Some Krieg advice?

Borderlands 2 Krieg the Psycho
#1

I’ve got my Krieg through the main story on uvhm and hit lvl70 but there are a few things I’m having problems with.

First , is a melee Krieg viable without StV?
The self hits are completely screwing me even though I try not to spam the melee button.
Second , what are some good tactics to let your health get to a third to trigger RtB without getting dropped?

What gear should I get first when I hit 72?
I’ve seen that alot of people use low level bonnys to slag but are there any good alternatives?

Any advice would be appreciated.

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#2

1-Yes, you can play Krieg w/o StV- you just lose a lot of the melee damage though.

2-As far as tactics to lose health just jump into the middle of a group of enemies and start fighting- your health will be gone in no time :grin: Seriously though, my issue is making sure to hit RtB in time before going into FFL- plenty of enemies will take care of lowering your health so don’t worry too much about that.

3- Since you’re going melee try for a Love Thumper- being a quest reward it should be the easiest roid shield to get. Some folks also like the Rough Rider to take advantage of Krieg’s no shield skills. A Hide of Terra if you ever get lucky enough for it to drop; also either the Law or Rapier- all other bladed weapons make Krieg suffer a melee penalty when used. As for alternatives to the low level slag Bouncing Bonny the Magic Missile grenade mod from the Tiny Tina dlc, a slag Nasty Surprise or a slag Crossfire from the seraph vendor in the Badass Crater of Badassitude might work as well. Good luck…

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#3

Thanks for replying.
One of the problems is hitting RtB between having it available and getting put into ffyl.

What penalty is there for bladed weapons?
I can get the love thumper at 72 but is there a side effect with it I have to watch for?

#4

Yes, but if you’re going melee you WANT StV. It isn’t the negative you think it is. A well times whack to the face can give you a RtB opportunity, and you have to understand that it’s RNG so you’ll hit yourself 5 times in a row sometimes but other times you’ll clear an entire mob without hitting yourself even once. StV is a lifestyle choice as Krieg, are you going to embrace him to the maximum, or just go halfway? If halfway, make an explosive build with a Fastball and Flesh Crunch COM. If you want to melee everything to death as quickly as possible, you take StV and don’t look back.

Anything with 50% extra are worthless in his hands because he does more damage without them. A Law or Rapier however can do more damage.

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#5

http://bl2skills.com/psycho.html#52505515055150550015150100000000000

This was my Krieg build at 72. No StV, but made great use of a roid shield (I had a Hide of Terra that I gifted down from another character), and then focused on busting out explosive weaponry when I wasn’t in RtB. I had a lot of fun with this build, and didn’t really notice that StV started to be a necessity until I was well into climbing the Peak.

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#6

My build at 72

http://bl2skills.com/psycho.html#50502515055150550105155100000000000

This is good because I can jump from Flesh Crunch, Legendary Sickle and Legendary Reaper, and I don’t really need to change anything.

#7

Consider the Rough Rider shield until you can learn to tolerate the self attack. Whilst wearing that you can usually hit yourself 4 - 5 times before entering FFYL which gives you loads of leeway. Nice health boost too!

Tactics for getting to <33% health? Spray the afflicted area with some sort of slag (I like the Slagga) whilst rushing the nearest idiot that turned purple. The gun fire will take care of your health and then everything just kinda…dies! Spiderants/stalkers are the worst though as it takes forever for them to do enough damage to send you into a rage!

You asked about the side effect of the Love Thumper - don’t equip it in co-op unless you like reviving people all the time or worse yet walking 20 miles to get a car :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

Thanks for the replies.
@Vinterbris I might take your advice and go half melee/ half explosive. I seem to be chaining self hits of 3&4 every group of enemies!

@Psymonkee do I need a high or low level roughrider? Ill have to remember to keep my distance if I use the lovethumper. Unless im feeling mischievous :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

@Carlton_Slayer im lucky enough to have an OP4 hide of terra waiting for me.
Ive just got to get there first. :anguished:

@farsight37 as soon as I hit 72 ill check out that build.

Thanks again guys.

