Krieg

Krieg
NIPPLE SALADS!
Character Type	Playable character (Borderlands 2)
Gender	Male
Race	Human mutant
Group Affiliations	Crimson Raiders
Games	Borderlands 2 Borderlands 3
Voice Actor	Jason Douglas

Krieg is the playable Psycho class character in Borderlands 2. He is the sixth playable character in the game and was revealed on March 24, 2013 in the Borderlands 2 Krieg the Psycho Character Reveal Trailer. He was released on May 14th, 2013 on Steam and PlayStation Network for $9.99, or 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live.

Background

Main article: Krieg/A Meat Bicycle Built for Two (Transcript)

Born to a family of bandits, Krieg endured abuse from his mother who viewed him as a weakling. Spurred by his mother to become stronger, Krieg grew to become one of the strongest members of his family on Pandora. However, his strength was no match for Hyperion's forces when he and many other bandits were taken by Dr. Benedict as experiments to become Psychos subjected to horrible abuse and experiments with the lucky ones being the first to die as each surviving batch only endured even more inhumane experiments where traits like self-harm, suicidal impulses, and reckless behavior were encouraged. Rather than bringing out his psychotic side and destroying his sanity, it only made him feel more powerless. Eventually, a fractured remnant of his psyche, manifesting itself as an "inner voice" in his mind as a means for Krieg's sane side to maintain hope and the will to survive. Learning that he was to be disposed of with the rest of the subjects and Dr. Benedict plans on using children as the next group, he breaks out of the facility and kills Benedict to prevent them from suffering the same fate. However, by that point, Psycho Krieg became the dominant personality and Krieg could no longer communicate properly.

Later on in his life, Krieg had engaged in vault hunter-esque activities and worked for the Crimson Raiders, such as aiding the needy and getting paid with loot. The voice also seeks to control Krieg's lust for murder by limiting his victims to those deserving punishment. However, because of Psycho Krieg's personality, he was unable to establish any meaningful bonds with the Raiders and believed they always hated him and saw him as a weapon towards their enemies

Anthony Burch has described Krieg's psychosis, comparing Krieg to a man driving an out-of-control truck: he cannot stop the truck, but he can try to steer it away from as many innocents as possible

Players are introduced to Krieg as he wanders through Pandora's wasteland, eliminating bandits with his buzz axe. He encounters Maya, who initially believes him to be hostile; she immediately opens fire on him, inadvertently attracting the attention of a group of rats. Too focused on Krieg, Maya fails to notice the rats approaching from behind. Krieg salvages the situation by throwing his buzz axe at the rats, saving Maya from peril. Afterward, Maya warms up to Krieg, and the two congregate. Krieg is last seen clinging to the train carrying the original vault hunters to Windshear Waste.

After the events of Handsome Jack's attempt to destroy the Crimson Raiders, Krieg exiles himself away in the wastes of Pandora; having become smitten with Maya and wishing to see her again, his "inner voice" tries to coach himself into speaking more coherently and overall act less hostile around others (with limited success). During this time, Tiny Tina manages to find Krieg and wishes to have him instruct her on behaving like a bandit.

Shortly after the destruction of Sanctuary, he hears about Maya going back to Athenas and goes to track her down; with some effort, Krieg is able to convey a message to her wishing that she would stay. While upset over her determination to return back to her home planet, Krieg takes some solace in Maya promising to return back to Pandora and see him again.

Appearances

• Borderlands 2
• Borderlands 3 (voice on ECHOs only)
• Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck

Skills

Action skill: Buzz Axe Rampage

• [Fire] to swing buzz axe, [Aim] + [Fire] to throw buzz axe.
• 500% Melee Damage, regain all Health on kill.
• Increase movement speed by 33%.
• Duration: 16 seconds (excluding penalties for health lost).
• Cooldown: 120 seconds, reduced by taking damage.

Krieg has three Skill Trees:

• Bloodlust
• Mania
• Hellborn

Melee Damage

Unlike any other character, Krieg has a unique melee damage bonus:

KriegMeleeDMG = MeleeDMG x 0.8 x (1 + 0.02 x Level)

where MeleeDMG is the melee damage other characters do at that level. This means that Krieg gains more melee damage per level than other characters, but up until level 12 Krieg actually does less damage (81.6% at level 1, 208% at level 80).

A weapon's melee damage bonus overrides Krieg's unique modifier, so Krieg will do the same melee damage as other characters when holding a bladed weapon.

• At level 44, Krieg's modifier amounts to an effective +50.4% bonus. From this point on, Krieg will do less damage with a "+50% melee damage" weapon than without one.
• At level 80, the modifier amounts to an effective +108% bonus, making it better than the Law's +100% bonus, so equipping the Law will reduce melee damage. However, the Rapier's +200% bonus will always increase melee damage.

