[Build] The Cold Hard B!tch

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Lady Hammerlock the Baroness
#1

The Cold Hard B!tch

Just a kiss on the lips and you’ll be on your knees… :kissing_heart:

Type: Crit DPS
Level of Build: 60
Difficulty: Low, Medium (Easier if you’re good at aiming)

The Build:

27 / 29 / 1

  • Head: Death Masque, Skin: Positively Dreadful

*For the purpose of this writeup I’ll be talking about the use of the Celestial Baroness COM.

The Huntress -

  • Markswoman 10/5 : Seeing as this build focusses on crit damage and mobbing dps, this skill is a must, especially for the 60% crit damage which is a solid passive boost. The extra aim speed is not really needed but it’s a nice boost nonetheless which helps with snipeps especially, more on this later on.

  • Only the Best 10/5 : 200% bullet speed may seem like overkill, and maybe it is a little, but it helps with ranged targets especially in the underdome and can give use to weapons such as Too Scoops (which is otherwise useless imo). Also helps with launchers and blaster lasers especially. The +10 magazine for snipers is also very useful to offset Large Caliber and has good synergy with Custom Loads but I will talk about this soon. Having 5 points in both of these also allows you to reach Large Caliber and Prudent Prudence without spending on sniper skills I don’t really need.

  • Culling the Herd 5/5 : 30% extra gun damage is always welcome, especially when it occurs every time you crit which is all the time when using this particular build. Lasts for a decent amount of time and is great for repeated crits on frozen enemies especially.

  • Long Range Killer 1/1 : After @DankRafft confirmed that this skill was indeed working, I decided to go back to my original plan and include this in the build. Absolutely a great skill, especially in the Holodome where the extra damage is most certainly welcome. Apparently multiplicative with all other boosts, cannot confirm myself, but the boost in damage is definitely noticeable. Have tested by walking backwards while scoring crits on a Badass Outlaw and the numbers do increase as expected. Really quite a good skill when combined with the super accurate Fatale.

  • Magic Bullet 1/1 : Decided to take the advice of @CDR_Shepard and try this skill out. Suffice to say that I really like it and have decided to take a point out of Large Caliber to fit it in. Close range instant revives against tough enemies are awesome. My favourite use is healing against a frozen enemy when you don’t have Frigid Touch going, just run up close and fix up your health without having to use a grenade. All in all another nice little utility skill for our sniper rifle.

  • Large Caliber 4/5 : Here is one of the polarising skills that Aurelia has, some people love it, some people hate it. I really like it and see it as an alternative to Quality not Quantity. QnQ requires the wasting of 4 points that I will not use as I always play solo. By not using QnQ I waste some points from the Celestial COM but I gain other skills that I love. As for Large Caliber itself, 50% gun damage all the time is a great boost along with the 25% reload speed, the downside is the 43% reduced magazine size. This magazine size is pretty irrelevant to me with this being a mobbing dps build; for bosses its a different story. With the weapons I use, the reduced mag is not really a problem, my Fatale still has 27, my anarchist has 30, my snider gets 15 due to Only the Best and my Badaboom has 5. For me, the benefits outweigh the the single con. Note that I’ve pushed Large Caliber back a point for Magic Bullet as mentioned above. This results in a minor loss of damage and reload speed, but an extra bullet or two in each mag and a nice utility skill to boot.

  • Prudent Prudence 5/5 : This skill is another great one that synergises really well with this build and gear. 30% movement speed is nice and one of my favourite things to boost; who doesn’t love moving faster? 40% reload speed is one of the main reasons for picking this skill; this helps to offset the disadvantage of Large Caliber in that you will reload more often and is a much needed boost. Once again the 30% damage is a very nice boost and adds to the supreme crit dps that she already posseses by this point, not much else to be said about that. This skill is especially nice because of my choice of shield, a fast Tediore in particular, which has the best synergy with this build.

  • Custom Loads 1/1 : Some people don’t like this skill, I however think it’s amazing. This gives you the ability to have a snider with 52.7% freeze chance along with dealing any elemental damage of your choice. Is it situational? Yes. Does it help in those particular situations? Definitely. It takes some practise getting used to, and timing can be annoying sometimes, but the utility with a cryo build is enormous. Use number one: Taking out the shields of really tough enemies such as some of the Ophas in the Holodome. Use two: Taking out strong armored targets such as armored outlaws or Felicity power suits. Use three and my main justification: Taking out cryo resistant enemies without having to use my rockets. I like to have 3 cryo guns as well as my rocket launcher, this leaves no room for a gun dedicated to occasionally taking out an ice marine or two. Custom Loads allows me to use my sniper instead, convenient. Additionally, it’s really fun to select explosive against a frozen target; the crits are insane.

