I am starting to think that I am playing Salvador wrong. I just killed Captain Flint and popped level 9, so I know I have a long way to go, but he seems to be a suicide machine. The only to way to activate his special power is to run in the middle of everything. Then I lose my shields and start losing health. By the time I am out of gun-zerking, I'm lucky to have 1/4 of my health left. (More likely, I have a tiny sliver left on my health bar.)
Is there another way that he is supposed to be played that doesn't lead to his frequent death?
Kill everything before your Gunzerk ends?
Also, I picked up my first half-decent Amp shield the other day, and can confirm that Amp + Shotgun = Awesome. Especially with Decepti0n.
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Originally Posted by Cirrylius
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Last edited by Sith_Happens : 10-14-2012 at 08:56 PM.
Sure, you can play him however you like. Gunzerking regens your health and your ammo, so you could quite happily play conservative, blasting away and keeping out of trouble. If you get in trouble, either taking too much damage or running low on bullets, you pop gunzerking and the problem solves itself.
Sure, Gunzerking makes you want to charge in like a madman and gun down everything in a cackling hail of death. Doesn't mean you have to, or that it's the only way to play.
Disclaimer; I Have barely played Salvador even as far as Flint.
Well Salvador will get much better at it with levels, right now you don't have the skill points to do it too much. I find that I don't use gunzerk all that much really, it seems to be a very group dependent skill and doing it solo does tend to get you killed. Though with the right shield, like the Firehawk shield or really any of the Nova shields (especially the one that goes off at shield or health drop) because it works so well with being in the middle of everything.
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Gunzerking instantly refills your health, so I recommend grinding a shield like the Negonator off of Spycho, or something similar.
In other news, I got the Siren and Mechromancer heads off of Vermivorous! The Siren head I love; the Mechromancer head... Not so much (it's really quite disturbing).
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Salvador is my main so I'm happy to provide pointers. I currently have him at 25.
If you liked Brick he is very similar, except he is much better at ranged combat. The principle is the same - you start taking damage, you flip out and begin massacring everything, you loot and move on to the nex groupt. Rampage and Brawn are both good trees for players new to Salvador and trying to level him, but I personally recommend Rampage as that one is focused around Gunzerking - once you've made your way down that tree you can be 'zerking almost constantly, spraying bullets with impunity.
Key tactics/Brick differences:
- When to Gunzerk: Unlike Brick, who generally wants to go beast-mode as soon as his shields drop, you'll want to take some punishment first. Whereas Brick's healing while berserking is a constant inflow, Salvador gets a massive boost initially (50% of your maximum) followed by a much slower, though still noticeable, regen for the remainder of the duration. Therefore you want to wait until you're down at least 50% otherwise you'll waste a lot of healing. In addition, max health is much more important for Salvador than max shields, as all his self-healing is % of health based.
- Ammo: save it for your teammates, especially if you're playing with Maya (who has in certain builds no way to kill enemies aside from using her guns.) You regen ammo while gunzerking and so should almost never run out once you're a couple of levels into the tree. Similarly, magazine SDUs are a waste of Eridium for you - max grenades and bag capacity first, then launcher and bank.
- Grenades: Practice using them (typically, on badasses and on large groups of enemies.) There's an amazing skill in the Rampage tree that lets you throw two grenades for the price of one while gunzerking. This will let you liquefy roomfulls of badasses if you get MIRV grenades, so keep those as current as you can.
- Know when to hide: Unlike Brick, Salvador can take cover while raging - combined with your regen you can break away from combat to recover your health in a rough situation, so don't be afraid to do that.
- Ammo: save it for your teammates, especially if you're playing with Maya (who has in certain builds no way to kill enemies aside from using her guns.) You regen ammo while gunzerking and so should almost never run out once you're a couple of levels into the tree. Similarly, magazine SDUs are a waste of Eridium for you - max grenades and bag capacity first, then launcher and bank.
While it's certainly helpful that you regenerate ammo, there's a few reasons why you should buy ammo capacity upgrades.
You won't regenerate ammo as quickly as you may think while gunzerking.
You only regenerate ammo outside of a gunzerk if you're specced to do so.
You can only regenerate as much ammo as you can hold.
Eridium is not only plentiful, but almost worthless once you start TVHM. Just upgrade all SDUs up to Blue in playthrough 1, and move on to maxing them out in PT2. You'll have max capacity by level 45.
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You won't regenerate ammo as quickly as you may think while gunzerking.
This goes double if you use SMGs and/or Vladofs, and triple once you pick up Keep Firing. Spamming full-mag Tediore reloads is on another scale entirely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyren
- Grenades: Practice using them (typically, on badasses and on large groups of enemies.) There's an amazing skill in the Rampage tree that lets you throw two grenades for the price of one while gunzerking. This will let you liquefy roomfulls of badasses if you get MIRV grenades, so keep those as current as you can.
