Lethal Strike is a tier 2 skill in Mordecai's Gunslinger skill tree. Increases melee damage. Also, every melee attack has a 35% chance to be a Lethal Strike and deal extremely high damage.
Description
Each rank of this skill grants a bonus to melee damage, cumulative with other bonuses from Truxican Wrestler, Skirmisher, or Warmonger class mods. Furthermore, each melee attack has a 35% chance to be a Lethal Strike, receiving an additional, much greater damage bonus, and making a characteristic sound reminiscent of a steel blade scraping roughly against a target.
When a Lethal Strike takes place against a critical hit zone of a target, there is a chance for the lethal strike damage bonus to be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled; such a strike, however, will not be a critical hit proper, will not be announced with "Critical!", and will not receive any further critical damage bonus. Otherwise, a regular critical hit will occur, amplifying the regular lethal-strike-enhanced damage by the appropriate amount for the critical made.
Skill Progression
Contrary to the in-game skill description, each rank of this skill grants a 150% damage increase to lethal strikes.
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melee damage bonus | +10% | +20% | +30% | +40% | +50% |
| Lethal strike damage | +150% | +300% | +450% | +600% | +750% |
Additional levels may be acquired through the use of an Assassin or Truxican Wrestler class mod.
| Level | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melee damage bonus | +60% | +70% | +80% | +90% |
| Lethal strike damage | +900% | +1050% | +1200% | +1350% |
Strategy
Gunslinger boosts Mordecai's melee attacks into an effective secondary form of attack. While the constant percentage boost to melee damage is not that significant, a lethal strike (per the skill's name) from Lethal Strike is extremely damaging, especially when slicing through an enemy's critical hit location with a bladed weapon such as a Razor.
This skill well complements a Hunter who specializes in the use of close-range weapons such as pistols or shotguns. If a melee attack is triggered during a reload, but after the weapon's magazine ammo counter is updated to full, the melee attack will cut the animation short but the reload will still have completed.
Notes
- Against the tentacles of The Destroyer, Lethal Strike triggers with every melee attack.
| Bloodwing | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sniper | Rogue | Gunslinger |
Aerial Impact • Bird of Prey • Fast Hands • Out For Blood • Ransack • Swift Strike • |
Deadly • Gun Crazy • Hair Trigger • Lethal Strike • Predator • Relentless • Riotous Remedy | |