First of all, I want to say that I’m Brazilian and English isn’t my native language. So, I apologize if I make it a little hard to understand.
Also, I want to thank a lot of members of the community for all the info I could learn and borrow from them. @Derch, @Chuck80, Yeldarb, Neff, Twister, @0verload and especially @pokapoka, thank you!
Any input is welcomed, I’ll always try to improve!
Note that I’m going to edit the thread with colors and stuff later, as soon as I can learn it properly. 
The Build
This build is about playing with Gaige strengths and unique traits. In others words: Anarchy, Deathtrap and elemental damage, especially shock. Gaige playstyle is chaotic with the “high risk high reward” mechanic, where she gets stronger and inaccurate as anarchy stacks. On top of it, she can do a lot of elemental damage thanks to her middle skill tree, Little Big Trouble. Her traits mix so well that some unique guns seems like were made for her. Here are some words from Poka about DoT and LBT.
Pros:
- High DoT damage;
- Damage boosted by Anarchy;
- Deathtrap rolling.
Cons:
- No natural slag source;
- Not so useful against Raid bosses.
Spec
Level 50 Catalyst
Level 61 Catalyst
Legendary Catalyst
Skills breakdown
BEST FRIENDS FOREVER
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Close Enough: This is mandatory if you want to play with Anarchy. Bullets that miss have a chance to ricochet toward an enemy, ignoring the accuracy loss. Also, Gaige best weapons can bypass the damage penalty.
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Cooking up Trouble and The Better Half: You can choose between this two skills to go down as both of them are good. Cooking up Trouble helps with survivability while The Better Half boost your DPS. I tend to distribute the points between them because they stack with Discord and grow stronger. 2/5 in Cooking up Trouble gives 0.8% health regen and 3/5 in The Better Half 36% fire rate that, coupled with Discord, turns into 3.8% health regen and 61% fire rate. I personally like this balance.
Also, if you use Moxxi guns, you can skip Cooking up Trouble and fill The Better Half to 5/5. -
Upshot Robot: This should be the first goal for every Gaige after the 1 point in Anarchy. You pass almost all the game mobbing, so keeping Deathtrap out for more time for every kill is amazing. One more point for stacking his damage up. When playing through normal and true vault hunter mode deathtrap gives more than the skills that you can spec with your limited points and he grows in ultimate vault hunter mode, where you can give him elemental damage through Make it Sparkle. The only scenario where this skill isn’t useful is against bosses that have no minions and can’t be hit by Deathtrap melee hits.
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Unstoppable Force: This skill is a nice add past level 50 because of the mobility it gives to Gaige close the gap or take cover when needed. Also, the shield regen is nice for survivability, especially against elemental DoT.
Why not Fancy Mathematics? While being amazing on paper, is overshadowed by Blood Soaked Shields when mobbing. Having your shields fully recharged after a kill synergizes with Gaige aggressive playstyle and, in my opinion, is better than a boost to recharge rate and delay. Fancy Mathematics is a good skill against bosses but we do not have enough points to pick it anyway.
LITTLE BIG TROUBLE
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More Pep and Myelin: Myelin has some synergy with Unstoppable Force shield regen per time and Blood Soaked Shield. More Pep helps with Intesrpersed Outburst slagging and is bossted by the Catalyst COM.
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Electrical Burn and Evil Enchantress: The stars of the entire tree and what makes Gaige elemental damage so strong. Evil Enchantress buffs your Damage over Time output and Electrical Burn simply tears through enemies when their shield depletes.
The Catch is that the electrocute damage has a multiplier against shields that, when turns into incendiary, gain an additional multiplier against flesh. And, on top of it, we get the Slag multiplier twice. All of this damage is buffed twice by the Catalyst COM card and the Evil Enchantress skill buffs and this is what makes Gaige DoT so strong. Works even through UVHM. Here is the thread about how to use these skills properly that made me want to implement them in my build. (Thanks a lot, draug!)
- Shock and AAAHHHGGG!!!: With the last patch, Shock and AAAHHGGG! Damage is on par with tesla grenades. Having a free tesla effect that spreads Electrical Burn around you is amazing for this setup, especially due how fast Gaige can empty a magazine and reload her guns.
