Face-Punched
Concept
Face-puncher really isn’t melee, but I don’t know what else to name it since it’s based off of melee damage, and there is a cool melee gimmick wiht the unforgiven pistol however.
This build utilizes the Face-puncher Shotgun combined with the Brawler Ward shield and Knifedrain White Elephant to deal boss-killing levels of damage, whilst retaining great survivability.
The goal is to reach max DPS which is mainly done by improving the Face-puncher’s damage (which is assisted by annointments and melee damage) and splash damage. It is highly reliant on phaseslam so aim to reduce cooldown as much as possible. Critical hits are a big win in this build.
Main Gear
Why gear before skill tree? Well the gear is the central part of the build, it is heavily rare gear reliant to deal big bursts of damage, but hey to get a boss-killing and mob-killing meleea build running these days you will need to invest a fair amount, with little room for leniency.
Face-Puncher
(Shotgun that deals melee damage)
For the Face-puncher, it is a must to have 300% weapon damage (weapon damage annointment still applies to melee-scaled face-puncher) after Phaseslam, redundant prefix (double the shots) is optimal allowing the White Elphant Relic to proc more often per shot, but the normal Face-puncher variants with 7 pellets can still work, although you won’t be able to kill bosses in 2-3 shots (maybe 8-10 instead). In fact, 7 pellet face punchers work too as you get more shots before you reload, keeping you healthy with the knifedrain relic.
Brawler Ward
(Strongest Roid Shield)
The second core item, this item must have 200% melee damage after phaseslam, it cannot be the same type of damage annointment as the face-puncher (200% melee damage after phaseslam on face-puncher) as it does not stack (no clue why). You would want to go for a level 1 one, I got lucky and a friend traded me a level 1 phaseslam annointed ward. A level 50 one still works but it will be harder to break the shield/stay at 0 shields, so you will need to find a grenade to break it.
Knife Drain White Elephant
(Attaches stickies on melee hits)
Other White Elephant Relics work too, but you will have much less survivability and have to probably invest more points into it. This relic attaches stickies on melee hits, making the face-puncher appear to be a Torgue weapon, the explosions scale with your melee damage and can be enhanced in other ways such as splash damage. You also would want one which gives cooldown rate and melee damage.
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Breaker Class Mod
(Melee Class Mod)
This classmod provides the best boosts to melee damage, the spiritual driver can rack big numbers too but we aren’t fakegrasping here so you wont be consistently speedy and even if you are, you won’t be dealing consistently high damage. For this class mod you MUST have 50% bonus Melee Damage and +1 to Find Your Center to boost your damage significantly, it all adds up.
This concludes the core gear you need to run this build
Secondary Gear
Unforgiven
This pistol isn’t a MUST for this build, it’s pretty much not needed at all, but trust me, it’s alot of fun to use. Get a bladed attachment, thats a must if you want to use this.
So the idea of this gun is to make use of its crit modifier and no I don’t mean crit swapping, we are actually using this gun here. Anyways, the White Elephant Stickies can crit, so you can technically crit on a melee headshot, so hitting an enemy with this gun in use will plant a sticky that will be boosted by over 300% and deal 1-3 Million damage, which looks absolutely awesome and alot of the times the explosion kills multiple enemies at once which can also be seen on my video.
Bullet Vamp Relic
(Replenish ammo on melee hit)
This one is quite important to have, you will run low on ammo, and when you do you will need to swap to this and just shoot once with the Face-puncher and boom, all your ammo is back which is awesome.
S3RV-80S-EXECUTE
(Emptied magazine throw makes enemies take 50% more damage)
This gun is also kinda for fun, you get the magazine to 1, get to desired target, shoot-reload it, crack shield, swap to face-puncher, phaseslam and can now 2-shot graveward with no exploits, possible wreck other bosses too.
Grenades
Whichever suits you best in this build, if you have a level 50 Brawler Ward, you will need something with a bit of kick and explodes instantly to crack shields. If you have a level 1 Brawler Ward you can use whatever you like (Try go for Cryo Hex or It’s Piss). For the annointment I personally like 50% bonus cryo damage on action skill end, slow moving enemies are easier to chain headshots on.
Skill Tree
[Click link above to View]
What you aim for here is as much melee damage as possible, and little on survivability, since knifedrain is really strong. Elemental damage and Splash damage is also sought after as it boosts the stickies from the relic used.
BRAWLER
Clarity 5/5
Some fairly decent health regen is nice when you are reloading with your Face-Puncher and not dealing damage, which is somehwat often.
Root to Rise 5/5
40% Max Health. I did say don’t focus on survivability, but a good health pool pairs well with life-steal and damage reduction, lifesteal doesn’t mean you are invincible.
Helping Hand(s) 5/5
40% damage reduction with 40% Max Health, very decent durability.
These 3 skills are pretty much all you need for surviability with melee lifesteal
Arms Deal 5/5
A fair 20% boost to splash damage which strengthens the stickies, the damage reduction is nice too for the rocket launcher badasses.
Find Your Center 1/1
100% More melee damage for free (200% With class mod)
Jab Cross 3/5
Tested, it boosts Face-Puncher damage, just an addition to get down the skill tree, you can spec into more health if you really wish to.
Guardian Angel
Instant Second Wind. For when you mess up.
Fist of the Elements
Infusion 5/5
For element matching on bosses, helps alot, if you don’t like it then spend 3 on Anima and Steady Hand(s).
Steady Hand(s) 1/3
The final skill point added, I like bonus accuracy to land more crits with the face puncher.
Illuminated Fist 1/1
Free melee damage +75%.
Tempest 5/5
Big bump in elemental damage, especially shock, which is the element I normally rock.
Going down this skill tree unlocks the fire element too which is a must
Mystical Assault
Fast Hand(s) 3/3
Faster reloading = More shooting = More DPS and lifesteal.
Do Harm 2/5
Mainly to go down the skill tree, it benefits you more than Violent Tapestry
Restless 5/5
Very important, you will need to spam phaseslam as much as possible to deal your main damage, after phaseslamming your damage output is literally 5-10x more potent, so aim to slam as much as possible.
This skill tree is mainly for Restless, very essential
Playstyle
For mobbing even if you have really strong life steal, you will want to play less agressive, unless you just phaseslammed, after slamming you can go crazy for a bit 1 hitting most mobs, taking down badasses easily. When you use your ability, use the precious time of high damage to pick off only the badasses, to water down the pressure.
For bosses you will want to crack your shield beforehand, and if you like, you can use Elemental Projector White Elephant to melt the bosses.
What you want to aim for to perfect this build is:
- Melee Damage
- Gun Damage that buffs Face-puncher
- Splash damage (for better stickies)
- Elemental Damage (for matching elements on bosses)
- Action Skill Cooldown (Keep annointments up)
Thanks for reading! I am a big fan of melee so it’s kinda sad how it comes down to this, although I’d be super happy if you could enlighten me with your melee builds.