Need big damage for Wotan/Better Half M10

Borderlands 3 Zane the Operative
#1

Sooooo here I am on M10. Have some new gear, some of it tip top. Have a cracking build (CCC Barrier/Drone). Had no issues at the old M4 Takedown, even in True Takedown mode.

Thought I’d have a crack at solo M10. Again, no issues with the mobs. Kraken was a bit bullet-spongy and the Valkyries much more so, but got as far as Wotan splitting. Just could not do enough damage to either the base or better half before running out of ammo.

Weapons I use:

Shock Kaoson, 4236D - Enemies below 25%, gain 50% weapon damage for general shield stripping mobs

Kinetic Kaosin, 4459x2D - Barrier active, Accuracy + 70% crit for larger enemies

Cryo Hyperfocus, 2548D - 100% cryo sntnl for armoured enemies

Corrosive Hyperfocus, 2278D - Consecutive hits 1% for Wotan as he resists cryo

OPQ, 7993x2D - 300% damage >90% health for general mobbing, dogs

Shock Sandhawk, 9248x9D - 100% cryo sntnl for wotans shields

Seein’ Dead com. 3 Donny. Weapon damage, AS cooldown, sniper damage

Seein’ Dead com. 2 Donny. Dahl crit damage, Dahl FR, AS cooldown

What I am missing is some big damage for Wotan’s Base, Better Half, Valkyries and the Kraken. Used to use a corrorosive Hyperfocus 100% cry sntnl on old M4 and it would tear through, even on 4 player scaling. I understand that the consecutive hits anoint isn’t as reliable for damage as the cryo sntnl, I wouldn’t have expected it to be that much worse, using a Hyperfocus obtained in M10 for M10 content.

What am I missing. I’m not one for watching YT for super kills with perfect gear, so haven’t sought inspiration there.

My only thought was maybe a corrosive Monarch with the cryo sntnl anointment, but yeah, good luck with that atm.

Thoughts?

#2

There are anointments you can farm for to MASSIVELY improve damage. Specifically the 300%/90% is fantastic at the start of each of its phases. The 200% while action skill is active and the 75% more damage for named enemies are also good so long as you don’t switch weapons.

If you are not in the mood to farm for new anointments then you can go the damage stacking route. Specifically the following.

  • It’s Piss (+20% dmg) w/ on throw anointment (+25% dmg for 6 seconds)
  • Zheitsev’s Eruption. You can stack this multiple times but it can be a PITA because you can’t control the enemy it targets.
  • Corrosive Old God shield (+20% dmg)
  • Elemental Projector + Sellout (corrosive)
  • One Shotter shield

GLHF!

1 Like
#3

When I ran it I didn’t have any trouble killing the top half with an OPQ very similar to yours. What I did have was a com that boosted AR damage and an artifact that boosted AR damage and AOE.

Artifacts are dropping right now in Meridian Metroplex. Coms are kind of a pain right now though.

For the bottom I killed it once with a YC and once with…the OPQ again maybe? ThiccFilA has some good videos with the Plaguebearer. Getting a com and artifact that boost your damage is really key. The one com with the sniper boost you have is pretty good. If you combo that with an artifact with AOE damage you should do pretty good damage with a Sandhawk but you’re definitely going to need a Cutpurse in your bag I think.

1 Like
#4

I love the new anointments. Am very much at RNGesus’ mercy though, as are we all, so even with the loot event on, chances of getting the one you want on the gun you want diminish with how much you want it. :rofl:

Might have an Old God in the bank. Know I have several EPs. Does the sellout have to be low level?

Yes, sadly you may be right. It may be com farm time again. Currently use a Pearl with mag size and fire rate, and that seems to be working most of the time. May have to consider a different artifact too. Have quite a few in the bank, will have to go and take a look.

#5

It’s not a must but it’s safer to do it w/ a low level sellout in the event that your shield breaks while the DoT is on you.

1 Like
#6

If you have a seein dead com, do you really need CCC? Because I usually don’t.

1 Like
#7

It depends. I use CCC when I’m not running a clone build. I also don’t use a DoT grenade because my favorite grenade is the It’s Piss. DoT grenades and in particular radiation ones are great for proc’ing Good Misfortune because radiation is capable of spreading like a virus – that’s a Covid-19 reference :grin:.

1 Like
#8

@EldeeFifty I forgot to mention the new crit elemental anointment for Wotan’s bottom half after the split. After it splits you have an unmissable crit spot that will consistently proc the new 500% elemental damage anointment.

1 Like
#9

I thought that anointment was gunner specific?

#10

You are right! That’s probably why I didn’t mention it the first time round. :laughing:

1 Like
#11

And I do run the piss with 25% damage on throw

#12

So what you want to do is time it. With Drone Delivery you are looking at the damage debuff every 15 seconds. So if you are paying attention then 10+ seconds after the previous Drone Delivery stack a couple eruptions (e.g., melee between the animation) then activate the Elemental Projector so that the damage buff from the piss and the on throw anointment are active at the same time along with everything else.

1 Like
#13

Corrosive sandhawk (yawn) might be your best bet if you can get one. Unfortunately my go-to’s for Wotan (hyperfocus and conference call) just don’t cut it now. Hitting top half with a Sandhawk can be an exercise in frustration though, but effective when you connect.

