Suggestions and Ideas for a 4th skill tree for our Fl4k

Borderlands 3 FL4K the Beastmaster
#1

I know we are still early in BL3 lifespan and the 4th skill tree speculation has only been hinted at, not confirmed. However, I think as Gearbox tends to, eventually, listen to their core game audience, we could provide some valuable insight into what would make sense for a 4th skill tree for Fl4k. I dabble in the other VH’s but Fl4k is easily my main.
Obviously a 4th skill tree would have to provide a new action skill, a new pet and entirely new set of skills. I’m just wanting to get some ideas thrown onto the table and out some visibility on those things lacking in his toolkit thus far. So without further ado:
New Action Skill: Thresher Ambush- Upon activation, Fl4k summons thresher tentacles in a small area for 5 seconds. These tentacles can draw in enemies and distract them, whip and slam enemies and throw spikes and boulders at ranged enemies. 15 second cooldown.
Augments for Thresher Ambush:
Leech Tentacles- Fl4k and their pet heal for a % of damage dealt per enemy for the duration of the attack. (Instead of Falconers Feast providing one burst healing, these would be a source of mediocre healing over 5 seconds).
Rift Trap- Thresher Ambush now includes Rift tentacles that actively pull enemies toward them and prevent enemies from escaping the area of effect until the Action Skill duration ends.
Fire Phase!!- All tentacles in Thresher Ambush now deal Incendiary damage.
Worm Food- Enemies caught in Thresher Ambush take 15% extra damage from Fl4k and their pet for 8 seconds.
New Pet- I’m torn here because we have a couple of options in regards to BL lore. But I would say a Varkid. The generic pet would be an Adult Varkid that gives Fl4k 5% bonus reload speed, then a Badass Shock Varkid that gives Fl4k 5% bonus reload speed and 10% shield capacity and finally a Super Badass Varkid that gives Fl4k 5% bonus reload speed and 15% bonus magazine size.
The skill tree could be called Predator and focus on Shield Capacity/Recharge Delay/Recharge Rate, Movement Speed, Magazine Size, Life Steal and Gun Damage/Melee Damage (Melee Fl4k love).
Let’s give him a good Capstone as well. Something that gives him some utility. Maybe Tag your Prey- When Fl4k tags an enemy using the Attack Command, Fl4k and their pet deal increased critical hit damage and gain lifesteal for a short time. Cooldown 15 seconds.

Again, this is just a topic to bounce ideas, fixes and hopes to Fl4k since no new VH’s are coming out and a 4th skill tree could possibly be coming. Thanx for reading.

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#2

Not exactly the same, but how about a 4th skill tree for all the chars, where one can pick what they want on each level, from the other 3 skill trees?

#3

I saw something similar on reddit a few weeks ago. I don’t know why people only want to summon a thresher and keep the varkid. I’d rather have a thresher out 24/7.

I don’t really like the idea of shield skills for FL4K. Yes, it would make them more survivable, but not every character needs to be survivable in the same way. FL4K has pets for distraction, can go invisible, constantly regens health, and gains damage reduction at low health. I’d rather focus on augmenting the strengths that are already present than trying to stuff in more.

Lastly, I’d love something that actually plays into being a sniper besides crit damage, since every gun benefits from that. Ambush predator is a start, but it’s a small one. Since FL4K already has so much raw damage, I’d actually love a tree that gave defensive bonuses for being far away. Maybe things like:
The further Fl4k is from their pet, the more damage both deal.
Fl4k gains increased health regeneration when X meters away from enemies
Enemies damaged by FL4K’s pet take increased critical hit damage for a short time

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#4

Skill tree: Back Seat Driver
Action skill: All Together - deploys a holographic second pet for 25 seconds. Cooldown 35 seconds. The holographic pet will follow the real pet and work with them, attacking the same target in combination and drawing agro. Holographic pets take reduced damage and explode when killed or when action skill ends. Using attack command will cause both the pet and any holographic pets to attack selected target.

