Nova's helpdesk for Mechro's

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#1

Original idea by @Chuck80, you can find his topic at Chuck80’s Gunzerking management class. I merely adapted his idea for the Mechromancer.
@Piemanlee has one for Axton, found at Piemanlee’s Turret academy
@xmngr’s thread for Krieg can be found at 1-800-N1PPL3-54L4D5 Customer Service.

(using a modified version of his introductory)

You want a build ?
Maybe you have a fondness for sniper rifles and want to make a build around them?
Or you really like the idea of LBT builds, but don’t know what to use with it ?
maybe you have a great concept for a build but don’t know what skills would work great with it ?
Or you don’t have a lot of stuff and don’t feel like farming and you want a build that works with what you have right now ?

Well this thread is here to help :slight_smile:

Just submit your demands and I’ll try to come up with whatever you need to kick some butts, with a robot that ignores the third law of robotics. :sunglasses:

(I also encourage other forum veterans that are still active to open such threads for the other characters, see if that helps new players, or stimulate the imagination of older ones)

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Different builds for Gaige
Piemanlee's Turret academy
Gaige Experts Wanted
New to the game and really want to play Mechromancer
Help, tips, anything. UVHM
Can someone help?
#2

Ah ha ha! I love the names of these threads.

I want to hit enemies with Shock Storm by sniping nearby enemies, and am looking at a Catalyst COM to enhance this. These come with Shock Storm, Evil Enchantress, and/or Wires Don’t Talk (some combination thereof), which are perfect for this. Shock Storm should always be buffed by Evil Enchantress, since they’re both activated by kills, and Wires Don’t Talk is on passive duty. What combination of these three (or two if it’s better) skills should I look for in Catalyst COMs as I run across them? My current one is +5 Shock Storm, +4 Evil Enchantress, and +3 Wires Don’t Talk (but I have one with +6 Shock Storm and +5 Evil Enchantress in my bank).

I’ve been practicing this lately, and so far, almost harder than hitting enemies in close enough proximity to each other for this to work, is getting them all slagged without scattering them. I’m also not quite sure how Shock Storm works. Does it apply a shock DoT to anyone close enough, or is it a constant (though brief) area of effect?

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#3

I’d say stick to the one you have in your backpack already, although a 5, 4, 4 (Shock Storm, EE and WDT respectively) combo would be nice. WDT is no slouch thanks to the last hotfix.

It applies DOT’s to any enemy affected.

#4

Maya’s Mind Melting Management…

#5

ALLITERATIOOOOOOON!!! Torgue guitar solo.

#6

I wasted another enemy with it last night, and it’s pretty hard to tell what’s going on with all the DoT, even in frame-by-frame video. If Shock Storm produced a single instance of shock damage, I should only see six electrocute ticks (assuming they trigger), but there are around seventeen, which makes me think it’s got some brief but constant AoE effect? Total shock DoT amounted to ~12.5M (with another 8M from Electrical Burn), so the damage is nice when you can get it.

#7

I do have a question for you @MidnightNova. How viable is doing shock gaige and just focusing on the florentine, I have some video ideas.

#8

Admittedly, I used my Jakobs build as reference, since it uses Shock Storm but not WDT or EE. So it is barely enough to strip shields. Doublechecked once again, it gives about 12 or so ticks, atleast on the instance I have recorded.

Any skillbuild in mind already, or do you want me to cook up something? Might prove interesting, but I have the feeling you’ll miss some of the potential damage.

#9

A shock based one basically I haven’t put to much thought into it yet to be honest.

#10

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#530050140000550005150521412150151000
This with a (leg) Catalyst should do the trick. Keeping a few points in IO just in case.

As for grenades, Transfusion, Storm Front or Quasar, although the first option makes it easier to stay alive.
For shields, well, I would default to the Blockade, but a shock Nova (or even the Black Hole) should work well.
Edit: snaps fingers forgot that Turtle Shields ae a thing.

For constructors and Saturn I would stil keep a Pimp ready though.

#11

That’s not too far off from mine and the Florentine hits very hard. (at OP8)

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#12

Not a whole play through thing just a few maps

#13

@Derch Gaige Skill Guide video coming soon? I know Aurelia is next but one can hope.
Love the series btw

OT as I told you my Gaige build is a version of your Shocking Anarchist, but I tweaked it for the Leg Catalyst

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#500050140000250032150531412150151050

Basically the idea is that the Anarchist COM pulls me up to about 100 stacks then I swap out for Catalyst, and keep it on hand for bosses without adds since a lot of my hitting power does come from EE procs.

It’s performed well enough for Peak runs up to OP6 when I’m not playing like a doofus, any tweaks I should make for running up to 8? I’d prefer to stay with the Catalyst focus.

