Is an Elemental Jakobs Alligiance Siren feasible?

Borderlands 2 Maya the Siren
#1

I was wondering in a Siren using only elemental Jakobs weapons would be able to do much damage at all?

The equipment I’d use is:

The greed
The Cobra
The Stinkpot
The Twister

Jakobs accuracy and recoil relic

The roughrider

A chain Lightning since Jakobs doesn’t build grenades and this isn’t really a grenade.

A legendary Cat

I got the idea for the grenade and the COM from MRjbot9000’s video on his Elemental Siren.

I was wondering with the patches and stuff that have happened in the 2 years since his video came out if the skillslike cloud kill and blight pheonix could be useful too?

MRjbot900’s Video

I don’t know about you but this sounds kinda fun!!

#2

A Legendary Cat would be somewhat negligent as you don’t have any SMGs, you’d be better off using a Legendary Binder or Siren.

As for feasability, not really. The elemental Jakobs weapons don’t put out much damage aside from the Twister. I use the Twister on all of my characters, but none of the others.

It would be something different, I tried something similar on Axton but it wasn’t very efficient. If you’re good enough though, you can make anything work on Maya, with her CC and healing she can do very well with the Cobra.

#3

Damage on a Jakobs allegiance isn’t the problem, the twister can handle that. However survival will be your bigger concern, outside of fleet abuse the rough rider isn’t great on Maya so your health will need to be micromanaged. I recommend maybe looking at a legendary Siren com instead as the quicker phaselock return will help negate your lack of shield.

Cloudkill is worth the point, blight phoenix is still in the lower bracket of cataclysm skills and unless built around does no noticeable damage. Mind, if you plan to be up close and personal then a single point for the stun effect on psychos can be useful.

#4

In the video… MRjbot900 says that he uses this COM because of some sort of glitch. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never heard of this glitch. And anything that requires you to do some trick before you go into action is kinda questionable, don’t you think. A Legendary Siren or Binder will almost certainly be a better choice.

When combining this with a Breakneck COM and maxing out Fleet, the movement speed becomes hilarious. It’s great fun for a brief while, and pretty much the only real reason to use this shield on Maya, unless you’re dead set on doing a true Jakob’s Allegiance build. If that is the case, I’d recommend that you skip Fleet, and put those points in Sustenance. Sustenance does NOT cancel out Immolate.

Apart from the Twister, which is a badass gun, the rest of them are lackluster, and doesn’t really have any synergy with Maya’s skills. An elemental Jakobs build doesn’t offer any alternatives, so consider non-elementals too. It would make your task a bit more pleasant, because I think it will be tough otherwise.

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#5

There are a few issues trying to do this but I’m sure you can make it work

With the guns we all know the twister is great, the greed is solid, the Cobra is really good in the right set up on maya but outside of that its not great, and the stinkpot is just terrible. So you will mostly rely on 2 guns and one of them has very very short range.

For your relic I would go mag and one of the other buffs, stacking both for accuracy and recoil is a waste since most of your guns won’t have issues there.

On the grenade if you are trying to be themeatic with Jakobs I usually run some sort of explosive grenade so its like tossing dynamite or just use the default one.

If you are going to do this you will end up using the twister most of the time so I would just go all in and BB to close the gaps with the twister if I were you.

#6

I disagree about the Rough Rider not being very useful for Maya. I use it regularly for general combat with her and it can be a lot of fun. It’s obviously not ‘her’ shield in the same way it is Krieg’s, but she can make excellent use of it it you spec Harmony liberally.

If I really do want to dash about - mostly for farming runs - I use a Breakneck Banshee, Rough Rider and Fleet. But for most combat, I use a Legendary Nurse, which produces exceptional health replenishment so you don’t feel the need for a shield. You don’t get 11 Fleet points but you’re still very speedy and can withstand an immense amount. I do this at OP8 too, but it works better before the OPs because Recompense will do more damage to your enemies.

I can’t advise you too much on the feasability of Jakobs elements as I’m not a real Jakobs devotee, but it sounds fun. I’m a big fan of slightly crazy builds. Rough Rider siren isn’t too insane though - utilise health regen skills and it works.

#7

I do this with Zer0, and he doesn’t have the healing, slag, nor elemental backup that Maya does - she’ll do quite well with all Jakobs gear (elemental or no). Check @Troubled’s Peacekeeper (I think) build.

Do try the Stinkpot and see for yourself - its one of my favorites (watch for false positives with Cloud Kill though… Stinkpot is good, but not that good). I’ve used it as my main Loader killer in the Hyperion Circle of Slaughter at OP3 up to wave 4 (haven’t tried the last yet). I have to bounce the shots at the ground because Zer0 is using it, and B0re gets funny sometimes with direct shots… Maya shouldn’t have this issue. If it isn’t your cup of tea, don’t sweat it, but I still don’t understand all the Stinkpot hate.

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#8

Yeah I forget to mention that i would use a Breakneck banshee as well. Maybe i’d be better off with a nurse COM for just the Healing factor?

#9

Sweet Release, Life Tap, Elated, even Sustenance should be able to take care of her health without relying on a dedicated COM (and many good COMs can hit at least one of those anyway). If you’re going to use a Rough Rider to take advantage of Fleet with a Banshee COM, I’d focus on Life Tap and Elated (you might be moving faster than the Sweet Release streamers can, and they’ll never catch you).

