All Things Borderlands

[BrianS81177]

K. Cuz if you leave Lynchwood by the train station, the Holdunks will spawn there every time. 

I gave up on farming Doc Mercy for a while and decided to farm BNK-3R to try and get the rare heads he drops. Killed him 15 times. Not one head. 

This was me after I finished playing last night:

[J.T.]

BNK-3R drops a rare head?  Damn.  Now I have something else to obsess over...

And I have blasted the Hodunks nine times.  No Slagga.

[J.T.]

Robbing banks is fun. / Better when you don't get caught. / Brass in the pocket..

• I've got all of the Badass Challenges done in Lynchwood except for the co-op duel (naturally) and the one where you have to kill the bandit that arrives on the 5:00 train.  CHEAT TO WIN~! I am probably going to have to lie in wait and shotgun the bandit as the train goes by and pray I wound him enough to knock him off the caboose or outright kill him.
• i was sorta hoping I was going to get a skag companion from the Dukino side missions like the main character in the game, Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi, but no dice.
• I spoiled the game a little for myself and saw that there is a side mission to kill Dukino's mom, Demon Hunter, but there are no Gold Exclamation Points on my map, so that must come later on.
• Once again, timed side missions freak me out.  I panicked when I saw the five minute clock for 3:10 To Kaboom, but it was a pretty easy to complete since I'd already cleared out the area hunting down skag riders.  All I had to do was get to the checkpoints and BOOOM~!  Mission accomplished...
• The Bank Job was a lot more interesting.  I am like Brick.  Kill people, blow stuff up, get paid.  Dream Mission!  The skag bile bomb was actually a stroke of genius on Brick's part.  I was impressed.
• Deputy Winger refers The Sheriff as The Sheriff.  I guess the devs named her "NIsha" later on for the Pre-Sequel. 
• Since she's Jack's current boo, I'm kinda looking forward to packing and shipping her ass to the great beyond when this OK Corral / The Warrior's Way ninja vs. cowboy showdown goes down.
• Now that I've dug this deep into the game, I know see that the protagonists for the Pre-Sequel are mostly made up of antagonists from this game... with the exception of Claptrap who is actually on my side, but hampers my cause by being an inept pain in the ass.
• Given Gearbox's penchant for pop culture callbacks, I am sure that this pending showdown will channel Bob Marley / Eric Clapton and I'll have to kill NIsha and there will be an alternate side mission objective where I can't injure Winger..  I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy. Urgh.. 
• I wonder if the devs will make me go full buckaroo and make me use a pistol to get credit for an alternate side mission objective?  That would suck because I've got this futuristic looking Maliwan auto-pistol.  I don't have a proper Jakobs revolver.
• Once I have brought true law and order to Lynchwood, I'll finally deal with Jack.

[BrianS81177]

Regarding the sheriff and deputy winger (dont read JT if you dont wanna have it spoiled):

You can't SHOOT the deputy. Nobody said anything about grenades or melee.....

[Death From Above]

Not that this applies to normal people that want to have fun in life but I also find Lynchwood one of the best experience farms in UVHM, other than the Mutant Varkid Injector thing.

[J.T.]

I shot the sheriff / and did not shoot the deputy. / Ninja swords, daddy.

• RIP Nisha.
• Yep, I hate being right.  Not only did I have to shoot the sheriff, she had to die via pistol damage and I could not damage Winger with weapons or Action Skill until after she was dead (or at least I wasn't willing to test any theories).  I had to invest in a Green Jakobs revolver to get the job done, because I tried once with my Purple Maliwan Corrosive damage auto-pistol and did not get credit for the pistol kill because she died from the acid DoT.
• I managed to flip flop and fly enough to avoid Winger and get myself into position to gun Nisha down.  Once she was dead I used my Unfors33n buffed hologram to nearly kill him with the shock damage from my hologram, and shoved him the rest of the way to the grave via my ninja digi-sword.
• The side mission, :"Demon Hunter" was available when I went back to Sanctuary to sell off some gear.  Having to put Dukino's mom down made me sad.  Demon Hunter's Shock Damage Godzilla breath was a pain in the ass, but at least she lumbered around the mine and didn't have a zerg rush attack like Skagzilla did.  It also helped that random bandits showed their faces and distracted her enough for me to put enough acid bullets into her hide to kill her.
• Also bummed that I still don't get a ninja dog...er... skag companion to roll with me.  Galford has Poppy, Shadow has Interceptor, but Zer0 must walk alone.
• I will have to come back to Lynchwood and do the Last Train to Nowhere Badass Challenge later on.  My Level 30 sniper rifle doesn't seem to have the punch to kill the Bruiser on the back of the train with one crit and the Reload Speed on this rifle is not fast enough for me to get another bead before the train leaves.  I sold my Level 30 Launcher because I rarely used it, so I can't give it a go by using rockets.
• Borrowing accidents or other bullshit, Jack will get what's coming to him tonight.  Then Zer0 can move on to the DLC after I try a few more times to liberate this rare head from BN3-KR.

