Character Skills

[RedRaven]

Been hitting it hard in Borderlands over the past few days, getting towards the end of the main story plot missions. So to not rush to end too soon I've been doing all the side missions and getting as many medals as possible for the experience points to level up.

Really got into building certain skills up to the full 5 points. The Maximum level is 50, so its a maximum of 45 points to play with. After looking around a few sites I found these pages which allow you to experiment with it. There is one for each character -

ROLAND

MORDECAI

LILITH

BRICK

So it got my wondering, what skills did you choose ?  And what are you aiming for ? 
With Roland decided on going for weight of fire. My aim being to lay down as much fire as fast as possible.  At level 36 Impact, Sentry, Stockpile and Barrage are all up to 5, with 2 or 3 points in Metal Storm, Assault and Refire. Just started on Guided Missile  :-X . Using mainly Combat rifles, combat rifles and the occasional smg or revolver. Using the turret as often as i can, not just for fire power but also Healing and Ammo regeneration.
With the turret and the combat rifles set up in my weapon slots I can get off around 600+ rounds before having to duck and reload ;D  (been keeping the best rifle with high rate of fire and magazine capacity over elemental tricky - just good 'ol hot lead :-X ).

Just started a game with Mordecai and got Swift Strike and Gun Crazy to 5. Would be nice if he could have a pistol in each hand, similar to Bricks punches.

[Fiach]

i cant remember, but i do recall my Phoenix build for Lil, had to respec as she kept killing me by exploding barrels as i walked near them ,  her build is basically elemental with smg and shottie.

Mordecai is birdie, sniper and shottie.

[Art Blade]

can you change your spec during a game? (I reckon you need to go back somehow, savegames?) If a game allowed to respec every now and then, would be cool :)

[Fiach]

yes art, in each town there is an interface where you can respec for a small fee, it is really handy for MP, asyou can really fine  tune your teams :)

[Art Blade]

nice... :)  :-X

[mmosu]

Yeah, so none of that "make a bad decision and regret it later" stuff you get with RPG's  :-X

[mmosu]

Thought I would give this topic a bump, since I'm finding that the new level cap from the Secret Armory has really opened up some new horizons with my character build. 
With my Mordecai, I have the "rogue" tree completed with full "bird of prey", and I'm working on filling up "trespass" on the "sniper" tree.  I also have completed skills that give both damage and health bonuses for kills.  So basically I'm creating a character that is specialized for one shot kills:  Critical hit damage is maxed, and with the trespass skill in play there is always a high probability that any sniper bullet will simply ignore the opponents shield, and if it does, will be endowed with an additional damage bonuses (with my skullmasher equiped, that means multiple chances to ignore shields, multiple damage bonuses, and multiple critical hit bonuses per trigger pull!)  Also I have sniper rifle magazines up to 200% capacity, so a gun that used to only carry six now carries twelve.  And with "bird of prey" maxed out, my bloodwing does huge damage, stuns any enemy it touches, has a level 4 incindiary elemental effect, and can target and attack up to six enemies at once!

[RedRaven]

Really need to start playing Borderlands again, been ages since played it.
200% capacity for a sniper rifle is a damned good thing to have :)

[mmosu]

It tends to come in handy  ;)
I also started a playthrough with Brick today.  I feel like he's the character who gets the least amount of attention.  For starters, the character model is one of the more interesting ones to look at.  A few things I've noticed: 
-he wears some sort of animal paw on a chain around his neck, and in the opening sequence of the story where Marcus is talking about the origins of the vault hunters, we see Brick as a child playing with a dog. Hmmm...
-he wears rings on the first fingers of each hand that say "1" and "2" - maybe a pun on "givin' em the ole' one/two"
-he has bolts a screws attached to his gloves and the toes of his boots, like crude brass knuckles
-on his belt buckle it says "TCB" and has a picture of a lightning bolt.  I had to get help with this one - apparently it's an Elvis Presley reference, and stands for "Taking care of business in a flash".
Anyway, to the character build.  I'm focusing on skills that will allow me to spend as much time as possible in Berserk mode.  So things like "Short Fuse" which reduces the cooldown period for re-entering Berserk mode, and "Juggernaut" which decreases damage taken while in Berserk mode were high priority.  I also need to fill up "Sting Like a Bee" which lets you quickly close the distance between you and your opponent to get you into range for fisticuffs before your enemy can react.  So far I'm having some fun with this character because he is so different from Mordecai.  More to come as I get deeper in . . .

[Art Blade]

That was an interesting read for me :)  :-X

I need help with the ole 1/2 thing... I only know thumbs up/down and the international driver's greeting involving one finger, and another one which looks like a head with horns... but no idea what 1/2 is. If it's kind of too rude a gesture to go into detail here, please just send me a PM :)

[RedRaven]

I need help with the ole 1/2 thing...

Think it could be a Boxing reference, for example a left then right hook / jab.
Pretty sure have heard it in that context before but not a boxing fan so cant say for certain.

