Discord looping/precision, advice needed

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#1

This all started with a misinterpretation. When I discovered these forums and saw this thread, I jumped to conclusions and thought, “Oh hey, the Bitch must be a great gun for Gaige!” Anyway, playing around with the Bitch got me to take advantage of Discord more often.

Anyway, now I’m on OP4 and of course everything’s getting tougher. So, is Discord looping stiill viable in OP levels? I’d rather not spec back into a high anarchy build if I don’t have to. If Discord looping is still viable, I’d like to know how I can improve my build.

Spec: Legendary Catalyst/Superior Prodigy

  • A low-Anarchy version of draug’s Killer Rain build from his Slag, Wind, and Fire
  • Deathtrap’s role is to distract flesh-strippers, wound-salters, rabid mutts, and other annoyances. Either he kills them, or he keeps them stationary long enough for me to electrocinerate them.
  • The two points in TI are purely to get 5/5 in Nth Degree
  • 1/5 in FM because in co-op, I can’t always get consistent BSS procs
  • 9/5 in IO because 10/5 in More Pep brings the slag chance to 108%, if I did the math right.
  • Either 5/5 in Nth, or 1/5 in Nth and 4/5 in UF

Slot 1: Long-range

  • Barking Storm: The gun that made UVHM fun for me. What’s that, it’s underleveled? MOAR ANARCHY! That said, I find it most effective when using it like a rifle with Discord, since the orbs aren’t that strong on their own.
  • Tumtum Muckamuck: For shock-resistant enemies. Jakobs grip for power, Dahl stock for recoil recovery. Recoil is still a bit much, but the Prodigy COM and a Jakobs relic makes it more tolerable.
  • Pimpernel: I am terrible with this gun even on Zer0, and I dislike it too much to practice with it. But my Pimp is corrosive, and I keep it around in case of Constructors.
  • Banbury Snider * Seems to match the power of a Corinthian (my old favorite) while also having significantly less recoil

Slot 2: Mid-range

  • Bitch: A perfect gun for Discord! Back in OP2, I specced briefly into Shock Storm, just to see how often I was landing crits, and I could proc it semi-consistently. Also, I love how it sounds when TBH kicks in
  • Emperor: Doesn’t have the precision of the Bitch, but it plays nicer with higher Anarchy, the bursts are fairly reliable, and the hip-fire rate is surprisingly decent. (Also, it’s OP4, my Bitch is still OP3)
  • Hammer Buster: Also for shock-resistant enemies, but with a faster fire rate than my Muckamuck, and also more stable. I’ve actually found myself using this more often than the Muckamuck lately
  • Patrol Minigun: Still playing around with this one

Slot 3: Close Range

  • Thunderball Fists: goddamn I love this gun so much. Potent instead of Binary so that I have a little more control of what I’m bombarding, especially in co-op
  • Kitten: I usually don’t like relying on Moxxi guns, but the wide spread is nice when everything gets too close for comfort. Sort of. Maybe I can move this down

Slot 4: Point Blank

  • Twister: This is my weapon of last resort. I love this gun to death, but it is Lv72 and I’m now on OP4. I got it as a gift and I’m not confident enough in my abilities to farm up a Twister on my own, so if anyone can suggest an alternative, that would be great

Shields

  • Black Hole
  • Antagonist
  • Purple amp shield: The Bee feels like overkill and I’m not fond it in the first place

Grenade

  • Storm Front
  • Lightning Bolt
  • Sticky Homing Shock Transfusion

COMs

  • Legendary Catalyst: For 100% slag on IO, and electric burn
  • Peppy Prodigy: For use with Muckamuck

Relic

  • Bone of the Ancients: When going LBT

Probably a lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense in this build, hopefully I can get some pointers on what to prune out. Additionally, of the guns I tried and was not able to make use of, I would appreciate pointers on using those guns (except for the Pimpernel–sorry!)

Some thoughts on how I use the Storm: Though I recognize the astounding damage potential of the Storm’s orbs with Gaige, because I play at low anarchy, the bullet is just as impotant as the orbs. So it’s better if I hit the enemy with the bullet, score a critical hit, and let the orbs manage themselves. I am also more likely to land crits on enemies while they are being shocked by the orbs, leading me to suspect that the orbs very briefly interrupt movement.

#2

Personally, I run this on my sniping build:
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550010130000555050100050410152151051

(though, you can remove the points from SS and put them in EB, plus snoop one point from So5G (or With Claws) and put it in MiS since this spec i’m showing is Jakobs only).

For the COM, I use the prodigy, since the accuracy modifier is actually pretty good at dealing with the penalty Anarchy useally brings. And it stil gives a nice boost to MP.

