Getting the most out of No Kill Like Overkill (NKLO)

Borderlands 2 Salvador the Gunzerker
#1

(semi - permanent ~ * 5 times weapon damage while mobbing sounds fun ? read on ! )

NKLO is a kill skill capstone that adds up to 4 * CardWeaponDamage * (1 + Gun damage additive bonuses) TO ALL GUN SHOTS FOR 7 seconds OR until it self OVERWRITES with new overkill damage value.

( multiple projectile weapons miss out since their damage per shot = CardWeaponDamage * # Projectiles. So a single projectile SR/Pistol/SMG/AR can get up to 1 + 4 = 5 times its damage from NKLO . But say a shotgun with 15 pellets on card can get at most 15 pellets + 4 * 1 pellets … 19/15 = 1.26 times … WAY less improvement on the damage per shot. Similar to how tediore shotguns are bad for throwing explosions since the damage is calculated based on the damage of a SINGLE pellet. Not all shotguns suffer the same, for example Orphan Maker has 2 (or 4) HARD hitting projectiles and likes NKLO much better than most(ALL ?) other shotguns )

So all it takes is Salvador killing enemies before the 7 seconds run out ? Easy, Salvador can kill Multiple enemies in 7 seconds without breaking a sweat…

The problem: Killing enemies fast will certainly trigger NKLO and give you the icon in the UI BUT DO YOU GET THE DAMAGE?
See NKLO can be an extremely shoot in footist skill if one does not pay attention to what he’s doing BECAUSE IT OVERWRITES THE DAMAGE BONUS IT PROVIDES EVERY TIME YOU KILL SOMETHING NEW (and again salvador kills lots of stuff quickly).
(the game UI doesn’t really help on this matter. YAY NKLO is on but am I getting 20 million damage or 1 ? If the icon showed a percentages as of how much of its max damage its providing for each weapon , it would’ve been much more useful player feedback)

In order to get optimal uptime / (massive) damage bonus NKLO is capable of providing one DOESN’T SIMPLY NEED TO KILL THINGS. ONE MUST OBLITERATE HIS TARGET EACH AND EVERY TIME with huge overkill amounts !! (NO ACCIDENTS)

Tall order you say ?

Lets try looking at this from the another angle. What removes NKLO uber damage bonus ? Wimpy low damage kills that whom !

How do wimpy (low overkill damage) kills come to be ? :

  • killing non slagged targets !
  • using wimpy weapons (low damage per shot weapons) - vladoff pistol , smg , ar …for slagging you say. With money shot and or crits these CAN kill steal ON OCASSION and ruin NKLO. heaven forbit they killsteal with non-crit, non moneyshot, vs non-slagged. (snowball’s chance in hell on UVHM but IT HAPPENS (especially when spiked by NKLO) - chance ONLY GOES down to zero WHEN YOU STOP USING WIMPY WEAPONS !!)
  • muti pellet shotguns. Moneshot + crit vs slagged ~ good (remember the damage of that 1 pellet that get the kill in not that great). Kill without money shot/crit and kiss NKLO damage goodbye !
  • splash damage DOESN’T BENEFIT FROM MONEY SHOT (sorry Mr Torgue, your arsenal isn’t the best for the job. Sometimes it steal kills with pathetically low amounts of damage). Unkept harolds, Ravagers …no bueno (ok I just lost 99% of my readers here :slight_smile: )
    {Even more counter synergy between NKLO and splash. Ironically NKLO DOES BOOST splash damage. So it increases chances for splash to steal kills . It just doesn’t increase it enough for it to be able to provide high NKLO bonus in return …}
  • pulse grenades (in all elemental forms…) . Betty grenades.
  • DOTs from elemental weapons and or grenades.
  • resist the urge to melee killsteal (and here I’ve lost the last reader …)
  • unless you’re slagging with Sniper Rifle ( Lyuda/Droog/Maliwan) TRY NOT to steal kills with your slagging weapon.

REMEMBER ! ONLY YOU CAN STOP WIMPY KILLS !

So what’s left ? Ability to do high damage CONTROLLED KILLS with huge damage spikes in quick succession ? Why does that sound familiar ?
Because it mostly points to the no Inconceivable ROM shotgun wielding deputy build, the most famous/successful Sal build…

Moneyshot dual SR builds can also make good use of NKLO. (they don’t shine quite as brightly as the shotgun builds, partly because there is no sniper rifle with low enough magazine to trigger money shot as often as the shotguns can…)

I thought this was going towards something new …what a letdown :slight_smile: …

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#2

What kind of sal are you playing? Only time he required any attention for me, was a no moxxi build or very rarely deputy sal. I’ve quit playing so OP10 might require some, idk

You’re way overthinking this skill IMO

#3

There are players that like a bit of challenge and play him without Moxxi … Not fair to turn the moxxi on and then complain that there’s no challenge

There are also competitions … fastest area clear times or so where paying attention to the mechanics can help …

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#4

You would actually get better results with a single SR and an off-hand weapon that slags, add crit bonus and is unlikely to kill its target without main-hand bonuses.

The most reliable way I have found to trigger NKLO with a huge bonus is to kill a small target with a Fastball or a Nukem shot, then unload onto your bigger primary target.

IMO, the Moloko is your ticket to use this skill with guns: Huge card damage, empties its mag in under 2 seconds and has decent reload. The Money shot chains are also insane.

Otherwise, splatguns might do the trick ?

#5

don’t be a downer here Pie :stuck_out_tongue:

Sal doesn’t require that much attention… but he does require forethought … which is what @peddroelm is doing. This thread might not lead anywhere specific right now, but this is the kind of breakdown that lead to builds like Deputy Sal. :slight_smile:

I wouldn’t want to squash his enthusiasm for the game, and especially the kind of thinking that I like to do as well. :slight_smile:

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#6

This is probably with OP levels experience in mind where your damage output is drastically diminished by the level difference. Regular UVHM is very ‘fair’ in this regard - no damage penalty so its relatively easy for weapons to reach their max NKLO bonus even from their first moneyshot crit kill.
You need *4 left over overkill. Say *3 (slag) * 0.8 (worst case for non elemental vs armor) * 5.8 or 11.56 (5/5 or 11/5 money shot) * ~5 crit … Plenty to kill and have leftover. And if not enough - the incomplete NKLO bonus can help get a better one on the next kill …And once is up … easy to keep as enemies are enough …

On OP levels … more drastic measures are probably needed to kick-start it :slight_smile:
And as I said before , shame the UI doesn’t show the percent of the max NKLO bonus your weapon is getting at any given moment. Doesn’t have to be numeric - green bar filling a box would work just great … Without combat logging is great to get a feel of the skill otherwise … Why did my NKLO green boxes got empty ? What did I do ? :stuck_out_tongue:

On a different note torpedo ARs (4 ammo per shot / no splash) might work as money shot weapons . Maybe some unique/legendary version. No crits :frowning:

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#7

Fair enough, didn’t mean to come off as an ass

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#8

Those don’t trigger Money shot if I recall

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