Top sniper for Krieg: Volcano

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 5:30pm

A guide to the Volcano on Krieg

People always think this weapon is terrible, due to it having less crit damage than a Snider.
BUT, it outperforms the Snider in body shots, the splash radius is huge and increased DOTs damage.

BB builds: The splash radius and damage have REALLY good synergy with BB. All you have to do is aim next to the target or a group of them, and the bloodbath will proc. Leg Reaper is very potent with this weapon, and is easy to use. Also Blood Blister is amazing too, does more per-shot damage, but the Kill-skills last less amount of time.

DOTs based builds: The DOT on this weapon is extremely high, I think it is the highest sniper fire DOT in the game. This means all you have to do is shoot the target a few times, get a few DOTs stacking, and they will burn rather easily. Blaze Torch pumps out the most DOT damage, while a Leg. Torch pumps out the most DPS because of all the fire rate and DOT stacking.

Fuel-the-Blood-based builds: The increased damage dealt as splash damage means when grenade damage is boosted, the weapon gains a very impressive amount of extra overall body hit damage. Diesel Blister COM works so well with this weapon, that I can damage cap after just a 5-enemy chain.

Pain is Power: If you don’t like kill-skills, or don’t have a good Torch COM, you can use a Power Toast or Leg. Sickle COMs to boost its base body-shot damage.

Now, all this means the following: this sniper is good with ANY hellborn build, and is one of my personal favorites.
I will also keep adding to this, but I just now put this together, so expect more info and tips later, also drop down what ya’ll think about this beautiful weapon .

xmngr · October 9, 2015, 6:30pm

I ran a sniper K once. Synergizes well with the Hellborn tree.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 6:35pm

What weapon did you use?

xmngr · October 9, 2015, 7:08pm

72 Barking Volcano
Dahl Grip, Hyperion Stock, Jakobs sight.

Poisd2Strike · October 9, 2015, 7:25pm

I think most players would probably compare the Volcano (Fire) to the Pimpernel (Fire). I don’t play as Krieg, but can see the Volcano (Fire) synergizing well with a Hellborn Krieg build much as the Storm (Shock) Sniper Rifle synergizes well with a Gaige build that focuses primarily on Shock damage. Perhaps the Volcano (Fire) being boosted by skills that affect Grenade damage put it on par with or even gives it a slight edge (with Krieg) over the Pimpernel (Fire), which is not impacted by skills that boost Grenade damage. But, I honestly don’t know. But to be fair, Sniper Rifles are generally meant for critical (usually head) shots

Unfortunately, DOT is less effective in UVHM due to enemy health regeneration. Sometimes when I PL a target that is almost dead, it doesn’t die even though various DOT is applied. The same thing happens when shooting an almost dead target in UVHM and letting DOT do damage. If DOT actually worked really well in UVHM, the Infection (Corrosive) would arguably be the best Corrosive element pistol in the game. Assuming they are all the same level, a Volcano (Fire) has the same DOT damage as a Pimpernel (Fire) and even a Storm (Shock). However since the Volcano (Fire) is only available in Fire, it has a higher elemental effect chance than the Pimpernel (Fire). The same holds true for the Storm (Shock).

TLDR; Volcano (Fire) good for Hellborn Krieg with Grenade damage boosted and perhaps even Axton. For other characters…not so much

Eel37 · October 9, 2015, 7:27pm

The Volcano is pretty decent on Axton as well. Not Top Gear material for him, but he can make use of it.

Poisd2Strike · October 9, 2015, 7:31pm

Thanks for the head up about Axton! Edited my post to reflect this.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 7:44pm

No, the Volcano does have higher DOTs. It is not listed on the card however.

Poisd2Strike · October 9, 2015, 8:24pm

I would direct you to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Red Text guns thread, specifically the section on Maliwan brand Snipers:

For a detailed damage comparison of the Volcano (Fire) versus the Snider (Fire), see the following Link (Post 51 in the thread). Note that the Prefix, level, element and parts are the same for both weapons.

@Derch states that the DOT dmg / second is unchanged between the OP8 Volcano (Fire) and OP8 Snider (Fire), meaning the DOT for each is equal. Unlisted DOT is not mentioned. Also, while I was correct about the Volcano (Fire) having a higher elemental effect chance than the Pimpernel (Fire), it would appear that the Snider (Fire) has a higher elemental effect chance than the Volcano (Fire). I could be wrong, but it would at least appear that a Snider (Fire) has the best elemental chance for Fire of any Sniper Rifle in Borderlands 2.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 8:34pm

WATCH THE VIDEO. It is clear that the Snider does 81k, while the Volcano does 163k.

Derch · October 9, 2015, 8:47pm

A sniper for bid shots is a bad idea, low fire rate, low ammo pool, etc…

Just use a hellfire or plasma caster.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 8:52pm

True, BUT the chances of a DOT are extremely high, that pared with Fuel the Fire and fire-rate increases= a lot of DOTs applied to everything around.

Blutfatal · October 9, 2015, 8:53pm

I dont see it on top gear.

I did write it after all.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 8:55pm

Just because you wrote it, don’t mean it’s true.
Also everyone in entitled to their opinion, you can’t take mine away from me.

Poisd2Strike · October 9, 2015, 9:17pm

That is on body shots. That also comes at the cost of lower base weapon damage. On critical hits, the Snider (Fire) does about 400k more damage than the Volcano (Fire). You shouldn’t really be using a Sniper Rifle for body shots, and relying on DOT is UVHM or OP levels is generally a bad idea. In UVHM or OP levels, raw damage > DOT damage. The Volcano (Fire) can certainly work for Hellborn Krieg with a Grenade damage boost or even Axton with a Grenade damage boost, but it is hardly an optimal solution.

pestopartyy · October 9, 2015, 9:29pm

It’s really only better than the Snider on Axton and nobody else; if you’re playing gun Krieg you’re probably not going to get Fuel the Blood very often.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 9:42pm

Fire DOTs do perfectly well in OP levels, you clearly are not a Krieg player.

Krieg_Krazy · October 9, 2015, 9:43pm

But that is what makes it fun. Getting fuel the blood and timing it perfectly so you can kill everyone in the room while it is still active.

xmngr · October 9, 2015, 9:46pm

I did it on 72 KK.

I don’t even think a Hellborn Sniper K would be viable on OP8. Mine (Hellborn k, not sniper) runs with a Hellfire (or anything Maliwan that spits fire excepting SRs) in OP8. I run M/H.
And I’m not that sure it would work on a B/H one.

Maveco · October 9, 2015, 9:51pm

You can get a slight whiff of performance in a sniper-psycho with a bloodbath-enhanced pimpernel but it’s too much work keeping some distance between you and the enemies plus proc’ing bloodbath for not that much result in the end.

Salvador can with a hoarder com, wich is by the way one of the zerker’s playthrough I did for uvhm some time ago but then again, this isn’t Sal’s sub-forum…