When Two are One (In-Depth Mechromancer Guide)

Whoayeah!

The Mechromancer is a very unique class making it a bit difficult to understand. So my guide is here to hopefully help you get a better idea of the class in itself, get past the general playthrough of Borderlands (Normal - UVHM) or even give some veteran Mechromancers a different build to try!

Introduction

Gaige's an independant woman who don't need no robot.
Deathtrap's one big badass robot who don't give a flaming truck.
It would be complete madness to put them both together but...
Whoayeah's god amungst gods who also doesn't give a hockey puck & decided to do it anyway.

Skill List Breakdown

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER

Close Enough
Bullets have a chance to ricochet, hitting targets for 50% damage.
This has so much utility as you can trickshot off the roof or even shoot a wall behind an enemy with a shield (ie. Nomad Torturer) & kill them that way as the ricochet auto targets to aim for the closest enemy critical spot meaning that you don't need to calculate physics to hit them.

Fancy Mathematics
Improves Shield Recharge Rate & Delay based on how low your health is.
Even though we're grabbing multiple shield related skills which you might think is a little bit overkill, but it's not. Unlike Blood Soaked Shields, Fancy Mathematics isn't a Kill Skill meaning this will prove more useful when facing tougher opponents.

The Better Half
Gain bonus Fire Rate when Magazine is half empty.
Our weapon setup is going to consist of higher Magazine sizes (Assult Rifles, SMGs) which despite Smaller, Lighter, Faster's Magazine size reduction will synergise unbelievably well with The Better Half giving insane DPS.

Upshot Robot
While Deathtrap is active he gains +5 second duration increase per kill. Addionally both Gaige & Deathtrap gain a bonus +4% Melee Damage per stack.
Upshot Robot is amazing for constant fighting like Circle of Slaughters & General gameplay as Deathtrap contributes to half of this build, the longer he's out the better. Upshot Robot & With Claws synergises extremely well as I've gotten over 400 stacks of Upshot Robot while doing various Circles of Slaughter.

Unstoppable Force
Kill Skill. Gain bonus Movement Speed & Shield regeneration for a few seconds.
You might be thinking that Unstoppable Force is useless seeing as we already have Blood Soaked Shields giving us a full shield every kill. Which is half true. Yes Blood Soaked Shields gives us a full shield every kill, but we'll be taking damage constantly, so Unstoppable Force will help us soak up the excess damage we take after a kill as well as helping us keep up with Deathtrap & his Annoyed Android.

Explosive Clap
Deathtrap Ability. Deathtrap claps dealing AoE explosive damage to nearby enemies.
Really helpful for clearing a crowd of enemies, especially if you manage to singularity them together for an epic 'Wombo-combo'.

20% Cooler
Increases the Cooldown Rate for summoning Deathtrap.
As stated earlier, Deathtrap contributes to half of this build the more he's out the better.

Sharing is Caring
Gives Deathtrap a copy of your currently equipped shield at the time of summoning.
Deathtrap dies really fast in UVHM which Sharing is Caring will give Deathtrap the survivability he needs to be worth putting points into Deathtrap Abilities while also giving him a huge powerspike in DPS.

• Health related shields apply to Gaige. Adaptive Shields will give Gaige bonus health when summoning Deathtrap. Turtle Shields will reduce Gaige's health likewise. This causes a 'Suicide Effect' when associated with Blood Soaked Shields as you lose a percent of your current health per kill, which your health will be 0. Resulting in every kill you or Deathtrap does, you will put yourself into Fight for Your Life.
  
• Deathtrap functions as a party member when summoned in the sense that you will get party bonus effects (Hoplite's bonus +20% Shield Capacity & -20% Movement Speed per party member).

ORDERED CHAOS

Smaller, Lighter, Faster
Increases Reload Speed but decreases Magazine Size.
The Reload Speed synergises really well with The Better Half despite losing Magazine Size, the faster you reload the more DPS you end up doing. Period.

• Having a single point in Smaller, Lighter, Faster makes it impossible to use weapons with Magazine Size of 1 (Eg. Jakobs Shotguns, Infinity pistol etc) as their magazine will be displayed as 0. This can be altered in Co-op with one player as a Gunzerker with a Devastator class mod.

Anarchy
Killing an enemy or fully emptying your gun's magazine grants a stack of Anarchy. Each stack of Anarchy gives bonus +1.75% Damage & -1.75% Accuracy. Prematurely reloading, dying or leaving a game removes all stacks of Anarchy. Stacks decrease rapidly when in Fight for Your Life.
Anarchy is the core for the Ordered Chaos tree as majority of skills revolve around it. You are forced to pick it up in order to advance.

