A few thoughts on (Rakk) Fl4k on m10

Borderlands 3 FL4K the Beastmaster
#1

Hey there,

I’m a Fl4k main since day 1, I have since then played through all skills and difficulties.
After trying all, on m4 I settled with Rakks cause I enjoyed them most, just my playstyle - my build never was THE meta build, even after the level cap increase I never went for a second capstone cause I also love my skag puppy and didn’t want to give him up. Kinda unusual, but it worked.
I still could solo slaughters and takedown - it wasn’t one of my favourite things to do, but I’ve done it.

Now on m10 I’m facing some issues.

  • the pets in general; damage was never high, but now they would really need some severe work to have any use at all; only thing they’re good for is the revive - I’ve always run without it, now on m10 I feel I need it, so I respeced to get at least that, in case the he pet even lives long enough

  • the rakks; while on m4 2 or 3 charges of rakks could kill stuff, now of course they don’t even scratch on the surface; m10 scaling for an action skill like that would be highly needed

  • the gear; the new anointment 200% asa damage really got me excited; till I noticed rakks don’t really work with it cause they’re not out long enough; so we have to continue with the 100% against enemies with 12k% health and shields. Some of my favourite weapons feel like toys now (and I don’t expect to oneshot everything, not at all).

So, where are we with Fl4k now?
Started as a promising character, then got a nerf, a re-buff, a little pet damage increase.
Since then, mostly untouched.

In the meantime Zane became insane, Moze is now a damage tank, Amara op as always, getting buffs, getting helpful class mods, getting new anointments to compensate for the new mayhem mode…

And then there’s Fl4k.

  • Getting a class mod not only utilizing the worst skill they have, but even that only in the case ot a pet kill laughing in m10

  • pets even more useless now

  • Rakks not keeping up anymore

  • no anointments to keep up with that insane health increase, instead still stuck with 100% damage anointments - or of course the option to give up my favourite skill

  • a modifier reducing their now only strength for 75%

I love Fl4k, and never did I regret my decision to stick with them through all difficulties.

I also know that the other two builds would probably work out better now, and you can say just respec, use a different skill - but we have three to choose from, right? So each of them should work on all difficulties.

I’m also sure some streamer will also find a way to make rakk build great again, if we are lucky enough to get that EXACT gear with that EXACT anointment and use that EXACT build.
But I dont wanna be forced to do that. I loved the variety of possibilities!

At the moment as a Rakk Fl4k I really feel kinda left behind and ignored. I really hope that future patches show some love for the Beastmaster :disappointed_relieved:

Thanks for the read

13 Likes
#2

I consider going back to Fade Away again, I liked playing with Rakks and I think it may still have value combined with elemental anointment on shield and grenade. On the other hand new weapon anointment may overweight this. Time will tell, I’m not too worried about this.

What is annoying that after spending few hours farming back my beloved Clairvoyance and Maggie combo, they feel like crap… new Atals AR or the SMG from Traunt are just way superior. Not to mention Sandhawk

#3

Exactly, even unseen threat didn’t do much.
For me it’s a big problem, cause it’s my main character and favourite skill to use.
Fade away forces me to give up my skag, gamma isn’t my taste either…
Atm I’m kinda sad and lost. Took me like 20 minutes too clear area and kill Amach…
All my class mods are Jakobs focused, all gear rakk focused…
Also auto ARs don’t seem to be good for fade away?

#4

The entire design of M10 is antithetical to possibilities unfortunately. I run a Rakk Fl4k build mostly as well, but most of my guns just tickle enemies because health scaling went a touch too far. Stuff like the Lob and most of the new weapons work well, but gone are the days where Rakk Fl4k was the bastion of versatility. I do hope GB looks into this, but I’m not keeping my hopes up.

3 Likes
#5

Yeah, the only anointments that were good for rakks can’t hold up, the rakks themselves can’t either.
I mean, I got along yesterday, but today it really frustrated me again, enemies like Tom and Xam or Amach take so long now…
So I can either respec and lose all I loved about Fl4k or just struggle along and watch the others kill everyone while I try to stay alive.

