User:TrollofReason/and his Soldier Troll

What I'm doing here...
This is a purely solo build that at first glace might have you stratching your head, but bear with me! This is guaranteed to save you time and money in pointless deaths if:
 * 1) You're playing a Soldier
 * 2) You're playing on PC and therefore aren't forced to turn and move with all the responsiveness of a 300 pound 13yr old with a clubbed foot while displaying all the aiming ability of a recovering epileptic watching Pokemon.
 * 3) You follow the "General Strategy" sections offered in some of the weapons articles. They were made by someone who pretty much knows the arsenal well enough to make the most ouf of each an every single weapon in your inventory. Me.
 * 4) You're willing to take minor risks and play somewhat aggressively.
 * 5) You understand and exploit the concept of "cover."
 * 6) You're not above throwing out your Scorpio Turret for the express purpose of distracting a group of enemies while you run away/find a raised position/recharge your shield.
 * 7) Understand that pistols are for wussy girls and fans of S&M, and that you should not have to touch them when bigger, more manly weapons are available to you.

A Troll's Progression
Levels 1-5: Don't die and make it to level 6, get a better weapon, and get a Shotgun.

Levels 6-10: Up the Defense skill to 5, keep yourself alive with Healing Shields made by Tediore and keep at least one general purpose weapon like a Submachine Gun or automatic machinegun-style Combat Rifle at your side, and as powerful a Shotgun as you can find or buy.

By level 8 or 9, enemies should start dropping Longbow Grenade Mods; use them for accurate, short-noticed blowey-uppey that will be more powerful than a Rocket Launcher and sporting a much larger splash. If you luck by a Transfusion Mod, grab it, keep it for emergencies. You're not an unstoppable juggernaut yet, but you will be.

Level 11: Your first step to dying less - invest a point in Quick Charge. And by a point, I mean one and only one. It might not seem like much, but that 2% percent shield recharge-per-second lasts for 2 or 3 seconds, which translates into a full 4 or 6% recharge of your shield regardless of how pitiful or godly it is. Not to mention that every point your ever so slightly recharged shield takes? Your health doesn't.

This reminds me - keep sticking to healing shields; get a better Shotgun if you haven’t already. Try to find an Incendiary general purpose weapon.

Levels 12-16: Invest in the Fitness skill; it's incredibly useful for making sure you don't die before everything else is dead.

Get better weapons; start to categorize your ever complicating weapon selection. For example, think of your Shotgun as your "close" weapon, your machinegun as your "medium weapon" and then in the third slot you can devote to "special" such as a Sniper Rifle or a Rocket Launcher.

Keep sticking to Healing Shields by Tediore, Soldier Troll. Regeneration is your friend after all, and it will be your friend throughout this build.

Get a better Longbow and Transfusion.

Levels 17-21: It’s time to pick up and max out Overload; with this skill alone you've just increased your ability to kill every living thing in a room. I cannot overstate how useful this skill is. I find myself shaking my head when I see other Soldier Builds without this skill maxed out.

Better weapons, better grenade mods, healing shield, you know the drill.

Levels 22-31: Simple killficiency increases here - put your points into maxing Impact and then Metal Storm. That extra 60% magazine capacity ain't lookin' too shabby anymore is it, doubters?

When upgrading Impact, you should have run into your first series of Class Mods by now. I like to keep three around. A Leader Mod to gain levels faster than you should be gaining them, a Support Gunner Mod to save money on ammunition better spent on newer weapons and a Tactician Mod if it has Health Regeneration for obvious reasons.

Better weapons, etc.

Levels 32-36: And now for another killficiency upgrade - Assault; welcome to the wonderful world of specialization. Every RPG has it, and now Borderlands does too. I hope you've been getting nice and proficient with Combat Rifles all this time.

By the time you're level 36, you should have finished your first playthrough. Congratulations on beating the game! Wasn't the ending just sublime in its disappointment?

Seriously, do I have to say it? Get better weapons. Keep on sticking to the healing shield, there should be rather nice ones available now anyway that can take really good advantage of that single point spent on Quick Charge. Get a better Grenade Mod, whatever you like, Launchers should be more than decent but Grenades are still more powerful when you want to make lots of little pieces, and continue to keep a Transfusion on hand.

Levels 37-40: Okay, time for the Second Playthrough, you know how things work but things have just gotten a lot tougher, time to max out Quick Charge. You'll need it, 'nuff said.

Follow the drill, run the story, help others. Rah-blah-blah.

Levels 41-45: With your killficiency having reached a plateau until your next bigger, better weapon, it's time to up your defensive capabilities. Go for Grit there, bucko. Grit might only affect bullets, but last I saw you've been spending the last several hours proving to this game just how dangerous bullets can be.

Keep running the drill and being awesome. I really hope you haven't done anything stupid like getting a shield that doesn't heal you constantly.

Levels 46-50: Two points in Stat, and then three in Grenadier. In what order you get them doesn't matter too much, but considering that you've been sticking to healing shields this entire time and using Longbow Grenades instead of Rocket Launchers, I'd go for Grenadier first, and then Stat.

Variations
If you have a really and truly exceptional Tediore healing shield? Forget Stat and dump those last two points into Grenadier.

If you prefer using Rocket Launchers instead of Grenades to blow things up, trading brute explosive force and blast radius for increased ammo capacity? Which is a fair trade. Then forgo all but one point in Grenadier and put four into Stat.

The Big Picture
This entire build has been about endurance and regeneration. Getting the most out of what you find in the game, and what you can take by killing others rather than relying on others.

Feel free to graphitti up this build with comments, people.