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Wires Don’t Talk: This skill could make Gaige DoT a LOT stronger but, unfortunately, is bugged. Only the shock damage is really affected, leaving the electrocute and the entire DoT bonus aside. The good thing is that the damage is multiplicative with the Anarchy stacks boost, making all the shock weaponry hit harder.
EDIT: with the last patch, it now works how it should. What is truly amazing. -
Interspersed Outburst: Even though I initially didn’t spec this skill, I’ve realized that the simple act of throwing a grenade is enough to give me one stack and we are going to use our grenades a LOT with this setup. It is a nice damage boost and the slag chance is further increased by More Pep – boosted by the Catalyst COM too. I’ve dropped two points from Electrical Burn to get this skill because 8% doesn’t really make difference.
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Make it Sparkle: Allows you to apply an elemental modifier in Deathtrap melee hits, increasing his damage to a point where he needs no Roid buff. It is an amazing skill and allows Deathtrap to remain effective through UVHM.
ORDERED CHAOS
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Smaller, Lighter, Faster and Anarchy: Both are mandatory skills not only to go down the tree, but for Gaige herself. SLF allows your DPS to keep going and Anarchy is a HUGE boost to your overall gun damage. I can’t play Gaige without it personally.
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Preshrunk Cyberpunk: This increases your Anarchy stacks, increasing your damage output. Can be totally skipped through normal and true vault hunter mode, opening space for more valuable skills for the build and leveling up. 400 stacks aren’t needed outside of Raid scenarios so I cap at 300 and get 2 points.
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Blood Soaked Shield: This is amazing for Gaige aggressive playstyle, allowing you to keep your survivability even at point blank range. Synergizes well with Unstoppable Force, allowing you to keep the shield full while closing the gap for the next target or taking cover.
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Robot Rampage: Nice burst for Deathtrap damage output.
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Typecast Iconoclast: Stacking Anarchy faster is a nice way to boost your DPS output.
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Discord: This is an amazing tool. When active, allows you to tighten the spread of guns and use them with high Anarchy stacks as long as you keep it active. Also, regen you and boost your fire rate, stacking it buffs with skills like Cooking up Trouble and The Better Half. Life saver against bosses and also prevents you to lose all Anarchy stacks by prematurely reloading.
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Rational Anarchist: Allows you to stack anarchy faster and Discord loop, useful given the right circumstance. Also, a nice inicial damage burst when you start playing.
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The Nth Degree: This skill is so amazing that it has a thread dedicated to it. Here.
But, in short, it synergizes with a lot of Gaige best gear because of the number of pellets. Works like Maya’s Chain Reaction and Zer0’s B0re against multi-entity things.
What do you need?
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Catalyst COM: The Catalyst COM buffs both your elemental and shock weaponry damage output through the card and the skills. Can be used until you reach level 62, where you can farm for its legendary version. The Legendary Catalyst COM simply puts all the good skills from Little Big Trouble in one COM. Having Electrical Burn, Evil Enchantress and Wires Don’t Talk together plus the card buff is what allows Gaige elemental damage to be effective through UVHM, unlike the others Vault Hunters.
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Elemental Relic (
/ 
): Elemental relics are the best damage source you can have in the accessory slot, with the Bone of the Ancients giving an extra cooldown reduction too. If you want to use non-shock gear and still focus in Electrical Burn and DoT damage, the Fire Elemental Relic is going to boost regular fire gear for element matching while boosting Electrical Burn too. -
Spell Grenades: This is the main source of elemental damage. Grenades electrocute damage is higher than guns electrocute damage, with the Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning coming on top. The Lightning Bolt is stronger but the delivery system of the Chain Lightning is a lot better as it is able to bounce of surfaces and chain to nearby enemies.
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Slag Tool: Unfortunately this setup requires slag to work properly, especially the elemental damage. Some good options for slagging includes the Pimpernel and the Slagga because of their synergy with Anarchy, Close Enough, The Nth Degree and the fact that they both have high slag chance and multi pellets.
