Hey everyone, after focusing on rakks i’ve been exploring synergy between the master and stalker tree for a week or so i’ve come up with a pet build that is easily able to solo end game content like slaughter shaft and proving grounds. In this video I break down the synergy between the two skill trees and how the aggro pull of the pet with red fang opens up flak to get the most out the dps options in the stalker tree. With your pet near impossible to take out and flak being able to get +288% weapon damage boost if played right, this build is a load of fun to use. With the pet buff on its way in an upcoming patch it’s a great time to jump into pet builds if you’d previously dismissed them as unviable!
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Hidden machine has a tendency to not proc even if they are attacking your pet. May be better off using those points to max furious attack and eager to impress till it gets fixed
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I watched another YT’er with basically the same setup recently and loaded it up, its what I’ve been running around with for several days now, and just a couple things from his setup that’d I’d mention - There’s a blue unique quest reward shield from Athenas that adds a ton of max health. Having the higher max beefs up your regen a lot, and makes the pet that much tankier. I’ve run this with a stop-gap, a transformer, a re-charger, and the Back Ham, and the blue unique feels best, I do believe he’s right about that one. (Edit: Its called the Multivitamin.)
Also, for arenas, the other augment that leaves the rift up as healing AoE has helped a ton, especially in Slaughter Shaft. Its not needed for general mobbing, but in the arenas its good. Also, I carry a Friend-Bot mod just in case the pet does go down, swap it out, 2nd wind him, swap back to Red Fang. That way you never get the super long CD from popping Gamma Burst as your pet rez if you do need it. Its not that often but it does happen. Its a fun build, I’ve had a blast with it. DPS is solid. It gets hit hard by ele resist mayhem modifiers, but overall this is my favorite Fl4k build so far. Spec heavy into rad and it definitely shreds.
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I just tried this build and I’m not sold; After using this build I found my pet dying too frequently and having to run from overwhelming enemy fire too often while waiting on cooldowns. I’ve been running TVHM m3 on slaughter shaft without much hassle with a build that isn’t as hard hitting but is more pet tanky and makes most of the red fang during gamma burst. Because of this I can have the Aggro away from me almost always and still do enough damage to speed through rounds. . I even played on modifiers that didn’t nerf my damage but still struggled more with this (damage) build then the one I’ve been using.
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This is very similar to mine that I posted a few days ago, just built around the two points in Pack Tactics.
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I’ve tested hidden machine and have found it works for me, but i’ve heard a lot of mixed things about it from others. If there is a bug and it’s not working when it should be hopefully we see a fix in approaching patches
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Hey man, some great additional points about the build for sure! I’ve tried the multivitamin and do enjoy it for the extra health regen it gives the pet especially, I feel like it works really well for general mobbing but for me my stop gap gives me a lot of flexibility in real tough arenas like slaughter shaft with the 5 second invincibility window. You could definitely run the multivitamin and have the same success with the build too as others do. As far as the Healing AoE - its a really nice augment for slaughter shaft and in my opinion really comes down to (assuming your 1st augment doesn’t change from Empathic Rage) whether you want to have that guaranteed heal while nearby or whether you want the quickly maxed out frenzy stacks that Atomic Aroma can provide (meaning higher damage output for flak and thus a larger health % given back to the pet from Who Rescued Who) as well as proccing flak’s health regen from Who Rescued Who which gets sent back to the pet. I’ve cycled between both and have found atomic aroma to be a little more reliable for the reasons i mentioned but Burst Aid can definitely be clutch itself.
The friend bot class mod swap is a fantastic suggestion, really good use of the ability on the fly. I’ll have to keep one handy for those situations in future 
Just checked out your vid man, what are the chances! I noticed you chose not to spec into Who Rescued Who and Pack Tactics. Do you find that burst aid provides enough sustain for the pet?
Personally i’ve found Who Rescued Who to be key in the pets survival, with flak putting out so much damage and the pet being the focus of the aggro, this skill makes for insanely good health regen to the pet. Throwing out a recurring hex or using a big aoe weapon like the flaker/hive tends to heal the pet right back up each time
Thanks for the build!
Could you please elaborate on the 288 % weapon damage modifier? I am very interested which skill works additive and which works multiplicative.
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You would probably be interested in Demonite’s video about FL4K’s multiplicative damage skills. I’m not sure anyone else has tested them in as much detail
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Hey man, not sure why you’re having pet survivability issues with my build?
Based on the skill tree you posted, the only health based difference to my build is that
- you’ve invested 1 point into Rage and Recover which heals 1.6% of missing health after a kill for 3 seconds. I’ve tested this skill myself and it’s completely overshadowed by the max health % based regen given to the pet (via BFF) through Self Repairing Systems and Who Rescued Who.
