New Zer0 Player....Likes/Dislikes

Borderlands 2 Zer0 the Assassin
#1

Am new to Zer0 but a longtime BL2 player…

Thought I’d share some observations so far at level 40

Dislikes:

Dialog is just…boring and mundane…I mean compare Zer0’s dialog to someone like Axton’s and it’s not even close. Axton, to this day, makes me chuckle. Zer0…not so much.

He’s a tad squishy…can be terribly squishy till you start getting the right gear/playstyle and skill points and even then he will never be a tank by any stretch.

That’s about it for dislikes…I’m finding him FUN and different and he is forcing me out of my “guns only-non meleee playstyle” little by little so that is good! Expanding my horizons so to speak. (Hell, I just learned to play PvP for the first time in my life in Battleborn…figured it was time to learn melee a bit…even if I only do a Hybrid Melee…LOL)

Likes:

Snipers…oh my he is just GREAT with Snipers and since I played mostly a Commando, snipers became a VERY little used weapon once I got above about level 55. I LOVE sniper rifles!

He’s great with almost any other gun as well! And since I like a guns playstyle…that’s good!

Deception is GREAT and I am getting better and better at using it and throwing it at the right moments to get into a rhythm.

Death Mark…Death Blossom…Critical Ascension…Killing Blow. I mean what is there not to like! And he really has VERY few non useful or effective skills from what I can tell.

Still Getting Used To:

Hit Boxes

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#2

At what point did you find his squishiness dropped to acceptable levels? :slight_smile: That’s the reason he’s my #6 character. Looking at the skill tree, there’s no self-healing at all until level 21 opens up Innervate or Resurgence.

I suppose once he has Moxxi guns and transfusion grenades he might be OK…

#3

You start to get into a rhythm …with practice …but believe me, I still die a LOT…LOL

Playstyle has to change from other characters. Stand off as much as possible…snipe from RANGE. If you get caught in close quarters, throw Deception IMMEDIATELY and re position. Keep throwing deception and mix it with melee and shotgun blasts to the face till you can separate.

You can throw deception…run, hide,attack melee or shoot. And that 10% health rebuild really saves your butt if you can get it right.

Moxxi helps.

Transfusions help.

I also found that a Turtle Shield with a resistance relic I found with Shock,Fire and Corrosive resistance has helped me a lot. Because gun and melee wise, he has the firepower to get the job done without the boosts from a relic or special shield. He just has to LIVE long enough.

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#4

For me, I really enjoy his haiku’s and choise of wording in general. I can understand it does not appeal to everyone. Also the later DLC’s destroyed his voice for the lines specific to those but I’m used to it now so I don’t care much.[quote=“johnrr6, post:1, topic:1554307”]
He’s a tad squishy…can be terribly squishy till you start getting the right gear/playstyle and skill points and even then he will never be a tank by any stretch.
[/quote]

That’s part of the fun. He has amazing damage potential but little survivability via skills. Using other gamesystems like transfusion grenades or moxxi weapons and using stuff like terrain (cover, vantage for fast kills…) to your advantage and using your action skill for things other than just damage becomes something of a habit over time.[quote=“johnrr6, post:1, topic:1554307”]
Deception is GREAT and I am getting better and better at using it and throwing it at the right moments to get into a rhythm.
[/quote]

It’s the most fun action skill in the game for me. You’ll notice you’ll be using it more and more for stuff like shield recharge, safe reloading, repositioning and not just lining up a single shot for damage. Although you can of course do that on top of everything else! It’s great and feels rewarding.

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#5

Zero isn’t a tank! Never has been, and never will be. And he was never supposed to be a tank either, for that matter. He’s like a really great Stradivarius. Play it right, and it will sound fantastic. But play it wrong… Yeah, you get the picture. :slight_smile:

Deception is your best friend. Use it as often as possible, and keep moving. Standing still means trouble. Plan your attacks! Don’t just rush in to an area without any idea of which enemies to take out first. I got some really great advice from some real pros in this thread. I feel it’s my duty to pass that advice along.

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#6

This might sound weird but once you get to the end game with sniper Zer0 you might find yourself more and more in the fray with a sniper in hand. Hanging back is obviously a great safe strat for where it works but certain areas like the peak will have about as much jumping around with hipshots as it has safe distance lining up because of all the melee enemies and the fact that things don’t necessarily die in 1 or 2 shots anymore.

When I very first started I used mostly Jacobs snipers and the far away strat but it’s not very effective in some areas when you go into UVHM. Sniping in BL2 can get a bit counterintuitive in that sense but it adds to the variety IMO. Then of course there is the Pimpernel which is another level of counterintuitive sniping on its own.

EDIT: If you don’t mind, I’d love to see your skillbuild so far. You can do it here and copy the address back here when done.
http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#000000000000000000000000000000

#7

Zer0 can be frustrating to level since he’s relies heavily on twin capstone synergy and melee is nigh impossible to maintain the requisite on level gear for.

