Returning Player: Iron Bear Current State?

Heya! I played Borderlands 3 for a couple years straight and was quite active in the forums up until a job change and what not. Recently, a couple of friends and I all got BL3 Delux on PC with the goal of doing some end game fun. I’m on Moze, but recently saw that IB seems a bit “too powerful” in OP levels due to some kinda weird scaling.

My question is, if I level her with my friends, will IB steal all our kills and kinda make the game un-fun? If poor IB is now “too strong”, I’d appreciate any suggested builds that help Moze and IB self-balance once in OP levels.

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Only if you choose to do so. You could deliberately build around co-op with IB rather than min-maxing for solo end-game play. Not unlike BL2 Sal players, who could either dominate everything or choose a more skillful approach (Deputy Sal builds).

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So, like, using bear fists or vanquisher target softening? I’ll do some research. I’d love IB to be somewhat powerful, maybe add utility, but not silly weak or strong.

But that’s a great parallel. I forgot how powerful Sal could be with a few smart gameplay choices.

iron cub rocks

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Vanquisher with homing is fun. Don’t forget the turret option for co-op, either - a partner needing to recover can hop in there for a bit.

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Bear fists and vanquisher target softening are great options when you don’t want IB too strong, bear fists can be very powerful but range is limited or you can use the grappling option that does do much damage, target softening is also ok and does not do too much damage by itself.

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oh neat. I was thinking about a bear mother + shield of retribution build. Sounds like that might be the balance I want.

Ah- yes but does Cubby-boo rock TOO hard, is the question?

You can soften Iron Cub by giving it the V-35 grenade launcher, the Minigun with Exploding Bullets, or Salamander with Molten Roar. It runs up to splash damage range with enemies, and will kill itself in short order with those things. I mean, it’ll definitely drop some enemies on the way, but it won’t steamroll through a crowd.

If you’re playing co-op, I’d go Iron Bear for the Dakka Bear turret with Target Softening to play a support role (maybe add Hammerdown Protocol in one arm for an, “oh crap, my friends are getting swarmed” card, depending on how they’re doing).

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If too powerful is a problem then respec and get rid of all the iron bear/cub boosts
also the reason I like iron cub is because you are still at risk from bad guys you are not hidden away in your iron safe place

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Thanks! I appreciate the feedback!

Much appreciated love the idea of hammer down