Preshrunk Cyberpunk
Increases the maximum amount of Anarchy stacks you can have.
Depending on what you're doing or your playstyle. Your Anarchy threshold will vary and thus the amount of points you put in Preshrunk Cyberpunk is up to personal preferrence.

Robot Rampage
Deathtrap Ability. Deathtrap lashes out with a flurry of melee attacks.
Due to each individual hit of Deathtrap's flurry are considered an individual melee attack. Robot Rampage has amazing synergy with Sharing is Caring when using Roid Shields (eg. Hide of Terramorphous, Love Thumper etc).

Blood Soaked Shields
Killing an enemy instantly restores a percentage of your shield at the cost of a percentage of your current health.
Once you have 5/5 in Blood Soaked Shields you gain a massive powerspike when using Nova Shields, as the novas themself can sometimes be strong enough to proc Blood Soaked Shields, leading upto another nova when your shields are depleted.

• Blood Soaked Shields is NOT a Kill Skill, meaning that Deathtrap does not proc Blood Soaked Shields if he gets a kill.

Annoyed Android
Deathtrap gains bonus Movemenet Speed.
Only unlock this if you use a Superior Punk class mod OR if you prefer it over Preshrunk Cyberpunk. Annoyed Android gives Deathtrap a huge DPS increase despite it hasn't been physically stated in the skill itself as it allows Deathtrap to fly from enemy to enemy faster & also helps him get into range for his Nova Shield to hit enemies.

Discord
Toggle ON/OFF via prematurely reloading. When Discord is active you gain a bonus +65% Accuracy +25% Fire Rate & regenerate 3% max health per second. You lose Anarchy stacks at a rate of 1.33 per second while Discord is active.
Recommended by most Anarchy Mechromancers as a safety net from accidentally losing all your Anarchy stacks. It also offers survivability as well as DPS when active.

Typecast Iconoclast
Everytime you gain a stack of Anarchy there's a chance to gain an additional stack.
A really underrated skill. As you don't notice how fast you gain stacks without this until you stop using it. Not only is it good for achieving maximum Anarchy stacks, but it's also really effective at keeping Discord running for longer.

Rational Anarchist
Whenever you have no Anarchy stacks, the next time you get a stack you gain 25 stacks of Anarchy instead.
Really useful for when you're using a low Anarchy count as it allows you to "Discord loop". Which means to Discord constantly by never turning it off. Once you run out of Anarchy stacks Discord stops, then you gain 25 stacks of Anarchy shortly after & toggle Discord on again.

The Nth Degree
Every Nth bullet that hits an enemy will ricochet towards another enemy.
Mathematically The Nth Degree only needs 1 point in it to be effective. Whether or not you decide to put more points in it is personal preference.

With Claws
Melee Override Skill. Whenever you have Anarchy, your melee attacks will attack twice at a bonus of +0.6% Melee Damage per stack of Anarchy. Additionally healing you for more the lower your health is. With Claws consumes 1 Anarchy Stack per use.
Amazing Synergy with Upshot Robot & offers amazing utility.

Skill that didn't cut it & why

Cooking Up Trouble
While your magazine is full you regenerate health.

• It's optimal to be using high magazine weapons to benefit more from The Better Half as to which you won't have a full magazine often enough to prove the regeneration useful.
  
• Discord already provides health regeneration.
  
• It's recommended to use one of Moxxi's weapons as they have in-built life steal.

Buck Up
Deathtrap Ability. Deathtrap restores the shield of one ally by 30%.

• The animation time of Buck Up isn't worth the amount of shield you get back, instead would rather Deathtrap doing as much DPS as he can in the time that he's out.
  
• Due to a bug Deathtrap might sometimes try to restore allies that are in Fight for Your Life mode.
  
• Due to another bug Deathtrap might try to restore enemies shields instead.

Potent as a Pony
Increases Gaige's maximum health also increasing Deathtrap's maximum health by half that ammount.

• Any extra survivability is a little overkill & wasted skill points.
  
• Health in Borderlands 2 doesn't mean as much as Shield Capacity.

Made of Sterner Stuff
Gaige & Deathtrap gain damage reduction against all sources of damage. Additionally Deathtrap gains bonus Melee Damage.

• The damage reduction is quite small & only giving slightly better survivability than Potent as a Pony.
  
• While the Melee Damage for Deathtrap is good, my personal preferrence is to put the points elsewhere.

