Sandhawk and Relics

Borderlands 2 Loot and Weapons
#1

Hi guys,

I was given a lvl72 Sandhawk from BTK about a week ago, and haven’t found a single SMG damage relic since.

However, I have found 2 rather useful relics, as follows:

OP3 Stockpile Relic
Assault Rifle Max Ammo +61.5%
SMG Max Ammo +61.5%
Sniper Rifle Max Ammo +61.5%

Lvl72 Allegiance Relic
Dahl Recoil -49.0%
Dahl Burst Delay -49.0%

Lvl72 Allegiance Relic
Dahl Magazine Size +42.0%

My question is, what is the best one out of these three?

Really, I’d go with the Recoil and Burst Delay, as it practically makes the Sandhawk fully automatic when zoomed, which really helps DPS. But, the Mag Size could be useful in that sense as well. The Max Ammo pretty much speaks for itself.

#2

Probably not the stockpile. If your problem is there isn’t enough ammo, you’re either not hitting what you’re aiming at, the DPS is not there, or it’s a raid boss and even then, the missing link is not more ammo.

If it’s elemental, you could use an elemental relic too. Or keep looking for an SMG relic.

1 Like
#3

At the moment, I’m just killing Pete (he’s the only boss I’m able to kill).

However, I know there are ammo boxes in the arena, so ammo isn’t THAT much of an issue.

It’s not elemental, so there’s no need for an Elemental Relic.

Maybe I’ll take your advice and keep looking.

#4

Who do you play as ? What’s your build ? What else do you have for gear ?

#5

Sorry, should have said.

I’m currently playing Axton, this is my build (this is my Pete build, not my normal playstyle build)

Sentry 5/5
Ready 5/5
Willing 5/5
Able 5/5
Scorched Earth 1/1
Onslaught 8/5
Grenadier 5/5
Double Up 1/1

Impact 5/5
Metal Storm 5/5
Battlefront 10/5
Longbow Turret 1/1
Do or Die 1/1
Duty Calls 5/5
Ranger 5/5
Nuke 1/1

Preparation 2/5

Gear (again this is the gear I use for Pete, not.my every day gear except for the Sand Hawk, DPUH, TMP and The Bee):

72 Flying Sand Hawk
OP1 DPUH (this is the gun that I originally made this build around)
72 Lucid Florentine (for when my turret is down)
OP1 Resolute TMP

OP1 The Bee (which I swap out for a 72 Imflammable when Pete’s about to activate his nova(s)
72 Front Line Rifleman COM (+5 BF, +4 Impact, +3 Onslaught)
Dahl Allegiance Relic (see above, the recoil/burst delay relic)
72 Homing Storm Front (for his shields if he gets stuck)

Hope that helps Chuck!

PS: Sorry for the horrifically long reply…

#6

Right now, I would go with either Allegiance relics.

I’m not convinced that the Sandhawk gives you better DPS than the DPUH, especially if you can get your hand on an explosive relic and that COM that boost explosive (the name escapes me at the moment)

You would still get the synergy from Bee + unlisted pellets.

Unless of course you can get a Shock Sandhawk.

Axton is the character I know the least…
I’m gonna try and summon some help: :stuck_out_tongue:

… (clears throat)

@Afro_Samurai, @Troubled, @Triad_Thunder

1 Like
#7

Thanks man,

The DPUH really seems like it’s doing underwhelming damage compared to the Sand Hawk, which is very strange.

EDIT: I’ve just opened the backpack while the damage numbers are on screen for both weapons. Here they are:
Bee+DPUH: 35868K
Bee+Sand Hawk: 20317K

#8

Not so strange: Shields resist explosive, so you’re only doing 80% of what you should do.
But the DPUH can be buffed through more skills and gear than the Sandhawk.

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#9

Check the above post Chuck, I’ve just updated it with the damage numbers. They were achieved after I’d taken his shield out, just so you know :blush:

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#10

I think you’d be best off with a cooldown relic honestly. If you don’t have a leg. Soldier mod or the leg. Engineer mod, then getting your turret up ASAP is very important in that fight.

It helps to keep Pete slagged without having to worry about switching weapons, serves as a distraction a lot of the time and helps to keeps Battlefront up more often.

