Alright, with my Fastball/Tediore build basically done, I’m ready to move on to my Torgue allegiance build. With that, I’ll have a personalized build for each of the commando’s most common playstyles (a 26-15-26 Double Up/Gemini, an Explosive Axton and a Fastball Axton). I want to try a Jakobs allegiance build too, but that one would probably end up being just a riff on @Troubled’s turret-less “Leatherneck” build. There isn’t much room for variation there, so there’s no point in opening a new thread to discuss it. However, I still need to have my Torgue build analyzed by the experts here before calling it finished. So, without further ado, let’s get to it. This build is meant for use in OP0, by the way.
“MALLORY”?
I always name my builds after characters from spaghetti westerns. The name I’ve chosen for this build is “Mallory”, after John H. Mallory, the irish explosives expert played by James Coburn in Sergio Leone’s mexican revolution spaghetti western “Duck, You Sucker!”.
LIMITATIONS
Torgue guns only, no slag weapons of any kind (all the slagging will come from the turret) and no Moxxi weapons of any kind (not even the Creamer).
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE
Only two non-Torgue items will be used, the Legendary Engineer and the Quasar. The reason for these exceptions will be explained below.
PLAYSTYLE
Most of the weapons I’ll be carrying benefit a lot from enemies being close together, so I’ll need a way of pulling them together by force. The way to do this is with singularity grenades. The playstyle would involve deploying the turret to activate Battlefront and slag a few of the enemies, throwing a couple of singularity grenades to group them together and then unleashing the explosions on them. Then I’d use a more precise weapon to take care of the last few who are still alive and the occasional stray. The inspiration for this came from seeing some of the recent weapon guides for the commando from @MOLMF on YouTube, so credit where credit is due.
GEAR
Unkempt Harold: Yes, it’s a cheap, “easy mode” gun. I don’t care. I want a pistol for my loadout, and as far as Torgue pistols go, nothing beats the Harold. Due to the lack of slag and the nature of the other weapons I’ll be using, I’ll need a gun that I can rely on to kill enemies fast without depending on slag and that could also be used at close range. The Harold is that gun. With the boosts it would get from this build, it would be almost cynical not to use it. It will give me the security and freedom I need to make this fun.
KerBlaster: It’s my favorite assault rifle in the game, has high damage potential even without being able to score critical hits, it’s very reliable against groups of enemies and the child grenades get a damage bonus from the skills.
Flakker: I know that it doesn’t get any grenade damage bonus and that it has a steep learning curve, but the damage potential is huge and I think it’s a really fun gun. Fun is the key word here for me. This is supposed to be a fun build. It’s a controversial weapon, but with a little practice, it should perform well against big targets, some flying enemies and in closed spaces.
Nukem: It’s here as a “panic weapon” of sorts and for second winds when enemies are far away and/or hiding. Also performs better when enemies are close together, so it fits the playstyle I’m going for.
Ogre: It’s a great weapon and one that will get grenade damage bonus. It’s here to function as a more ammo efficient alternative to the other weapons and also for when it’s necessary to focus on a single target as opposed to a group of enemies.
Ravager: Another good gun that will get a damage bonus. It’s a backup gun, for when a close range weapon is needed and the Harold is low on ammo.
Quasar: Singularity grenades are a huge part of the playstyle intended for this build. The Quasar is the grenade mod that has the strongest singularity pull in the game, so it’s the obvious choice for the job. Plus, it has the shock damage to help strip enemies of their shields and leave their soft flesh exposed for all the EXPLOSIONS. Sticky Longbow prefix to maximize efficiency.
Bonus Package: It’s here purely as a Torgue made damage alternative to the Quasar. I chose it over the Meteor Shower because I feel it’s more reliable and less dangerous to myself. The damage is still high enough to make it effective.
Big Boom Blaster: Since this is a build that relies heavily on grenades to work properly, the Big Boom Blaster would come in handy to keep the grenade stock from running too low. The rockets are a bonus, since the Nukem has increased ammo consumption. Also, it’s a Torgue shield (even if the skin says it’s Dahl), so it goes along with the allegiance theme.
Legendary Engineer: The main reason I’ve chosen this as the class mod for this build are its bonuses to turret skills like Sentry and Resourceful, so I can spec just one point into both of them and still have them maxed out. It frees up a total of 8 points to be spent on damage and survival skills. Plus, it has a +5 bonus to Battlefront and a generous cooldown rate bonus, all of which are great for this build.