Death From Above
Shooting an enemy while in mid-air consumes Anarchy stacks dealing AoE damage based on Anarchy Stacks consumed.

• I find the damage scaling on Death From Above to be considerably low in UVHM.
  
• Like Made of Sterner stuff, my preferrence is to put points elsewhere.

LITTLE BIG TROUBLE

• This build focuses around the Best Friends Forever & Ordered Chaos trees.
  
• Nothing wrong to put the remaining points in this tree.

Skill Tree Progression (Based off Story progress)

This very specific build pattern is optimal for a Best Friends Forever & Ordered Chaos playthrough.
Generally speaking Normal mode going from levels 1-30, TVHM 30-50 & UVHM 50-61.

Level	Skill
BUILD PATH 1	Whoayeah's recommended
6-10	Close Enough
11-15	Fancy Mathematics
16	Upshot Robot
17-20	Unstoppable Force
21	Explosive Clap
Respec to BUILD PATH 2	(Optional)
22	Unstoppable Force
23-25	The Better Half
26-30	20% Cooler
31	Sharing is Caring
32-33	The Better Half
34-37	Smaller, Lighter, Faster
38	Anarchy
39	Robot Rampage
40-43	Blood Soaked Shields
44	Discord
45	Blood Soaked Shields
46-48	Typecast Iconoclast
49	Rational Anarchist
50-51	Typecast Iconoclast
52-53	Preshrunk Cyberpunk
54	The Nth Degree
Core Build Finished	Remaining points player preference
55-58	The Nth Degree
59	With Claws
60	Preshrunk Cyberpunk
61	Annoyed Android
BUILD PATH 2	Alternative Path
6-9	Smaller, Lighter, Faster
10	Anarchy
11	Robot Rampage
12-15	Blood Soaked Shields
16	Discord
17	Blood Soaked Shields
18-20	Typecast Iconoclast
21	Rational Anarchist
22-23	Typecast Iconoclast
24-25	Preshrunk Cyberpunk
26	The Nth Degree
27-31	Close Enough
32-36	The Better Half
37	Upshot Robot
38-41	Fancy Mathematics
42	Explosive Clap
43-46	Unstoppable Force
47-51	20% Cooler
52	Sharing is Caring
Core Build Finished	Remaining points player preference
53-56	The Nth Degree
57	With Claws
58	Fancy Mathematics
59	Unstoppable Force
60	Preshrunk Cyberpunk
61	Annoyed Android

General Gear

Weapon Slot #1

Use any Non-Elemental (or Explosive) weapon you want as you never want to be solid on a single element due to the fact that when you encounter an enemy that resists said element... You're gonna have a bad time...

Whoayeah's preference;

• The Butcher's passive gives it an incredibly deceptive magazine size which works extremely well with The Better Half

Weapon Slot #2

High magazine size weapon OR Moxxi's weapon. If you decide to get an elemental weapon I'd recommend getting Shock or Slag (or both) as they're considered Neutral elements.

Whoayeah's preference;

• The Hail shoots in an arc which may be difficult to get the hang of.
  
• It's one of Moxxi's weapons which gives +2.5% Life Steal.
  
• You can obtain the Hail by completing Fink's Circle of Slaughter located in the Fridge.

Weapon Slot #3

Normal & TVHM can use any weapon they want here, but in UVHM I'd recommend a slag elemental weapon as it'll be your main source of slag.

Whoayeah's preference;

• Slagga has high fire rate & high slag chance.
  
• Has an increased drop rate from Tector & Jimbo Hodunk as well as the Handsome Dragon in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep's DLC.
  
• Tector & Jimbo Hodunk can only be found once you have completed the Clan War sidequest story.

Weapon Slot #4

High fire power weapon used to get you up from Fight for Your Life ASAP to save losing multiple Anarchy stacks.

Whoayeah's preference;

• The Norfleet is a rare drop from Vermivorous the Invincible & Hyperius the Invincible.

Shield Slot

Nova Shields & Roid Shields are optimal for DPS OR Adaptive Shields, Absorb Shields for Survivability.

Whoayeah's preference;

• Can be obtained from the sidequest story Cult Following.

Class Mod

Slayer of Terramorphous & Legendary Mechromancer class mods are accepted however specialist class mods can be proven to be superior.

Whoayeah's preference;


OR

• The Better Half is one of Gaige's main sources of DPS.
  
• The bonus Assault Rifle Damage & Magazine Size from Jill of All Trades has amazing synergy with Hail.