For sniper rifles (and @ACNAero tried it for me on OP8 even) a good Muckamuck can stil be plenty viable if the Hawk Eye is out of reach for you.

For long range healing, I’d suggest a good transfusion grenade if you need it in a pinch, prefering slag, incase IO doesn’t kick in.

If you want to stick to the elements more than the spec I linked does, this should do the trick http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#051040100000550005140551410152151050 (it’s slightly diffirent from the one you linked). Though personally, I don’t know how I should feel about not having UF since even on long range it can stil help keeping your shields up. And a good snider will do wonders. The Sloth can also work but its bullet speed might hurt.

Don’t get me wrong, I happily defend the Storm, but it’s not a traditional sniper per say since the damage comes from the orbs and its tethers.

The Pimp is a great rifle, but tricky to use if you don’t understand the spots you need to aim for. But since you arent a fan of it, a snider will do fine.

I’d say try a Muckamuck and Snider in your loadout (the Muck perhaps for shock resistant enemies).

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#3

Ooh, I hadn’t considered Muckamucks for my non-shock weapon. Time to shuffle some guns over from Zer0! I’ll definitely give Sniders a try too, as I mostly used Corinthians before getting a Storm.

I agree the Storm isn’t a traditional sniper, nor do I typically use it as one–I typically aim for body shots, as the orbs seem more effective when my bullet actually hit the enemy (probably the slag from IO).

I suppose if I put the Storm away, EE won’t be as crucial. Though if Prodigy boosts MP, will I still need to go 5/5 (10/5) in IO?

#4

You can still keep EE, but feel free to spend those points on UF, and see how you think about that skill.

Regarding IO, I’d say yes, the more chance at getting slag honestly never hurts. I think it is a all or nothing skill. Specially because Prodigy does not affect that skill directly.

Oh yeah, one last thing before I forget. The stability prefix may help aswel to keep your snipers accurate. But it’s not a loss if your rifles don’t have it

#5

Oh, whoops. I completely forgot that not every COM boosts IO (I mostly used Technophile before getting my hands on a L. Catalyst). 5/5 IO it is! xD

And on another note, I just realized the title is a bit misleading, as when I typed “sniping,” I was thinking of all accuracy-based shooting. I’d better fix that

UPDATE:
So my friend gave me a Skookum Muckamuck, a Skookum Skullmasher, and a Tumtum Cobra and I am eternally grateful to him. However, I now have more snipers than I can ever make use of, and my other friend just recently started trying Jakobs Maya. Which of these three should I give to my Maya friend?

#6

You can try the Snider for stacking and the Droog/Lyuuda when you hit Discord. The Necromancer COM with +acc/fire rate and boost to WDT is a good choice if you want to snipe and stick with shock guns.
Also, maybe a stockpile relic could be better for 2 main snipers as Anarchy already boosts the damage.

#7

■■■■. Forgot about these 2 rifles.
Been focussing on Dahl and Jakobs so much I forgot the fact that the Lyuda is a thing.

#8

I’ve only gotten one Lyuda so far, so I’ve left it with Zer0. But I’ll definitely play around with one once I get Gettle to drop another!

After playing around a bit, I seem to be doing better with the Muckamuck; the Skullmasher’s spread is a bit unreliable for me, even on the last few seconds of Discord. Cobra is amazing fun, but I’ll probably give it to my friend’s Maya.

About the stability prefix, I tried out my old Lv50 Chikamin Skullmasher in TVHM, but the spread was even worse. Haven’t played around with Sniders yet, as all the ones that have dropped so far have Jakobs stocks or Dahl barrels.

#9

There is an area in Schyla’s Grove (where you get the fireworks) that will always spawn a minimum of 3 BA savages and got OOO 3 times in a little over 10 runs. and the terrain is setup so kiting them around while they level is fairly easy.

#10

May I sugest moving the points from Better half to Close Enough? It s will help out the pecision weapons quite a bit and BH does not really benifit the sandhawk or twister enough that you would miss it. I would keep trying the Pimp becuse with close enough even a ricochet will oneshot most mobs along with destrying Spidertanks, OMGWTH, Bunker, Saturn and Warior with the 5 points you have in Nth degree.

#11

We dont talk about that on the forums.

CE is hardly needed until 100 stacks. Then it starts to break most sniper rifles’ accuracy.

#12

True, I may even argue that it is 150. the beauty of the skill is using it to snipe the guys that use cover.

#13

I should probably update the OP, as I traded away my Sand Hawk (it was OP2 and non-elemental anyway).

