Krieg

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

See also: A Meat Bicycle Built for Two

Whatever Krieg went through to make him the blood-drinking, meat-loving killer that he is, it is noted he wasn't always like this. Krieg's psyche has a remnant of who he used to be--a literal inner voice which forces Krieg to only kill the deserving, and help others. The voice often remarks that he remembers helping people, getting paid with loot, and other Vault-hunter-esque pursuits. It's also informed Krieg that should Krieg ever kill an innocent person, the inner voice will take over and commit suicide to kill them both as punishment.

In his graphic backstory, Krieg is shown wandering the wastelands of Pandora, wielding only his buzz axe, killing bandits and many other hostiles along the way. The inner voice seemed to have far less influence on his actions in those days, barely able to keep his blood lusting vessel from targeting hostiles over non-combatants. After narrowly avoiding getting splattered by a train, Krieg sees Maya at the train station. Krieg's inner voice somehow knew she is both a Siren and a Vault Hunter, and told Krieg to ally himself with her and let her take care of him. However, Krieg instead screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'm the conductor of the POOP train!". Maya misinterpreted this as being hostile and opened fire at Krieg, only to attract a pack of rats.

Too focused on Krieg, Maya does not notice the cannibalistic bandits approach from behind. Somehow Krieg's inner voice, with some difficulty, managed to influence his darker side to warn Maya by shouting, "Turn around, pretty lady!" while throwing his buzz axe at one of the rats. After retrieving his axe, Krieg continues by rushing towards the rats to defend Maya, butchering the rats with ease and terrifying one of them unconscious. After helping Krieg finish off the rest of them, Maya softens up to the madman, and Krieg's inner self gains hope that perhaps he can regain himself one day, though his outer self was too preoccupied screaming about ribcages and cockatiels to express it. Afterwards he is seen clinging to the side of the train the Vault Hunters were passengers on, which explains how he ended up in Windshear Waste after the train explosion.

Appearances

Borderlands 2 - Psycho Pack

Skills

[Skill tree]

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: ~15 seconds.

Cooldown: 120 seconds, reduced by taking damage.

Quotes

See Krieg/Quotes

Notes

Krieg has a unique kind of melee-bonus without having a bladed weapon equipped. This bonus rises together with his level, but will be overridden by the melee-bonus of a bladed weapon.[1] From Level 45 on, a bladed weapon with a melee-bonus of +50% will weaken his melee attacks, but if you gain other bonuses like the melee bonus from a Roid Damage shield, a bladed weapon will then do more damage when the Roid bonus is active. This makes the Law and Rapier viable choices for a very long duration of the game, due to their +100% and +200% melee bonuses, respectively. Use of the Law with the Order allows Krieg to be a nigh unstoppable force for a very lengthy period of time, due to instantly regaining all health on every hit, in or out of Buzz Axe Rampage.
Krieg is the heaviest Vault Hunter. Gearbox has explained that the reason for this is that Krieg, as a heavily melee-oriented character, would be very frustrating to play if it were as easy for enemies to knock him around as it is for the other playable characters.
Due to Krieg's mass index, Krieg gets slightly less air than other characters during a grenade jump. This can be augmented with a rocket launcher fired directly after the grenade jump. Most known grenade jumps, however, can be achieved by Krieg.
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 as the geyser can lift Krieg only a few feet up.
Krieg's class mod is a custom buzz blade that is attached to the back of his belt, when buzz axe rampage is active however, the class mod is NOT used as the blade in the axe itself.
It is possible to fire guns as normal in the brief time during Light the Fuse when Krieg has no dynamite in his hands.

Trivia

Policy of this wiki requires a link to the trivial reference when it is not a part of this game (franchise). Trivia without links may be removed or redacted at any time by any user.
NOTE: Dr.F will delete any trivia without links. See history to re-instate (with links).