Cold Money -

  • Avalanche 10/5 : This is the number one skill in this build and essential for tough mobbing such as the Holodome. With 100 stacks you get 150% cryo damage and 80% freeze chance, need I say more? The stacks last a long time and are quite easy to build up when mobbing. The only time when they can easily decay is doing story missions with long dialogue sequences, long enough to time out your stacks and make me an angry panda (I’m looking at you C5TM-TP). In short this skill is incredible.

  • Bitter Riposte 6/5 : Another bread and butter skill that while not being essential, has crazy utility and works really well for mobbing. The damage is decent enough for more points not to be needed, but the freeze chance is the winner here, not requiring more points to be invested. This skill also works insanely well with the aforementioned fast Tediore shield, allowing the Ice Darts to spam enemies and freeze/kill anyone you haven’t crit-spammed with your Fatale yet.

  • Short Summer 4/5 : Only four points because I needed to take a single point from somewhere without sacrificing damage, still works really well with four. From memory I have frequently gotten to 170 stacks of Short Summer which equates to ~100% cooldown and ~135% less shield delay. While both are decaying bonuses over time, the numbers are pretty significant. Less shield delay doesn’t have a huge effect on a Tediore shield but still helps and anything to get that action skill going again is essential.

  • Frigid Touch 5/5 : This skill is absolutely essential being the only healing you will ever get outside of tranfusion/leech grenades. While it is only a kill skill, you can keep it going almost all the time by playing a bit more risky that you might like with a glass (ice) cannon toon. If you’re weak you can also just throw your shard and it will heal once it gets a kill; Fragment Rain helps the diadem restore a lot of health when the kill skill is up. This skill really is the only thing keeping you alive most of the time.

  • Fragment Rain 1/1 : For a one pointer this skill is pretty damn good and allows the shard to kill enemies a lot easier plus freeze and “tag” more enemies for the purpose of Frostbite. It spawns three or four off memory and each is sufficiently powerful to make this skill well worth it. Additionally it also Synergises well with Polar Vortex to give you more crowd control which is needed with her being so fragile.

  • Frostbite 5/5 : A very nice skill that increases dps significantly when the diadem is doing its thing, especially good for “tagging” a tough enemy with the shard and then proceeding to crit-spam them (a recommended strategy with this build ;)). Fragment Rain also applies the effect to any enemy it hits and you can force the shard to change targets onto any who missed out. 35% extra damage is nothing to laugh about with such an already powerful character and the 55% against shields helps against Badass enemies whose shields often survive the attack of your shard.

  • Polar Vortex 1/1 : A nice little crowd control boost to help keep enemies off you, synergises well with Fragment Rain. I find that it shoots the fragments from a higher point which allows them to find targets more easily. The first enemy when you activate the shard always lifts them up into the air, often freezing them in mid air and taking them out of the fight along with spawning fragments that home down onto other enemies.

  • Cold Advance 5/5 : Another essential skill in that it synergises with Short Summer, Frostbite, Fragment Rain and Polar Vortex along with giving the shard’s utility for an increased amount of time. You can’t keep it going forever, but you can usually double or even triple the duration of the shard. This keeps it out longer during the fight, proccing those skills even more, can reduce cooldown through refunding the skill with more duration left and allows more stacks of Short Summer which reduce cooldown even further. Did I mention that it also gives you ANOTHER 30% crit damage on top? This skill is a must have and makes a huge difference as soon as you spec into it.

  • Winter’s Veil 1/5 : A little one point wonder is all you need in this skill, seems pretty mediochre until you go up against strong melee enemies such as Gargantuans, Reaper Guardians and Rabid Stalkers. For one points it renders them completely useless if they melee you, a great little defence for this fragile lady; can’t have those commoners wrecking your nice clothes.

  • Wintertide 1/1 : 25% extra cryo damage as a kill skill; extra dps and allows any gun to freeze. Explosive Badaboom can freeze? Winning I say. Also very nice if you’re fond of the ol’ Casual Ravager or Flakker. Not as amazing as some of the others in this tree, but extra damage nonetheless and being down this far anyway makes it worthwhile.

Contractual Aristocracy -

  • Duchess 6/2 : For one point invested this is a great little skill seeing as extra accuracy helps greatly with scoring crits. While the Fatale doesn’t need it, it becomes like a sniper rifle even when hip-firing. Turns an Anarchist into a little beauty; while still not being super accurate, it gives range to a sidearm that’s normally only good up close. Basically it just makes every gun more useful and can have a pretty large effect on some, particularly good with Hyperions by making them get accurate faster and with less bullets wasted.

Weapons -

Cryo element :snowflake:
Dahl stock
Any sight (I prefer Vladof)
All other parts Maliwan
Punisher Luneshine (+crit)

Obviously my long range weapon and deliverer of my Custom Loads (I don’t like the sound of that…). I like the Snider because it has generally excellent stats and is quite powerful. High proc chance is great for freezing in combination with Custom Loads as already mentioned; explosive wrecks faces and dreams. The other alternative is good ol’ Dobby which I’ll talk about shortly. Additionally, the 15 shot mag with Only the Best ensures you get the most out of Custom Load before having to select again. I pretty much use it for tough bastards or cryo enemies as a utility weapon.