Main Pet: Scythid. Grants 0.25% life steal on damage (to Fl4k and pets). Basic attack is rushing towards enemy and striking them at speed, before darting towards next enemy or away and back at same enemy. Issuing attack command causes Scythid to leap onto enemy and rapidly drain life from them while healing - This affects the life bar directly, but suffers a penalty to damage through a shield/armour.

Evolutions: Desert Scythid - Grants Fl4k increased speed (+5%) as well as life steal. Attack command causes it to fly at/over the enemy and slash at their critical hit location.
Giant Scythid - Grants Fl4k damage reduction (10%) as well as life steal. Attack command causes it to charge at enemy with a high chance to knock them down.

Augments: Diversity - instead of being a copy of your current pet, each holographic pet is a copy of a randomly chosen non-selected pet, with all the benefits that pet gives. (If using Two’s Company, Three’s A Party, each holographic pet is different.)
Two’s Company, Three’s A Party - Addition holographic pet is replaced with two smaller, faster holographic pets. Each do reduced damage but gain increased movement speed and attack speed. Instead of just following the pet, they circle it.
Harder Light Projector - Holographic pets do increased damage (+15%)
Strength In Numbers - Grants Fl4k increased damage for each pet engaged in combat (for each pet targeting an enemy, Fl4k gains + 5% damage)

Skill tree focuses on boosting pet speed, pet attacks stealing life, and giving Fl4k bonuses based on pet damage, as well as dealing extra damage to enemies focused on pets.
Skill Tree Capstone: Mark Target. Shooting an enemy applies a stack of “Marked Target” to them, once every second. Meleeing an enemy applies two stacks. A target may have up to 5 stacks of “Marked Target”, visible as an arrow above their head. All pet damage applied to an enemy who has been marked this way will by increased by 20% per stack. Stacks decay after 4 seconds without being damaged by Fl4k. Issuing an attack command on a marked target consumes all stacks and adds 25% damage per stack to all attack command strikes.

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🧀Predict/Guess what the 4th skilltrees and abilities are gonna be like. With extreme Sarcasm🥔
#5

There’s so many awesome ideas for pets, though.
I’d like to see a mini-drifter pet (the long legged spidery things), that stabs enemies. Or a stalker pet, that cloaks and attacks. Scaylions, Varkids, Kraggons, Crab Worms and Threshers could be cool.
Also, a bullymong pet, that throws rocks and rolls into a ball to crash into enemies.
Maybe even a Rakklesnake, since they don’t appear much.
Basically almost any creature from any game could be turned into an awesome pet. Probably not a Ratch, though, lol. =]

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#6

Only thing is I hate Sythids with a passion, they were way too life like and I would instantly hate FL4K if I had giant roaches following me around.

Otherwise, this is the best idea I’ve read regarding new skills for FL4K and I hope they do something close to this. It’s a smart way to give us multiple pets without the drawbacks of having 3 dum-dumbs instead of one.

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#7

That was kind of why I picked them. The screeching noises and creepy look, which I liked. They’d be cool, but not everyone’s cup of tea, so they could pick a different pet instead. Can you imagine, for example, running around with three Jabbers? =]
The action skill idea came from seeing so many Fl4k players wanting mutiple pets, plus recently playing the mission with the digistructed holo-jabber tracker. Figured Fl4k would love one of those.

#8

It’s kind of strange how FL4K’s theme for their action skills is supposed to be inter dimensional portals. I guess holograms count lol.

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#9

I really like the bullymong almost as much as the sythids.
I wish fl4k had a tree based on cryo damage, it would pair well with the stalker and hunter trees and as far as the Master tree goes radiation and cryo make a beautiful couple.

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#10

And God forbid they finally make Cryo work for pet melee it would be a match made in heaven!

2 Likes
#11

It made no sense to me that it worked similar to slag in tps but only buffs vault hunter melees in this game, yet half our pets have melee attack commands.:thinking:
Do you know if frozen enemies even allow Hidden Machine to proc though? It feels like it.

#12

Haven’t tried it out yet.

@Spacerobots Do you know if frozen enemies still proc hidden machine?

