A few months ago i ripped through the magic slaughter badass round in normal mode using my lv61 siren. Obviously there was no match considering the level difference. But even with 30 level below me they put up quite a tough fight by their standard. Fast forward to present, i did the same only this time this was my lv61 psycho against lv61 enemies. till round 5, it was absolute no contest. Harold + MM everything or SWORDSPLOSION if the target is out of range. In case the going gets tough, it was smash in the face till you die style. I only play as Hellborn Krieg but this was first time in almost a year i got first hand taste of Mania. It was absolute devastating. Most of the beating were taken by those Badass Archers with buzzaxe shoved up their arse. Light the fuse was even more epic with 1 LTF = bloodsplode the entire arena.
I love arena fights and ever since TTAODK came out, there were talks about the magic slaughter with spikes, traps, etc. Then posts started showing up about a Badass round. Obviously i was not interested in fighting badass with traps and spike pits surrounding you. Thats not how arenas are designed. You have to manage the crowd while avoiding the spikes. Seriously? But what followed got my full attention. Purple MM & the legendary Orge. Because of the sheer number of Badass Sorcerers the chance of purple MM dropping is really high but i was looking for the Orge. And once UVHM2 came out, Vault Hunters started to Solo the arena with OP8 enemies looking for an OP8 Ogre. OP8 Raiding is difficult but fighting OP8 enemies with traps is like suicidal. Tried my luck for purple MM in normal mode throughout TTAODK, not just arena but only received blue. After completing the story with Krieg, went for the arena. Before that i went through some posts that said an explosive Krieg is a more versetile option than a hellborn one. For the first time i experimented with a explosive & mania Krieg. Tried mania Krieg before but went back to hellborn as i prefer lighting my ass on fire while i pump my enemies with lead.
Round 1 to 5 was easy. Avoided the traps completely (0 death from traps till date). Even the dragon was not much of a challenge and died after a few tries. The real game started with Badass round. My first win took around 10 tries. Experimented around going for STV, Embrace the pain with Rough Rider, even hellborn. Most of the time it worked fine till i mistimed a RTB or made a wrong move while i got smashed to death while failing to get any kill with LTF. After i completed the round with my Siren, one thing was for sure. I won't be returning to the arena. The fight, specially badass round was absolute brutal. There is no way i was going to survive in this arena even in round 1 but luckily a few tips posted on GBX forum got me moving safely and in Borderlands once you get going its difficult to stop so solo'd the entire series. Without thinking much went straight to badass round but then was thrown back into realty. Even if round 5 was a walk in the park, badass round will be one of a kind beating. Took the beating while i experimented to get my skills right. But even after the first win, i went back to the drawing board. My point being was STV worth it? With STV, you have to throw the axe to avoid smacking yourself in the face. But thowing buzzaxe become useless once enemies are on top of you. So that was sent out. RTB was still effective against everything except Ultimate Badass Orks who just smash the crap out of you.
Now almost 25 rounds later, with 5 wins under my belt finally found one half of what i was looking for. The legendary Ogre. Got Firestorm and Lightning Bolt (both legendaries) if i spelled them right. My thanks goes mainly to GBX community for the tips. Without them, soloing this arena was out of question to me. B2TCP group for encouraging all gamers to try new challenges. As i said before, once you get going in BL2, its difficult to stop. Even though i got the Ogre this fight isn't over yet. I want the purple MM or just want to have some fun with King.
Planning to transfer the Orge to my commando and have him kick more asses. Will keep it posted here. Thanks for reading.