[BrianS81177]

Good luck on the head. Fucking BNK-3R never drops any heads for me

[J.T.]

Handsome Jack is dead / My work on Pandora is done. / Or has it begun?

• I tried seven times to farm the rare head from BNK-3R with no luck.  I may try again later as BNK-3R farming is a very good source of revenue and credit towards Dolla Dolla Bills, Y'all and For The Horde and doesn't require that much effort.  I can bring down BNK-3R in a few minutes after a few well placed sniper shots.
• Okay, so let's do what we came here to do.  I go to grab Claptrap and off we go to the Eridium Blight.  The Save The Towers firefight gets pretty crazy and I like the idea of Claptrap's network hacking finally yielding success.  Badass Challenge complete.
• STAIRS~?  NOOOOOOOO~!!!!  Poor Claptrap..
• Holy fuck, Brick and Mordecai are not messing around.   I am so focused on killing while not getting killed and not missing any Badass Challenge stuff that I can barely keep up with them as they smash their way through the Hero's Pass. 
• When I played as Brick in the first game, my melee weapon was a fucking lead pipe.  Where the fuck did he get a gigantic sledgehammer studded with railroad spikes?
• Uh, oh.  There goes their heavy barge.  No time to mourn my homeboys.  Looks like I will have to comfort the widow Lilith after I part Jack's hair with a 7.62 round.
• Badass Challenges in Hero's Pass are done.  Backtracking to find a Vault sigil nearly gets me perished by respawning Hyperion Hawks, but they are good enough to drop healies after I kill them under the influence of my Maylay shield.
• I am so paranoid that it takes me nearly 30 minutes to navigate to the elevator and it is like a five second dash.  The something stops me.
• Yep.  I'd better go back and look for that lost Fire Worshipper... *nearly burns to death* There he is!  How the fuck do I get out of here?  I know! *save and quit*
• Okay, so I am ready to kill Jack now.  There's the Vault sigil on the back side of the elevator.  I wonder what this "undiscovered" challenge is?  Oh, well.
• Body doubles?  Really? I invented that shit, Jack.  I am disappointed..
• My Decept10n clone fries three of Jack's doubles at once and I am prepped to kill Lilith if I have to so that the key does not charge fully.
• Fuck.... So much for stopping Jack before he uses the key.  Here comes the Warrior.
• Shit.  He's fucking huge.. I guess I'd better find a better spot to set up shop and...
• MAGMA~!
• I nearly die in the twice getting to high ground as lava rises from everywhere.  The Eridium Warrior's crit spot is somewhere in his chest, but I can never get a clear shot, so I resort to shooting the Warrior in the head.
• Well, what do you know about that?  The "undiscovered" challenge was to kill the Warrior WITHOUT shooting him in the chest aka his primary weak spot!
• I spend so much time running around giddy and gathering loot that Lilith gets tired and says, "If you don't shoot him, I will."  Fuck that, Lilith. 
• *BLAM~!* HEADSHOT~! 
• Some say that vengeance is a dish best served cold.  I disagree since I am very happy that Jack has achieved room temperature and that's not very cold at all..
• And now there is more loot to collect.
• Holy shit!  Brick and Mordecai are still alive!
• And there are Vaults all over the galaxy?  Borderlands 3:  The Princess Is In Another Castle..
• Cool Story, Bro (30) You have killed Jack!
• The Heavy is such a great fucking band! 
• Damn, I have to pour one out for my homie, Roland.
• And Angel...   Why is the room so dusty right now?
• Okay, so aftermath stuff.  Tannis's new quest is fucking 50th level.  Not ready for that.  Hey!  What's that over in the Ore Chasm?
• Five waves of Hyperion Slaughter?  I'm in, I guess.
• Got to Wave 3 before I started watching last weeks episode of Channel Zero on Syfy OnDemand to get caught up for tonight.
• I'll finish up Hyperion Slaughter and move on to something else if there are no quests that pop up on the main play area after I'm done with this one.

[BrianS81177]

Tanis' new quest is a raid boss that you absolutely positively should not try. He will kill you if you go in solo. Which of the DLCs are you gonna start first?

[J.T.]

Hyperion Slaughter got a bit frustrating so I am going to take a step back and finish off my Axton playthrough and maybe sneak in some Gears of War 3.

Most likely when I jump back in with Zer0, I'll deal with Hammerlock's shit first since I am pretty sure I'll hate it since I hated all of his Pandora Geographic missions.

I'll save Tiny Tina's DLC for last since it is the bestestest one.

