Fl4k rant thats been building up since launch basically

Borderlands 3 FL4K the Beastmaster
#1

I really just wanted to rant because i was so excited for fl4k and in the 1st couple weeks They were a blast but now it just feels so bad to play as them. Ive got a good rakk attack build but its just not the same as the crit build and gamma burst is just ok right now.

It just doesn’t make sense to me when they nerf him to supposedly encourage other builds and to keep fade away viable but they obliterate Guerrillas in the mist and weaken leave no trace so the list of guns you could use got small.

I also don’t think its fair for them to have done this for the sake of more diverse builds but then all i get in my matchmaking is just amara and zane running at mach twelve killing everything while being unkillable And moze lagging my game with explosions but when fl4k Killed bosses fast that was a problem.

But whats worse is they try to remedy this with a class mod that on paper should revive crit fl4k but then its reset by almost everything rendering it useless. Even then people still say its intentional but even if it was intentional its still limiting build diversity which should be the opposite of what they wanted right?

I hate when the developers change something saying it isn’t working as intended but Its not really an issue because its a pve game. Fixing bugs with skills and gear is fine but changing skills just because a skill has unexpectedly cool synergies doesn’t mean its worth killing the skill.

I just cant wrap my head around fl4k needing to be weakened but in previous games when characters with similarly strong builds that melted bosses were praised.

Their annoints suck except for rakk attack 100% and gamma burst 115% they really should add a good fade away annoint where it procs annoints on skill start up or damage during fade away.

They have basically no health regen their pets do almost no damage, die fairly often, there are like 3 cool attack commands but they’re still bad, and the pets don’t provide very good boosts without barbaric yawp. they have like 3 maybe 4 good class mods rakk pakk not being one of them because the rakk hardly seek out other targets in a crowd.

Second intention, two fang, overclocked, their regen skills aren’t good, and headcount is bugged when it comes to rakk attack .

Rakk open a cold one is useless and so is falconers feast because you have to use an otto idol normally. All gammaburst augments aren’t very good either except for burst aid which still is kind of inconvenient.

I know other characters also may have issues like this but it’s just really frustrating having these fl4k issues but then everyone is head over heels with each minor hotfix and not really acknowledging fl4k’s situation.

14 Likes
#2

It’s is funny cause Fl4k was never the cheese Zane and Amara currently are. Even if they reverted the nerfs it wouldn’t be enough, FA needs better Anointments. I almost think they should let cool downs for Fl4k refresh before his action skills end. If Zane can have pretty much permanent up time of his action skills why not let Fl4k be able to have better up time too then.

6 Likes
#3

I can agree with most of the points made here but yeah…Fl4k was never that good even at day one.
but most of all…

This doesn’t actually mean anything.
What pve game doesn’t fix itself by balancing abilities and dps?
i’ll tell you…a bad one.

If every game ever made needs a fix, it needs a fix.
Being pve or pvp doesn’t change anything.

4 Likes
#4

I find this somewhat hyberbolic quite frankly. Running a Great Horned Skag/Fade Away build with Tribal Friend Bot and I am finding it working perfectly fine on M3. Can’t deny that it falls off on M4 where this build becomes more supportive, but I do think that people exaggerate when they say that FL4K isn’t good.

The only real reason Zane even jumped up in rank is one single COM. And it requires DLC1. Pidgeonholing a character into a single COM to make it good on later Mayhem levels doesn’t mean alot, atleast to me personally.

Can FL4K use better anointments related to FA? Perhaps, that I cannot answer. But they certainely stil are in a good position. One where creativity can shine proper. And I wish I could say this about Zane or Moze.

5 Likes
#5

I agree with the spirit of this post, although I also find some of your points a bit exaggerated.

While I disagree on the health regen and class mods, I totally agree about the pets. As pets, they are pretty bad since they can’t tank or do damage w/out accessories. As stats sticks, they still suck w/out BY. Between that and all of the buggy interactions with FL4K’s pets and melee bonuses, it’s like GB is super afraid of making them actually fun like the other pets in the series. I don’t think any character build is more plagued by bugs than pet FL4K, and they neuter the build so much that it’s just not fun to play.