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#9

On an unrelated note, if you have a Gaige or make one in future, take Sharing is Caring and equip a Love Thumper then join public lobbies, you’ll be loved by all!

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#10

Sounds intriguing. :thinking:

#11

A non-StV melee build is perfectly viable until around OP 4. I used one with a Leg. Reaper until I just couldn’t kill anything. I then switched over to StV and a Leg. Sickle and haven’t looked back.

The level and parts determine the health boost (the DR is always 20%), so get the highest one you can.

#12

Ninja’d but what he said :stuck_out_tongue:

You can make Krieg pretty tanky and deal insane damage but you’ll need to find the gear that weeks best for you.

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#13

The rough rider is farmable from that bullock thing isnt it?

#14

From The Bulwark, yes.

#15

For melee Krieg, I’ve not found it to be viable without STV past the high fifties. You lose too much damage and it takes forever to kill big things, in which case you are going down anyway. I learned a lot from Spunky117’s videos on youtube. I suggest a viewing of a few, especially for the OP levels.

The Roughrider is key because it mitigates STV damage to reasonable levels with it’s damage reduction bonus. It’s essential at the higher OP levels. That OP4 Hide of Terra won’t help, because your health doesn’t scale so you do more self damage with the higher roid rating. Fortunately, you do so much damage with boosted STV, you don’t need a roid shield.

The rest of the gear is pretty optional for melee Krieg. You just need to slag, I like the magic missiles, but delayed bouncing betty’s and other delayed AOE slag grenades are useful because they are still going off in RTB. I saw a video from someone on these forums, might have been Bew, where they used the Slowhand to have the option of taking themselves into RTB mode when you are in that annoying area just above it.

The Sherrif’s badge is quite useful for bosses you can’t reliably melee because it increases the axe chucking rate. If you are spec’d into Hellborn at all, the Bee only works with non elemental guns. At OP8, I use the Bekah and the Bee against bosses like Bunker, but the poor man’s version, the Hammer Buster, or maybe a non elemental Sandhawk would be almost as good.

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#16

The health increase from the Blood of the Ancients relic combined with that of the Rough Rider helps lengthen the health bar, giving you a bit more health points at the requisite RtB stage. At least it seemed to help me.

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#17

Krieg certainly has a steep learning curve!
I go from bloodsplodin everything in sight, to getting pecked to death from BA varkids and then dying from kicking my own ass.

I was going to spec out of StV because its destroying me , but ill try the roughrider and blood of ancients first.

I haven’t touched hellborn at all yet. Maybe when I’ve got Krieg figured out better ill give it a go.
@Gulfwulf didn’t I read the other day that you never use hellborn?

Off to the farm I go… :grimacing:

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#18

If you have points in salt the wound (and thereby getting additional shotgun damage), then a slag shotgun is an option as well.

#19

In my opinion : HELL NO. You can’t give up that 250% Melee Damage in UVHM.[quote=“MeatPopsicle, post:1, topic:1560377”]
Second , what are some good tactics to let your health get to a third to trigger RtB without getting dropped?
[/quote]

Just run into fire, Slag as much enemies as you can and Release the Beast. Keep an eye on your health, you just need some timing. Practice is the way to go :slight_smile: !

Weapons : decent Slag weapon, Double Penetrating Unkempt Harold. The two other slots are up to you.
Class Mod : Legendary Sickle COM.
Shield : Rough Rider or Adaptive Shields (if you have a Rough Rider, just use it, it really is the best option especially if StV bothers you.) If you aren’t in OP levels, you can use Roid Shields.
Grenade : any Slag Betty will do the trick (no matter the level, rarity or manufacturer) as long as it’s not Rubberised.
Relic : your choice between those : Sheriff’s Badge for the axe throwing rate. Strength Relics (if you have the UCP) for extra Melee Damage. Health Relics for some more tankiness, making you even harder to take out.

These are pretty easy to farm for, and IMO it is the optimal gear for going through UVHM and OP levels.

If you have some questions, feel free to ask again :smiley: ! I’ll be more than happy to help you out.

#20

Yep. Not a big fan of it. @xmngr is the Hellborn guru.

250% without a COM. :dukewhistle:

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