And oh yeah, there is no way I am doing Tannis's raid mission solo.

[BrianS81177]

Hammerlocks isn't that good, but it does have some decent rare loot. I would suggest you do the Captain Scarlett one first so you can get what in my opinion is the best SMG in the game: the Sandhawk

[J.T.]

I kind want to do them in the order of most frustrating to most fun so that I don't hate the game by the time I am all done with the DLC.

[BrianS81177]

Well then IMO that would be Hammerlock (blah story and location, decent rare loot), Captain Scarlett (some good loot, so-so story), Torgue (fun story, not much in the way of loot), Tiny Tina (far and away the best of the 4).

[Death From Above]

I'm not nearly as in love with the Tina DLC as most people, mainly because it really loves gimmick enemies and puzzles. It's very well done, though.

 

The Scarlett DLC definitely has some great loot. The Orphan Maker is strong in the right setup, but the Jolly Roger is the real prize shotgun for most people. The Pimpernel is a god-tier sniper rifle, and the Sand Hawk is a top 5 choice for "anyone in the game that isn't Salvador" (because DAHL burst fire doesn't work with gunzerking).

 

Hammerlock's does lack for loot, other than the Rough Rider. Which a lot of people use totally incorrectly. The unique Jakobs guns in that DLC are a huge fucking bummer because they have cool skins but are, you know, terrible. I don't mind the gameplay there at all other than the endboss being a turd. It is a lot more fun once you actually learn the map because it does have a bit of a confusing layout at first.

 

The Torgue DLC is fucking hilarious and is blatantly the Wrestling Fan DLC. Best guns there are the Kitten (one of the few genuinely decent assault rifles) and the Slow Hand which is a shotgun-but-really-a-launcher.

 

The Tina DLC definitely has the most stuff and seems to be the most popular by far. It also has an Eridium slot machine for extreme endgame people that just have nothing better to spend it on. Watch out for those fucking dice chests though, they cost Eiridum to open and are not as clearly marked as they should be (this pissed me off in Pre Sequel too, would it have killed them to put the same popup warning the Golden Chest gets).

[Death From Above]

Don't even think about raid bossing before level 50. And even then, who are you to doubt Teramorphus?

 

The raid bosses in this game are a funny thing. There are dozens of videos out there where people have shown some bizarre, outright creative ways people found to cheese them in mere moments (Tediore chucking Axton, anyone). And yet for mere mortal players that just play normally... yeah, good luck with that. At the VERY LEAST you need to spec your skills correctly and gear correctly for that specific fight, and even then you need to know what you're doing. And even then, don't try Voracadus solo. Just don't do it.

[BrianS81177]

3 hours ago, Death From Above said:

I'm not nearly as in love with the Tina DLC as most people, mainly because it really loves gimmick enemies and puzzles. It's very well done, though.

 

The Scarlett DLC definitely has some great loot. The Orphan Maker is strong in the right setup, but the Jolly Roger is the real prize shotgun for most people. The Pimpernel is a god-tier sniper rifle, and the Sand Hawk is a top 5 choice for "anyone in the game that isn't Salvador" (because DAHL burst fire doesn't work with gunzerking).

 

Hammerlock's does lack for loot, other than the Rough Rider. Which a lot of people use totally incorrectly. The unique Jakobs guns in that DLC are a huge fucking bummer because they have cool skins but are, you know, terrible. I don't mind the gameplay there at all other than the endboss being a turd. It is a lot more fun once you actually learn the map because it does have a bit of a confusing layout at first.

 

The Torgue DLC is fucking hilarious and is blatantly the Wrestling Fan DLC. Best guns there are the Kitten (one of the few genuinely decent assault rifles) and the Slow Hand which is a shotgun-but-really-a-launcher.

 

The Tina DLC definitely has the most stuff and seems to be the most popular by far. It also has an Eridium slot machine for extreme endgame people that just have nothing better to spend it on. Watch out for those fucking dice chests though, they cost Eiridum to open and are not as clearly marked as they should be (this pissed me off in Pre Sequel too, would it have killed them to put the same popup warning the Golden Chest gets).

Oh yeah, JT is gonna love him some Pimpernel considering he's playing as Zero. 

And the dice chests are free to open. It costs Eridium to roll TWO dice instead of just one for free

I agree about most of Hammerlock's DLC weapons but the Chopper is a pretty decent assault rifle if you wanna go through all the trouble of summoning Dexiduous. The Yellow Jacket is a decent SMG, but not near as good as the Sandhawk. 

[Death From Above]

Problem with the dice chest at least on PC is that the Spend Eridium button is mapped to the same as the default open everything button, and the Don't Light Currency On Fire To Get Four Green Guns button is something else. Super easy to miss.