As others have advised the new anointments are super powerful.

#14

Apparently that anoint is actually not gunner specific I guess? Except that sometimes it’s listed as gunner? But even then other characters can use it anyway?

1 Like
#15

FTR, I’m enjoying this conversation @EldeeFifty. This is the type of conversation that should be happening, about figuring out how to make things work, instead of the current trend where ppl complain about how much more powerful the new guns are and how weapon balancing is out of whack; as if balanced weapons were ever a thing in a Borderlands game! :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

I’m sorry I went on a rant there. I’m back on topic now!

… most importantly, don’t miss! :grin:

2 Likes
#16

Bunch of thoughts in no particular order:

Consider a Hellshock for shields. Will preserve your SMG and sniper ammo.

@studdugie made a number of suggestions that I enthusiastically second. So I’ll offer some ideas for alternatives.

Since Wotan resists Cryo the SNTNL Cryo anoint may be suboptimal for his armor bar. ASA 200 or CH on something corrosive would be my go-to.

Strongly agree that It’s Piss is one of Zane’s best grenade options. It’s my go-to and I haven’t ever really used anything else.
However, with CH anoints a Hex might be worth considering to build stacks.

I think Zheitsev’s is additive with It’s Piss (? - please someone correct me if I’m wrong, saw that on a YT video so it could easily be incorrect). If so Hex + CH + Zheitsev may outperform Piss + CH + Zheitsev.

Elemental Projector Victory Rush can theoretically outperform the Pearl, but needs good affixes to do so. You are fighting a mountain of RNG to get one like that.
The Pearl is a more practical choice unless you are lucky enough to have a perfect EPVR, especially since you’ve said you have a mag/FR Pearl. That’s the best one possible.

With a Seein Dead I would not build all the way to CCC; I keep action skills up with a combination of Borrowed Time and Good Misfortune. There are so many damage-augmenting skills in the drone and clone trees that the opportunity cost of CCC is too high, in my view. (To be clear I do run Barrier/drone, but I stop building Barrier tree at Confident Competence).

If you don’t have a corrosive Old God, an alternative may be the 0.m. This shield doesn’t get a ton of love, but in my view it’s underrated.

1 Like
#17

You don’t need much to out perform a pearl… If you’re using an assault rifle for example corrosive damage and AR damage on the assault rifle will do.

And using corrosive damage, I’d go with a flesh meter which is 25% damage for a kill and there’s usually severa easy armored enemies to kill in the wotan fight.

#18

I did say that if an EPVR with good rolls was available, it would be better. Maybe the word “perfect” was a slight overstatement, but still; if what you need is an EPVR with at least two good affixes, those don’t grow on trees.

If the best that is available is a Projector with at most one “good” affix, the Pearl will be just as good or perhaps slightly better.

Math to support this (Obviously this is a rough estimate. I ignore buffs from skills and other items, which can and will affect these calculations):
Pearl = 1.01^15 (stacks) x 1.9 (AFAIK the extra 90 **is ** multiplicative) x 1.12 (FR) = 2.47

The effect of the mag size buffs will depend on the stats of the weapon being used, but as an example, take a hypothetical gun with FR 8, reload time 3 seconds, mag size 40.

With no mag buff, you can shoot for 5 seconds, reload for 3, so the sustained-fire DPS is FR x Card Dmg x 5/8. With the mag buff, you fire for 7.5 seconds, reload for 3, so the sustained DPS is FR x Card damage x 7.5/10.5.

The mag buff is therefore equivalent to a roughly 14% multiplicative DPS increase.

Let’s be conservative and bring that down to 12% in order to make a case that’s friendlier to the EPVR. Then:

Pearl = 2.47 x 1.12 = 2.76

EPVR (no good affixes) = 2.03 (Projector buff) x 1.18 (VR) = 2.40

Pearl wins, clearly.

EPVR (w/ 20% elemental damage) = 2.23 (I think the elemental buffs are additive w/ each other) x 1.18 = 2.63

the Pearl wins (but not by a huge amount) vs an EPVR with just one useful affix. Add a second good affix (e.g. mag size) and the EPVR will come out ahead.

So yeah, it need not be perfect, but you do need at least two useful affixes. Even with 2, the Pearl is still pretty close.

1 Like
#19

Unfortunately, the pearl is additive damage and not multiplicative with Zane. It adds in with skills like Donnybrook, synchronicity, confident confidence, violent momentum, etc. The ar damage, manufacturer damage etc are multiplicative with those skills. The corrosive/fire/cryo etc damages would also be multiplicative.

Thicc FIL-A did a video on the pearl for Zane.

1 Like
#20

The only thing I would say about using an EP is that it is fussy to use during what is a very dynamic fight. Also means keeping a slot for a self dot weapon. One of the relics that give bonus to corrosive damage after kill with corrosive, plus an old god, may be a more reliable damage increase if the passives on the relic are good. As has been said, will be multiplicative damage then.

Is the 100% cryo sntnl anoint additive or multiplicative?

Also had an unanswered question about the Hyperfocus (as it’s one of my faves for Wotan/better half):