Class Mods

Main article: Class Mod (Borderlands 2)#Krieg

Quotes

Main article: Krieg/Quotes

Notes

• Use of the Law with the Order creates formidable effects. Half of Krieg's health is instantly regained when melee damage is inflicted, in or out of Buzz Axe Rampage.
• Unlike bladed weapons, Krieg's unique melee damage modifier does not increase a Maylay Shield's roid damage. Therefore, a +50% melee damage weapon may still be viable even at higher levels when using such a shield.
• Krieg experiences less hang time than other characters during a jump. This 'heaviness' helps to prevent him from getting shoved around from frequent knock-back effects in melee situations.
• In the August 29, 2013 update, Gearbox removed the challenges that are impossible to do with Krieg due to his heft, such as getting atop the Happy Motel Pig sign in Three Horns - Valley.
• Krieg's class mod is a custom buzz axe blade attached to his belt.
• It is possible to fire guns normally in the brief time during Light the Fuse when Krieg has no dynamite in his hands. This isn't possible in the PS4 version of The Handsome Collection, but he can still hold the gun for a few seconds.
• A bug can occur in which Krieg will remain in Buzz Axe Rampage after it has expired, and Krieg's only available action is to throw his buzz axe. There are two ways to activate this bug.
  • Getting onto the back of a Bandit Technical, waiting a few seconds, then getting off before the skill ends.
  • Getting a second wind instantly after entering Fight For Your Life while in Buzz Axe Rampage.
• There's also a bug where Krieg will hold his buzz axe after Buzz Axe Rampage ends. It happens if the skill ends while a menu is open. Krieg can't use his axe this way, though he will carry it forever, even after changing location, starting Buzz Axe Rampage again, or dying etc. The axe will disappear after returning to main menu.

Trivia

• Krieg is one of the two Vault Hunters who employs suicidal tactics including Silence the Voices, Light the Fuse, Redeem the Soul (co-op), Pull the Pin, Fuel the Rampage (co-op), Embrace the Pain, and Salt the Wound.
• Many of Krieg's skills and dialogue are based on psycho bandit abilities. Abilities include: exploding and throwing explosives (suicide psychos), breathing fire (burning psychos) and rushing opponents for melee (normal Psychos).
• Krieg's name means 'War' in German.
• On April 24, 2013, Krieg took over @ECHOcasts [1] Twitter (formerly occupied by Sir Hammerlock).
• Krieg seems to suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) as he argues with an "inner voice" that was created as result of traumatic experiences, although his case differs significantly from the typical diagnosis in a number of ways:
  • Only one personality is active at a given moment in typical DID. For example, "Alice" might be completely unaware of the existence of "Betty" but have full recollection of any actions taken while "Claire" is in the driver's seat; they do not actively "fight over the steering wheel" as Krieg's (to some extent) do, nor do they actively communicate with one another.
  • Krieg's alternate personality is implied to be the direct result of Hyperion's experimentation itself, whereas in typical DID the alternate personality/personalities is/are inadvertently created by the patient themselves as a result of trying to cope with trauma by trying to convince themselves that it happened to someone else.
  • The dominant personality is the original default one in typical DID, whereas in Krieg's case it is the other way around.
  • DID is normally the result of trauma that occurred during early to mid-childhood; trauma occurring during adulthood that produces a mental disorder usually results in PTSD instead.
  • The constructed personalities of normal DID are notably not "complete people". They are one dimensional and entirely incapable of character development; a "shy five-year-old girl" constructed personality will even stay shy and five throughout the patient's life. Krieg's constructed personality not only seems to be a complete individual in his own right, but it also seems that he himself has a separate, additional mental illness somewhat similar to that of the other so-called "psychos".
• Krieg's bounty is $100,000,000,000. No crimes are listed, and he is branded as "Property of Hyperion". However, his quick-change head "I WANNA BE WANTED" lists indecent exposure as his offence.
• Krieg's quote "You woke the wrong dog!" alludes to Nine-Toes from Borderlands, who uses the same line when he is introduced.
• Krieg has no lines while under the effects of the Handsome Jack voice modulator, though he does make the same stock grunts. Additionally, enemies will not react if Krieg activates Buzz Axe Rampage.
• Krieg often breaks the fourth wall with his quotes.
• Based on his quotes, Krieg seems concerned with several different women. His quotes involving "she" are highly inconsistent and cannot be linked.
• Krieg's Buzz Axe is bandit made and has various visual upgrades depending on what skills Krieg has investments in.
• Krieg's line "It's a bloody business, Bates" is a reference to the series Downton Abbey, wherein a character is being fired for inadequate performance.[2] It may also serve as a double entendre, referencing Norman Bates from Psycho.
• Krieg references Day of the Tentacle, a 1993 adventure game when he rants "Gone are the days of the tentacle...".
• The quote "Looks like them Duke boys are in a peck of trouble" is a reference to The Dukes of Hazzard.
• The line "Bloody sand, give me back my skull!" is a reference to the game 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, in which 50 Cent tries to retrieve his diamond-encrusted skull.
• Krieg's quote "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee," is from Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
• Krieg's quote while opening a chest "What an amazing chest, Gwynevere!" is a reference to the game Dark Souls, in which a giant sized character named Gwynevere appears. Often players will find messages from other players using an in-game system reading "Amazing chest ahead!", referencing her ample bosom.
• Krieg's quote "Naha, It's like Arbor Day!" is a reference to Roland's quote from Borderlands when finding loot, "It's like Christmas."
• Krieg's quote "The voices said empty, hollow, and thud!" is a reference to the Rosehan Experiment where volunteers pretended to be insane to see if psychological diagnostics were valid.
• Krieg's quote "RED RUUUMMMM!" is "murder" spelled backwards, which was a plot device from The Shining.
• Krieg's quote "I don't want to go!" is a reference to the Tenth Doctor's final wordsbefore regenerating.
• Krieg's "Salt the Wound" quote "HURT ME MORE!" is a direct quote taken from the game "Metal Gear Solid" where it's spoken by the character "Gray Fox" during a fist fight with the game's protagonist.

Media

Psycho Pack Launch Trailer

Krieg A Meat Bicycle Built for Two

See Also

• Psycho (Borderlands 2)