Recommended Gear:
You can see the Top Gear for Gaige thread for more options, but I’m going to list some guns that are generally good with Gaige and this set up personally:
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Storm (
): This pearl was made for Gaige, really. The electrocute damage of this sniper rifle is based on the gun damage, being boosted by Anarchy and Wires Don’t Talk. This is one of the best guns you can give for Gaige as the range covers the limited one from the Spell grenades and once Anarchy stacks, can out damage them.
Try to look for the Barking prefix and Jakobs grip for max damage output or Maliwan grip and Banbury prefix for the best flow. -
Twister (
): One of the few Jakobs elemental weaponry, synergizes extremely well with Gaige due to it being Shock elemental, having a lot of pellets and the spread doesn’t breaking even with high anarchy stacks. It is just amazing and is going to tear through enemies that come close to you. Rustler’s prefix and Jakobs grip are the best parts, but be happy if you can actually drop it. -
Thunderball Fists (
): I personally like to use this gun with Gaige. The damage over time and the area of effect are both good, synergizing well with Electrical Burn and the LBT tree in general. Also, both Sniper Rifle and Shotgun ammo pool are kinda limited. Look for one with the Maliwan grip. -
Necromancer COM: A nice replacement for boss fights, this COM buffs Gaige DPS and keep the boost from Wires Don’t Talk, allowing you to use guns like the Twister to great effect. Swap to it when you are raiding or fighting a boss that does not take DoT. I always look for the Chaotic Neutral or the Chaotic Good with buffs to Wires Don’t Talk and Made of Sterner Stuff.
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Big Boom Blaster: This shield is actually pretty nice. Can spawn with elemental immunities, has good stats and is easy to farm. Also, the special effect is really good with this setup as grenades are your main source of elemental DoT.
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Antagonist: One of the best shields in the game and well known by everyone at this point. The catch is that the reflected bullets also stack The Nth Degree, increasing your damage output. Also, Gaige lacks slag so the extra slag is always welcomed.
Honorable Mentions:
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Teapot (
): When it comes to fighting loaders I always try to get a Dahl gun. They are accurate and usually don’t waste ammo due to the burst fire being enough to hit the crit spots. The Teapot is easy to farm, surprisely accurate even with some anarchy stacked and its corrode damage is higher than normal, what is good with this setup. Also, you can always make use of Discord to burst your accuracy. Neutralizing or Tactical prefixes, Dahl grip. -
Jolly Roger (
/ ): The Jolly Roger is another easy farm good gun for Gaige. Can come in all elements, has a lot of pellets and fixed spread pattern. If you can’t get a Twister, this can be one of the best subs. Assssult prefix and Bandit grip. -
The Bee: This shield is especially effective with guns with unlisted pellets like the Fibber and the Hail or to boost even further the elemental DoT from your Storm sniper rifle. Gaige has the tools to keep your shield up like Blood Soaked Shields, Bulk Up and Deathtrap drawing attention.
Tips
- Your grenades are powerful…
Unlike others builds that use the grenade slot as a tool, this setup uses the grenades as a main source of elemental DoT. Make use of them, but don’t forget to slag before the Electrical Burn comes.
- …and so is Deathtrap!
Always try to match elements for the area. If you are in Bloodshot, charge DT with fire. If you are in Opportunity, charge it with Corrosive. For areas with mixed types of enemies, charge it with Shock for the neutral but still effective damage boost.
- Slag is the key
Your elemental DoT won’t be effective without Slag, unfortunately. I almost always use the Slagga as a slag tool not only because of its effectiveness but due to the ammo type. As Gaige, you won’t have an efficient SMG to do damage with while all others ammo types are well used.
- Matching elements vs Shock weaponry
Wires Don’t Talk makes your shock weaponry very strong, but you can match the element properly if you wish. There are some shock only guns like the Twister that are strong on its own and can still be used against flesh or armor effectively, but if the area is heavy on armored enemies it is wise to use corrosive guns. Also, using fire guns doesn’t hurt your Electrical Burn damage as the fire Elemental relic will boost it as much as the shock one. Against armor, Electrical Burn won’t be effective anyway.