User:Raccaroo/Best Bet Brick: Endgame Build

Best Bet Endgame Brick

NOTE:  If you have completed any quests that grant you extra skill points such as the [http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Prove_Yourself. "Prove Yourself"] quest of Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, put them into Liquidate  or Payback.

This build relies on killing your enemies quickly, but having a few options to escape when need be. There are distinct pros and cons to this build:

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PROS:

 * High damage
 * Best solotuon for solo endgame
 * Capable of MP
 * Very fun

CONS:
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 * Requires harder to find weapons
 * Relies on getting kills, and keeping up killstreaks (harder to do in MP)
 * Steals other players thunder!
 * Might not be as fun for people who like beserking

ITEMS:
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This build requires a large amount of items kept with you at any time. Ideally, you will want a rifle, shotgun, and rocket launcher of each elemental type, with highest stats on your explosive weapon types. Proficiencies should be at least 40, preferably maxed out.

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Class Mods:
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 * Blast Master - This is for the Shotgun/Assault Rifle players, or for when critical hits count more than splash damage.  Find one that increases Explosive Impact Damage and Elemental Effect Chance.  This or the Bombardier COM is the COM you will be equipping 95% of the time.  This provides a boost to Master Blaster, Revenge, and Liquidate (not needed) but also boosts your explosive damage heaps, and increases your chance to proc elemental damage.  Your explosive weapons will tear through nearly anything in seconds with this COM.
 * Centurion - Provides a large health boost, added tanking skills, but most importantly, increases your Diehard skill.  Use this for when you find yourself getting incapped too often, as it will increase your time to revive, as well as heal you more when you make it back on your feet.  Also provides somewhat useful for teammates due to the added health boost.  My tactic is often to switch to a centurion mod as soon as I get incapped, then switch back after my second wind.
 * Bombardier - If you prefer using Rocket Launchers to Shotguns and Assault Rifles, this will be your choice over the Blast Master.  This or the Blast Master COM is the COM you will be equipping 95% of the time.  Get one with Launcher Ammo Regeneration and Launcher Reload Speed you are set.  This pairs nicely with burst fire rocket launchers, as it practically turns them into full auto rocket storms.  A warning: even with liquidate stacked, you can still kill yourself very quickly if you aren't careful.
 * Titan - With health regen and a boost to tanking skills, this may be a better choice than centurion.  For instance, when fighting a boss one-on-one, you can't rely on taking them down quick enough to avoid serious damage, can't rely on any benefit from Master blaster, and wont benefit at all from a boost to diehard unless you get incapped when the boss is nearly dead.

Manufacturer:
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 * S&S Munitions - High magazine capacity, good accuracy, and great elemental tech.  Only downside to S&S tends to be slow rate of fire, which until Master Blaster kicks in, will only be a slight problem.  If and when I find an S&S In all elemental types, I will exclusively use them.
 * Torgue - High damage, good rate of fire.  With the higher end Torgue weapons, you can find them in magazine sizes comparable to S&S, but you will rarely find them as accurate.
 * Atlas - Decent damage, good accuracy, good rate of fire.  It will be harder to find these in larger magazine sizes, but their added accuracy is great for picking off enemies at a safe distance in the rare occasion you need to stay back.

Assault Rifles:
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Go for Machine Gun, Massacre, Bastard, and Havoc type machine guns. Basically anything that does a large amount of damage, has roughly a 40 round or larger magazine, a rate-of-fire of 5 or more, accuracy of 65 or more, and and elemental damage multiplier of x2 or x3. If you happen to find an  Ogre, you are set for your explosive rifle.

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Shotguns:
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Crux, Crux, Crux. You can find these in Explosive from S&S, or Corrosive from Malliwan. Otherwise anything with decent accuracy and damage, in the right elemental type. If you find a Defender, keep it with you and only use it to regenerate shotgun ammo.