Gear is typically a shock Pimp, shock Hail, Slagga, NE ricochet fibber or Blockhead depending on enemies, Antagonist, shock bone and Storm Front but I’m thinking a Quasar would be good for crowd control.

Many thanks

#14

I don’t think tweaks are too nescecary, maybe holding onto the leg. Anarchist until 150 stacks to get a higher damage output a bit faster (specially if you dont pre-stack). I’d dare to recommend a shock CC or Twister just in case however.

Overal the build seems fine.

Might do a guide to LBT one of these days but that’s about it. The only video’s I upload are the random and runs with my builds.

#15

I’ve got Talon of God ready to go on my current playthrough, was planning to farm the moonshot for a CC. Twister farming isnt happening until OP8

And the first part was directed to @Derch, should have paged him on that, oops

#16

Hoping I’m not being a mini necro, but I’m really trying to find a co-op leveling guild based around DT tanking the enemy. I assume I can just beef up the BFF tree, but I was curious if there’s a more nuanced build for something like this. Anything would be considered helpful.

#17

Hey there, don’t worry about bumping the thread :slight_smile:

Anyway, in your case I really recommend BBF, LBT (the latter even if you aren’t using shock weapons only).
Like this: http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#352050150051550050050051410150120000
It’s about what i personally run on my fourth Gaige. Huge emphasis on DT without losing oomph as Gaige herself.
A more shock damage focused one means either sacrificing the bits that are spend on OC (which I personally don’t really recommend) or lose the BFF focus.

Are there any COMs or other gear in mind already, or do you want me to recommend some?

It’s not exactly a guide, but I do hope this helps. If not I will go into more details.

#18

I think I’ve got a good build theory crafted for my Gaige for endgame (she’s not even close to there yet, still in NVHM atm), wanted to run it by the experts here to get input on it:
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#555150150001050050000000415150151051

I intend to run Leg. Anarchist with this build, hence the 10 points into LBT to get the skills buffed by that com (and I think they’re pretty decent skills anyways, at least, not much else seems good to me that I haven’t already got and can actually reach). The core of the build is what’s in the OC tree, I can run hi-anarchy stacks, with the option to bleed some of them off with Discord if I see a need, or I can do Discord cycling thanks to RA (which is, afaik, useful v. raids) and I can pre-stack all the way to 400 anarchy if I want as well. With the com I’ll have 10/5 in Typeclast Iconoclast so +60% stack generation which is valuable pretty much no matter what I am trying to do w/ my anarchy stacks.

Much of the remainder of the build is meant to support the above described core. I have BSS from OC which is my primary means of sustaining my defenses, but I also have Unstoppable Force which is nice for countering DoTs and negating dmg after a kill from other enemies, also the MS is handy for closing distance, which is important when your accuracy sucks due to high stack count. Got Cooking Up Trouble to help me replace health lost to BSS between fights. Upshot Robot I expect will mean the Deathtrap will last as long as it takes for me to clear the immediate vicinity of enemies in most cases, assuming he lives but that is fairly likely given that he has a copy of my shield, which will generally by a high capacity shield of some kind, hence I am okay with not having 20% Cooler and thus having a long Deathtrap CD.

How does my skill tree look and what type of gear goes gear. ( I mean normal guns)
#19

Took the liberty to make a few tweaks.
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#554150150031050030000000415150151051

Strength of 5 Gorillas is boosted by the Legendary Anarchist, so dumping 5 point in that skill feels really redundant. DT levels up with the Op levels aswel so with a COM 2/3 points are more than enough.

Fancy Maths is redundant aswel with both BSS and UF, but I kept it in for the most part so the build doesn’t lose it’s original idea/intention.

The leftover points are spent on 20% Cooler after all. W/o modifiers applied the cooldown lasts for a minute, so shaving that off is always welcome.

Do you have any gear in mind already you want to use on this build?

#20

If I really want 20% Cooler, I’ll probably do this:
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#545150150051050010000000415150151051

Makes So5G skill point investment way more efficient, 1 pt for 6/5 effect. Taking 1 pt off of Cooking Up Trouble is no big deal, since it’s there to help me rebuild my health between fights rather than during them (I use With Claws for in-fight health recovery or Discord if melee isn’t a good option; which isn’t uncommon).

FM is important for those fights where you don’t get kills often (admittedly, it’s pretty redundant when you are getting kills), and thus neither BSS nor UF are going to do much for you. I found it quite invaluable when I solo’d Hyperius in NVHM w/ her (had to respec to get it then, but it was worth as I managed to solo him because of it).

As for gear, I expect I will use weapons with homing projectiles quite a bit, particularly when I have a high anarchy stack count (such weapons bypass the major downside of having lots of anarchy stacks), so CC, Dart E-tech pistols, etc. I won’t use such weapons exclusively, but I think they will frequently be part of my loadout.