Turning IB into a walking nightmare (without shooting)

Borderlands 3 Moze the Gunner
#1

[Original post]

Today I came around an AAS novas anointed Hellshock.
The thing was better than my pistol, so equipped it, using fire element.
Currently using Deathless/Transformer/Bloodletter combo with Short Fuse.

Then I realized in IB this thing triggers 2M damage novas that can 2-shot any mob that is not shielded.

Can we push that further ? :smiley:

[Edit]

Ideas for testing

Warning: this testing is executed by a non-professionnal fool, try it at home at your own risks.

General observations

  • Novas seem to be always Fire, whatever weapon or firemode.
  • In current setup, M10 (with Holy crit), novas hit 2M on unshielded flesh, 600k on shield.
  • Current Artifact has +20% fire and +40% splash damage. That might help.
  • Each time I boot the game, I have to reload twice, as the Hotfix does not apply correctly the first time. This is annoying.

Scaling AAS novas on weapon ?

  • check Mayhem scaling : YES !
    – M1 : Novas hit 60k on shielded enemies, 200k on flesh.
    There is a multiplier about x10 on M10.
    – Novas hit about 140k on Sanctuary trial dummy target (M1, current setup)

  • check IB damage scaling : YES !
    – Using crappy Bear Trooper COM with Stainless steel bear : seems to impact novas.

  • check weapon damage scaling : NO
    – Removing Bloodletter COM that only has weapon damage bonus : no impact.
    I felt that at some point I would have a disappointment…

  • check splash damage scaling : YES !
    – Using artifact stats, Splash damage does impact novas.

  • check elemental damage scaling : YES !
    – Using artifact stats, Fire damage does impact novas.

What is the highest possible AAS novas on weapon ?
(with what I have in my stash, that is for sure not god-tier rolls)

  • Try gear combinations
    – Using Green Monster COM with +2 Scorching RPM, adds a layer of corrosion to the Novas
    (about 170k novas + 20k corrosion on trial dummy)
    – Using crappy Blast Master COM, nearly x2 damage (240k).
    – Using Blast Master COM with Splash damage boost, even better (270k).
    – Using Fire Old God shield on top of that, even better (300k).

  • Try skill combinations
    – Full bear is better (340k on trial dummy).

Theory: how to push that even higher ?

  • Elemental projector Artifact
  • Fire in the Skag den skill
    (probably a terrible idea to have both, but…)
  • “It’s piss” grenade with IB annointment
  • Green Monster COM with +5 Scroching RPM AND splash damage ?
  • COM with IB damage on top of splash damage.
  • Raging bear COM ?
  • would splash damage and radius on weapon impact its novas ? (Nukem :smiley: ? )
  • Lucky 7 pistol ?

[Edit #2]

Sidenotes on extended testing

  • Splash range does affect AAS novas on artifact/COM
  • Bear would sometimes get instakilled. I highly suspect explosive barrels.

[Edit #3]

This is a joke. I test to min-max the game, not to make Gearbox’s testing job.

Fool me once, my bad. I won’t do it twice.

1 Like
Borderlands 3 - Patch and Hotfix [07/23/2020]
#2

Yes, it’s affected by elemental damage multipliers.

#3

Blight Bear: wear a Green Monster com, shoot a single bullet. Get in Bear. Thank me later.

Also. Fire in the Skag Den and Torgue cross promotion and splash area and splash damage rolls on coms and artifacts.

7 Likes
#4

Is the nova damage based off the weapon the anoint is on?

#5

No, it’s not.

1 Like
#6

Things to know about this Anointment: I don’t remember if the nova itself is fire or if Skag Den is doing the lifting there.

Skag Den currently gets Mayhem Scaling. 5 points in that will bring a lot of fire.

TCP will occasionally bump the nova distance.

Green Monster com when used Bust-A-Bear style will double the splash damage, as well as add Corrosive damage to the base.

AoE on artifacts when not in first position will boost the damage and distance.

Splash radius And Splash damage on coms will also make it bigger.

The nova anointment scales with the Mayhem level of the weapon. But also seems to scale with Mayhem level?

Lucky 7 for shock is broken because a patch made it so that you lost your slot roll getting in Beae :frowning:

It’s Piss: nothing close enough to be hit by piss will be alive long enough for it to be worth it. You could do it, but that would only be to prove a number.

Dummy in Sanctuary will not show you numbers caused by Mayhem Scaling.

Elemental Projector has never worked in Bear, so probably not worth it.

3 Likes
#7

The nova is fire; FITSD is additive to the novas; the nova anoint scales with gear level and Mayhem level.

My Maxed-Out Bear build has no points invested in FITSD and it does 9M fire and 1M corrosive with each nova. FITSD adds about 2M to the novas.

3 Likes
#8

Sad that lucky 7 doesn’t work anymore.

#9

Point-for-point, your Bear build is exactly the same as mine. I actually find that using It’s Piss for Bear is pretty good because it’s further incentive to not waste points on MoD or PtHP, and Bear’s arsenal hits way harder than any grenade mod could. And FitSD doesn’t seem to have its Mayhem-boosted damage when you’re piloting Bear.

Did you ever test whether Flesh Melter artefacts apply to Sabot? I just assumed they didn’t because EP artefacts didn’t, then again Bear can reap bonus elemental damage from passive bonuses on relics and the Old God.

#10

Flesh melted works with Sabots.
Also, OP should stack an embers blaze shield.

Edit: Apparently not!
I swear it did when I last used it, which admittedly is a while back now.

#11

Red suit is also a great option. I run it with an atombalm deathless. My build deals damage in every element minus cryo. Some suggestions for a cryo grenade i should look out for? The only one i have atm is a cryo hex.

#12

I honestly wouldn’t bother with it. The DoT effect doesn’t do very much at M10.

#13

Are you sure that flesh melter works on bear? I tried it yesterday on ib and auto bear and i didnt see any damage increase.

#14

It doesn’t. This was tested way back when I was trying to see how much I could break Sabot with Green Monster. The GM effect made me think FM was working at one point, but we tested that idea away.

1 Like
#15

Ember’s Blaze shield doesn’t seem to do any damage while in IB now, at least not to the dummy. Didn’t add anything to the nova anoint damage either. Red Suit is likely the same.

Careful with the nova while in IB, you’ll blow up barrels you can’t see and kill IB in one shot lol. Even with over 1M+ armor.

#16

If I recall correctly, Red Suit never damaged dummy. Because the dummy doesn’t fully qualify as an enemy for the sake of target seeking weapons.

That said, until they M-Level shield effects, the POSSIBLE 14k or whatever fire ticks from it will be nigh-meaningless in the grand scheme of play

#17

This may or may not have already been figured out long ago, but I have a strong suspicion that TCP can double the radius of barrel explosions as well. In my testing, Iron Bear has been obliterated by barrels from so far away on a few random occasions that the barrels couldn’t possibly stretch that far with their default radius, whatever that may be. You’re better off just blasting barrels far away before getting close to what you would assume is a safe distance.

#18

That’s the case for sure. But it’s especially dangerous with that nova popping off automatically cuz TCP can proc on it too and hit barrels you didn’t even notice lol.

1 Like
#19

Barrels belong to us. They get Self Damage Health Gate Override and allll our buffs.

Also, pool party and floor is lava, at least before this patch, belonged to us too. So. That was a fun day of testing.

#20

Does Ice Breaker work with the Cryo miniguns?