- Know when to hide: Unlike Brick, Salvador can take cover while raging - combined with your regen you can break away from combat to recover your health in a rough situation, so don't be afraid to do that.
QFT. Much as non-Cataclysm Mayas have few ways to damage enemies without bullets, Salvador has few ways to damage Nomad Taskmasters (and their Badass variant) without explosives. See also: my "Sawtooth Cauldron gets all my rage" post a few pages back.
I'm not saying don't get the gun SDUs at all - but for Salvador, Backpack and Grenades are much higher priorities imo, or even Launcher/Bank. Considering you need 120 Eridium to max your backpack and grenades, early on you can easily feel the squeeze, even though windfalls do come later. (My main source is gambling at Moxxi's, which also gives great guns and lots of skin customizations.) I dual shotguns, and have bought exactly one shotgun SDU the whole time I've been playing, however I've yet to run out of ammo for any guns I use. I typically dual-shotguns as my primary setup, and dual fast-firing revolvers for distant targets (like retreating Rakks.)
Now, I do agree the regen isn't fast enough to compensate for all your consumption (particularly with fast-firing weapons), but you can 'zerk between fights just fine as well. You'll likely find yourself doing this to top up your health anyway, so it's a good idea to do this for your guns too and save any hypos/bullets lying around for your team. I believe speccing for passive bullet regen is thus a waste of points, and that includes class mods, or talents like 5 Shots or 6. With cooldown reductions you should have no problem 'zerking while heading to the next quest, and then 'zerk being ready once you get there in case you need it.
Here's the build I followed. (Note to self: If I stick with my current setup, Keep Firing and Steady as She Goes may be pointless, in which case I'll likely shift those two points to the Brawn tree for more survivability.)
True Vault Hunter Mode is the new game plus mode, where enemies are scaled from levels 35-50. Enemies are tougher, combat is more exciting, loot is better, and it's really the better experience. You won't need really need SDU upgrades until you get to this point. But when you get to TVHM, Eridium is so common you won't have to worry.
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Salvador has few ways to damage Nomad Taskmasters (and their Badass variant) without explosives.
A rifle can do that job pretty well--admittedly, my Gunzerker is stuck in early 2nd playthrough at level 36 while I play through the Mechromancer, but a slag SMG in one hand and an explosive rifle in the other really does some damage, even to Badass Nomad Taskmasters.
Huh. That's weird. I honestly don't expect to need that much Eridium by the Time I'm on the next playthrough. I've got over half of the upgrades already by something like level 25. Perhaps steadily co-opping makes finding the purple goodies a lot easier, or we have been lucky on the slots...
You only regenerate ammo outside of a gunzerk if you're specced to do so.
You can only regenerate as much ammo as you can hold.
These don't seem to be a big problem to me.
Quote:
You won't regenerate ammo as quickly as you may think while gunzerking.
But this was. Man, do I blow through ammo while Gunzerking. Gunzerk two weapons of the same type, with high fire rate, and watch as you empty all your ammo and wait on regen to get a full clip. (My Gunzerker isn't very far, so his lower ammo cap really hurts.)
And on the Eridium note, if you have a weapon type or two that you really don't care about, you can leave those at the base and get the others quite high even on PT 1. I think I have three max, and two others at least at blue on PT 1 so far.
Actually its True Vault Hunter Mode. So far though in my PT2 (nearly done) I haven't really had any difficulty. I think using the Bee shield is making things far more broken than usual but its an interesting challenging. At level 47 now and using a 1.5k shield is actually pretty fun. When its up I deal a TON of damage, but most things take out the shield + a good chunk of life if they actually hit me. Using Moxxi's SMGs allow for decent health regen plus I have a homing MIRV transfusion grenade which is pretty damn awesome. Being able to duck behind cover and just throw the thing into the air and have it find someone to blow up and then heal me is great.
Also Ruin with Converge, Chain reaction and now Wreck makes Phaselock pretty damn monstrous. Phaselock the big guy shoot all the things that get converged in and watch everything die horrible. Its beautiful.
Maybe it is because I don't gunzerk as much as I should, but I run out of ammo all the time with Salvador if I don't have the class mod on, especially if I have two of the same gun type going. Or at least I did before I got a lot of the storage upgrades. The ammo regen class mod I think is almost required, at least if you are playing with other people, because they will often burn through ammo very quickly even if you don't.
I don't see much of a point in the bank upgrades, I hardly ever use the base sized bank. Because weapons are useless if you don't have them with you to actually use and most everything else there really is only 1-2 good choices for however you play the class. That might change at 50 of course, but otherwise you level out of stuff fairly quickly, so maybe late into the second playthrough it might be worth getting bank upgrades.
And at this point, level 25, I have 3-4 upgrades through purple and at least blue in almost everything else.
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I don't see much of a point in the bank upgrades, I hardly ever use the base sized bank. Because weapons are useless if you don't have them with you to actually use and most everything else there really is only 1-2 good choices for however you play the class. That might change at 50 of course, but otherwise you level out of stuff fairly quickly, so maybe late into the second playthrough it might be worth getting bank upgrades.