Grenade Mod

Any grenade mod you want, strongly recommend utility mods like Slag Bouncing Betties, Tesla or even Singularity mods.

Whoayeah's preference;

• Storm Front is a Tesla Mirv & my personal preference is Tesla mods.
  
• Increased drop from any member of the Flinter Group located in Bloodshot Stronghold.

Relic Slot

Use any relic you want as long as it's justifiable.

Whoayeah's preference;

• I choose a stockpile relic as it gives me bonus ammo to 3 of 4 primary guns which is great for fighting for long periods of time.

Tips & Tricks

Most efficient way to get max Anarchy stacks!

You'll need to be in Sanctuary with any weapon with a magazine size of 2.
For example;

Then go to Marcus Kincaid's shooting range & despite it being a Jakobs 'Fire as fast as you pull the trigger', you can hold down the trigger & it'll keep shooting.

Who needs Discord anyway?

Many people strongly recommend Discord to Anarchy builds as it acts as a safety net when prematurely reloading. Now I don't have anything against Anarchy builds that don't run Anarchy as I've come up with a way to reload all your weapons without losing your Anarchy.

All you gotta do is unequip (Dropping equipped weapons is considered unequipping) whatever you wish to reload & then equip it (Picking up weapons goes to empty weapon slots first).

I personally don't do this as I'm fairly lazy & not bothered to keep doing so whenever I wish to reload.

When Two are Two... wait what?!

Sharing is Caring works by copying the shield that you had equipped when summoning Deathtrap. Making it so you could summon Deathtrap with a shield that benefits Deathtrap greatly, then switching out to a shield that benefits Gaige.

This is also the only way to effectively use a Turtle Shield on Gaige without failling into the 'Suicide Effect'

Related Guides

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159979320
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=160084008
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=160301141
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=160404986
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143740993

[Dragoneral]

Do you have a skill path for LV62-72 for UVHM2?

[Whoayeah]

I don't have a build without Anarchy on file but I have played around with non Anarchy builds before and it just doesn't seem that good.

Remember you don't have to play with high Anarchy you can always run around with 25 stacks and Discord loop.

[Quickhakker]

hey do you have a tree build for avoiding anarchy?

[Whoayeah]

If you check my Skill Tree Progression Build Path #2 it recommends getting Anarchy at level 10.

I have 2 separate build paths based on if you prefer to start the game with Ordered Chaos or Best Friends Forever trees.

Personally I prefer to go by the Build Path 1 with repsecing to Build Path 2 (Optional) as at the very beginning of the game Anarchy isn't really good until you get some Anarchy supporting perks like Discord, Typecast Iconoclast and Rational Anarchist.

[Mr. Vulcanator]

How come you don't reccomend getting Anarchy until level thirty?

[Whoayeah]

Firstly Legendary Anarchist never existed during the making of this guide but is a great mod. Secondly when I made this guide everyone and their mothers were using Unkempt Harold (Myself included) so to make things fresh I decided to recommend alternatives to Unkempt Harold (As well as recommending it in my Zer0 guide) and similar reasons for Fibber.
As the gear is recommended you don't have to use the recommendations and use your own setup.

[Trehek]

No love for the Legendary Anarchist mod, the Unkempt Harold and the ricochet Fibber?

[yunni~*]

@simfanak
I think this guide might suit you... have a look.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=143740993

[Whoayeah]

I'm sorry but if you actually read my guide you'd see I have 2 different build trees to accomodate for different playstyles.
Also if you read about why I didn't add Cooking Up Trouble I said:

"It's optimal to be using high magazine weapons to benefit more from The Better Half as to which you won't have a full magazine often enough to prove the regeneration useful."

There's nothing wrong with using Cooking Up Trouble as this is just a guide to help people for their first time however I'm not encouraging new players to do the run and hide playstyle which is something you're interested in doing.

There's also enough Skill Points spare that aren't apart of the core build which you can use for Cooking Up Trouble it'd just delay the time it takes you to get your core build finished.

I'd also recommend you to learn about Health Gating which can help you a lot with survival as long as you know how to use it.

[Rogue]

why have you put Anarchy at level 38 and Discord at level 44, would it not be best if Anarchy would be level 16 and Discord at level 22, Moxxi's weapons don't give enough heath regen to last a fight, i have a Moxxi's Heart Breaker, half way into a fight using the Heart Breaker, I got kill more often using it, where if I had 5 points in Cooking Up Trouble, I could run for cover and wait for my heath to to up and carry on fighting, see my point.