Shields
Watts 4 Dinner for permanent shock bonus damage and HUGE survivability
Guardian Angel is a solid replacement to Watts and on certain weapons may beat it out depending on the ROF of the gun and how quickly you regen your shields. This is the least used option though.
Protean Cell is the perfect option for weapons that don't benefit from Amp such as Tediore Reloads or Torgue Stickies
Repkit
Triple Bypass - the effects you choose for mobbing are inconsequential. to the point where I typically leave my amp repkit on. However if you wish to push
Onslaughter uptime a Triple Bypass with accelerator on it can have you back in seconds WITHOUT the need for mobs.
- A purple with Amp & and either Enrage or Elemental Damage is ideal for bossing
- Stickies, Tediore Reloads, and high ROF weapons get little to no benefit out of Amp
Ordnance
Slippy procs
My Touch Is Death and is a cornerstone of the build. This is non negotiable.
Class Mod
Shatterwight provides points in
Berserk, pushing the skill to 420% base at 10/5 and 10 stacks of There is only Red. The static Cryo passive then applies to that 420%. Skill damage is the ideal 2nd passive.
Furnace with 5 points in Raging Inferno can hit higher peaks but is less consistent. Instead of GB for a follow up you gamble on a DOT. This is the premise of Slip N Rage.
Enhancements
Enhancement Choices are HUGELY IMPACTFUL in how well the gun in your hands performs!!! DO NOT SLEEP ON THEM!!!! You can make almost any gun work on UVH6 by equipping the right Enhancement.
- I am aware that this isn't ideal for Inventory reasons. But for Peak Optimizations you'll want to swap around depending on the situation. We're in the business of doing damage, 1 size fits all means less optimal. If you are not concerned about peak optimizations then Jakobs Piercer and Torgue Airburst are your workhorses. Tediore Banger, Banger + Digi Divider if you're lucky.
This Framework will allow you to slot in whatever Enhancement is best for the situation at hand. Gear power is immensely impactful in Borderlands 4, Amps and Enhancements being the most obvious examples
TORGUE AIR BURST + HEADRINGER
(Pumper)
Competes for BIS at dense mobbing and some specific bosses
This Enhancement use in combination with
High Caliber at 3/3 is one of the most powerful combinations for mobbing in Borderlands 4.
Broken Wings,
Shalashaska,
Truck, and many other weapons benefit greatly from the combo. The more Torgue Gyrojets in the air the better.
High Cal 3 piercing projectiles that work with Airburst will create phantom explosions as they pass by a target. Typically the projectile would stop here. When used with High Cal 3 it continues on and will actually create these explosions.
This same interaction can be used to effectively neutralize Ordonite/Vile Crystals as well. This strategy was responsible for the first Stone Demon 1 shot.
Weapons to use with Air Burst:
Shalashaska,
Broken Wings,
Truck,
T.K's Wave,
Boomslang,
Birt's Bees, Spread Launcher
JAKOBS PIERCER
Good all around with emphasis on Bossing 1 shots
A straight forward effect, the 20% chance to autocrit is appreciated anywhere. The piercer effect is "On Shot Crit Chance" meaning when it procs it will also force ALL bonus damage applied to that bullet to crit as well. This is extremely potent when the bonus damage is as large as Berserk can be.
The 20% chance holds it back from being best in slot but its also extremely flexible and applicable in any situation. Best as an extra effect on a Bounce Pass or Sequencer
The crit chance behaves strangely with Underbarrels that hit multiple times. It does not force every needle tick on Rooker to crit, for example. You only get the first 2 as auto crits. In typical BL4 fashion this is pure benefit to Spread Launcher though. Common Splauncher W.
Weapons to use with Piercer:
ANYTHING Jakobs or Jakobs parted can make good use of this. Lower ROF weapons do turn into gambling, but the damage increase on a proc is substantial for any build that doesn't have 100% crit chance for guns and skills both.
