Survivability advice

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#1

I’m currently up to level 37 in TVHM, just past Bloodshot Ramparts, using this build: http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#502040100000000000000000412150151000 with a Calculating Anarchist COM giving +3 FM. I’m using mostly purple/blue kit from drops, including a blue Turtle shield that gives me 11468 shield and 5477 health.

I feel like I’m doing okay with both mobbing and mini-bosses (Warden was no problem, for example), except that I’m going into FFYL a lot. I went down about five times on the ramparts before getting to Warden. I didn’t have any problem getting second wind almost immediately each time, but I feel like that’s excessive.

I usually play Maya (up to level 61 so far, using a subsequence/thoughtlock/ruin build for general mobbing), and with Ward, Sweet Release and Inertia I can keep my shields up with health above health gate (or higher) at the same time. With Gaige, relying on Blood Soaked Shields to keep shields up means I nearly always have very low health with no way to regenerate it except Discord, and I can’t keep that up all the time or I’d run out of Anarchy stacks.

So… any advice, please? If this is just a skill issue (learning to manage Discord and Ananchy stacks better, maybe) then I’ll keep at it, but I wonder if I should be taking some points out of BFFs for now to get With Claws for healing, or something else?

Thanks!

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#2

Well with Gaige its common to go down fairly frequently (atleast from my experiences). But for her I tend to use high damage output weapons so that I focus on quick kills rather than endurance. So I would recommend not using a turtle shield. In my opinion theyre the worst shields in the game. I would try to get a nova or a anshin shield. That way blood soaked shields will kind of counter act woth the health regeneration or vice verca… sorry I aint the greatest at explanations :P.

What im trying to say is I find throughout playing every character I noticed that endurance isnt exactly a plausable strategy unless you have INSANE hp regeneration like a grog. If you play risky builds like anarchy and things like that the main point I would hold onto is DPS and dishing out as much damage as possible. Especially in the higher levels. I hope this helps a little bit :/.

Also a little note try not to depend too much on skills for regeneration. Get some transfusions for some quick hp!

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#3

Are you using Death Trap heavily, or mostly relying on your guns? Is your shield at level or under-levelled? What other gear are you using?

Enemy damage and health is increased from NVHM to TVHM (as is the number of spawns) so you do have to adjust a little bit and prioritize your targets to take down the big guys first. You should be able to get enough healing from Discord, Transfusion grenades, and health drops during combat that I don’t think you’ll need With Claws. Just keep moving, make use of the cover that’s there, and hit as hard and fast as you can.

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#4

With Blood Soaked Shields, you don’t really need Fancy Mathematics. Those two points would be better spent in Cooking up Trouble for some in-between-healing. As for Turtle shields… They have the highest capacity, and as long as you keep killing stuff, you’ll have full shields, which in turn means full protection. The health reduction they cause is only a problem if you keep standing in front of enemy guns while they use your sorry butt for target practice. Don’t play Gaige the way you play Krieg or Salvador! They can take the beatings and still come out on top. Gaige usually can’t!

You should! Takes some of the heat off your back!

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#5

Yeah, was going to mention that Gaige is not exactly a tank class :laughing:

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#6

She’s more of a glass cannon than anything.

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#7

I don’t know if you’re still level 37, but this could work : http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#543100000000030000000000413150101000

Myelin is very important when using a Turtle Shield, since Shock DoTs can waste you. Cooking Up Trouble is great to regenerate health when you’re between two phases in a fight, and an extra point to Fancy Mathematics is nice. For the rest, it’s up to your choice.

Btw, you’re losing DPS, but you’re definitely not noticing that in TVHM.

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#8

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#540000000000000000000000413150141030
With BSS your health is going to take a hit- Cooking Up Trouble will help with that. Best weapon would be a a two mag size Jakobs coach gun- S,L,F drops the mag size to one, meaning you don’t have to worry about accidentally reloading and you can kill things. Also I can’t see having Close Enough w/o The Nth Degree- IMO they go hand in hand and can let Gaige clear entire rooms in seconds. After this it depends on if you want to focus on the BFF or LBT trees as to which skills to emphasize. Good luck…

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#9

Use Death Trap to your advantage if you’re going to focus on the BFF tree instead of the LBT tree. I’d run with something like this if focusing on the BFF tree:
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#530020100000050000000000412050121000

I recommend getting a good shock weapon or shock grenade to quickly strip their shields and then hit them with an element they’re weak to. Invest in a shotgun for quick stack building and a good SMG to hammer out a stream of constant DPS. And work of to investing into The Nth Degree because, as already mentioned, it compliments Close Enough nicely.