#13

I kinda figured a more pet focused tree would be wanted as well but when i look to Fl4k’s future, level increases, harder content and newer weapons, i don’t know how a pure pet tree woukd fare, especially seeing as Gearbox has had so much trouble with pet damage and survivability.
I am however stoked at any new ideas for my Fl4k. Maybe a hybrid pet/Fl4k tree that allows them to dictate the battlefield positioning and flow of combat. Like instantaneous teleporting, slowing down time, stuff like that. And it kinda goes in line with opening portals and using holograms.

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#14

And while we are at it, why not some ideas for new gear. Weapons and shields can be universal but new Class Mods, both legendary and regular, would be something we see in the future. And i would really like to see some legendary class specific artifacts for each VH eventually.
Legendary Beastmaster COM:
When Fl4k uses Attack Command, there is a 20% chance an unequipped pet will be summoned on the battlefield. Summoned pets behave just like normal pets. Only 3 pets can be on the battlefield.
Skills:
Sic Em, Barbaric Yawp and Frenzy.

2 Likes
#15

Not really. Cryo works similar to cryo in TPS, but only freezes when target is low on health, not just randomly, and doesn’t boost explosion damage (as far as I know). TPS cryo boosted melee, as well.
Radiation is more like slag, in that it is supposed to increase damage from other sources (anything other than radiation damage), but also adds an aura effect and explode on death, making it much better.

#16

You misunderstood. In tps cryo worked similar to slag, and in this game it only buffs melee attacks to clarify.

I’ve never heard of this or noticed and I make radiation/cryo builds all the time. There are several ways to debuff enemies in this game though.

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#17

I may have misunderstood the fact that radiation replaces slag. Haven’t used it much.
Definitely remembered hearing it compared to slag before, but that might just be because slag wasn’t included and radiation was.

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#18

Radiation really gets it’s usefulness from spreading the love, the aura passes on damage to nearby enemies and then they’ll explode on death.
It is by far my fave.

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#19

Skill tree: Sacrifical Lambs
Action skill: Gravity Trap - Deploys a huge singularity at the point you’re aiming at (up to a fixed distance). Singularity pulls all nearby enemies close and traps them in place (unable to move, but still able to aim and fire) for 10 seconds. Perfect for sniping or letting your pets attack.

Main Pet: Bullymong slinger. Grants 5% damage reduction. Basic attack is slamming the enemy with all four fists. Issuing attack command cause the bullymong to spawn a snowball which it throws at the target, knocking them back and dealing cryo damage.

Evolutions: Demong - Grants Fl4k increased elemental damage (+10%) as well as damage reduction. Attack command causes it to breath fire at the target, igniting them for DoT.
Bullyrott - Grants Fl4k increased shield (10%) as well as damage reduction. Attack command causes it to pounce at the target and slam next to them, dealing a corrosive nova to all nearby enemies.

Augments: Unstable singularity - The singularity emits a nova every second, dealing damage to nearby enemies and healing allies and pets.
Exposed weakness - Your critical hits do extra damage to enemies trapped by the singularity, and pet attacks count as critical hits (they do extra damage).
Collapsing star - Gravity Trap lasts 25% less, but upon ending, the singularity implodes, pulling enemies in for extra damage.
Wormhole effect - The singularity has a chance to spit out supplies every second, including health, shield boosters, ammo and even live grenades.

Skill tree focuses on FL4K gaining buffs whenever the pet takes damage and buffs as the pet’s health gets lower. Includes skills which make you tougher and your pet more vulnerable. Would work well with hive mind and shared spirit. If you have any enemy dominated (or otherwise mind controlled), the effects count towards them, too (so a dominated enemy is more vulnerable and grants you even more extra toughness). Also includes a skill or two, that buffs your shields (as no other FL4K skill does this).
Skill Tree Capstone: Pack of One - When your pet is downed, you gain huge bonuses to damage and damage resistance. These bonuses last until you revive your pet or it respawns. Your pet’s ffyl time (the time during which you can revive it) is increased and it’s respawn time (how long it takes to come back if you don’t revive it) is decreased.