Is Athena bad?

[syferj]

So here I am, playing the Pre-sequel with my badass Athena- despite many warnings of her being weak. Before level 50 she WAS a badass.
Started off as a melee build, but soon learned that until you can get the right class mods, weapons (Melee buffs), Maylay shields, and full perks, it isn't too great- and you tend to not be able to acquire said materials as you fly through levels. I realized this at around level 22, of which I just then switched to an electrical fire build for Ceraunic Storm and went on my way. Well, wielding Moxxi's chain lightning beast of a laser, I soon learned that this was an amazing build! I got insane stacks of Maelstrom fast, my shields would never deplete due to Moxxi's laser and Conduit, Smite would wreck due to messed up low level scaling, and I seriously probably did 70% of the dps in my four man games.

Beat the game like this, love it.
Continuing through the beginning THVM, I was still near unstoppable, found a good few replacements for Moxxi's gun after it got a little outdated and went on my way with my elementals. At around 35, I decided to respec after hitting a little bit of a rough patch with the Feleicity Rampant boss fight, and the mobs before it, to then drop some skills from Ceraunic Storm but still grab Hades' Shackles, and go into Phalanx a bit. Well, throwing a shield to immediately start my Shock and Fire damage to enemies was insane, and all rough patches were now smooth.
Then came Wrath of the Goddess, and I couldn't have loved my new Captain America- Athena more.
See new enemies. Pull out shield. Let spikes pop out from taking dps. Throw. Kill 4+ enemies. Wipe a straggler out with smite. If any left and Aspis on CD, Hades' shackle them and then zap 'em. done.
This worked until about 42-ish. Also when smite and Hades' Shackles started winding down to be near useless. While I was holding my own, I started to see more frequent lengthy battles and more FFYL time. No problem, I could handle a little bit of that- was actually getting bored of the build anyway.

I had luckily thought ahead and saved up some melee items in case I wanted to switch to Xiphos, which I did at around 43-44. Cue Aladdin's "A Whole New World" song.
Dashing 50 feet from enemy to enemy to get my bleeds, shotgunning them down or just using a second melee to kill them again. My maylay shield was always down, but they never dropped my health below 50% from Bloodlust.

Hit the R-K5 fight. That... that was pretty bad. I went online and just let a team carry me through it. Afterwards, ditch and return to solo. Easily clear Tycho's Ribs, dominate the Opha Supreme, and go in for the Sentinel.

Utter hell.

Can't damage the boss, from Bloodlust he can't damage me, but with a boring grind process, I beat him- thinking just that maybe the build wasn't good for those two fights. It just wasn't good for that level anymore apparently.
Yep, in like, 3-4 levels, the melee build stopped working for me.

I learned this when I went to go tackle Iwajira after the Sentinel fight to farm him from 48-50, and start UVHM afterwards. Let's just say that him bleeding alone doesn't provide enough healing.

Just said screw it and go back to Captain Ceraunic Storm America with Thorny ol' Rosy. Iwajira= gone.

Do this until 50. Start UVHM. Dominate- until Deadlift's area. Even pre-boss fight, the bandits are near immune to anything I do, and just stomp all over me. I thought it was just a rough patch and muscle my way through it, having a few deaths on the big dope himself.

Come entering and then leaving Concordia, I'm getting ready to kill the Darksiders for Crisis Scar entrance. Ehhh... "Hotdog down a skag den, know what I'm sayin'?". Whatever, I like a little challenge for once. Muscle my through that and then all the way down to Redbelly. No. Just no.
Getting whooped more than an Asian kid with an F in math class. Maybe UVHM is just a little tough I think, then go online to a Doppelganger's game for some team based help. Here's how it went.
(I know nothing about Jack btw)
-Pops Digi-Jacks.
-Tells me Brb.
-Doesn't even hide.
-Has Red and belly pounding on him, mobs also.
-Digi Jacks ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ on everything all over the place.
-They two shot everything with cone lasers, grenades, some of them are even "Badass"
-I barely get a shot in, my Aspis doesn't even get spikes before thrown.
-His health just flies back up as he gets pounded
-Digi Jacks clear the room, and then down Red-Belly in like, 15 seconds.

I was dumfounded. Here I am, running through stuff and loving my Athena, when I hit a rough patch, and then see some crap like this.
I decide to look into it, and the majority of people across the internet seem to agree that she is severely weak next to most of the other classes, and my pre UVHM gameplay was when I didn't look into this beforehand.
I feel like my Borderlands is a lie, I thought her to be a beast but learned otherwise.

Is this just a rough patch that will again be smoothed out by her at higher levels, or do you level 70 pros think I should start something else right now? I'm sad to see her voted so low, but if duty calls, I will not remain faithful. The Doppelganger might have to take her throne.

Just let me know in the comments your opinions, advice, maybe builds or guides on fixing her- or whether to just drop her now.