Do you not notice that in every hotfix thread there is solid stream of people linking the Bug Megathread and asking when those bugs will be fixed? People are on top of this, but GB isn’t going to reveal what is coming up in the patch notes.

I’m not going to say FL4K is bad, because they aren’t. But FL4K is broken, of that there is no doubt. And that is far worse. There are major skills in every tree that just don’t provide things they should, things that don’t work like the skill says they should. I wish that those things could be addressed at the same speed they “balance” everything else.

4 Likes
#6

Fl4k was sort of cheese when it came to bosses but i totally agree on the annoints and the actions skill idea

#7

Yeah they’re still good i just said it feels kinda feels bad to play as them right now.

#8

I mean the regen is pretty miniscule unless you spec into like all of it but then youre missing out on damage and when i said his class mods are bad i mean rakk commander and deadeye. This is because rakk commander is just bad and deadeye’s special ability gives only sudden burst of damage then not much else and it supports two fang which is really only sort of helpful on single pellets or unlisted projectile weapons

#9

Also i dont notice the linking of the bug thread because im kinda new to this website cause i usually just check the borderlands website when a hotfix comes out so thats on me

1 Like
#10

Fl4k was very good in the beginning of the game killing bosses and being pretty decent at killing mobs but saying he was never good is cap. one pve game that went mostly unchanged and its skills and Dps was unbalanced was is borderlands 2 and its regarded as and amazing game to this day even if zero and sal could one shot bosses. Also im trying to say why fix some of this stuff if it doesnt affect anyone except the people who play fl4k who will suffer from it

1 Like
#11

Thank you for the rant, really I have been thinking the exact same. It’s like they dont want ppl to play fl4k or have something against him :man_shrugging:

3 Likes
#12

I’m about 99% in agreement with OP but Fl4k definitely doesn’t lack health regen. Especially with GB.

Moze is the one who has no sustain.

The lack of good Fade Away anoints is irritating and the character’s general bugginess really needs to be addressed.

I reserve my own judgment on whether They needs a buff until his skills and pets are actually working the way they’re supposed to.

8 Likes
#13

Amara and Zane did need a boost but this is pretty much why matchmaking is ruined for me.
On the bright side Fl4k can still melt bosses and I feel like they have more diversity in terms of gear when it comes to endgame content then the others.

2 Likes
#14

If they would just revert the nerf to GitM and Leave No Trace, FL4K would be in a much better place. Those nerfs have virtually no justification at this point, since Amara and Zane would still be stronger. They were just knee-jerk reactions to all the Graveward videos.

6 Likes
#15

very true but i feel now maybe GitM is too far gone and if they did change it back they’d have to buff it for mayhem 4

1 Like
#16

Gamma Fl4k doesn’t have many health regen options. Most his regen is all stacked in his green tree.

#17

There actually isn’t that much of a difference between Stalker and Hunter in the context of a Gamma Burst Build.

In GammaVore, you’d have Scorcher + BY (3%) and Who Rescued Who + He Bites (2%) for a permanent 5% health regen.

In GammaGreen, you have the same Who Rescued Who + He Bites combo, but you lose the Spiderant health regen. You do gain Self Repairing System and Turn Tail and Run, but the both of those together equal 2.5% healing. Since you wouldn’t be using Fade Away, you wouldn’t be using Until You Are Dead, so the most powerful source of healing in that case would be Rage and Recover, which is a kill skill and only recovers missing health.

#18

I guess that’s true if you don’t take the augment that provides 20% per second while near the burst.

But if you do, 20% per second is huge regen given the gating mechanic…don’t know what would count as sufficient if 20 isn’t enough.

#19

good news bad news i found a god roll stack bot that let me do GitM in the take down. bad news i went down alot. Good news i never died. This being said like 99% of my points still stand

#20

Wonderful job on this post.

2 Likes