If you have a regular Engineer mod, that might be better as well.

As for what you have listed, I guess I’d go with the stockpile if you find yourself running out of ammo. If you don’t, then the mag size relic is probably better. I don’t know if it really matters that much though, tbh.

If you have an explosive relic, that might be better along with the Harold and Bee than the Sandhawk. Haven’t used a Sandhawk much in that fight with Axton though so I don’t remember which is better.

1 Like
#11

You’ll find some additional discussion, including some Axton/Pete stuff, in this thread:

Also here:

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#12

Yes, I actually realised that my Leg. Engineer COM has +5 in BF and Impact, which was quite embarrassing really. Onslaught doesn’t really need 8/5 anyway.

#13

The first one I skimmed through the other day, so I’ll go back and read it fully.
The second one was made by me, about 10 minutes before my first kill! Although I haven’t been back on there recently, so I’ll check it out!

#14

You should definitely be using that then. I think you’ll notice a big difference right away. It’s probably his 2nd best mod for that fight after his regular Leg. Soldier mod.

Good news is that Pete likes to drop the original Leg. class mods, so if you beat him enough he should give you one sooner or later.

As for your DPUH vs Sandhawk problem, I think it also bears mentioning that getting the most out of the DPUH requires staying just out of Petes attack range while he’s chasing you to have as many pellets hit as possible. Getting head shots also helps a lot obviously.

The range is closer and more problematic since the Bee needs to stay up, but I think it will outperform the Sandhawk if you can get it down. You basically have to kite him around the arena, hip firing constantly and staying in that safe zone.

3 Likes
#15

You rang?

As far as relics go it is really, really hard to beat an E-tech elemental relic with cooldown for a damage boost. Boosting elemental damage is the best way to get the most bang for your buck and being an Axton player that cooldown really helps as well.

If I were you I would try and find an elemental Sandhawk and since you are going after Pete I would try and get a shock one.

Grenadier, though the Legendary Ranger COM has some crazy DPS once you get start killing. Downside to that COM is the lack of survival.

As far as going after Pete I have not gone after him on Axton. Shock destroys his shield though which is why I recommend the Sandhawk in that element.

2 Likes
#16

Yeah, not really sure why I switched COMs now…

However, on the DPUH/Sand Hawk pellet hits, I find that the closer I am to Pete, the more pellets from the DPUH hit him. Not sure why that is, but that’s what I’ve found. Obviously I’m JUST outside his range, so there’s no problem there.

#17

All my unused COMs are on various mules, so I’ll guess I’ll have to try and find the one with the Leg. Ranger.

As far as E-Tech Relics go, I have a BOTA with +43.8% cool down rate (the highest one I’ve found), so I’ll use that and see how it goes.

#18

The turret can pretty much keep him slagged so long as it is out and the relic will help minimize the window.

If you really want to troll Pete go down into Survival for Gemini, Mag-lock, and Resourceful. If you do that you can throw your first turret up on the wall and then throw the second one on the ground. If Pete attacks it and destroys it you can keep throwing out the second turret so long as the first one is up.

#19

IIRC, the DPUH bullets travel a short distance before “splitting”. So, if you are closer to Pete then more pellets will hit him when they split. Like @Troubled mentioned, you should consider using a Bone of the Ancients that modifies Shock Damage and Action Skill Cooldown.

If you can acquire a Shock Element Flying Sand Hawk, that would definitely help. If not, you could either use the Lucid Florentine you currently have (Shock + Slag) or, assuming you have enough Seraph Crystals, farm the Flamerock Refuge Seraph Vendor for either a Consummate Florentine (Damage+) or an Impetuous Florentine (Fire Rate+); preferably with a Maliwan Grip and Dahl Stock. One plus for the Florentine is that you don’t have to switch weapons in order to apply Slag. And since Pete is best fought with a Shock weapon, you don’t have to switch from the Florentine to do that either. I mainly play Maya and have used the SMG damage + relic but still prefer an elemental Bone of the Ancients for both the additional elemental damage and the bonus Action Skill cooldown rate.

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#20

What about leg. Pointman - how does that stack up relative to the others?