- You have put 1 more point into Pack tactics which gives your pet an additional 5% health.
- You haven’t got any points into He Bites! meaning your pet has 0% damage reflected compared to the 10% that my build has.
- You’ve also put 1 point into Hive Mind which means your pet is taking 5% of the damage that Flak would otherwise be taking.
It seems like you’re getting 3.2% missing health after a kill (the pets + flak via all my bffs) as well as an extra 5% health on your pet (and flak) from the extra point in Pack Tactics but you lack the 10% damage reflection from he bites and are taking 5% of damage that flak would be taking from hive mind. Doesn’t seem like there should be a vast difference in terms of survivability between the builds, let me know if i’m missing something
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Glad you liked it!
As far as flak’s damage calculations I go into some depth about the way rakk damage is calculated in this video (eg how interplanetary stalker bonuses actually interact with big game buffs + collector cosmic stalker class mod buff) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Lu6UGZkpo&t=6s
As far as 288% weapon damage increases (ignoring guardian rank bonuses) that I discussed in the Pet Build video, it comes from:
50% - Power Inside
30% - Hidden Machine
12% (10 stacks) - Furious Attack
25% (while still)- Turn Tail and Run
25% - The Fast and the Furryous
40% (10 stacks) - Frenzy
12% - Persistence Hunter
10% - Pack Tactics
13% + 26% - Skag Pet Bonus
20% (while Gamma Burst is active) - Empathic Rage
25% - Class Mod bonus
Demonite has a video where he discusses the damage calculations of flak as well if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60rRl0frkKk
Thanks for checking it out. I haven’t ever had success with who rescued who. I tried it with a few different builds before settling with this one, and never was able to save my pet. Maybe I just didn’t have the right build though.
Burst aid seemed to work very well, but it does rely on gamma burst. I would have put points into pack tactics, but I wanted to put more points into he bites, and barbaric Yawp. Your path is interesting though, and definitely does have more pure damage.
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I run similar on my medic, however it focuses more on group synergy healing. It is very hard for you to die and your pet as well. My wife loves it since she does all the killing with her siren 
But i still get decent enough kills:
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My red fang is also giving me a point in he bites, and a few into pet power. Otherwise I believe having that larger health pool and getting health regen from kills is what’s keeping it alive when facing mobs of badassss; Your build is also going for burst damage with using the action skill more often for the initial 50% damage boost. My build tries to extend the gamma burst and have my pet taking all aggro as long as possible so I can take full advantage of the skills that boost damage while not being targeted and at full health. The moment gamma burst wears off I am being targeted. The moment the pet dies I’m being targeted. My build relies on topped off to get the cool down within 6 seconds of gamma burst ending; so I am only scrambling for a few seconds then. I played your build vs mine on TVHM M3 slaughter shaft with same modifiers and I was more successful with mine. The only gear specific item for these runs was using a corrosive cutsman and redfang. I use a low shield (3400) with fast regen and delay to keep topped off optimal as well. ( Because my build relies on a perk earned in guardian ranks to keep my skills active I call it an end game build, which not having these perks may make your build more preferable to others). Im not trying argue for what’s best only presenting that by using a key guardian rank perk (topped off) with a couple gear items has given me a build that I can solo TVHM M3 slaughter shaft with: not an easy run especially by round 4 but still doable.
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Interesting yeah and each to their own, I think it’s great that even with such a similar build there are differentiating factors that work better for people with different preferences on how they like to play. The cutsman nerf and hex nerf is pretty rough for flak, how do you see this impacting your build as you tend to favour the cutsman quite a lot?
I only favored the cutsman because on the hardest challenge it was the only viable weapon I could keep my pet alive with and tear down mobs at the same time. With the pet buff I’m going to play around with my build again; try to remove some of tankier aspects and perhaps go back to an earlier build where I had my pet dealing more damage (or keep my tank build but now try new guns)Your build may be the strongest as well now since I don’t have to worry about pet survival as much; I liked the damage your build just couldn’t get my pet to survive long enough and once the aggro was on me it became too much running for survival. I won’t be able to test for a few hours. Are you testing your build on TVHM M3 Slaughter shaft??
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I really enjoy your videos and builds for fl4k, would consider addind the build link from the borderlands website or just in text format with the items you use. Videos are nice but i find it useful to have text version too. Anyways, thanks for the work you put towards the beastmaster class
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Glad you enjoyed my videos dude
Yeah i’d be happy to add a build link but I can’t see the interactive builder on the borderlands site at the moment. Is it still available?
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It has been down since yesterday