I’m dreading going through Digistruct Peak as Axton, since I have no idea how I’m going to deal with these pests. Any tips?
To be fully honest? So far I’ve just been resorting to my Nukem or Nuke turret for them. Pretty easy to catch them when they’re in the blast of THOSE huge explosions. Trying to wait till they sit still, bait them, electrify them and then corrode them. None of it was worth it. I just go the full Nuke route these days.
Though I often encounter them with Constructors. Which is just fine for me. Because I usually sit RIGHT in front of Constructors JUUuuust outside of their melee-stomping range, with my Phalanx Shielded turret so I can use my Torgue Ravager shotgun, right for their eyeballs. Whenever they spawn a surveyor, said surveyor tends to practically glue itself to the constructor right away. Easy EASY pickings with my Ravager.
Unless you’ve got something with which you can shoot them out of the sky in one shot on the fly, you want to specifically weaken but not kill enemies so the Surveyor stops to heal them, so you can get straight shots at it. If it’s just you and the Surveyor (particularly a Badass one), bleh… almost ran myself out of ammo when one of them was the only remaining critter in one playthrough.
For bonus points, the Surveyors that you will encounter in the assassin choke point can fly through those wall shields even though you can’t shoot through them. Given their huge orbits, they can basically heal back full given the time spent in orbit protected from your fire (so unless you “trap” one on an enemy, you’ll need to one- or two-shot it).
Quickly swapping Grog/Harold as it approaches will kill most if you have explosive buffs and battlefront bonuses on op8. I agree though…this is the hardest part of axton DP runs.
You could also use an E-tech launcher if the surveyors are flying low enough.
Shock Lyuda with or without Bee shield
Invite some Siren into your team.
For Surveyors at the Peak a Transformer shield is a must. Farm Pimon at the WEP for one.
Surveyor blasts recharge the shield, turning Surveyors into your best buddies. Until you need to shoot them at least but you got plenty ideas here on how to do that 
(Anyone else getting Zippy vibes from these emotes? Kinda freaky) 
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Pimpernels are not a bad idea. Slag one for taking out the shield and corrosive one for killing the surveyor.
Position yourself against a wall so they have to come at you straight. If you use slag turrets, a harold, sniper or sandhawk will kill them.
The flakker also works,
I can second calling in help, and the E-tech launcher suggestion.
The following works all-around for every character:
- Slag Transfusion grenades, either Homing (0.0 fuse time) or Sticky Homing (any fuse time), works well with any/every character. Optimally, you want to throw the (S)HSTg at the Surveyor when it’s making a head-on run – it will pass within inches of (or birdstrike) the grenade; depending on the prefix, it’ll trigger/resolve quickly, or latch/trigger/resolve. In this way, you don’t have the Surveyor outrunning the beams.
- The Dahl Lascaux is an easily farmed SMG from Frostburn Canyon that has a great output for its magazine size, effectively double since it consumes one round of ammo to fire two bullets; it also fires in bursts of 9-14 rounds (with the applied math) for a grand burst total of 18-28 rounds. Due to its spread pattern limiting it to mid-range (or closer), however, it’s best treated as something like a combination machinegun/auto-shotgun.
- The Tediore Deliverance also works. The Surveyor will outrun it a bit, but the Deliverance makes up for it by staying on its tail and firing until it expires or catches up to a stalled Surveyor.
GAIGE: Releasing Deathtrap (with “Upshot Robot”) is one way, but there’s also giving her weapons that fire multiple bullets/pellets per shot (like shotguns and double-mod ARs/pistols/SMGs), maxing out “Close Enough”+“Interspersed Outburst”, and putting a point into “Death from Above”+“Shock Storm” to keep track of enemies shot/killed (respectively).
KRIEG: Lacks any innate long-range capabilities for effectively dealing with highly mobile and/or distant targets, especially aerial ones.
While he cannot dual-wield like Salvador, I use the same items with the following build that I’m currently testing: http://bl2skills.com/psycho.html#55000410055151400500050051255110010
MAYA: Her Phaselock will stop them dead in the air; unlike Rakk, they stay once Phaselock times out, tho they take a bit to get running again. Generally makes for excellent team target practice.
SALVADOR: Generally anything works; however, I’ll reserve my opinion on the following:
- Torgue-barrel Dahl/Jakobs assault rifles
- Bandit PRAZMA CANONs
- E-tech shotguns
- Bandit Plasma Casters
Alternatively…:
- Devastator or War Dog mod
- Allegiance relic (Tediore damage/magazine size)
- Tediore Deliverance (slag+acid)
- (Sticky) Homing Slag Transfusion grenade (with “Double Your Fun”)
ZERO: I’ll admit that I’m no expert, and the following is a theory based around Bore – someone correct me if it doesn’t work.