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#10

It depends on how speedy you want to be and what you want to sacrifice for that. The banshee’s only use for a rough rider Maya is to give up to 6 fleet. With a rough rider, backdraft and the com itself are diminished and useless, so although the speed boost can be fun and very handy when farming, I prefer something that gives extra bonuses at the cost of speed. The banshee is also more useful when you are at a high level. Then you can get one that’s for a much lower level, but still with plus 6 fleet, and a much lower health penalty. Otherwise the reduced health can be quite a significant compromise to the build you’re aiming at.

I personally like a health com for rough rider because it makes all the harmony skills much more significant and lets me enjoy my Leroy Jenkins impressions. 5 points in elated and sweet release still needs a reserved playstyle to keep you healthy, and I don’t usually spec sustenance at all without a nurse. But, my combat style is very hands on, so I benefit from quality health skills turning into formidable ones.

I’ll add that for an allegiance build, a com that gives you more damage may be more helpful than health. I’m not an expert in the elemental Jakobs so I’m not sure how much you’ll be in need of a damage boost, but if so you might find something like a binder more helpful.

#11

Ya rang?

The problem with the Jakobs elemental line of weaponry is that they are outclassed by a good chunk of non-elemental Jakobs firearms. While you can use them it is more of a “because I can” and not anything really efficient.

If the Greed were to spawn with a scope I would actually consider using it myself but alas, iron sights only. The unique effect I never found useful outside of Axton with his passives or if you intend on having your nose down your sights all the time and need that extra movement.

The Cobra is not an elemental weapon but explosive, and technically it is not explosive as the trait is what gives it its explosive damage when the bullet hits the target. With a purple 37-ish percent explosive relic it is actually quite the monster and being only outdone by the Elephant Gun in terms of damage, at least on Axton. I am not sure how Reaper affects it but part of me believes it does not affect it and I am too lazy to bother checking.

The Stinkpot…eh…the Stinkpot is unaffected by Reaper, cannot critically hit, is inaccurate, and personally I find it to be a piece of junk. While it can do somewhat decent damage to armored enemies any Jakobs that is accurate and has decent critical damage will work just as well if not better when you hit a Loader’s critical hit spot(s).

Out of all the Jakobs elemental weapons the Twister is the best due to the amount of damage it can do, but in order for it to outdo say, the Hydra, it has to have a shock elemental relic or some other way of boosting elemental damage. It has the potential to make enemies disappear but the “bullets” are slow and the shotgun is an ammunition hog. Still a really good weapon.

If you want to get the most damage possible use a purple Magic Missile and Legendary Siren COM. The key to making Jakobs weaponry into powerhouses is to ensure that your target is slagged all the time and while such a tip is a no brainer in regards to UVHM it is even more a necessity of Jakobs.

In order to survive with the Rough Rider you have to play VERY conservative and max out the Harmony tree (ignoring Recompense) otherwise you will get wasted if you go up against a handful of bandits. You will be playing a lot of Peak-A-Boo in the more heavily fortified areas. The only real time where you will be able to be super aggressive without nuking yourself is when Life Tap has kicked in and even then there is a very good chance you will be kissing whatever it is as your feet if you are not careful.

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#13

Thanks for all the good replies guys. I wasn’t really hopefully that it would work but is seems that I might be able to make something happen.

I’m gonna try these ideas out this afternoon and I’ll let you know what works the best.

It’s to bad that the elemental Jakobs aren’t just a little more powerful. Oh well it just gives a bit more of a challenge.

#14

Remember a lot is possible in this game and if you have fun doing it, then it’s worth it.

I did a maya jakobs op8 playthrough non elemental play through of the main story, also no moxxi, no amp, and since it was non elemental no slag even from skills.

I had a blast.

#15

Yeah I’m looking for something fun to do that’s a bit different. I love regular Jakobs and finally got a stink pot drop someone wondered if this would be sweet.

I’ve never been a fan of the super of builds like the beehawk.

As an aside, I love watching your borderlands YouTube stuff. Keep up the good work!

#16

Non-elemental Jakobs Maya can and will do well in UVHM and at Overpower 8. I have done it plenty of times in the main storyline while the DLC content is a different matter altogether.

#17

Yeah I’m a huge Jakobs fan. There is so much potential there. I’m currently running the twisted pimp build from derch.

As long as you can aim good the bolt action snipers are a ton of fun. You gotta be good with your crits though.

I know that this is way off topic bit am I the only person that loves running Aurelia with the razor back?

#18

The razor back made me so mad I stay away from it

#19

I live and breath Jakobs, to the point that unless I see ‘Jakobs’ in a comment or topic I don’t pay any attention, so I am not as active as other people and since making the two videos for my Jakobs builds I have had no interest in making any more.

In the brief amount of time I played TPS I did like the Razorback even though it should have had a 100% melee damage bonus instead of a measly 50%. I have a soft spot for scope-less rifles but the lack of some form of the Unforgiven in TPS irked me.

#20

Haha really?? I get the ice skill out there and sit back and pick off the scavs one by one. It took me a bit of time to get the aiming down good but I can just wrecking at a distance and then get a striker for up close.

I haven’t tried it at uvhm but it worked great at normal and tvhm.

It’s a real fun build!

#21

Jakobs? Tch. You’re all wrong. Bandit is the way to go.

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