I have a friend who recently jumped back into this game for coop with me, and he only ran one character, Zero, up to level 55 at the start of UVHM. So this is his first taste. I’ve given him some weapons and coms to get him up to par for gear. He’s not really a melee fan, but he’s also finding that he can’t line up headshots fast enough with a sniper rifle. I was hoping I could make some suggestions for ways to respec and not focus on one of these, but I haven’t played Zero enough to be helpful. Just wondered if anyone knows of a way to make this character more playable for him. I’ve been using Axton with him, hoping that the turrets might draw some attention.
He has a Bee and a DPUH close to his level, if that helps.
2 Likes
VaultHunter101
(So long, and thanks for all the fish)
#2
Plenty of them!
This is my current level 69 Zer0 build, which I play mainly as a gun build with melee from Deception for health regen:
I found this one that seemed to be built more for using the bee with things like the Sandhawk. He’s only level 55, so which skills would be best to leave off for now?
You can put the last 6 point either in “At one with the gun” and “critical ascension” when you want to use more snipers, or in “two fang” and “execute” when you really only want to use guns ( recommand Jakobs shotguns!)
Great, I’ll pass this on to him. I kept encouraging him to use deception with the bee and dpuh to get some free big hits up close, so I’ll ask if he was using Bore.
Lord of Death has nearly that same build but with a few tweaks: http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505151510050445104510550500000
He uses a L. Killer com (or L. Sniper, as some of that com’s bonus’s apply to all guns, not just SR), Casual Swordsplosion, Rubi/GN, Slagga and-of course- the Infinity. Any good quasar grenade is used for crowd control and a good Tesla for healing with the Rubi/GN. You could switch out the Swordsplosion with an UH if you’ve not done the Tiny Tina dlc yet. A blue Killer, Stalker or Professional com works well with this build as the 2 legendary coms I mentioned are only available after hitting 62+ or pick up a Survivor com if you want the health regen…
I also have a Spy build that uses neither (well, it uses snipers, but there isn’t much sniping)
Zero is great with pistols, shotguns, snipers… you name it.
I’ve never really played Melee and I don’t really dig the sniper playstyle, but i’ve played Zero with just about anything else…
Just go look at the Top Gear thread
4 Likes
paulothead
(AN awkward, not THE Awkward, Yeti)
#12
You’ve already heard from better, and more experienced, Zer0 players than myself, but these are my two cents, FWIW. This is where I was at 55. I used a lot of one shot Jakobs shotties (coach guns FTW) with this setup. The rest of my gear was slag transfusion nades (longbow, lowest fuse I could find), elemental Droogs (or Lyudas if I was lucky), Jakobs AR’S (gatling w/o scopes or single shot with), Diaubs, Hyperion shotties and Dahl ARs for element matching, adaptive shields with Bees in the backpack, legendary Hunter coms when I had them and Survivor coms when I didn’t. I was working toward Execute to close distance. Killing blow was just to get to Grim, it didn’t do much for me until I had Execute. I used Deception to get away and/or apply Death Mark with Kunai to start an engagement.
All this great advice for my buddy, and now you’ve got me wanting to dust off the zero toon I abandoned.
One question: so many people max the middle tree and take Kunai. Just how effective are they? When I read the description I thought they didn’t sound like much.
It’s not so much that they can cause elemental damage (and also kill you if you mis-time your Execute) but that Kunai can apply also apply Death Mark, which stacks. This means that a x4 Zero can each apply their own Death Mark to a single target, allowing them to really bring the pain.
3 Likes
paulothead
(AN awkward, not THE Awkward, Yeti)
#15
I have two Assassins: one’s a Jakobs rep (so he’s built down the sniping tree with some other stuff) and the other is a Vladof rep (so he’s built down the melee tree with some other stuff). 80% of my combat with either one is still run and gun though.
For Kunai, only one needs to hit an enemy to mark it for death, so spamming them from a distance usually means at least one will hit (and it’s a good a thing to do as any while you’re burning down your Decepti0n timer for that damage bonus).
As others have said, Kunai is amazing because it allows for long-range application of DM. Ever since the Oct 29 patch, Kunai can no longer stack, but now a single Kunai gives you +80% multiplicative to ALL damage sources, whether it’s gun, melee or grenade damage. Effectively, Kunai makes all of Zer0’s attacks almost twice as potent, and make him far more potent coming out of Decepti0n. It may not be as fancy as CA or MMF, but Kunai is the core of all Zer0 builds.
A full volley of kunai can also kill an average target on its own. Less so at OP8 of course, but even then if it procs slag and corrosive it can still melt a loader without help ( admittedly that may be because it’s getting roid boost so ignore the “without help” part ).
I’ve run this build for years, and it still wrecks, even on OP8 Solo (As I usually only play solo). Your best partner with this build is a Siren though. Pairing with Phaselock makes you insanely powerful.
There are three things you need to know about this build: It is very gear-dependant (Although most gear shouldn’t be hard to come across these days); you have to be very aware of where all your enemies are (Because you are somewhat of a glass cannon), and also where to hit them for crits.
The gear you need is as follows (Won’t take up every slot, so feel free to add whatever you like in the blank spots):
Hyperion Rightsizing Bitch & Bone of the Ancients. I suggest Shock elemental on both, but it’s whatever you like. Shock just gives better coverage IMO. This is your primary weapon.
Gentlemen’s Pimpernel - Slag. You main source of Slagging in UVHM & OP8.
Legendary Killer Mod - For the Cooldown rate & extra Crit damage.
The Bee Shield. That’s the key to the build. It’s sort of like Beehawking but not as cheap.
Quasar grenade - For making sure most of your enemies are in one place. Plus the boosted shock damage is great as well.
I also like to keep a shotgun for emergencies - either a Slag Butcher or Shock Conference Call. But it’s not essential.
I think what i’ve been running should be pretty clear by now - Boost the Crit damage with the Bitch, Legendary Hunter and Zero’s sniping abilities, then slag for the damage buff and go to town. You should be able to keep any enemies at arm’s length (even bosses). If something DOES get too close, you’ve still got a pretty decent melee strike + Deception & Kunai can get you out of a jam.
I’ve run this build for a long, long time (Zero has been my main since day 1) and while you CAN occasionally die from a blindside attack, it’s made the majority of the game an absolute breeze.
doesn’t make sence with grim.