JAKOBS BOUNCE PASS
The other competitor for BIS mobbing and also works well on some specific builds for bossing
The additional ricochets can turn an already powerful effect into an oppressive flurry of bullets. On top of the obvious benefits from extra ricochets in mobbing this can also be leveraged in bossing.
If no other targets are present Jakobs ricochets shoot straight downward and can damage the initial target with enough radius. Bounce pass helps with an extra ricochet in the mix. This isn't applicable on all bosses depending on size or mobility, but can be fun when it is allowed to play.
Weapons to use with Bounce Pass:
Hot Slugger,
Flash Cyclone,
Darkbeast,
Goalkeeper,
Seventh Sense,
Complex Root, Spread Launcher
ATLAS TRACKER ANTENNA + PROTRACTOR
(Y-Z Nexus)
Bossing DPS & Sticky Application
Almost entirely for bossing, however once acquired the effects provides can drastically increase DPS in your rotation making its niche use and difficult acquisition WORTH IT. This build lacks in meaningful rate of fire buffs so anything adding is an instant jump in power. Coupled with ammo regen this Enhance is shockingly potent when used in Amon's raindance.
Best used with
Atlas Infinum firmware to mitigate the raindance steps and needing to time your amp.
Weapons to use with Y-Z Nexus:
T.K's Wave with stickies,
Complex Root, any weapon that has slow projectile speed, a strange pattern, or stickies can benefit from this combo.
Atlas Infinum + Protractor allows for some sticky shenanigans as well. This combo will take a
T.K's Wave and propel it well past a Shrapnel Cannon underbarrel on anyone not named Rafa.
TEDIORE BANGER + DIGI DIVIDER
(Quencher)
Bossing
Tediores are funny lil guns that do WAY more damage than most people realize. Their delivery profile synergizes perfectly with Amon's Force of Nature in the same way that burst-y 1 shot underbarrels do. Throw your gun, throw your sword, throw yourself. EZPZ boss blips. Banger and
Get Throwin are huge formula for your Tediore reloads. Always run this enhance with 1 in Get Throwin'. These 2 fall into the same category and together are pure mult to Tediore Chucks.
NOTE:
2 Types of Tediore Reloads stand head and shoulders above the rest when its an option -
Shooting Reload & Shooting Replicator Reloads.
These 2 types of reloads get 3x to all generic gun damage bonuses on the reload impact. The bullets they shoot out are just normal bullets that get On Shot and On Hit buffs but not Amp.
Mantra bullets are melee but the impact is not.
Weapons to use with Banger:
All with Shooting/Shooting Replicator when available:
Laser Disker,
Inscriber,
Mantra,
Murmur,
Ruby's Grasp,
Chuck
Weapons to use once the Tediore bug is fixed:
T.K's Wave,
Bubbles,
Hair Trigger, multi projectile weapons and shotguns in general.
WHATS THE TEDIORE BUG GIRTHQUAKE?????
Ever noticed Torgue Stickies are....nuts? There's a bug affecting both Stickies and Tediore reloads. Its a HUGE gain for Stickies and a HUGE loss for Tediores. Both of these items take the weapon's projectile count into consideration when formulating the output of their special effects. The Sticky Mult at the bottom of the weapon card is partially determined by projectile count and Tediore reloads account for ALL projectiles on the card when determining the thrown gun's damage.
Simply put:
NORMALLY the sticky mult has "divided by projectile count" and Tediore reloads have a "multiplied by projectile count". Currently that number is 1 for both formulas, so the Sticky mult is being divided by 1 and Tediore reload damage is being multiplied by 1.
The Sticky Bod with 3% stickies and 5 projectiles? Its actually 15% stickies and 5 projectiles.
The Shooty Gun TK's with 6000 x 10? It's reload calc only sees the 6000, it ignores 90% of your card damage. If you see JoeForLong tell him it will be ok......