TBH helps with my Bitch since it kicks in after the crosshairs are narrowed in, and also tightents the burst on the Emperor. I didn’t spec into CE because I usually keep my stacks below 75 with Discord, so I figure my shots ought to be hitting the enemy the first time anyway. :stuck_out_tongue:

#14

So I’m not sure if double posting is against the rules, but even when wearing the Prodigy COM over my usual LBT spec, I found I was still able to murder bandits reliably with the Muckamuck without a Bee. To my surprise, I didn’t even need Discord–just 27 stacks and the Prodigy COM. This excites me greatly because I’m tired of my Zer0 hogging all my snipers. Thanks, PoeticNova!

Now I just have to figure out the non-sniper-rifle half of my build. I’ve been experimenting with an Emperor in place of my Bitch, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t…

I think I’ll dedicate today to farming Scylla’s Grove.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot to mention. It seems that a Snider with a Jakobs stock has no more recoil thsn Dahl stock Corinthian. So I am very pleased with my fire Snider.

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#15

Hi all

Interesting thread. I really enjoyed reading it, looking at the different builds and getting the benefit of everyone’s views on various sniper rifles.

It looks like I have gone in a slightly different direction with my “accuracy Gaige” but, before setting it out, I wanted to say that I have nothing whatsoever against Nth Degree or LBT heavy builds nor do I claim to have any ownership over what an "accuracy build’ for Gaige means. I suspect that it will mean many different things to many different players and this thread does tend to suggest this.

Anyways, with that disclaimer out of the way, here’s my take on a “sniping/accuracy” build that came out of two propositions:

  1. If it is about “accuracy”, do without both Close Enough and Nth. (Nothing against either of those skills - either or both of them feature in many great builds which can be played extremely skillfully.)

  2. I wanted to go with something other than an extremely LBT heavy build based around the Legendary Catalyst and the Storm as, in my view, those builds are really about DOT and, with the special property of the Storm’s orbs, DOT boosted by Anarchy rather than accuracy or sniping per se. (Yes, there are ridiculous amounts of fun to be had with those Catalyst builds and 10/5 in IO is very nice for sniping but “I have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt”.)

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#055050150051550014100551410150110000

When starting out at zero stacks in OP8 (or even in a zone in regular UVHM that you may find awkward or tough) use an Anarchist com (ideally the Legendary Anarchist) and then switch out to a Prodigy com. Discord for stack management (if the stack count is getting too high to be accurate at the desired range with the weapons you are using) and/or for an emergency accuracy and fire rate boost with the healing as a secondary benefit.

It might be counter-intuitive to suggest starting out using a Legendary Anarchist com for an accuracy build. However, the gun damage boost at zero (or extremely low) stacks is useful (particularly at OP8) and the accuracy penalty from the com is actually lower than the penalty you would suffer if you replicated the com’s gun damage boost through anarchy stacks. The bonuses to Myelin and UF help you survive while stacks are low and the bonuses to SLF and TI help you to accumulate stacks quicker. It acts as a (more accurate) substitute to speccing into Rational Anarchist and, as I am not going down the OC tree to pick up Nth, not picking up RA gives me a couple of extra points to spend in the other trees. The trade-off is that the classic 25 down to zero and straight back to 25 loop is not available but I find I tend to run in the 50 to 100 stack range so that is not such a big loss for me.

Switching out to the Prodigy com once you have (quickly) acquired enough stacks to feel comfortable picks up the accuracy and reload boosts and the bonuses to Better Half and CUT (assuming you are using a Superior or Patient variant of the com). The Better Half is not going to do anything for your Jakobs snipers but it works surprisingly well with Maliwans and can be downright evil with the right Vladof :slight_smile:

For something like an OP8 Peak run you could steal one point from each of the LBT and BFF trees (and still keep the capstone in both) and put the points into Preshrunk so as to have a few more stacks to burn to fuel Discord. Yes Dukino’s Mom, I am looking right at you …

The points in 20% Cooler are just a preference to have DT out as a distraction as much as possible. With this spec you can make him a rather poweful distraction with the right shield and shooting him with the “right” element. Those points can go anywhere else but you will need to keep at least 4 of them somewhere in the BFF tree if you want to retain Sharing is Caring. Retaining SiC gives you some fun tactical options like turning DT into a giant singularity grenade with the Black Hole, a bullet reflecting slag machine with the Antagonist or a nova bomb with the Flame of the Firehawk, the latter being my all time favourite way to kill the Duke of Orc.

The point in So5G is just to open up the +5 bonus when using the Legendary Anarchist com - not in any way essential.

The point in S&A is there because it is a reliable source of shock DOT for passive Moxxi weapon heals and the shock DOT tends to “stagger” melee enemies that are attempting to close with you - useful for a build/gear set that does better at range than point blank.

