User:Light Buster/Axton Build - Maximizing Damage

This tree is all about maximizing damage with the use of the    Legendary Soldier class mod, a key strong point with Axton. While most characters in Borderlands 2 get benefits from their action skills, dangerous situations, etc., Axton can deal large and consistant damage to his enemies, without the need to be in a certain situation to provide the bonuses. (Example: While Maya can deal 40% more damage to her enemeis via her Reaper skill, her enemeis must have 50% or more of their heal remaining to use this skill and damage will drop off once an enemy's health passes 50%.) Axton can also improve his average lifespan through the use of his Guerilla and Survival tree should the need to survive rises.

Pros

 * Deals large (and consistant) damage to his enemies without the need of certain situations to occur.
 * Can get the most out of grenades and rocket launchers (especially the Norfleet, Nukem, and Tunguska).
 * Provides an alternative for slagging an enemy if Axton has no slag weapons on hand or in inventory. Very helpful, especially in UVHM.
 * Increases shield versatility. A universal benefit to all of the shields Axton equips, especially The Bee.
 * Has many forms of health regeneration, increasing his avergage lifespan.
 * Has the fastest reload speed, weapon swap speed, and aiming speed in the game without the need of kill skills.
 * Can move the fastest while aiming and can get onto target very quickly.
 * Benefits from the class mod as well (increased gun damage, fire rate, and cooldown rate).
 * You can move the other skill points else where if you need to. (Example: You can remove points from the Laser Sight Skill and/or Scorched Earth and put them in the Survival Tree as needed.)
 * Legendary Soldier Class Mod raises all tier one skills by five, granting huge damage with less down time needed.
 * Very versitle build.

Cons

 * The Legendary Soldier Class Mod is a MUST for this build. (You can use Slayer of Terramorphous Class Mod as an alternative, but that class mod does not amplify Preparation, and you'll have to forego a skill or two to maximimze Preparation. Slayer of Terramorphous also gives out only four points to their prespective skills and you will not have the gun damage, fire rate, and cooldown rate bonuses as well.)
 * You MUST have the Ultimate Vault Hunter Pack to make this build.
 * Axton must be at level 61 (current max level cap) to make this build.
 * Elemental weapons do not get the full benefits with this build. (Though he can still increase bullet damage of them anyways though other skills.)

The Build
Here comes the fun part, making the build. Here are the skills that are needed to maximize damage and give Axton the necessary skills to survive. Remember, this build requires the Legendary Soldier  Class Mod to work and the class mod will give 5 points each to all tier one skill in all three trees, giving him maximum benefits to those skills.

Guerrilla
I put points in this tree to max out Axton's versatility and amplify the turrent for extended use to Slag enemies and deal massive damage.

Sentry - 5/5 - With all five points plus another five points from the class mod, Axton can get the most out of his Sabre Turrent, especially with Scorched Earth and Double Up in conjunction with this skill.

Ready - 5/5 - With this maxed out, Axton can cut all reload times to at least a fifth of the time needed to perform a tatical reload. (Example: A shock Puissant Norfleet I have via a friend gave to me takes 7.7 seconds to perform a full tactical reload. With Ready maxed out along with the  Legendary Soldier  class mod, that time is cut down to 1.5 seconds to peform a full uninteruptted reload. That. Is. Fast.)

Laser Sight - 5/5 - You can move these points elsewhere if needed but I usually find my turrent targeting long range enemies so I put all of my points here. Though one point here will do if you need help in tracking what your Sabre Turrent is targeting.

Willing - 5/5 - A very powerful skill, especially with The Bee shield and shields with small recharge rate and/or long delays. This makes most shields in the game more agile in Axton's hands.

Scorched Earth - 1/1 - Just like Laser Sight, you can move this point elsewhere as needed but I put a point in here to take advantage of the Slag application of Double Up and other slag weapondry on hand.

Able - 4/5 - Another powerful skill, if you damage an enemy via elemental damage, the effects will stack once the 3 second period has passed, allowing for constant health regeneration. You can remove a skill point from Scorched Earth to max this out as needed if you need to survive.

Double Up - 1/1 This skiill is necessary if you do not have a slag weapon on hand. If you do though, you can forgo this but this skills allow the turrent to constantly slag your enemies and allow you to dish out heavy damage.

Gunpowder
The main tree for this build and the tree needed to maximize overall damage dealt. This will also help you swap weapons very fast as needed to take advantage of Slag and make Axton better in general. It can also give you the ability to preemptively strike an enemy with its Lownbow Turrent skill and Nuke skill.

Impact - 5/5 - The key skill to maximize Axton's overall damage. While melee is underpowered with Axton at  30%, his gun damge makes up for it at 40%, giving him a large and consistant damage boost to all of the weapons he uses.

Expertise - 5/5 - Axton's strongest suits, and while he can not move like a boss like Salvador when Gunzerking, Axton can move the fastest of all the characters in the game while aiming. He is also blessed with the ability to swap weapons and aim faster at 140%, making Axton the quickest character to get on to target and switch weapons on the fly.

Longbow Turrent - 1/1 - This will allow you to get the jump on your enemies and deploy your turrent more quickly. To top it off, the turrents health is buffed, giving the turrents overall health a 110% boost, helping it last longer on the field to allow you to reclaim it if the turrent's health runs low and refund your cooldown as needed.

Steady - 5/5 - Another powerful skill in Axton's arsenal, this will reduce recoil on all weapons he uses, allowing him to stay on target, even if he is continously firing his gun. The biggest bonus, amplified grenade and rocket launcher damage.

Do or Die - 1/1 - One of Axton's key skills for him to survive, given that he is given the right grenades to do this. This will allow him to throw grenades while down, allowing him to get the extra damage needed to revive himself. Paired with Singularity grenades, he can pull an enemy out of cover for him to finish off to get a revive. This will also  buff his grenade and rocket launcher damage, giving Axton a total of 35% grenade damage boost and a 30% rocket launcher damage boost when paired with Steady.

Duty Calls - 5/5 - This skill does not benefit Rocket Launchers sadly as they are considered an elemetal weapons from the explosive elementals but at least this will buff all Jakob guns (since most of them are non-elemental anyways). This skill is a must since you will run into enemies who have resistance to certain elements and you need an non-elemental weapon to respond to any situation.

Ranger - 5/5 - Although the buffs are slight, this skill is a good general boost to everthing. Health, reload speeds, accuracy, damage, magazine size, this skill will make a huge difference in average lifespan and damage overall.

Nuke - 1/1 - The key skill to preemptively strike your enemies, this skill will damage enemies within the turrent's radius, allowing you to get some damage (or kill the enemy outright) with one explosive nuke. Any enemies that survive (or out of the explosive range but within the nuke wave it produces) will be lit on fire, making it great to wipe out mobs of enemies or damage them before a fight even starts.

Survival
I put my last two points here to take advantage of the Legendary Soldier Class Mod. You can move any points here if needed.

Healthy - 1/5 - With at least one point here, you can increase you health up to 36% but if you want to make Axton a tank, you can put more points here.

Preparation - 1/5 - With the last point here, you can increase shield capacity and give youself constant health regeneration in between fights. Axton has the second highest shield capcaity boost in the game (the accolade of biggest shield capacity boost goes to Maya and her Ward skill).

Overall
Axton is a very versitale character, able to respond to any given situation at any given time. He can either deal big damange to his enemies, become a tank, or even become more agile, Axto will fit anyones play style and one of the easiest characters to use, especially in UVHM.