Torgue Allegiance relic: Torgue weapons have a few drawbacks, like slow projectile speed, low fire rate and abysmal reload time. A Torgue allegiance relic with boosts to fire rate and magazine size would help a little with two of those.
Explosive Damage relic: I’d stick to the fire rate and magazine size bonuses from the Torgue allegiance relic most of the time, as they would improve considerably the overall performance of nearly all of the weapons in my loadout, but it would be nice to keep this in my backpack for a damage increase when needed.
Blood of the Ancients: Almost every weapon I’ll be using has considerably increased ammo consumption. This could be a problem in certain areas where enemies are tough and ammo crates are scarce. A Blood of the Ancients that increases pistol, shotgun or assault rifle ammo capacity could be a solution to that. The health increase is just a plus that regular stockpile relics don’t have.
NOTE: I won’t be using the Swordsplosion. I didn’t forget about it, this is a conscious decision. I know it’s a great gun and fairly easy to get, but I don’t see myself using it a lot. I want to keep this a pure, straightforward Torgue theme. Rockets, grenades and explosions. So no guns that shoot swords, even if they explode on contact.
THE BUILD
http://bl2skills.com/commando.html#15055155015005515010005050051100
GUERILLA
1/5 Sentry: Keeping the turret up will be important because of Battlefront and also because the turret will be the only source of slag. The Legendary Engineer will give me a +5 boost to this skill, so I only need to spend one point in it, just to activate it. It will be at a nice 6/5 after the class mod is equipped.
5/5 Ready: Torgue weapons have pretty slow reload speed, so the 40% bonus from this will do wonders.
5/5 Willing: Shield recharge rate and delay boosts will be very important both for survival and to keep the Big Boom Blaster actively delivering more grenades and rockets.
5/5 Onslaught: Both the gun damage and movement speed are good and it has great synergy with Metal Storm.
1/1 Scorched Earth: More rockets = More explosions = More damage. Mr. Torgue approves this s**t.
5/5 Able: It’s a great survival skill that will get even better after the Legendary Engineer takes it to 10/5. I really wanna make this build as tanky as possible without taking any points away from the more essential damage skills.
5/5 Grenadier: The playstyle for this build depends a lot on using singularity grenades to group enemies together, so being able to carry five more would make sure that I don’t run out of them too often.
1/1 Double Up: The turret becomes a source of slag. It will be out on the battlefield most of the time anyway for Battlefront and the extra rockets from Scorched Earth, so it might as well do some slagging.
GUNPOWDER
5/5 Impact: A decent gun damage boost that will become a great gun damage boost after the Legendary Engineer is equipped and takes it to 10/5.
5/5 Metal Storm: Torgue weapons generally have a pretty low fire rate, so the occasional boost from this skill will be nice.
5/5 Steady: Boosts grenade and rocket launcher damage. Mr. Torgue approves this s**t.
1/1 Longbow: Useful to strategically deploy the turret from a distance and the health bonus for it will extend its duration, which is good to keep Battlefront active.
5/5 Battlefront: Boosts gun and grenade damage. With the Legendary Engineer it would go up to 10/5. I think I know someone who would approve this s**t.
1/1 Do or Die: Even more grenade and rocket launcher damage boosts. It will make getting second winds a lot easier when enemies seem to vanish or go into hiding right after bringing you down. I approve this s**t.
SURVIVAL
5/5 Preparation: I’m used to relying on the health regen from it on all of my builds and I like it a lot. I’m giving up on Grit for this build and I’m not using Moxxi weapons or grenades to heal, so I’m taking this to keep my health up.
5/5 Pressure: Both reload speed and recharge delay boosts are very useful for this build.
5/5 Quick Charge: Good for keeping shields up and it also does a pretty good job of canceling DoT.
1/5 Resourceful: Like Sentry, the Legendary Engineer will make sure this skill is maxed out, so we only need to put one point into it to activate it. The Legendary Engineer will also give an extra cooldown rate bonus on top of it, so there really is no need at all to put more than one point into this.
1/1 Mag-Lock: Like Longbow, it’s here to give me more options on where to place the turret strategically on the field.
That’s it. That’s my plan. Does anyone here have any advice, tips or criticism they might wanna share? Any mistakes I didn’t notice or things I might have missed? Thanks in advance for any input on this.
( I don’t keep either a Flakker or Kerblaster on any of my characters)