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Smaller, Lighter, Faster is one of Gaige's Tier One Ordered Chaos skills, and one of two skills which are mandatory to reach Tier Two. This skill shrinks the magazines of Gaige's weapons, meaning faster reloading, but fewer bullets.

Effects

Each rank in this skill improves Gaige's Reload Speed by 6%, but subtracts 1% from her Magazine Size. The detriment can easily outweigh the net benefit of the skill, as the skill will only subtract whole numbers from a magazine count. The game will determine the size of a magazine by rounding down the net magazine size to the nearest whole number. For example, a Jakobs shotgun with a 1-shot magazine becomes unfirable after investing into the skill, as the true magazine size after putting one point into this skill will become 0.99, becoming 0 shots per magazine. This skill, as such, more heavily affects weapons with smaller magazines than larger magazines.

Level 1 2 3 4
Reload Speed +6% +12% +18% +24%
Magazine Size -1% -2% -3% -4%
Level 5 6 7 8 9 10
Reload Speed +30% +36% +42% +48% +54% +60%
Magazine Size -5% -6% -7% -8% -9% -10%

Can only be leveled past 4 with Jill of All Trades, Punk, Legendary Anarchist, and Legendary Mechromancer class mods.

Strategy

The faster reloads help build up Anarchy for Gaige, and the smaller magazine size also helps even more - as she will need to reload more frequently. However, at level 4, you will lose 4% of your magazine, which means that a gun with 25 rounds would only lose one bullet, which is little of a loss.

This skill works well in conjunction with weapons that already have small magazines. Large-capacity Bandit-brand assault rifles and SMGs stand to lose the most bullets per clip, whereas weapons with smaller magazines stand to lose the highest per cent of their magazine, as magazine sizes will round down to the nearest whole bullet.

Notes

  • Smaller, Lighter, Faster is the only skill in the Borderlands franchise to have four points by default.
  • Any points into this skill will cause any weapon with a default magazine size of 1 to be reduced to a magazine size of 0, making the weapon unusable. Notably this includes the Infinity pistol, as well as the 12 Pounder and Handy Coach Gun.
    • However, this can be subverted with the use of any "Neutral" variant of the Necromancer class mod, from Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. The lowest possible magazine size boost from a Neutral Necromancer class mod is 13%, more than enough to "add back" the bullet that is subtracted by this skill, allowing Anarchy-specced Mechromancers to use these weapons.
  • The ammo usage per shot of a weapon is not modified by this skill, even if it reduces the maximum magazine size below the listed ammo usage per shot. For example, if this skill is used in conjunction with a Bushwack with an unmodified magazine size of 3, firing the weapon will still use three ammo total from the player's ammo pool, despite only two being loaded in the weapon.
Gaige skills
Deathtrap
Best Friends Forever Little Big Trouble Ordered Chaos
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