I was never a fan of meta builds that only work with specific anointed gear. But guess that’s what it’s gonna be now.

Also don’t know how to utilize fade away now really the best gun atm is my o.p.q. but AR seem to not be the best choice for base fade away? Same with Krakatoa. Maybe they only work with Guerillas in the Mist?

2 Likes
#6

Action skill start and GitM more than likely.

This. So many people don’t get this. There are tons of people who don’t care that their build isn’t the best one ever, they just want to play the character they like the way they like and not have their effort spat on. Continuously being told that it isn’t a big deal that you can’t do that is infuriating.

13 Likes
#7

Don’t want to get off topic but any1 know how Gamma burst is handling M10? I’d imagine pretty well with the new anointments.

#8

The AS Start shield anointment makes Rakk builds hilariously tanky – abusing the Stop-Gap invulnerability is the most obvious application but any shield break/fill effect can be used, so if you find something with both Brimming and Fleet you can get health regen and speed buffs active permanently. So that’s nice.

The Rakk debuff anoint works ok, but ASE 100% weapon damage sucks on M10. Also so few weapons scale well even when you actually manage to get a true M10 version that for the vast majority of gear just…won’t work, even with ideal anoints. Then you have the OP outliers like the Yellowcake and Anarchy, which are so absurd it almost doesn’t matter what AS you’re running…they will carry you. :confused:

The game feels much better at M6 tbh, everything after it seems like a mess. You aren’t even guaranteed M10 drops on M10 lol.

2 Likes
#9

I run a Rakk build too. Here is my basic build, which I think is pretty common for many Rakk build players (although I know some go blue tree instead of green).

https://bl3zone.com/planner/AAB5CO5CQ3CS1CU3CV3CW5CY1CZ5DA3DB5DC1DE5DG3DH3DI1DJ1DL-

I reported this a little bit on the TG thread, but will make some more comments and observations here.

  1. At this point, the rakk slag anointment is outperforming other anointments for me. I believe this is because it does not increase Fl4k’s damage directly, but rather debuffs the enemies and this anointment scales best with Rakk builds on M10 at this point.

  2. Because the rakk slag anointment is so much more effective at M10, the Rakk Pakk COM’s special effect is now much, much more valuable than it was before. Get yourself a good Rakk Pakk and give it a serious test.

  3. I always have played my Rakk build really, really aggressively, even with Fl4k’s squishiness. At this point, I have had to dial back my aggressiveness considerably and pick my spots to be aggressive a lot more carefully. You are way, way more squishy with the Rakk build at M10 than you were even at M4, so you just have to be careful and selective with how aggressive you are.

  4. I was able to do a TTD M10 run using only a rakk slag anointed Clairvoyance and the Rakk Pakk COM, so M10 is very doable, you just have to min/max a little more if you are running a Rakk build.

Just some of my observations on the Rakk build meta right now. I think it will be shifting rapidly over the next few weeks as we discover new items and combinations of items and anointments.

EDIT: My number 5 comment/observation (which I forgot) is that with the “very hard” modifiers that seems to come up often where enemies get elemental chains between them and/or to Fl4k when nearby (I think there actually are two different modifiers but they appear to work pretty similarly), any possible ways that you can boost Fl4k’s movement speed should be taken. Passives on COMs and artifacts, Deadeye COMs boosting FAF, or other purple COMs boosting FAF (I think that would be a Bushmaster?) are more valuable than they were in past, because movement speed and the ability to run away from enemies in close proximity to Fl4k is more valuable than it was previously.

EDIT 2: If there was enough interest, maybe I could turn some of the above info into a “Top Tips for Rakk Fl4k” resource post or something like that?

3 Likes
#10

Thank you, finally someone understands.
I’m so tired of the “then you’re not good enough” comments and stuff like that I have to read on bl Facebook paige whenever I bring up the issue.

I chose that character and skill for a reason, it’s my playstyle and it’s what defines a beastmaster for me.
And if it’s not the op killer mega build I’m fine with it, I struggled my way through everything. But making it so much worse COMPARED TO THE OTHERS NOW because they just ignore that 100% damage against 12k health and no damage scaling of the skill itself isn’t enough forces me into something I don’t enjoy.