I think it's for people like me who intend to collect all the unique weapons instead of selling them once and never seeing them again.
__________________
Revan avatar by kaptainkrutch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cirrylius
That's how wizards beta test their new animals. If it survives Australia, it's a go. Which in hindsight explains a LOT about Australia.
True Vault Hunter Mode is the new game plus mode, where enemies are scaled from levels 35-50. Enemies are tougher, combat is more exciting, loot is better, and it's really the better experience. You won't need really need SDU upgrades until you get to this point. But when you get to TVHM, Eridium is so common you won't have to worry.
Well, since Kesnit was asking for level 9 help I don't think NG+ advice is relevant to him quite yet. And as I pointed out, gambling at Moxxi can get you a boatload of Eridium on playthrough 1 anyway, enough to max out at least the items I mentioned (which I did by 22) and start in on his preferred gun types.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiki Snakes
Huh. That's weird. I honestly don't expect to need that much Eridium by the Time I'm on the next playthrough. I've got over half of the upgrades already by something like level 25. Perhaps steadily co-opping makes finding the purple goodies a lot easier, or we have been lucky on the slots...
Precisely. And co-op does help - I'm not sure how it affects drop-rates, but I do know that any eridium your partner gets goes to your stash as well - including eridium gained from gambling. Typically when we get back to Sanctuary, I'll run around turning quests in while my partner immediately hits the slots. Or one of us will be gambling while the other gets food/takes a bio break etc. Past a certain point, the slots are the only thing in Sanctuary worth spending money on, barring the occasional daily special.
Not to mention, more characters = better items AND more carrying capacity to haul the swag to a vending machine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by factotum
A rifle can do that job pretty well--admittedly, my Gunzerker is stuck in early 2nd playthrough at level 36 while I play through the Mechromancer, but a slag SMG in one hand and an explosive rifle in the other really does some damage, even to Badass Nomad Taskmasters.
Explosive shotguns (i.e. Torque) are better - not only do the blasts damage through their shield, the pellet spread can also land hits on their exposed feet or heads (depending on where they're holding it.) Salvador should have no problem surviving up-close to land these blows. You can also try sneaking up on them or circling them as fast as possible. And Torques do massive damage in general anyway, effectively being explosive Jakobs.
I will caveat that I rarely have to solo these guys since I primarily play split-screen anyway.
Eh, the easiest way I've found to deal with nomads is to first kill all their friends, then run at them, back off as they swing their shield, then shoot them in the face. Repeat until dead.
Well, easiest way for a non-Siren. Then you just phaselock them and blow their brains out.
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Originally Posted by Kobold-Bard
Planning just wastes valuable time that could be spent doing.
Eh, the easiest way I've found to deal with nomads is to first kill all their friends, then run at them, back off as they swing their shield, then shoot them in the face. Repeat until dead.
Well, easiest way for a non-Siren. Then you just phaselock them and blow their brains out.
Actually, Salvador is the only class that tends to have difficulty with them. Axton and Gaige can self-flank them, and Zero can get behind them easily as well. They're tricky for Salvador because he's designed around frontal assault.
Played through it with a friend earlier today. And, well, the invicible new uberboss is pretty damn Invincible, in name and nature. Not the story boss, that thing is a chump against CC+The Bee
The DLC itself, though. It's good. Kept the humour, added hilariously dumb new vehicles that seem to want to freak the hell out upon contact with walls. We haven't ran into any of the touted Pink weapons yet, but the uniques you get from Quests are really cool. Melee builds will want to do the message-in-a-bottle quests, for reasons that become apparent fairly quickly*.
*
Spoiler
+200% melee damage.
__________________
2e Exalted Player/ST.
My IA Award and some quotes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kobold-Bard
Planning just wastes valuable time that could be spent doing.
Wait, what DLC is this? I hadn't heard anything...
Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty. Bought the season pass so I could get it with the next three packs. I also hope to get the DLC for the new classes Gearbox said they'd make if Gaige did well (which she did).
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Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty. Bought the season pass so I could get it with the next three packs. I also hope to get the DLC for the new classes Gearbox said they'd make if Gaige did well (which she did).
Well. That was fast. Better grab the wallet I guess.
Well. That was fast. Better grab the wallet I guess.
I think it's alright. There's a crapload of sidequests (I mean dozens), but the main story is very short (maybe 8-10 quests). However, there's two new raid bosses, a bunch of new gun types (including Blue Text drawbacks as a parallel to Red Text bonuses), a new rarity (PINK!) that can only be bought with a special new currency, and a bunch of the series' trademark humor.
I'll actually say that the Season Pass would be a good idea, since it'll save you $10 in the long run, and if any DLC turns out to be crummy, you can think, "well, at least I didn't pay for this one".
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Irritable by nature
I made my avvy
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