Thus, I tend to play sniper during the levelling grind (which is still a fun playstyle).

End game though, melee Zer0 with the right gear is the best thing in the game.

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#8

Most of the time I go with the mid tree first. The snipe and melee trees are a bit specialised while the mid works with everything. Also Unf0reseen and Death Bl0ss0m just kill everything on NVHM / TVHM and you are going to go down there in any case. After that on level 31 onwards you can decide if you want to max grim and get execute firsts or go for the crit / reload buffs and bore first. I usually do the latter. Going about it like that gives you bore for TVHM Bunker and saturn while maxing Grim at the beginning of UVHM where it starts to matter.

Going specifically for the sniper or melee tree while leveling can be a pain though, agreed. If you don’t hit a good melee shield for a while, for example, you’re just going to wish you were doing something else instead. My usual level up route is designed to be pretty universal and works with everything.

If someone wants I can make a fast guide to how I do it with some why’s thrown in.

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#9

I agree with both of these. It’s more like he’s inherently squishy, in that, his healing skills are really only great if you’re chaining Many Must Fall kills (where Innervate is up constantly, and Resurgence/Grim are firing constantly). When/if you explore that aspect of his character, you’ll see a very unique side to the game though.

How is Critical Ascensi0n treating you? Are you pre-stacking or otherwise loading somewhere before combat, or picking them up as combat allows? Even low levels can give huge damage bonuses quickly.

What sniper rifle(s) are you using?

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#10

Am at level 43:

Level 39 Purple Unequaled Professional (Shield Cap and Reload)
+4 Two Fang
+3 Killer
+3 Ambush

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000050053155110000000000

DM and DB are game changers…mixed with Unforseen and a Singularity…Wow

Was starting to struggle badly till I switched to this build .

Also a Golden Key gave me a sweet Casual Ravager (which as a former Commando, I know how to abuse it well.)

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#11

Anything I can get my hands on but I’m partial to Droogs and Lyuda’s…The Dahl ones have worked really well as well and a stupid Moloko Corrosive Railer got me through the WEP and Friendship Gulag just fine…LOL

#12

I can understand that you don’t enjoy his quotes. I did not like them at first, all other Hunters have so lively and funny quotes and Zer0 always talks so cool and emotionless, but I actually got to like him after playing with him to UVHM (and beyond).

In think Zer0 and Maya are the most fun to play as their action skill actually require some aiming/positioning, but that’s just my opinion.

I don’t like Dahl Snipers, but I am totally with you on the Lyuda (and other Droogs). Pimpernel is of course the best in many situations so I always have on with me.

#13

He’s my original character and my main. I’d be lying if I told you I enjoyed every moment of it; being a n00b and grinding through UVHM with him for the first time was a nightmare.

But, it all pays off and I think he’s by far the most rewarding character at max level with the right gear/build.

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#14

Heh, aside from that point in Two fang that is exactly the route I tend to take when leveling a new Zer0. Aside from melee stuff going like that should allow you to use pretty much whatever you can get your hands on which is pretty nice while leveling up.

#15

Yeah, he’s squishy. To get the most out of him, particularly at higher levels, you need the right shields, Transfusions or Moxxi weapons and to make good use of Deception. You need to find his rhythm to survive and be effective. Zer0 is most definitely not a tank. He’s an evasive character by nature and his action skill and playstyles are completely designed around that concept. Like you, I also went from playing Axton exclusively to playing Zer0 and I gotta say that playing Zer0 for a while actually made me a better Axton player, precisely because of those aspects of the character’s playstyle that I wasn’t used to and didn’t have to pay much attention to when playing Axton. I’m definitely not saying that you, out of all people, would need to do anything to become a better Axton player, since you’re already one of our Axton experts around here… But once you go back to Axton after playing Zer0, it’s a whole different world. You might feel that it added a whole new level of play to the whole thing.

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#16

I’m running Axton now with Zer0 as my main and although I haven’t noticed anything specifically I inherited from playstyle, I have been very successful with him to date.

Maybe there’s something to your theory!

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#17

Zero is squishy but that’s by design. In his case, the age old philosophy “don’t get hit” is even more true.

Zero is all about execution: play him right and you will not even notice that he is squishy.
Play him wrong, and you’ll die before you hit the floor.

With Zero, you’ll know when you mess up :stuck_out_tongue:

#18

I’m messing up a lot LOL…but getting better.

Game changer for me (so far) is the DM-DB combo.

With Axton, you can find yourself getting lazy and not moving as much.

That’s a death sentence with Zer0. Movement is life for him.

And I absolutely agree…playing Zer0 WILL make me a better Axton player.

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#19

Can a gun Zer0 make it all the way through the Peak to 80??

Or…at some point do you have to just give in and go melee?

#20

I found myself asking the opposite: Can a melee Zer0 make it all the way through the Peak to 80, or at some point do you have to just give in and use guns? :laughing:

Gun Zer0 can totally get to 80.

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