What's your strategy for slagging as Zer0?

Borderlands 2 Zer0 the Assassin
#1

As stated in title, but with particular emphasis on early UVHM stages (51-60), which is where I am right now. Currently trying to figure out melee Zer0 in a post-TVHM world.

#2

For my Vladof allegiance build, I prefer my slag Stinger, but I have a slag Patriot and Blaster if I want to save my pistol ammo for other weapons.

For my Jakobs allegiance build, I use a Maliwan slag transfusion (Zer0’s own healing skills are pretty weak, Jakobs does not make grenades, Moxxi weapons, nor anything in slag, so this one exception covers all those bases).

If my Zer0 wasn’t an allegiance build, I would use the Slagga and Maliwan slag Transfusion grenades. I like the Magic Missile, but its slow homing nature combined with self-damaging splash can make timing Execute tricky so you don’t eat the grenade splash yourself. Plus, tossing the Transfusion at a distance from an enemy and letting the orbs hit them while you’re in Decepti0n can prevent them from becoming aggro and give you ample time to get into Decepti0n, close distance, and get into position if you put enough distance between the grenade point of impact and the target.

#3

Grog nozzle
Transfusion grenades
Slag pimpernel
Magic missiles

All depending on the build.
If you are focusing on melee I would recommend getting a slag pimp if you don’t have acces to a evisceration grog nozzle. And maybe even if you have.

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#4

I use a slag Rapier and slag Rubi for all of my slagging needs. Kunai will some times apply slag as well, but not reliable. My main focus is melee.

#5

It depends on what kind of build I play but 80% of the time its a longbow slag Transfusion with 0.0 fuse.

#6

Is the Rapier available from any source other than the Hayter’s Folly “Message in a Bottle”? Probably not a big deal, as I usually go at least that far in DLC1 before pausing progress until max level.

Also curious about how folks handle mobs, since it seems it should help to have them at least slagged before attempting to chain MMF? Any mileage in a slag bouncing betty, or something with a really wide AoE?

#7

The Rapier is only available from that mission (or trading obviously).

I personally don’t count on ever chaining MMF in UVHM for more than like two kills (more than that is just gravy), but I’m not an agressive melee player either (I never use roid shields for their melee buff, for example). Chaining MMF in UVHM almost certainly requires slag… a Transfusion does have a big area of effect, but you can’t count on the orbs to go where you want, where with a bouncing betty (or one of Dahl’s legendary betties if you want everything slagged), you can focus the slag where you want it. With the betties, you have to watch the final grenade explosion though.

#8

It is only availible as a quest reward. Its lvl doesn’t matter at all. You will not be able to kill anything with its bullets anyway.
I also wouldn’t recommend it for slagging as it is highly unreliable.

For MMF chains you want ro atleast slag your big main target (typically the first one you hit). If you move on to small trahmobs after that it will be enough to kunai them.

But if you carry a reliable slagging tool like the slag pimpernel it will be no problem slagging quite a few mobs between cooldowns.

#9

So I customised the game controls to put melee on RB, crouch on RS-toggle, and grenade on B (XBox). Taking a little getting used to, but I did find one reason why I was having a hard time with melee on RS - the switch is sticky, and doesn’t always register. RB is much smoother, and doesn’t throw my aim off either. Will keep practising with this layout for a while, but so far a definite improvement!

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#10

I had a similar setup in BL2, except I had crouch for B and grenade for RS for the same reason of being able to look around freely while finger is ready to melee at any moment with RB, but in my case I was more comfortable with B for crouch as that was the same button I used for crouch for many other console games.

I’ve been using this since I started playing BL2 release, including now in TPS and it’s basically second nature for me now. I’m sure you’ll feel the same soon enough after some hours of game time.

Hope it all goes well for you. :smile:

#11

@Riviet:
So far so good, thanks! Chained two executes and a third kill while clearing a mob of bullymongs the other day, which felt good. I still occasionally toss a grenade in my face when I go to crouch to get a better look at something (old habits die hard!), but I’m liking the revised scheme on all my characters. And I just scored a slag Amped Gwen’s Head for my Zer0 on my first UVHM visit to Ellies, so a good day!

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#12

Try and swap your crouch and melee so you have melee on RB, grenade on R3 and crouch on B.

That way you don’t have to lift your fingers when you shield strip and melee.

#13

There’s actually a preset layout you can customise that gives you that easily (Angelic?) - it’s the one I tweaked a second time to get grenade on B. Hadn’t thought about shield stripping when I started UVHM Zer0, as I have not really used roid shields on any of my characters. Will have to think about that one - I’m not sure the micromanagement is going to work for me.

#14

Give it a few hours and it will be muscle memory before you know it.

  1. Slag
  2. Deception
  3. Kunai
  4. Strip shield
  5. Attack

Good luck!

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#15

Kunai and hope. Also throwing Magic Missiles before going into deception, and after killing something.

#16

i just swap grenade for melee… but i found that fire rate and some skills don’t seem to proc with fire/ads on l/r2. i put those back to l/r1.

r3 for grenade toss works well.

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