The point in Typecast Iconoclast is to open up the +5 bonus when using the Legendary Anarchist com - this I find to be quite useful when starting out at zero stacks, especially in the higher OP levels.

I would encourage the OP to try out UF. Especially in the higher OP levels, the shield regeneration is complimentary with BSS as it helps to counteract dangerous DOT effects and, in tough situations, keep some of the shield up until BSS is triggered by Gaige’s next kill. UF is also triggered by both Gaige and DT kills whereas a DT kill does not trigger BSS. Finally, in my view, the movement bonus is great. To paraphrase a line from the old forums - “without points in UF, my Gaige feels like she is stuck to the floor”. Fancy Mathematics is a last line of defence when you are not getting kills, Moxxi heals are not happening and that 10/5 in CUT hasn’t gotten you above the health gate just yet. This Gaige is designed to be durable - Bron’s line about a small man [read mechromancer] and a big shield comes to mind :wink:

I also have a variant for the Legendary Mechromancer com but at present that is really only designed for regular UVHM rather than the OP levels.

Finally, if you are looking for a weapon other than a sniper rifle to add to your gear for an accuracy build, the word is Bekah.

#16

Actually, Nth degree is very useful, moreso if the weapon in question is automatic. And this skill allows you to pseudo-B0re. I’d dare to argue that using this skill without C/E rewards being accurate.

YES! This thing is a monster.
Speaking of Leg. Anarchist and the Bekah. At zero Anarchy, w/o this COM at OP8 the damage output is around 10 mill when you hit the sweetspot, 17 mill with COM. However it is harder to achieve on 7th consoles compared to a PC or 8th gen consoles since the travel time is dependent on framerate.

I wish I saw this post earlier.

The Emperor is admittely awkward to handle, and the rare case where my choice of sight isn’t pure for aesthetic reasons. For this gun I’d like to argue that it is better to use a Tediore sight, since it is a mid-range SMG that heavily favors using the scope.

However, when you get it down, it can even murder non-badass Bandits on OP8 with ease, without slag, specially with the leg. Anarchist.

I’m happy to help :slight_smile:

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#17

No argument that Nth is extremely good but, purely as a matter of personal preference, I don’t like to lean on pseudo-Bore all that much these days. If I took it, I know I would just be too tempted to go back to running around with 400 stacks and shooting everything point blank with a Twister - not that there is anything wrong with that :slight_smile: I can certainly see why it makes perfect sense to take it if you didn’t want both LBT and BFF capstones.

Thanks very much for the info on the Bekah - I only play BL2 on PC so wasn’t aware of the issue on 7th gen consoles.

#18

Well, I do apologise if I sounded like I was shooting down your preference or anything like that. Wasn’t my intention.

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#19

No, not at all. It is all good. In fact, it was useful to underline that a lot of what I have chosen is about my own preference. I am the one who should have made that clearer in my first post.

I have come back to the game recently after a bit of a break and what has drawn me back is to do a melee zero play through (just about to start UVHM) and also to try out some play styles for Gaige that are different to what I was doing before. I am finding these low(er) anarchy builds to be really interesting and fun to play.

#20

[quote=“yeldarb1, post:15, topic:1503939, full:true”]
2. I wanted to go with something other than an extremely LBT heavy build based around the Legendary Catalyst and the Storm as, in my view, those builds are really about DOT and, with the special property of the Storm’s orbs, DOT boosted by Anarchy rather than accuracy or sniping per se. (Yes, there are ridiculous amounts of fun to be had with those Catalyst builds and 10/5 in IO is very nice for sniping but “I have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt”.)[/quote]

I understand the Storm’s not exactly a traditional sniper and isn’t ideal for a pure sniper playstyle. Personally, I have found the Storm more effective when focusing on the bullet’s damage rather than on the orbs (a critical hit often kills things before my previous shot’s orbs), so for me, the Storm remains an accuracy-based weapon.

I would absolutely love a Bekah, but alas, tubbies are stingy. I do have a Gatling Gun for the time being.

[quote=“PoeticNova, post:16, topic:1503939, full:true”]
The Emperor is admittely awkward to handle, and the rare case where my choice of sight isn’t pure for aesthetic reasons. For this gun I’d like to argue that it is better to use a Tediore sight, since it is a mid-range SMG that heavily favors using the scope.[/quote]

Mine has a Bandit scope, I’m not too fond of the round recticle (compared with the pinpoint one on a Hyperion sight) but maybe Tediore scopes are stronger than bandit.

Also, I forgot to update the OP, but I moved 4 points from Nth degree into UF. :slight_smile:

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