Hey gang, few questions as I start to tweak my Zane further.
Currently running a 100% Dirty chance, with a maxed clone tree. I completely ignored the green skill tree.
But a lot of people use that green shield tree. Is it worth the investment?
Is the Cloan not that great?
It really depends on gear. I love the shield tree, but the gear I have is better suited for a clone n drone. Also, one of the drawbacks on the shield tree is the augments aren’t super useful solo (majority do not work when shield is picked up).
The clone has issues too. I don’t think double barrel is working as intended, currently, for example.
Most spec into the shield tree for a cryo, permanent action skill build, but I do not believe it is worth going through to the capstone on that one (Also does not work as intended, I believe).
I am doing an “Expendable Asset” build, using the digiclone as a bomb to set off kill skills on activation, and to lure and clear trash mobs. Its loads of fun, but gear dependent and does not use the sheld tree at all.
When it comes down to it, Zane plays interestingly. He is very gear and play style dependent . Don’t be afraid to respec and try different combos out to see what fits you as a player.
…also people can just put the shield down and pick it back up later.
Love setting my Barrier down while I work a spot then picking it up to re-position. I like interactivity like that in a playstyle which is why I’m freaking loving Zane. When I first started getting used to him I was mostly just wearing the barrier always but the more I play it the more I find it second nature to toss it down all the time.
TBH I rarely pick the barrier up. When I use it I place it in Strategic areas. Occasionally I may need to relocate it, but mostly it stays where I set it up.
My mindset is around setting the barrier up and dropping my clone into a good spot. Just started thinking about strategically using the clone for swapping purposes. Did that against Traunt yesterday and we melted him without having very good weapons in TVHM M2.
Just the way I have played it.
So lately I’ve been setting barrier down, summon clone in it, move into enemy pack, swap with clone to proc nova and put myself back in the barrier. Then when I’m ready to move I pick it up and throw it on clone, move forward into more enemies and then swap with him again. Rinse/repeat. This has been working really great for me and is a fun loop. Or if I want him to be in the barrier instead, then I do the same thing but reversed.
I’ve made that argument before in the past, but people don’t really like to hear it.
Zane is very dependent on knowing his gameplay loop and using it to maintain damage. If you aren’t acquainted with him it’s very difficult to do because it’s hard to know how to even do it.
Once you have some time behind the wheel he just…flows. Things stop being so difficult, more items start to seem viable, the same skills that you were just putting points into haphazardly before start to make sense.
His barrier is super strong whether picked up or put down regardless of augments, but you can make him a lot stronger if you have a clear conception of how you want to use the barrier and what you need from it.
I recently got him to Level 50, then sat down and totally went through the way I specced him, including all of the COMs I had available for my TVHM run.
I am still learning alot on how to synergise my play style with his tools. I have fund him to be alot more enjoyable than FL4K and Amara as Zane makes me think more during encounters.
I spent alot of time viewing the different builds people have done and still went my own way, simply because it seems Zane has so many different possibilities.
I do hope for some buffs for him, but overall for me his skills offer some fun strategy not quite available on the other Vault Hunters.
Copying builds should only really give people a foundation on how to play.
I typically focus more on the items and less on the skills because people will cater those to compensate for the stat rolls on their gear. If you are using gear / an element that isn’t very strong, you won’t be very strong regardless of how you play.
To me, it’s important to emphasize in a game with billions and billions of guns (and also thousands of items for the other 4 slots) that you know which ones to be on the lookout for.
Sometimes that means more than talking about how the gun looks in inspect mode and explaining its red text.
Totally a fair point, haha
I hear you.
Part of the draw to me for Borderlands is the gear.
Especially the guns.
People like yourself do a great service helping people by separating the wheat from the chaff which is very helpful to players who may not have as much time as others to play.
I sort of make my different characters find their own weapons. Unfortunately for Zane, he hasn’t been getting very good drops on guns. Shields, COMs and artifacts, yes, but in the gun department the game has been hard on him.
I needed a corrosive weapon and finally broke down and took something from Amara just to keep Zane going in the TVHM story…
Going back to your prior reply, I forgot to mention how true your point of getting the “flow” was. There is definitely a flow with Zane.