieg. :dukewhistle:

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