Bash

Bash
Character	Brick
Type	Constant Effect
Tier	Second
Skill Tree	Tank
Minimum Level	11
Effect	Gives melee attacks a 10% chance per rank to daze the target
Game	Borderlands

Bash is a Tier Two talent in Brick's Tank tree. It gives melee attacks a chance to daze enemies with each strike.

Skill Progression

Level	1	2	3	4	5
Chance to daze	+10%	+20%	+30%	+40%	+50%

Additional levels may be acquired through the use of a Skirmisher class mod.

Level	6	7	8	9
Chance to daze	+60%	+70%	+80%	+90%

Strategy

In Berserk mode, raining rapid punches easily triggers Daze on any targets and prevents escape or effective retaliation. Common strategies including quickly moving from one tough target to another, keeping all of them dazed, while working on pounding down each health bar separately and stacking damage-over-time elemental punch effects. This works best for Skirmisher players, the combination of skill bonuses to Bash and Sting Like a Bee lending itself well to the strategy. Nevertheless, it doubtlessly benefits any style of offensive Berserk brawling.

Even outside Berserk mode, Bash is a useful close-quarters ability that is best used by taking "free" swings immediately after reloading. When reloading, the ammo clip counter actually updates before the reload animation completes, and swinging at this time will not disrupt/reset the reload, presenting the opportunity for a useful Daze before continuing the barrage of firepower.

Dazing significantly reduces the rate of fire, accuracy, movement speed, and projectile speed of almost all enemies in the game. (The Rakk Hive is a notable exception, as are Crawerax and The Destroyer.) Significantly for a melee engagement, dazing also reduces enemies' rotation speed. At melee range, this allows Brick to circle a Dazed enemy faster than the foe can pivot to face him, thus allowing him to avoid counterattack.

He can also more easily reach critical hit zones that are usually inaccessible. Furthermore, many enemies have a "flinch" animation that plays when they receive a critical hit, and the Daze effect slows this animation, lengthening their period of helpless flinching and possibly allowing it to be chained by relentless pounding. A combination of repeatedly punching a vulnerable critical spot while circling the target can allow Brick to defeat very tough enemies such as higher level Badasses, while taking little retaliatory damage.

Notes

• Bash is less likely to affect higher-level opponents, and more likely to affect lower-level opponents.
• Bash works with both Berserk punches and conventional melee strikes.