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#10

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, my gear is on-level or close enough (and I’m not using a Turtle shield anymore, but I do seem to have terrible luck for decent shield drops compared to weapons - I’ve had two Madhouses, a Flakker, a Dubble Gub and a Slagga drop in the last couple of days, and I’d give up everything except the Slagga for a decent shield…).

I had points in Fancy Mathematics as well as Blood Soaked Shields because I went up BFF before OC, and didn’t respec because FM still felt useful, but after playing for a bit with 5/5 in BSS, I can see it’s a waste of skill points to have both. My build looks like this at the moment (at level 44 now): http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#540010100000110000000000412150151051, with an L. Mechromancer COM I picked up, hence the 1 point in Better Half and More Pep.

If you play risky builds like anarchy and things like that the main point I would hold onto is DPS and dishing out as much damage as possible.

Yeah, this is pretty much how I do things with Maya too. At one point during my first BL2 playthrough I fell into the habit of picking everything off with sniper rifles, but that got pretty tedious, so now I try for builds that work up close with mobs, usually with pistols and SMGs. That seems to suit Anarchy pretty well, which is one reason I went with Gaige.

Are you using Death Trap heavily, or mostly relying on your guns?

Well… in NVHM, I relied on DT a lot for damage, but I’m going off him a bit now. He seems to spend most of his time getting in the way of my bullets, and his damage is falling off a bit. (I’m not that surprised about the damage falloff, since I haven’t specced much into BFF…)

Right now I’m planning to keep BFF up to Upshot Robot for the duration boost (and Cooking up Trouble / Close Enough, which are both useful), and using him to pull aggro while I do the DPS myself. This is pretty similar to how I play Maya, except with her I’m using Thoughtlock for aggro.

So… I’m looking at LBT for my remaining skill points up to level 72, which I haven’t looked at much until now. I plan to keep 1/5 in More Pep (5/5 with L. Mechromancer) and 4/5 Myelin, but I’m not sure where to go from there. I have trouble landing crits even at close range with more than 150 or so Anarchy stacks, so Shock Storm might not be useful? Since I’ve taken With Claws (and I quite like it so far) I’m looking at Strength of Five Gorillas, which I could take to 10/5 with this COM. I’d appreciate any advice there :slight_smile:

I really like melee builds (Athena’s Blood Rush in TPS is by far by favourite skill of any BL character), but since Gaige isn’t really a melee character, I’m wary of ending up with both mediocre gun damage and melee damage. (I did try Krieg, but I didn’t get on with him at all, I’m doing much better with Gaige so far.)

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#11

On the subject of shields…

image
20161229210419_1.jpg1920×1200 451 KB

Even though the Aequitas is higher capacity and Grounded, with Anarchy meaning I’m usually close to mobs and Blood Soaked Shields recharging the nova, the Bloom is the better choice here, right?

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#12

Tough choice. The 25% Absorb Chance and Shock DoT immunity are pretty nice, but the Deadly Bloom does quite some work.
The Deadly Bloom will probably be better versus mobs, while the Aequitas will probably be better versus Bosses or very tough enemies.

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#13

If you’re relying on the novas to kill stuff, then yes. But better protection is ALWAYS a viable option. With the 5 % health cut on each kill, you can get into trouble if you have a squishy shield, and no reliable healing source. But… It looks like you have a Rubi there, so you can go with whichever shield you like best at this point.

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#14

Jeeze, you committed to the one tree I avoid like the plague. I started with Zer0, and I like to think of myself as a damn good player. Anything that jacks up my accuracy is out. Also since I started with Zer0, my playstyle is defensive. I don’t stand still, I am always moving, I’m harder to hit. Gaige is like a bristling pig of a tank compared to Zer0.

I preffer BFF to start. IMO a VH’s action skill is the biggest asset in the arsenal. Turning DT into a walking timebomb murder machine is my first priority. Once BFF is filled in to my needs I start down the middle tree, and egg up and stack all the elemental damage.

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#15

http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#550010100000150045150510415150151050
I’d have to check but going from memory this is the build for my level 72 Gaige using a L. Catalyst com. Weapons are shock Redundant Fibber, GN, Casual Swordsplosion and Balanced Slagga. Relic is a shock BotA, shield is a FotF (can’t remember if it’s Inflammable or not) and grenade is either MM or Chain Lightning, depending on where she is and the enemies encountered. So far so good as her survivability isn’t in doubt except for raid bosses- a respec might be in order for them…

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