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Rocket Launchers:
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I have found that the best rocket launchers to use are simply explosive. I keep a single shot accurate launcher, and a 3 or 5 round burst rocket launcher with me at all times. With Master Blaster and a Bombardier COM, a burst fire rocket launcher decimates. Still, it never hurts to carry a rocket launcher of each elemental type in your inventory. A Dahl Jackal can be used instead of a Rocket Launcher, but is most effective against large groups of enemies prone to explosive damage. Always keep in mind, even with Cast Iron stacked, you can kill yourself in a heartbeat with these weapons.

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Shield:
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Again, this class revolves around having multiple items and switching them out. For your main shield, choose one with a high recharge rate rather than high capacity. Always make sure to keep a shield for each resist type as well, and try to find ones with "Extreme" resists.

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Grenade:
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I personally prefer to use Transfusion, but I have yet to experiment with other types. I would assume, and based off of what others have said, that using any explosive type grenade would benefit the most. Explosive rain, bouncing betty, and MIRV all seem to be popular choices. However, I prefer Transfusion, as no matter where you throw it, it will find the enemy and knock down their shields, if not their health too.

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TACTICS:
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Before we get started, if you do not wish to play legitimately, you can induce a speed boost glitch. Simply walk up to an enemy that is easy to kill, and allow him to widdle your health down. Immediately before he incapacitates you, hit your beserk. If you get incapped after you activate beserk, but before Brick is able to throw punches, you will get a permanent speed boost when you get your second wind. Nothing other than leaving the game or inducing beserk again will deactiveate it. Now your walk speed is as fast as your run, and your run speed is twice as fast. Enjoy really taking this build to the next level in this case. This creates an unstoppable force in Moxxi matches, often to the extent that people will leave because it is unfair.

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Onto legitmate tactics, you will invest your life into Master Blaster. You rely on it completely, which is why I say this build might not be perfect for multiplayer. Your goal as an Endgame Brick is to get a kill, and keep up a kill streak. When fighting enemies, always target the weakest opponent first. A good way to get the most bang for your buck is to widdle down an enemies health with one weapon, and just before killing them, switch to your best suited weapon for fighting them. This will ensure that when Master Blaster, Revenge, and Juggernaut kick in, you have a full magazine of your best weapon to unleash upon them. Nothing is worse than activating those skills, and having an empty magazine waste half of their effective time. With all your skills active, you will be able to take down entire swarms of enemies in seconds, much sooner than they can incapacitate you in many cases. This is why I do not invest points into payback. Why would you want to wait till your shields were down before you got a damage boost when you can kill them before your shield goes down in the first place? Though if you have leftover points, payback is probably the best place to put them.

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Against bandits, explosive or fire tends to work the best. It really depends on your weapon, however. With a great explosive shotgun or rifle buffed with your active skills, you can knock down even a superbad bully in seconds, leaving him unable to attack. For the times when you are fighting an enemy with a larger health pool, strafing them and meleeing them can be a great tactic, as your bash skill will stun them and give you plenty of time to reload, kill a lesser baddy, and destroy them. Oftentimes, however, in larger groups, bandits can take your health down too fast. This is when you either grab that more accurate weapon and pick them off from a distance, or switch to your centurion mod so you can stay in the fight longer.

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The same tactics apply to any enemy, but will depend on their resistance types. For Eridians, use shock to knock down their shields, and you can switch to explosive once they are down or keep using shock. For non DLC Crimson Lance, Corrosive will dominate. Everything else, and explosive seems to fit best. This is why you keep multiple items with you, so you can adapt. Despite most enemies having no resistance to explosion, and your skills buffing explosive damage, sometimes other elements work better. Paired with your Blast Master COM, you dish out a lot of elemental damage regardless.

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Almost every enemy in Claptrap's New Robot Revolution is prone to explosive ammo, claptraps specifically being prone to shotgun blasts to the face. Hyperion Traps are prone to corrosive or explosive, but in most cases your skills plus your weapon choice will make explosive more effective. This is not the case with bosses such as Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap. In The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, you will mostly benefit from corrosive weapons due to their high armor, which tends to be explosive resistant. This obviously doesn't apply to the Lance Chemical soldiers, in which Explosive is your best bet. In The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, explosive is hands down the best. End of story. You will devestate this DLC with this build. This is the one case where more of a Blast Master/Beserker COM with an Explosive artifact can actually work endgame.