Cryo element :snowflake:
Dahl stock
Any sight (I prefer Dahl)
Hyperion Grip
Punisher Luneshine (+crit)

My main gun and primary damage dealer, this gun has pretty much everything. Gets on target super quick (even more so with Duchess) and stays there, delivering crit-spammage until their head explodes. High crit damage to start with and Luneshine can give it even more, allowing short bursts (if you’re a good shot) to kill most base mobs in the game. 27 mag with Large Caliber is still decent and the reload is fast enough to not have to worry.

Cryo element :snowflake:
Any sight (I prefer Maliwan)
All other parts Vladof
Punisher Luneshine (+crit)

My close-range power gun when you need to kill something quick. Makes short work of virtually any mob in the game and its only flaws are offset by Duchess (accuracy) and Celestial COM (offsetting ammo usage somewhat). There isn’t many things this gun can’t kill, but if there is, the next little beauty will take good, loving care of them.

Explosive element :boom:
Tediore Sight
All other parts Scav
No need for Luneshine, Serenity if you want? (less O2 consumption)

This is your “oh sh*t, big bastard!” weapon. If your other weapons won’t kill it, this is what you need. If you go into FFYL, this is what you need. If claptrap tries to talk to you, this is what you need. Explosive is needed for extra damage and to ensure that nothing will resist it, otherwise cryo guardians and marines will make you sad if you go down. Not much else to say on the big boy, it’s your last resort if/when trouble arrives.

Other Weapons -

(Might add recommended parts later)

  • _____ Pitchfork :snowflake:

Work in progress :frowning: , need to test.

Good fun and an interesting weapon to use, a bit more useful due to increased speed. Only real use is for freezing, I can’t make it work but somebody on here might be able.

My alternative sniper that I use sometimes. Dobby for stability is great for sustained shooting with the high rof. Cons are reduced proc chance (still 30%) and less damage per shot. Pros are increased mag (25 with Large Caliber) and fire rate as mentioned. Reload speed is identical to the Snider (3.1).

Crazy fire rate, decent damage and good accuracy with large stacks of Duchess. A nice gun and good fun, an alternative to the Anarchist.

An alternative main gun for use in close quarters mobbing. Insanely powerful and accurate up close but has limited range. Good fun for doing mobbing runs of the Darksiders.

Very powerful up close and makes for a good sidearm albeit with shorter range than an Anarchist. Will generally serve really well in most situations as long as you’re point blank, can be risky as I have no points in Whiteout.

Some people might like them, however it only has a 2 mag with Large Caliber, low damage and only comes in cryo. Not worth it imo.

  • Rugged Mongol :boom:

An alternative to the Badaboom, a decent launcher but I’m not particularly fond of them. They tend to always hit everywhere except where I need them to; more of a dice roll than using a Badaboom imo.

Can be a main or sidearm as it has good damage, accuracy and punishing crits if all bullets hit. A gun type that I’ll always be fond of.

Alternative sidearm that is good at conserving ammo and has enough damage for general mobbing outside of Holodome. 12% freeze chance in 3 bullet bursts works really well.

Hyperion blasters are my favourite; the accuracy and crit damage is perfect for her. Good as a main gun or a sidearm that has HEAPS of ammo. Duchess makes them even more accurate, something that I didn’t think was possible. Overall a really great gun. Note: Old Hyperion is superior to New Hyperion in this instance.

If you’re having trouble freezing enemies (Badass Outlaws I’m looking at you) at low stacks of Avalanche (died or just starting a run) then you will adore it. Extra fire rate is nice (only 0.9 over stopping prefix) and makes freezing super easy. Does alright damage but nothing to really write home about.

Another really good sidearm that I use sometimes for general mobbing. Great power, one ammo per shot and decent accuracy/rof are its strengths. Only reason I don’t use it all the time is ammo consumption can be a bit much without a moxx tail or holding it constantly for Celestial COM regen.

High freeze chance along with great damage makes this quite a good gun. A good alternative to the Anarchist if you don’t have one (T4s-R is easy to get from Holodome). Really a matter of preference, I use one sometimes.

  • Casual Ravager: :boom:

My personal favourite shotgun in the entire franchise. Great for killing bosses, Badasses, Cthulu…you get the idea. Insane power, even more so when everything is frozen.

  • Casual Flakker: :boom:

I may not be good at using them, but they make an excellent backup weapon if you have some talent. An alternative to the Ravager.

  • _____ Skullmasher :no_entry_sign:

Work in progress :frowning: , need to test.

