New to BL2, Choosing a character

Borderlands 2 BL2 General Discussion
#1

Hey guys,

im kinda new to the game, as in, i’ve only ever completed the first play through. My friends playing as Maya, And he’s still at the same point as me. I’d played through as gaige, and it wasnt my thing.

I wanted to play a character that i can have fun with on my own, and with a friend! that utilises the fun of the game with the guns, (i feel thats what BL2 and the BL series in general) i didnt want to play as Axton, and i feel that Krieg doesnt really make the most of the weapons.

Which leaves me with Salvador, or Zero? Which of those two characters would you say is more fun? maybe less " you need this weapon to do great "

Thanks for any help

#2

Most people consider Sal to be easymode from what I’ve read.
Other than Krieg I’d say Zero is the most challenging and most gear dependent , but alot of fun once you get him figured out.

#3

For me Zero is more fun and he is my favorite character but that’s not to say he might feel awful for you and you might like Sal more.

Zero doesn’t really do anything special in NVHM until you’ve cleared maybe 2/3 of the campaign. The only real game changers earlyish on are Execute if you go melee or Unforeseen if you go Cunning (that skill destroys NVHM and TVHM but don’t get too reliant on it if you plan on going all the way to OP8). Neither of them is really a gun skill though. I don’t feel Zero is too dependant on specific gear even if you go with a gun build; I’ve level up a few Zero’s fron 1 to 72 and the only thing I specifically always pick up is a slag pimpernel at level 50 because it’s one of my favorite guns, one of the best guns in the game and is a good slagging tool to send me off to UVHM. But you don’t need to pick it up.

Sal I’ve only fully leveled up once. You get to think which weapons work the best together for his AS and can try a lot of different combinations. This is just my opinion and I’m sure a lot of people will disagree but I didn’t really enjoy leveling Sal up at first in NVHM. It’s just that I felt like I kept doing the same thing for all of the playthrough. I’m also not too thrilled about the way he plays in general. I’m sure you can get a more indepth look at the fun side of Sal from someone else.

My advice would be to make 1 of both and play the beginning of the game until you reach level 5 (should take less than an hour if memory serves). When you get your action skill try it out on a few enemies and I’m pretty sure you know which is more up your alley then and there. Why don’t you want to play as Axton?

#4

There’s a short over-view of each character in this post, which you might find helpful as you’re just starting out in the game.

Of the two you mention, I’d go Sal - Zer0 is a bit more complicated to learn to play well, and can be frustrating in certain key missions if you specced into melee. Although personally, my first two characters were Axton and Maya (still my favourites). So if you start with one character and it’s not really feeling right to you, try another. You can always come back and resume any character at any time, so no loss.

3 Likes
#5

Zer0, especially if you’re co-oping with a Maya.

#6

All characters take a bit of learning and understanding before you can make the most out of them. Zero is a great character, but is very squishy. He doesn’t have the healing skills that all the other characters have, and therefore you may run into problems every now and then. But… He is awesome once you get him going! That’s for sure! :wink:

Although Sal also needs to be played “right”, he’s more forgiving for a beginner. But he can do some craaazy stuff!

#7

Between Sal and Zero, I’d strongly recommend Sal for the reasons VaultHunter101 and Ronnie_Rayburn gave.

I’d also suggest Maya - nothing wrong with a pair of them when you’re doing co-op, and she’s fantastic solo! She’s by far my favorite vault hunter in BL2.

#8

Nothing wrong with 2 mayas, she has great survival and decent damage, good for solo once properly geared. I main both her and gaige, gaige is more of a glass cannon sorta but as long as you kill stuff blood soaked shields takes care of your survival problem on her. If you choose Maya and play with your friend I highly recommend one of you go into her healing tree, sweet release,wreck,minds eye are really good.

#9

Sal and Zero were the first two characters I tried when visiting friends, and having gotten them both to OP8 I’d say try Sal first- Zero is the ultimate glass cannon and can be squishy as mentioned and against certain bosses will have a tough time if say you go melee. Sal is definitely more tankier and has health and ammo skills that will really help keep him alive while you learn his intricacies.

#10

I don’t think Salvador is good as first character, because gunzerking is a mess. For first time playthrough I recommend character that’s good for experimenting around and getting familiar with guns and equipment, to get used to combat agaisnt the great variety of enemy types in game. Salvador basicially spits on all of that because he can just run&gun while regenerating health. Also he requires knowledge to use his gunzerking to it’s full potential. I think Salvador is probably the worst character you could pick up for your first.

#11

The best ones to start playing are Maya and Axton. They are well balanced between damage and survivability and their Action Skill is reliable from the start to the end of the game.

Zer0 is a lot more fragile and Salvador is… well, he isnt like the others.