I’ve been following Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! for some time now, specifically Athena. After seeing the many builds for her, I wondered how can I turn Athena into a well-rounded yet deadly close-quarters Gladiatrix with a wide assortment of equipment to choose from, yet doesn’t have to rely on Moxxi weapons or other forms of life-steal (which will be a recurring theme with any future builds that I post)? So without much further ado, I present to you a build that I aptly call “Miranda.” (Guess where that name comes from.)
Oh, before I forget: I’d like to give shout-outs and credit to Sljm, MightyCrawfish, and Exped1ter for being my main sources of inspiration for this build. This was originally gonna be an SMG–melee build, but I wanted to combine it with another build that I had in mind.
Here’s how I would have my points allocated at level 50, and here’s how I would have it at level 60. Personally, at level 60, I can substitute maxing out Vanguard and Hold the Line for either the five points in Mercurial or the five points in Bloodlust, based on what items I use and future experiences I have with the build. Again, the reason why I have the points in Bloodlust is because I’m not going to be using any Moxxi weapons in this build; and as Exped1ter has shown with his build demonstrations, Bloodlust can be surprisingly effective in keeping your health topped off. Then again, however, if ten points in Vanguard combined with the 3DD1.E is enough to keep me alive, then I’ll allocate my points into that instead of Bloodlust.
As for what items you’ll be needing, there’s all sorts to choose from. The following are my personal choices.
Weapons
Badaboom: Whenever you need to get yourself out of Fight for Your Life.
Bladed Fridgia: This is my personal pick as a primary weapon of choice. Given the intent and function of this build, however, any variant of the Fridgia will do.
Boganella: Yes, really, or at least if you don’t have any better options at the moment.
Bright Spadroon: In case you want to role-play as a Mandalorian Knight (or, fine, a Jedi).
Flakker: The Casual prefix is preferrable, but any variant can work for me.
IVF: Because who doesn’t like throwing their weapons at a bad guy’s face?
Meat Grinder: I’m just throwing this out here. Personally, I haven’t tried its BL2 iteration, but if you’re gonna be up on people’s faces anyway, why not have it here?
Ol’ Rosie: You can’t go wrong with this, even with the recent nerf.
Sledge’s Shotty: As a fine alternative to a Bladed Fridgia.
Torrent: High damage, high fire rate, really low recoil, why not? This was originally a melee/SMG build, but I was able to broaden the horizon to a wider selection of weapons and gear.
Viral Marketer: For when you need to take out things at range, especially the jets.
As you can tell, I’ve listed only Unique and Legendary weapons, but for the purposes of this build, you can use pretty much any weapon in the game.
Miscellaneous Equipment
Shields: Adaptive Shield (if the Haymaker is unavailable), Black Hole, Bulwark (if you want to focus more on lasers), and/or Haymaker (my personal favorite).
Class Mod: Celestial Gladiator—this is what the build is centered around. Alternatively, though, you can move some points around for either a Cannoness or Femme Fatale COM if you want to focus either more on shotguns or submachine guns, respectively.
Grenade Mods: Cryo (for when your enemies just need to chill out), Quasar (for mobbing and building up Maelstrom stacks), Storm Front (for even better stacking), and/or Tesla (if you don’t have the Storm Front).
Oz Kits: 3DD1.E (for general play and if you want to focus a little bit more on lasers), Acrobat Oz Kit, Bomber Oz Kit, Strafing Run Oz Kit (for fasta dakka!), and/or the Systems Purge.
Well, I think that sums up my build overview. I’ll add more to this or make changes when need be, especially once I get to try out when I do get the game. Of course, if anyone would like to try this build, then by all means, do so; I’d love to hear your feedback on it. I’d especially love it if you have a video showcase of it!
