Aurelia, the Baroness renewed my fascination with the Pre Sequel. It feels like I’m playing a Motion/Cataclysm Maya, except I’m having even more fun.
Here is the build at level 45, the minimum level needed to acquire the necessary skills: http://thepresequel.com/Aurelia/5500000000004150310150112120050000000
Let’s start with the essential gear:
Celestial Baroness COM. This class mod boosts 6 amazing skills, which is already more than enough reason to use this. But it also buffs freeze chance and critical hit damage. It also has an ammo regeneration effect; though not superb, it’s nice to have. And lastly, with this class mod, your shield will turn into a cryo spike shield while your action skill is running.
The 88 Fragnum. Since everything is going to be frozen without the need of a cryo weapon, you’ll need an explosive weapon to take advantage of that. The 88 Fragnum is my personal favorite choice. It’s two drawbacks, bullet speed and accuracy, are completely made up for thanks to two skills that are boosted by our class mod: Only the Best and Dutchess.
Cracked Sash/Instant Shield. This is a shield with a low capacity, bit extremely fast recharge rate and only a delay or a second or less. This is the perfect shield to synergize with the skills Bitter Riposte and Winter’s Veil, since they proc based on how often your shield gets depleted and recharges to full.
Now we move onto the skills:
Markswoman. This gets boosted up to 10/5 thanks to the COM. A 200% weapon aim speed increase is nifty, but we’re here for the hefty 60% critical hit damage increase. And thanks to the COM, you already have over 100% critical hit damage increase.
Only the Best. Also boosted up to 10/5, this skill adds 10 extra bullets to your sniper’s magazine. Not only that, but it increases bullet speed by 200%. This makes Torgue weaponry absolutely devastating, like the previously mentioned 88 Fragnum.
Avalanche. Boosted to 9/5, this grants you 1.35% cryo damage and 0.72% freeze chance per stack, up to 100 stacks. Very nice boost to cryo efficiency.
Bitter Riposte. A one point investment boosted up to 6/5, and is a very great skill to have with an Instant Shield. When your shield is full and you take damage from an enemy, a homing cryo ball will damage that target, and has a 100% chance to freeze. The damage is actually pretty massive, surprisingly.
Short Summer. At 5/5, you gain a 0.75% cooldown rate and 0.1% shield recharge delay per stack, up to 200 stacks. As if your shield didn’t already recharge quickly, eh? With a good amount of stacks, you will practically have a 0 second delay, it feels like. Therefore, proccing Bitter Riposte more often.
Frigid Touch. Only 3 points invested, but you can certainly add more. At 5/5, after scoring a kill, 10% of the cryo damage dealt to enemies will be converted into health for you. It’s like a passive Rubi effect.
Fragment Rain. Your action skill is even deadlier as it now sends extra shards, similar to a Bitter Riposte dart, all over the battlefield.
Polar Vortex. Also, your action skill can produce singularity effects. Who needs a Quasar now?
Cold Advance. At 5/5, you gain even more critical hit damage, adding an extra 30%. And every critical hit you deal will add an extra 2.5 seconds to your action skill’s duration. If the duration bonus wouldn’t have had diminishing returns, this skill would be absolutely broken.
Winter’s Veil. You only need 1 point for the freezing effect, but you can certainly add more if you’re looking for damage. If your shield gets depleted, or if you are struck by a melee attack, then you produce a cryo nova. Thanks to this skill, and your class mod’s ability to send cryo spikes while your action skill is up, your Instant Shield will pretty much be an Avalanche with a 0 second delay and instant recharge.
Wintertide. After getting a kill, all your weapons deal cryo damage in addition to your gun’s original damage and element. I don’t have to explain how good that is.
Dutchess. Originally a 2 point investment, but can be boosted up to 7/5. The accuracy increase you get is so great that my crosshairs form a plus sign. Makes your 88 Fragnum, combined with Only the Best, possibly your most damaging weapon, other than a rocket launcher.
Contractual Obligations and Valet. I only picked these up to advance in the tree, since I only play solo.
Quality not Quantity. Boosted up to 10/5, you gain 50% gun damage and 30% fire rate for guns of blue rarity or higher.
With this setup, you can run and gun with no worries. Your action skill itself can wipe mobs. Hell, you can kill people just by getting slapped in the face thanks to the synergy between your shield, COM, Bitter Riposte, and Winter’s Veil freezing and shattering everything that hurts you. And for those badasses, a couple shots from your Fragnum will do the job.
You have 15 points to spare on anything that catches your eye. Have fun!