[mmosu]

Red has it right Art  ;)

[Art Blade]

thanks a lot, both of you :)  :-X

[mmosu]

So I'm 3/4 of the way through playthrough 1 with Brick and at level 36, so time for some more thoughts on him . . .
First of all let me stress that up until now, Mordecai was my one and only go-to character, and what has made building Brick so much fun is that his skill set and the way you have to play him are completely different from what I'm used to doing with Mordecai.  I think it speaks to the large amount of versatility built in to this game - while my Mordecai build is specialized for one-shot Critical hit kills from long range, Brick is a wet-w@&k specialist - you're close enough to see the fear in their eyes right before you turn them into a big red smear with your bare fists!  So, naturally, emphasis is on several things:
maxing shield and health capacity - you're gonna need it if you're bringing brass knuckles and a boatload of pent up aggression to a gun fight
maxing the amount of time spent in berserk mode -skills like "endless rage" and "short fuse" must be maxed out and then pushed beyond the natural limit of the standard skill tree using class mods.  It's technically possible to get the cooldown of berserk down to just 6 seconds!!
actually using rocket launchers - as a berserker, Brick makes anything that goes boom go boom bigger.  Explosive elemental effect weapons are essential as a result, and so are rocket launchers of all types, which is a class of weapons I completely ignored with Mordecai.  Current loadout includes and explosive element revolver, explosive element SMG, shotgun with 20 round mag, and the highest splash-damage rocket launcher I've yet been able to find. 
a class mod for every situation - with Brick, I've taken to carrying multiple class mods and swapping them as the situation dictates - something I never did with Mordecai.  Titan class mods for increasing the amount of punishment I can absorb, Skirmisher class mods for increasing time spent in Berserk mode, and Berserker class mods for increasing melee damage and bonuses that result from dealing melee damage. 
not wasting inventory space on health vials - with Mordecai I always tried to carry 4-5 health vials at all times.  The difference here is Brick rapidly regenerates health in berserk mode, so if you're patient, you only need to carry one health power-up for true emergencies and use berserk to regenerate health the rest of the time.
realize and accept that Brick is a tank and should be treated as such - He's built to take damage.  His health points grow with experience faster than any other character class.  While with Mordecai (who is relatively "fragile" by comparison) I would dodge and weave and move around to avoid being hit,  with Brick I have had to get used to rushing head first into the frey while getting shredded by gunfire in order to maximize effectiveness.  Again, very different style of play.

[Art Blade]

sounds cool. If I played Borderlands, I'd choose the same characters as you did, I too like the long range sniper type and depending on my mood I go in head first and like a berserk. In the latter case I don't care if I end up dead, as long as I keep taking down as many opponents as possible (any game)  ;D

[mmosu]

In Brick's case taking down as many enemies as possible is what keeps you alive.  One of his skills, called "Blood Sport", causes you to replenish a metered out amount of health for every opponent you take down with your fists.  Another one, called "Unbreakable", gives you five seconds of powerful shield regeneration whenever your shield becomes completely depleted, so you essentially get rewarded for soaking up the punishment (with this ability maxed you have to be getting absolutely pounded for your shield to get down to zero.  Yet another, called "Juggernaut", increases damage resistance in the first few seconds following a kill.  It all adds up to a character whose greatest survivability occurs when he is surrounded by a crowd of enemies of various levels - lower level enemies to provide activation of all of Bricks "on-kill" bonuses, and higher level enemies to fall victim to the effects of those bonuses.  As long as someone is constantly dying to keep his stats up, you can be fairly unstoppable, so, just like you said Art, sometimes you just gotta run in there head first and take care of business :-*

[Art Blade]

Awesome, what an idea to create a character, "constantly dying" to survive, lol  :-X :)

[RedRaven]

Not played as Brick at all yet but when I do reckon will take heed of your writings mmosu.

Last time was on Pandora was using Lilith, had ended up in a cave trying to collect crystals with only a Pistol and Sub machine gun in my inventory with less than a dozen rounds for each!
Had max ammo in all the other weapon types but nothing to shoot them with (throwing them just isn't the same :-\ ).

[Art Blade]

You could still try to spit them, for a change.  ;D

[RedRaven]

Now that would be a fantastic special skill ;D

[GPFontaine]

I am loving this game.

I am currently at level 25 with Lilith.

Ultimately I plan to use super fast guns with elemental attacks and modifiers.  I like getting in close and moving fast with the character to dodge and avoid being hit, so Lilith is forgiving with her phasing abilities.

Skills in order:
5/5 QuickSilver (25% fire rate increase)
5/5 Spark (+20% elemental chance)
5/5 Slayer (+25% critical hit damage)
5/5 Hit & Run (+35% Melee... I'll never use it but... & +4 Seconds Phase Walk... hells yeah!)

Goal for future in order:
5/5 High Velocity (+100% bullet velocity... dodge this! & +20% Bullet Damage)
5/5 Diva (+25% shield increase)
5/5 Inner Glow (+7% health per second while phase walking)
5/5 Hard to Get (Phase walking cool down reduced by 16 seconds)
5/5 Mind Games (+25% chance to daze enemy)

[Art Blade]

GPFontaine, a message for you got split off, so please check this link:
And all of you interested in that topic.

FYI
I've split the discussion to continue with
Modding Borderlands (links, tips)

Thank you