Roland? (mainly solo)

[I Kinda Fail]

Already played through as Mordecai and loved him, but there were several enemies like Skagzilla and Sledge which beat my ♥♥♥. So I figured I'd go for a more direct approach... that isn't Brick, because I hate Brick. >_>

I played as Axton in BL2 and Roland just seems... really bad by comparison. Maybe at higher levels he's decent but his turret is pretty damn bad at the beginning.

1. Right now I'm making a beeline for Deploy, which gives 20-100% cooldown reduction for the turret. Maybe I'm just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, but what does 100% cooldown reduction even mean? That as soon as it's destroyed, you can deploy it again? Or that it has half the timer (100 seconds -> 50 seconds) The wording just confuses me...

2. Is Grenadier worth it, like, at all? I hardly see people using grenades in co-op, and whenever I do use them the enemy tends to run away before they even detonate. I tried lobbing stickies at skags and kept missing, tossed a MIRV at a bruiser and he laughed in my face. Should I even bother getting 1 point in this, for the 2 free grenades per minute? Or should I not waste the point? If it's good, what're good grenades for Roland? (For Mordecai I typically used MIRV and Transfusion)

3. Is Roland typically better on the offense or defense? Should I be building him or his turret more? Should I tend to stay behind the turret or toss the turret and flank the enemy, so they have to split their attention?

4. Refire or Deploy? 100 seconds is an insane length of time for a special move. Is investing in both a waste?

Bonus - multiplayer
1. If I were to split my Roland between solo and multiplayer, are there any team abilities (like Cauterize) that are 100% useless to a solo player? Or any I should avoid altogether?
2. Which of the 3 final abilities would be best to aim for, for a split build? Guided Missile, Supply Drop, or Stat?
3. In multiplayer, can the turret even keep up in terms of damage against much stronger enemies? Or should I spend my points more on helping the team survive rather than increasing turret DPS?

[NyronGTR]

1. 100% cd reduction halves your cooldown.

2. 1 point won't hurt. Besides, Supply Drop skill adds 1 grenade and a lot of ammo per 'package' so it only adds up. Transfusion is the way to go, you want to take a ton of damage only to heal it with turret, nades and passive perk (Stat)

3. Turret is merely a healing and ammo source. Occasionally, it may provide a bit of cover but that's all. You want to focus on you guns' damage output and passive healing, so the best of two worlds.

4. Deploy. Although Refire is an option if you are frequently in a fight and are actively shooting at targets.

MP:
1. Revive is useless, don't spec in it at all. Stat is semi-useless for soloing unless you want to keep your turret alive for longer (which i find a wasteful effort, considering how tanky the turret is from the beginning).

2. A bit of all three. Guided missile is an extra damage output for the turret, which in the meantime resupplies your ammunition thanks to Supply Drop. Stat is insanely important for increasing your survivability.

3. It can deliver damage but noot enough to make it worthwhile. Use the turret as means of restock/healing.

You help your team in few ways:
Passive healing with Cauterize, turret and Stat
Ammo regen with your turret and support gunner class mod
Fire support

My build[i.imgur.com] i've been using since the game's release. It isn't the most efficient, but it stood fast for those years.

[I Kinda Fail]

Awesome, thanks. I'm probably gonna go down the middle tree first for survivability and ammo regen. Probably just gonna put a point or two into the turret health regen skill then focus on Infantry, because I hear Scattershot and Metal Storm are godly with the right class mods. Thanks!

[SeriousCCIE]

i played roland for about 550 hours and 3 playthroughs. He indeed gets better; that time was 99% solo play.

Transfusion grenades are where its at, incidentally. It helps so much when you try to tackle something you may not otherwise be well equipped for.

[ReissyBoi]

I've only played through the 1st playthrough as Roland, but I did play BL2 1st and reached OP8 with Axton. Knowing how ♥♥♥♥ his turrets get each playthrough, I went with buffing Roland's survivability and weapon damage. Axton's turret eventually becomes a bullet sponge allowing you to regen shields/HP and ammo, so I just followed the rule (even though the game was made after)

On my 1st playthough I didn't feel like my turrets did enough anyway, so I just kept going for weapon buffs and I did a better job at killing enemies myself. The only time I used the turret was just for aggro and wearing down some eneimes a little so I can finish them off.