Frankly, I’m a gun-over-melee kinda guy, as evidenced by Krieg. Because his Action Skills don’t do jack by themselves for engaging distant or mobile enemies like Surveyors, the Deliverance and (S)HSTg come into play again. You will only get one shot with reloading the Deliverance; because firing the weapon will end Deception, you must pre-fire a shot (to prep it for Bore) before cloaking; when you’re ready, cloak>reload and throw a few grenades, then open up with the Deliverance as normal. If you have a point into Death Blossom, an optimal time to throw a few might be when it’s making a head-on run at you; if it’s ever stalled in mid-air, don’t pass up an opportunity.
But back to the matter at hand – Axton dealing with Surveyors. Here’s the build I’m running: http://bl2skills.com/commando.html#55035110515005113000005551115111
For Digistruct Peak, hang them on the walls, and optimally high on opposite sides to create a pincher killzone. The Deliverance-and-(S)HSTg tactic works again, although the Deliverance is the best between itself, the (S)HSTg, and Axton’s turrets – the turret tracks comparatively poorly if the Surveyor is moving laterally to the turret, and the Surveyor can completely outrun the grenade if it’s not heading right at it. Additionally, both the Deliverance and the grenade serve to trip “Able”, which the turret cannot do.
Relatively, for all characters, there’s also the Shamfleet combo. The Norfleet fires three energy orbs that spread further and further apart relative to their distance from the player that fired them. To get maximum effect out of them all, you’ll want the Surveyor running at you head-on…and into range. Aim at the Surveyor as it makes its run…then abruptly dip and fire at the ground. This will cause all three orbs to impact the ground and detonate simultaneously, (hopefully) resulting in overlapping blast spheres; provided the elevation is high enough and/or the oncoming Surveyor low enough, you can catch it almost squarely in the blast furnace.
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For me, the easiest kill by far was with Shock weapons and this is up to OP2. I have a Thunderball Fists and a Shock Pimpernel. Either makes extremely short work of Surveyors, although I’d say the Fists is a bit more maneuverable and easier overall. I didn’t always need the turret to slag them, either.
Speaking of slag, the last time I went there I tried something different and used a Slagga to take them down instead. Not quite as quick as a Thunderball Fists but still did the job pretty quick
umgh. slagging things just gets more necessary the higher you go. but a sandhawk or sniper or harold can do them in nicely too. magic missles are a big help tho.
Sandhawk can be tricky, though, as you have to judge the speed just right. I think the Slagga probably worked more because of the sheer volume of bullets than the slag effect, tbh. I still find a good shock weapon to be the best at taking them down
Honestly, just throw the turret down and stand behind it. If the surveyor flies straight at you, the turret will help deal some extra damage.
For weapons, I stick to the good old Unkempt Harold. Most of the bullets from the spread wont hit, but that’s OK because you really only need a few. 3 shots just above where the surveyor currently is, and when it rushes in, it flies in to bullets.
SMGs are also decent. Aim is the same as the UH. Just fire in 3-4 round bursts to maintain accuracy.
Or use a sniper rifle with an amp shield, they don’t have that much health.
I have found that the best weapon to deal with those pesky Surveyors is a Hornet (Corrosive) Pistol - preferably with the React (Fire Rate+) prefix and a decent sight (aka not Tediore, Bandit, Vladof or Hyperion). Being a DAHL weapon, it gets burst fire while zoomed. The Hornet (Corrosive) Pistol can easily be farmed from Knuckledragger, since he is a complete joke. That is the only Corrosive weapon I use in Digistruct Peak. Of course it also helps that I play as Maya and can Phaselock them.
Forum ID: Poisd2Strike
GT: Poisd2Strike
Trades: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/poisd2strikes-humble-shop/367700
Gun Prefixes | Gun Parts | Max Stats
Maya OP8 | Banshee RR / NRR | Binder | Cat | Nurse | Siren | Trickster B / M
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We need to get MOLMF to do a trickster maya video with the hornet
Although the Hornet (Corrosive) is an excellent pistol (and arguably the best Corrosive pistol in BL2 for most characters and builds), a pistol like the Stalker (Corrosive) would synergize better with a Blurred Trickster Build than the Hornet (Corrosive) would. MOLMF has a video featuring the Stalker and Blurred Trickster . He also has a video evaluating the Stalker .
Forum ID: Poisd2Strike
GT: Poisd2Strike
Trades: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/poisd2strikes-humble-shop/367700
Gun Prefixes | Gun Parts | Max Stats
Maya OP8 | Banshee RR / NRR | Binder | Cat | Nurse | Siren | Trickster B / M
Huh, ok good to know. Idk MOLMF is pretty smart so he’s probably considered all his potential options for gear.
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If the surveyor are after you, then it is pretty simple, hail (pun intended) them with bullets as they fly straight for you.
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If you notice they are targeting one of your turrets, then stand next to one so they are still flying at you for a easy kill.
You can flak them too, but it would take some practice to get the time right.