Questions about some Gaige skills and build advice

Borderlands 2 Gaige the Mechromancer
#1

Hi all, i have just finished normal mode with gaige maxing out the LBT tree… i don’t know how to begin…

First of all i choose LBT because shock is my favourite element, i don’t want to count in a bad AI and OC doesn’t look that good to me, because shooting randomly and hoping that some bullets ricochet and hit someone is not my playstyle at all. Also i reload a lot.

This is the build i aim at right now
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#530050000000550005100551413150101000

With LBT i had a lot of trouble… More pep and myelin are not that good, shock storm is one of the most useless skills i have ever tried, the stare is pretty bad with MIS and again EB and WDT aren’t spectacular.
In general i don’t have any reasons in use shock weapons instead of fire or corrosive with the matching weakness. The question i have are:
Is the build any good?
Is EE good in UVHM?
When becomes impossible to aim with anarchy?
What is the best gear for her?

#2

I have recently started a Gaige of my own, but I have been rushing Anarchy tree. I can tell you that even at 150 stacks (base maximum) you will be a LOT less accurate, however damage is massively increased. My thoughts are this: There are two ways to go from what you already have and what you said you do and don’t want. Either go heavy into both LBT and BFF trees, ignoring OC tree completely, or get enough in OC to do Discord cycling (where you use Ration Anarchist to get 25 stacks first kill/reload, then pitch them via Discord. Also, the frequent reloading is great w/ Shock and “AAAGGGGHHH!”. If the latter is what you want to do (it looks that way), don’t bother w/ Preshrunk Cyperpunk at all, it’s literally useless to what you are doing, instead put those 3 in Typeclast Iconocast. (Even though you won’t be making great use of it, it’s still better than 100% useless)

#3

EB and EE are the stars of LBT. WDT DoT buff isnt working, so it is better with a build that use shock weapons with raw damage like the Twister, Fibber and Pimpernel. Or with the Storm, because of how it DoT works.
The best gear to use with LBT are grenades, outside of the Storm sniper rifle, like Teslas, Tina Magic Grenades. The Quasar is pretty good too because of the singularity plus the tesla effect.

You have to hope that EB procs while the bandit is shielded, so you stack your damage. It’s 3x shock damage that turns into fire damage, with the bonus to flesh on top of it. Put Slag in the mix and you are done.
You can use an Evil Catalyst COM for max damage or a Scorching Zapper for max EB chance.

This is very effective for mobbing but less so against bosses. Always carry some back up gear!
It is a really fun playstyle.

#4

When I first started Gaige I used the LBT tree up thru the middle of TVHM until some of the commenters on the Gamefaqs board managed to convince me to try the OC tree- and I haven’t looked back since. Right now I’m specced to a build to handle raid bosses but I think this tweak to your build should help you get to level 72:
http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#530000000000550005120500413150141050
The Nth Degree and Close Enough go together like milk and cookies- toss in a low level slag Bouncing Betty and you could clear an entire room in seconds once your stacks start to get high enough. You’ll want to look (or trade) for a L. Catalyst class mod if you want to get the most from the LBT tree. Shock Fibbers (the ones with the highest base damage are the ones that split when they ricochet), Lady Fists and Bitches are some weapons to look for, as well as a shock Slow Hand or of course, the Twister. As far as shields a lot of folks like the Black Hole or FotF for when you get Sharing Is Caring (I also like The Transformer for her- and the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot :sunglasses:) . Personally I’ve always liked The Stare for DT- it’s helped him kill a few glitched enemies that were off screen and were holding up progress through an area (i.e. any of the Slaughter domes).