Items -

Ammo Regen
Crit Damage
Freeze Chance

Easily the best choice of COM imo and quite amazing for this build. Ammo Regen isn’t BL1 fast but it helps tremendously. Crit damage is our bread and butter, any increase is welcome. Freeze chance isn’t amazing, cryo damage would be better, but I really can’t complain seeing as it’s still useful. All skill boosted are useful to the build as mention except for QnQ which isn’t used as per my earlier reasoning.

Having a fast shield helps a hell of a lot with this build by proccing Prudent Prudence, Bitter Riposte and putting out little Nova’s with Winter’s Veil. Fire resist is important to me because I absolutely hate fire dot in this game. Obviously carry other elemental resist if you wish in case they are needed.

Fire and forget health. Not much else to it; sometimes freezes and doesn’t do much damage but that doesn’t really matter.

More damage and freezes more, but takes longer to get the health. These two are interchangeable depending on what you have and personal preference.

My personal favourite because of extra damage and high amount of O2. Arctic to freeze enemies with your liquid nitrogen flatulence, why not.

Other items

(Coming soon hopefully!)

General play style and tactics

(Coming soon!)

  • Any feedback is welcome, this is just a start (took me long enough haha).

  • Formatting is still wip

1 Like
#2

I am pretty sure that the grip is the only part left not mentioned that can differ.

#3

Didn’t even think about it, will change, thanks :smile:

Or would it be better to list all the parts for everything? I hope the pics suffice for now as long as they’re working, they are on my end at least.

#4

Just grip and stock. Maybe sight on snipers, iirc Jakobs scopes have the highest zoom lvl.

I for my part prefer maliwan grips and dahl stocks on my snipers and smgs for aurelia.

#5

This has definitely made me decide to respec my lvl 27 baroness a bit. I have points in magic bullet and “I never miss…”. right now, I think I’m going to remove points from I never miss and put it in cull the herd, because ironically. I do miss… a lot, making the stacks pointless. point for point on everything else in the huntress tree. once I gain enough levels to put points into frigid touch I’ll totally remove magic bullet.[ I like all my characters to have some sort of healing outside of transfusion grenades] I also find large caliber to be an awesome skill… I also play solo.

#6

Thanks for your work here – an interesting read and some good ideas. First, quick response – why no point in Magic Bullet? Seems almost like a no-brainer, given her squishyness and your use of snipers?

BTW – a cryo ‘Fashionable’ Snider seems much more appropriate for Aurelia than a Gentleman’s! (just a little joke)

#7

Even without playing Coop, I would play that build this way :
http://thepresequel.com/Aurelia/5450010102005140515150112120050000000

No Prudent Prudence, because it requires to be hit and… i just don’t like to be hit :wink:
No Custom Loads, because it requires some time when ADS and because it’s very situational…
Large Caliber 2/5 and Only The Best 4/5 to get enough point to reach QnQ 5/5…
Because QnQ 10/5 means permanent +50% damage and +30% FR with every gun of your Stuff and these are a huge DPS boost :open_mouth:
And Large Caliber 2/5 gives you +20% Damage, in addition to QnQ FR boost, it’s +56% DPS boost instead of “only” +50% with LC 5/5…

2 Likes
#8

I don’t know if it is me or Magic bullet is bugged, but I swear it doesn’t work at all if you are a certain distance away…sure is great when you face blast a guy with a sniper, some of the best regen. It should work just a little bit regardless of your distance I would think.

#9

@Adrion54 That’s roughly how a friend of mine builds her. I quite like Custom Loads, even if I don’t use it all the time. Prudent Prudence goes off A LOT when I’m running around with Fatale/Anarchist. The only reason I would ever go QnQ over Large Caliber is the rof, but I like Custom Loads and Prudent Prudence too much for that. Also I consider the extra point in Duchess along with Contractual Obligations and Valet to be complete wastes of points, 4 to be precise.

@CDR_Shepard Thanks for the input. I actually have not tried Magic Bullet to see if I could make use of it. Before she was released I always wanted to use Long-Range Killer which is bugged so I kind of just settled for Silver Lining in the mean time. I will try it out however and post my thoughts. Might add a little section discussing skills I didn’t take and why?

#10

I finally put a point into custom loads… it really helps a lot… I am still trying to get used to it… I die a lot more since I stay scope longer than I usually do. I knocked down RK5’s health down pretty fast with just my plain jakobs sniper and the corrosive one selected. All my weapons are cryo minus the e-gun and my sniper.

Custom loads must be super potent with a elemental sniper. I’m thinking of looking for a shock sniper and see,

#11

Updated the build by adding Long Range Killer and Magic Bullet. Will soon start work on adding a couple more guns and items as I test them. Will also work on the tactics section, hopefully with some gameplay footage. Thanks for all the responses and feedback so far! :smile:

1 Like