Krieg is the only Vault Hunter intended to use suicidal tactics with Silence the Voices, Light the Fuse, Redeem the Soul (co-op), Pull the Pin, Fuel the Rampage (co-op), Embrace the Pain, Salt the Wound, and lighting himself on fire.
Krieg's skills Strip The Flesh and Salt the Wound are references to one phrase commonly heard from enemy psychos ("strip the flesh, salt the wound").
Many of Krieg's skills are based on abilities utilized by psycho bandits. Examples of these include: exploding and throwing explosives (Suicide Psychos), breathing fire (Burning Psychos) and rushing opponents for melee (normal Psychos). [2]
Krieg's name means 'War' in German.
On April 24, 2013, Krieg took over @ECHOcasts [3] Twitter (formerly occupied by Sir Hammerlock).
Krieg's line "Look at me when I scream into your soul" is a reference to a series of similar lines used by attacking psychos ("Look into my eyes when I stare at you" and "Look at me when I'm charging at you").
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.[4] It may also serve as a double entendre, referencing Norman Bates from the movie Psycho, in which the business of murder is quite bloody, given the nature of Krieg's character.
Krieg suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). He argues with himself in some of his quotes, and he has a quieter 'inner voice' which occasionally tells him what to do or comments on his surroundings.
- The dominant personality appears to be his violent side.
- His more peaceful side seems to try to keep him in check by threatening that it will take control and commit suicide as soon as he harms an innocent person.
Krieg's bounty is $100,000,000,000. No crimes are listed, but in the launch trailer the poster has "Property of Hyperion" written on it.
- The wanted poster Krieg staples to his face for the I WANNA BE WANTED head lists "Indecent Exposure" as his crime.
When Krieg dies, regardless of whether he has Light the Fuse or not, he will attempt to say the lines he uses when detonating the bundle of dynamite that accompanies Light The Fuse. These lines will usually be at least partially cut off.
Krieg's quote, "You woke the wrong dog!" is a nod to Nine-Toes from Borderlands, who uses the same line when he is introduced.
Krieg references Day of the Tentacle, a 1993 graphic adventure game also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, when he rants "Gone are the days of the tentacle..."
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.
- "Too... Many... Icons..." shows that skills are connected to skill icons.
- "See the numbers, taste the violence..." shows that items are connected to numbers.
The "Box cover, box cover!" rant is Krieg speaking to the psycho depicted on the box art for Borderlands and Borderlands 2.
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 is trying to retrieve his diamond-encrusted skull.
Based on his quotes, Krieg seems concerned with several different females. His quotes involving "she" are scattered and inconsistent. Within his ramblings, several stories can be imagined, but not logically tied together.
Krieg has the most lines for kill streaks, a total of thirteen.
Krieg's Buzz Axe is Bandit-made and has various visual upgrades depending on what skills Krieg has investments in.
Krieg's quote, "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee," is from Moby Dick by Herman Melville.
Krieg's dominant personality seems to possess traits from both the personality types displayed by normal psychos. His dialogue swings back and forth between nonsensical, humorous rambling and bloodthirsty rage completely at random, although the two combine at times.
Krieg's inner voice is compared to a man driving an out-of-control semi truck by Anthony Burch. [5] He cannot stop the truck, but he can try and steer it away from as many innocents as possible.
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 saying, "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 when winning a duel, "You were fantastic, SO WAS I!" is a reference to the Doctor Who episode, 'The Parting of Ways,' in which the Doctor says this line to Rose before regenerating into his next reincarnation.
Krieg's quote: "I don't want to go!" is a reference to the Tenth Doctor's final words before regenerating.
A glitch can occur with Krieg in which he will remain in Buzz Axe Rampage after it has expired. During this glitch, Krieg can only throw his Buzz-axe. There are two ways to activate this glitch.
- Getting onto the back of a Bandit car, 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 glitch where Krieg will hold his Buzz Axe after Buzz Axe Rampage ends. It happens if the skill ends while Krieg is in the quest taking/completing menu. Krieg can't use his Axe this way, though, he will carry it forever, even after changing location, or starting Buzz Axe Rampage again, dying etc. The axe will disappear after returning to main menu.