#5

I put 3 points in Preshrunk Cyperpunk only for have a minimal chance against raid bosses, but i don’t know if it is enough, i don’t want to completely avoid stacking anarchy, but when i am mobbing (80% of the time) i want accuracy. I don’t know if Shock and “AAAGGGGHHH!” is worth a point, i took it because looks cool at least…

#6

IF you get a class mod that boosts Strength of 5 Gorillas you could move that point there…

#7

I have a twister, thunderball fists, storm, chain lightning, storm front and quasar (homing sadly…) all lev 61 waiting for her, the problem is: if i had troble in normal mode how can i go through UVHM without top gear?
I’ve read that the ricochet fibber does full damage even with Close Enough, but farm a shock one must be a PITA

to me shoot randomly in the air/floor for killing enemies is a little silly, that said i think i will respec full OC when i reach UVHM, until i have top gear for LBT-OC

#8

‘Top gear’ is a matter of preference really- I reached level 72 w/o what’s considered Gaige’s top gear (although since I play all 6 characters I did have several Fibbers to choose from) but of the gear I had for her a Slagga was among them- a great slagging weapon and good damage dealer as well. The Dahlminator was another weapon I used with Gaige- cleared Hyperion Slaughter Dome w/o dying using that as my main weapon (this was back when I was trying to get max Anarchy stacks). You still cam aim reliably with Anarchy up to a certain point- in fact, there was a build on the old forums that someone built around using a Bee for Gaige- and keeping Anarchy stacks below 30. Since you’re still trying to get to level 72, my advice would be to use gold keys and whatever treasure you get from chests, particularly the red Dahl chests and save the headache of getting ‘top gear’ for when you reach level 72- heck, I still have 175 gold keys. I stopped using them when the stuff that dropped started to surpass what I was getting from the gold key chest (and having 5 other characters to borrow gear from helped a lot as well :sunglasses:). And while hitting things you’re not even aiming at might seem counter-intuitive, it’s also highly effective…

#9

Tesla Grenades are quite commom through the game and they are the best thing to use with LBT. You can play through UVHM without top gear, just remember some basic mechanics like Slag, using the right element and aiming for crits. DT is a lot strong for mobbing, so make use of Make it Sparkle, SO5G and Upshot Robot to keep it rolling. Robot Rampage is the best skill you can give him.

Also, if you do not want to use Anarchy, dont spec past Robot Rampage or Discord. Geting to Rational Anarchist just for Discord loop when you do not like Anarchy at all isnt worth it. BFF has a lot more to support you.

About your LBT, try to swap IO for EE. IO Slag chance is only worth at 10/5 and waiting for it to stack in the middle of the heat is painful. Also, Shock and ARGH is going to ruin your DoT DPS because the damage is low. It is better to use your Teslas or Shock guns to proc EB.

#10

What i meant is that for leveling throgh UVHM a full OC build looks better, when i reach level 61, which is my level cap, i will respect back to LBT and give her the twister, storm etc… This skill tree is really bad with random gear.
lol IO is the only skill where i noticed a damage increase, i know it’s not the best if you’re fighting a lot of enemies but at least i can rely on a power shot that can actually do damage, in my experience with cataclysm maya i’ve seen that DoT in UVHM is worthless in fact one of the question was: is EE good in UVHM?

#11

You can use an OC/LBT hybrid and go through UVHM without a problem. What you need for LBT is a Scorched Zapper or Evil Catalyst COM and a Tesla grenade. Also, yes, EE is good in UVHM.

Maya DoT is mediocre because her elemental skills are rank based and do not scale past TVHM. Gaige mechanics are a lot different.
See, Shock damage against shield is 3x. When it turns into fire, there is a increase of the damage against flash. Put Slag and EE in the mix and you have insane DoT damage. And the COM bonus too.

I personally can not play with IO. Anarchy already buff my damage without having to wait some seconds without shoting. But this is me, there is an amazing build that focus in IO in the old forum.

#12

Try to begin UVHM with this spec: http://bl2skills.com/mechromancer.html#520030100000140055050501412100000000

You will need a Tesla or a Magic Grenade, a good slag source like Maliwan sniper rifles or the slagga and a Evil Catalyst or Scorching Zapper COM.