 

Dexidious is really not worth anything close to the just under 100 Eridium it costs to make him appear. His loot pool is bizarrely bad given that cost.

[Gonzo]

The Tiny Tina DLC also gives you my personal favorite weapon.

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

Hey, I don't know if this is a screw up on MS's part, but Borderlands is currently FREE!

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/p/borderlands-the-handsome-collection-unlock-bundle/bvrk77xxgbwb

Hurry and get yours!

[RIPPA]

The folks at NeoGAF are saying that it is supposed to be part of the Free Play Days so theory is that it will expire in a couple of days and you will have to pay to keep playing it

[CSC]

Update 10:25AM — Looks like it’s a free gift from Microsoft, as part of its Multiplayer All-Access event running over the weekend. The video description reads: “Play online with friends FREE AND enjoy a free game unlock of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection on us!”

 

Sounds like a permanent thing.

[J.T.]

I almost miss Decept10n, but having a turret again feels like I've reunited with an old friend.  I have Axton using the Radar Ranger head / Dahl Elite skin so I look like an actual space marine.  When Roland calls me "soldier," it kinda makes sense.

There is even a Dahl digital camo skin for my runner! 

I'm using the Inferno skin for my Bandit Technical in keeping kayfabe with the idea of Trojan Horse bluffing my way into the Bloodshot Stronghold and Lilith's comment about my truck looking like it belongs to a psycho murderer..

Incinerator Clayton dropped the Pyrophobia for me.  I used the shit out of it for a while but now that I am 16th level, the damage is petering out.  Gonna have to find a new launcher soon.

I was thrilled to be able to rescue Roland before WAR-D3N made off with him.  I had a Purple Dahl Shock Damage assault rifle to use on WAR-D3N's shield and then threw every Longbow Caustic Grenade that I had while my turret spat lead.

I have Axton parked in the Bloodshot Ramparts and will knock out the AI side mission the next chance I get to game and that probably won't be until Monday.  As per the usual, the weekend is busy.

I learned my lesson from my Zer0 playthrough and will take time to farm MIRV and Spike Damage Shield kills in lowbie zones before moving on to Tundra Express.  That way I can score some easy Badass Rank points and level up categories before I swap gear and the progress stales because I've found another favorite load out.

I just run through Southern Shelf and let Bullymongs and Rakk die after they melee me and throw MIRVs at groups of bandits until I hit the magic numbers I need. 

After I reach Rank 5 for Game of Thorns and EXPLOOOOOOSIONS!, i will swap out for the 1340 Shield I will get as a reward for the side mission I am currently on and my new awesome Longbow Corrosive Damage grenade mod.

[J.T.]

On 10/27/2016 at 6:21 AM, Gonzo said:

The Tiny Tina DLC also gives you my personal favorite weapon.

 

Man of Low Moral Fiber's Does It Suck series is one of my favorite things on YouTube.

[Death From Above]

My favourite Does It Suck is the Wanderlust because you can just hear how totally baffled/frustrated he is that they added this Pearlescent to the game in the 2nd Vault Hunter Pack and it has a legit case as the single worst gun in Borderlands 2. I also liked the one on The Gub because everyone thinks The Gub sucks and he put like 3 minutes of thought into which character build to use it with and was like "actually it's fine, stop being dumb".

 

My favourite BL2 youtuber has become Joltzdude139. That guy knows every single obscure trick, easter egg, glitch, and just insanely gimmicky way to kill a raid boss you can imagine. So much fun stuff on his channel for people that have been around the BL games for years and have seen most of the "normal" stuff. He also has done some other neat stuff like playthroughs of Borderlands 1 custom DLC's which just don't get much airtime elsewhere at all. Guy is clearly a really dedicated Borderlands fan.

[J.T.]

On 10/29/2016 at 7:11 AM, L_W_P said:

This plus Gaige the Mechromancer's "Bullets bounce and hit enemies" ability is amazing synergy.

Between this and the Florentine SMG she wrecks shop quicker than gunzerking ever could.

I posted a vid a couple of pages back of Gaige wrecking shop in the Bloodshot Stronghold with the Hail.

The Does It Suck series is great, but I am not nearly obsessive enough about this game to figure out builds that synch with gear like that.

Stuff I've noticed during my Axton playthrough so far that I did not see as Zer0:

1. Flesh-Stick's place card at Tiny Tina's tea party reads "Evil Bastard That Killed My Parents."

2. Tina's reads "Queen Tina of Blowoffuyourfacestein."

3. A friend of mine jumped into my game with Gaige.  I heard the dialogue from Gaige where she tells the story about how she sawed her own arm off and replaced it with the robot arm.

4. Finally got some Orange drops from enemies other than Flynt.  Knuckledragger dropped The Hornet auto-pistol for me and Wilhelm dropped the Rolling Thunder grenade mod.