Fastball Axton
After the switch from the old boards to the new ones, I decided to repost this build.
Intro
The legendary grenade known as the Fastball got an insane damage buff thanks to the loot hunt in late 2013. Now, it will annihilate everything on any character. Even with the insane damage reduction of OP 8, enemies will fall left and right if you have a Fastball in your pocket.
Grenades are one of Axton’s fortes, so naturally, the fastball is INSANELY powerful after maxing out his skills related to grenade damage. As a bombardier of unstoppable force, Axton can rely on Fastballs alone better than any character, given that he has a trusty loadout of decent weapons as an occasional backup.
The end result involves a lot of practice since throwing fastballs requires ultra precision and quite a learning curve. Keep practicing but don’t give up on the amazing amount of DPS you could be hitting. It took me a few days to get to the point of being able to clear zones with this setup. This build is a TON of fun. Those who have also tried a similar setup, please comment and give your opinion on how you prefer to use the Fastball on Axton.
Skills
There are many ways to play with a Fastball. It can be your FFYL weapon if your aim is good. You might prefer to use it as a kill skill activator: Throw a FB, quickly kill an enemy, then activate the bonuses from Metal Storm and Onslaught.
I prefer to use it as my primary form of assault. I found that the speed boosts from Onslaught throw off my aim as I cant hit targets while moving as easily. But you might be much more comfortable with using Onslaught, in which case you should take as many points from it as long as there are 4 skills that are maxed out. These skills give boosts to Grenade Damage. They are:
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Steady
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Battlefront
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Do or Die
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Grenadier
My spec ended up looking like this – http://www.bl2skills.com/commando.html#55050055015302505010005050145000
Some may prefer moving a point from Resourceful to Longbow Turret since the cooldown loss may be worth the huge turret HP boost.
Occasionally, you may want to consider this for additional survivability – http://bl2skills.com/commando.html#05050054005302515010005050145051
5 points in Grit in place of Double Up. You lose one grenade capacity though.
Gear
Fastball (all elements)
Blue Expert Grenadier (+6 Steady, +5 Grenadier)
*Note that a Purple Expert Grenadier Class Mod would also work well since it can also boost Impact for your guns.
Big Boom Blaster (~20% chance of dropping grenade booster)
**I chose to go with one that had around a 1.98 delay and it gets the job done.
Bone of the Ancients (all elements except slag since the FB does not come in that flavor)
Explosive Elemental Relic (since there is no explosive BotA variant)
***A stockpile relic would also work fine. The maximum is +4 with a purple one, if I recall.
The extra elemental damage can be devastating when paired with the right class mod. I chose to run around with 20 Fastballs and it seems to be just right.
Gameplay
You might want to practice somewhere open and easy like Three Horns before you’re ready to venture to places like The Beatdown. But once you find your nack for tossing FBs… MAYHEM.
Hold a Grog Nozzle while throwing and you will heal instantly. I keep the Grog in my hand 90% of the time for this reason. Any Moxxi healing weapon would do nicely though. A bit of slag can ensure instantaneous death-dealing!
DoTs can be somewhat helpful when you are strapped for ammo. Since you are constantly taking damage, grenade boosters will tend to drop one after another. I have been unsuccessful at recreating this effect with self-inflicted damage. From what I have seen, it needs to be either from an enemy weapon or a barrel. Stripping shields with chain lightening or a Logan’s gun do not allow you to drop grenade boosters on demand.
Video
Here is a Bloodshot Stronghold run I did back when I put together the original thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6S_iir-XlM