[𝕰𝖑𝖜𝖔𝖔𝖉]

the best tank and with the right build can make any weapon not consume ammo, pretty good

[Hoot Hoot]

Athena has by far the biggest long-term dps, with the right gear, i can reach 999 stacks of malestorm and than ♥♥♥♥ on every enemy, takes the riad boss down in seconds, and besides all that, has dmg immunity and a heal.
She is the best except for probably no shot Jack or Nisha,

[Zephkiel]

Athena is a no brainer class, it's so easy with her it's not even funny.
I would suggest changing class if you don't manage to play with her, i just smell playstyle and the character not mixing well.

[Evil_Befall]

rk5 is a pain everyone says it no matter what class

[PipHoff -GER-]

Must be the same people that think Zer0 in BL2 is weak, despite him being clearly stronger than anyone but Salvador.

Involved playstyle = weak? :/

And that Jack player might have cheated ( all skills maxed, edited profile, etc. ).

[devali0n]

Athena is a beast.

If you know how to play her.... Shes a tank/medic.

I played the siren in BL2 and she's close to that in terms of capabilities.

[syferj]

Originally posted by Zephkiel:

Athena is a no brainer class, it's so easy with her it's not even funny.
I would suggest changing class if you don't manage to play with her, i just smell playstyle and the character not mixing well.

Well I love her playstyle that I use, building up the Maelstrom stacks and (once upon a time, was) causing massive damage- but it just seemed to get really weak all of a sudden. That's why I asked whether it was just a rough patch or not.

I've always used the elemental class as a main, Siren in BL1, Siren and although not as much, Electric Gaige in BL2- and I've loved how powerful they are. It's just that Athena's doesn't seem to match up to the Sirens', or at least at my area of trying to get across the lava lake she doesn't scale correctly.

[syferj]

Originally posted by blueangel06661:

Athena is a beast.

If you know how to play her.... Shes a tank/medic.

I played the siren in BL2 and she's close to that in terms of capabilities.

Yeah, Maya was my go to character in Borderlands for the elemental/support type, too bad I stopped Borderlands 2 at around level 53 and am rusty on it now- but Athena doesn't seem to come close to how powerful Maya did when I played her good. Or at least Athena doesn't now at level 54, she did at one point early on though...

[Maddie Gaming]

Athena CAN be powerful; you just need to pick the right gear and skills.

Personally, I run something like this[thepresequel.com] with a Rabid Hail, a shock Hyperion shotgun, a Thunderfire, a Badaboom, a Black Hole, and a Storm Front. Mobs tend to die pretty quickly for me.

[syferj]

Originally posted by Edo the 309th:

Athena CAN be powerful; you just need to pick the right gear and skills.

Personally, I run something like this[thepresequel.com] with a Rabid Hail, a shock Hyperion shotgun, a Thunderfire, a Badaboom, a Black Hole, and a Storm Front. Mobs tend to die pretty quickly for me.

Yeah, I don't have any beast level 50-60 legendaries. I wasn't as fanatical about TPS gear farming as I was in Borderlands 1 or even though I did so less than in Borderlands 1 also- Borderlands 2.

But I also just recently chatted with my brother about his Willhelm, and he's not having any trouble even without legendaries- too bad he's on Playstation and me on Xbox

[effmoo =☺_☺= 7]

in bl2 you had to chop n change your backpack every so often thats how they made the game to work i thinks tou sound like your doing good and riding the waves i was willheim till level 30 and got bored now im athena at level 12 i think shes a not so good character lookswise but action =? hey i got a shield that i can throw once then i got nothing??

[Skelter]

Athena is definitely top 3 in power, probably #1 for bosses, when specced into Ceraunic Storm. She is, however, very gear-dependent. For making your way through the game without farming too much, I'd recommend a good tesla grenade and a shock hyperion shotgun (Bullpup is fantastic if you have the loyalty rewards).

[devali0n]

Originally posted by syferj:

Originally posted by blueangel06661:

Athena is a beast.

If you know how to play her.... Shes a tank/medic.

I played the siren in BL2 and she's close to that in terms of capabilities.

Yeah, Maya was my go to character in Borderlands for the elemental/support type, too bad I stopped Borderlands 2 at around level 53 and am rusty on it now- but Athena doesn't seem to come close to how powerful Maya did when I played her good. Or at least Athena doesn't now at level 54, she did at one point early on though...

-Malestorm + a continous damage shock weapon you can kiss any sheild goodbye.
-Aspis pretty much makes you invincable when you increase your damage delt and duration. You also can get some fast health regen. Aspis kills 4+ enemies each time the duration is up via prepare for glory that's how powerful mine is at lvl 50 or so currently.
-I don't even have lengendaries and she still is powerful so they aren't much of a requirement.
-Invest in Rend and you can cause your enemies to bleed. Great to get up close to do some melee damage to help you restore some health.
-Invest in smite and that's pretty much TPS's version of slag. You can get a good bit of elemental shock and incenidary damage if you shoot an enemy while airborn.

So all in all.
-You can get a lot of elemental damage out of her
-good health regen
-nearly invincable while aspis is active. Useful for health regen and second wind.
-aspis is pretty darn powerful

[redfox]

She is absolutely horrible

Unless 1:you know what you are doing or 2: she gets good after leveling up alot

If you play like I play at least

[Oninomiru]

Athena is one of the strongest classes, but you have to know what you're doing. If you're new to this game, then yes, it's a really bad starter.