I also know it’s ridiculous and stubborn that I just don’t want to give up that damn skag, but I love him, he’s all my compensation for not being able to have a real dog, I tried to respec to full fade away with spiderant, but not only does she die a lot more than my good boy, it really made me sad. And I hate the Jabber, sorry.

I can maybe accept that I need to change my skill now, but not a different pet, so whatever I do, I can just not have that op build.

2 Likes
#11

I hardly ever get a good stop gap, hoping for that anointment is illusional for me. Also they’ll probably fix this anyway with a cooldown or such

#12

I use a rakk pak, and am also a very aggressive player. That’s why I chose rakks as my playstyle. But what is rakk slag anointment? Is that new? Have never seen that. And playing almost permanently on m10 since the update.
Or do you mean the 100% after damaged by rakks compared to the 100%ase?

2 Likes
#13

I’m glad to finally see someone who gets it lol.

I am obsessive about FL4K’s pets, but that’s because they are what draw me to this class. There are so many interesting mechanics and subtleties to the pets that most people will never know about, which is fine, no one has to like everything. But I feel like people who came to FL4K expecting a Beastmaster are being actively punished for wanting to play the class GB marketed.

It isn’t that difficult to do the “endgame content” to an entry level. A Lob and any half decent build can get you to Wotan on scaled MTD easily. What does that say about our ability to find synergies, discover new interactions, and push an ability to its limits? Nothing. But clearing the endgame content is considered the only thing of worth, and anything that doesn’t assist in that is left by the wayside and we’re just supposed to not care. Apparently being “bad” is just sticking with something you like and trying to make the best of it, and hoping that choice doesn’t mean you get excluded from enjoying all the game has to offer.

I’ll be bad then, I quite enjoy it. I just wish GB didn’t keep making this choice more difficult.

2 Likes
#14

Yes, people call it Rakkslag for short.

1 Like
#15

“Rakk slag” (as the kids call it) is the “Enemies damaged by Rakk Attack take 100% increased damage for a short time” anointment. I believe, based on what I currently have discovered, that this is presently the anointment that you are going to want on all weapons for a Rakk build going forward, with M10 as it stands now. 100% weapon damage on ASE simply is not quite enough any more. You really want the rakk slag.

EDIT: To be clear, this anointment applies to damage from all sources, I believe, and not just weapon damage. That is why you want this anoint. It amplifies all damage taken by the enemy and also is multiplicative in Fl4k’s damage formula, whereas the 100% weapon damage anointment is just additive to gun damage.

1 Like
#16

Thanks, didn’t know that. So it works differently than the 100%? I’ve heard that but never fully understood how.

1 Like
#17

Unless it’s been changed, it only applies to the weapon the anointment is on, not all sources.

Yes, video explains it well.

2 Likes
#18

I am not sure that video takes all factors into account in its explanation. It gets part of the way there but not all the way, it seems to me.

Maybe it does only amplify the enemy’s damage from weapon damage from the anointed weapon, but it appears to me that this does not include factors like multiple ASEs from shield and grenade and any weapon damage from your COM and artifact too. So the video seems to get part, but not all, of the picture.

I have tested this myself in gameplay and on the dummy. I get inconsistent results on the dummy, but my gameplay experience tells me I am analyzing this correctly. I don’t claim to be a mad BL scientist like some others here, but this is what it “feels” like to me.

I don’t think it is strictly just damage from the weapon - I think it is the combined damage from the weapon AND other factors also boosting the damage from that weapon. Make sense? EDIT: I should have been more clear in my initial post. I know it does not work like slag in BL2 where the enemy takes more damage from all players when slagged.

#19

Ah, my mistake then.

ASE elements on the shield and grenade do get Rakkslag boosts.

#20

That sounds more correct but I am still not 100% that this is correct. I was getting inconsistent numbers in my testing. I stripped it all the way down to no skill tree, no other gear, etc., and I was getting inconsistent results. Could be down to elemental damage on GR? I don’t think I disabled GR, so that could be the one thing I forgot. Will try again.