LADY DEATH
If you don’t kill them at once, you’ll have no end of trouble.
INTRODUCTION
So with sniper rifles being the weapon category of choice, Lady Death as a skill build goes for the more conventional meta route of both the Bottomless Mags and the Demolition Woman skill trees. The only differences worth noting are that we have Full Can of Whoop-Ass to get more use out of our chosen shield and in the blue skill tree, the featured class mod is a direct call for maximum investment in Pull the Holy Pin while only putting two points into Vampyr.
GEAR
Mind Sweeper is pretty simple: +1 Redistribution is a must, and then just get as many points for Fire in the Skag Den that are available. Torgue Cross-Promotion is still a good bonus skill even if it’s the least ideal one available. Sniper rifle damage and splash damage are the two key passive bonuses to acquire. You could look for grenade damage, but I think weapon damage is better because it will apply to all shots as well as buff the trigger damage of the micro-grenades.
The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge is a no-brainer at least for the sniper rifles that don’t inherently deal splash damage. It functions just like the consecutive hits anointment for up to +90% weapon damage, and the damage from the stacks themselves occupy their own slot in the damage formula (and are multiplicative to each other) so you’re actually getting something like a x1.16 multiplier. Magazine size is the only noteworthy passive bonus on this relic however.
Re-Volter is just too good to ignore seeing as the bonus shock damage also triggers on the micro-nades. Best parts are either absorb for extra ammo conservation or shield charges for increasing the probability of more shock damage.
Hex is definitely a good choice of grenade if you’re using the Mind Sweeper COM as it offers more opportunities to land critical hits. The best prefixes spawn 7 or 8 grenades in total. The element of the grenade is entirely up to you.
DAHL
Sand Hawk is the most powerful sniper rifle in this build. It might state on its card that it fires x7 projectiles per shot, but its raw power makes it an exception to the rule: you can easily do millions of damage per micro-grenade with critical shots from this beast of a rifle. Although the gun was nerfed with loss of projectiles and extra cost in ammo per shot with the arrival of the Guardian Breach, its projectile speed was increased to balance it out, and it also inflicts splash damage which is why when critical hits aren’t so hot on the menu, it’s the one listed weapon that can still wreak some real havoc.
With Some for the Road active, you want this thing firing on full auto but on the flip side, semi-auto is the only fire mode that allows Dahl sniper rifles to reap the hidden 20% bonus crit damage from a sniper, not to mention that semi-auto also seriously tightens the spread of this weapon’s projectiles. As well as focusing on the consecutive hit anointment, I would recommend getting the heavier elements for this weapon, specifically shock and corrosive elements for bosses who have ludicrous amounts of shields and armour stuck to them.
JAKOBS
Headsplosion is a joy to use in mobbing. Although consecutive hits is an option for this Jakobs sniper, you might prefer it either with 150/90 or 160% splash for 18 seconds after ASE due to it being kinetic and not a rapid-firing sniper rifle.
Skullmasher has been buffed considerably since this build was last updated. Unlike its more explosive cousin mentioned above, this thing certainly has the fire rate to be a good sniper to be anointed with consecutive hits.
MALIWAN
Krakatoa obeys the conventional rules of optimal Mind Sweeper performance more closely than any other sniper rifle. Accurate, pretty high base damage, solid fire rate and reasonable magazine size. Its only real weakness is that it’s an incendiary weapon but it’s also extra incentive for Stoke the Embers so that the incendiary element and this rifle both are not resisted as heavily as per the norm. Great for mobbing and fleshy bosses such as Graveward.
VLADOF
Boogeyman is a late addition to the game from DLC5 but truly deserves a spot on this list of sniper rifles. The special effect of this weapon actually counts as grenade damage which means it has tremendous synergy with the Mind Sweeper class mod. Excellent for mobbing, but its special effect is triggered by kills so it’s a little less effective in bossing situations than other picks here.
Lyuda unfortunately is a shadow of its former glory from long ago in the Mayhem 3 days, despite Gearbox’s attempt to mitigate the nerf to its critical damage output from back then. But I can’t possibly name this build Lady Death and not give a mention to the very weapon that is named after the lady herself! Besides, the Mind Sweeper is the best class mod for getting the most out of the Lyuda anyway. At a certain point, the single bullet listed on the card, splits into three projectiles. Because these are unlisted projectiles, they deal the same damage as the main bullet itself. Each projectile has a chance to trigger Short Fuse at its full damage potential with this rifle but if you land all three projectiles on a critical spot then like with the Sand Hawk, it’s not uncommon to see more than one micro-grenade spawning from a single shot!
FINAL NOTES
If you’re only going to focus on one sniper and one sniper only in this build, make it the Sand Hawk. It blows all others on this list out of the water no matter which class mod you run so as far as this build is concerned, you could literally focus on this one weapon only, get it to drop in the three heavy elements and you’re fine for weapons. And out of all the Mayhem 6+ exclusive legendaries, it’s the easiest and quickest to farm due to Katagawa Jr. being so squishy. If you do focus solely on this weapon, you might want to try your luck at farming for a Dahl Company Man artefact with great stats and sufficient magazine size.
As for the Mind Sweeper COM, as long as you can score critical hits while keeping safe distance, the micro-grenades will provide fantastic DPS in this build and that’s assuming if most of the enemies survive your initial sniper bullets should they be tough enough. And if you’re in difficult situations where enemies tend to rush you pretty fast and/or critical hits aren’t so readily available for whatever reason, then it plays further to the raw power of the Sand Hawk. The weapon’s biggest weakness is ammo consumption which is why this build can crank out 15% ammo regen per second with up to 2/1 Redistribution + Forge if your COM allows it.
Finally, despite being the most powerful sniper rifle in the game currently, the Complex Root from DLC3 is far too dangerous to Moze herself that it requires a more tailored, niche build in order to use it with limited risks. If you are interested in giving this weapon a spin, this build here will show you how to extract the most from it while not blowing yourself up like a suicide psycho!
Thanks! I figured as much but had to ask since there is so little out there.