Which NON-Legendary Typical Gear for Salvador?

[Mr. Matt]

Most people ask about legendaries and unique items. I just want recommendations for non-orange gear. Y'know, stuff that just drops without high rarity and isn't tough to come by. I'm just looking to know what weapon brands/variants, shield types, and class mods I should be using with him. I like making use of characters' abilities in particular, so I'm going down the middle skill tree. I'm late-game in normal mode.

I also don't know if I should be using elements or non-elemental in both hands. Maybe slag in one and non-elemental or explosive in the other? Fight right in guys' faces or medium range? Long-range? I don't know. I've played hundred and hundreds of hours in these games, but sticking with one character long enough to farm out legendaries just isn't my thing. Actually going through UVHM for once would be interesting, but I don't know if I'll have the guts to do it. I tried with Zero and not getting one-shot kills anymore in melee turned me off BAD and I quit.

But yeah, I would love advice on gear that doesn't involve legendaries, at least for the sake of making the most out of my normal and TVHM playthroughs, please. =)

[the_bat_turtle]

Chaotic Evil Monk class mod from the Tint Tina DLC. Purple Torgue Ravagers, Jakobs Quads, Jakobs Gatling Guns. Lots of good stuff for any characters. Especially uniques. Some of those are better than legendary

[pill cosby]

Maybe a rubi that you get from rakkaholics anonymous by turning it into moxxi a blue berserker class mod with 6 in yippie ki yay do you can gunzerk for a lot longer by hitting kills and I don't really know maybe like a good explosive pistol or shotgun or maybe a vladof barreled pistol
Shields an antagonist from the dragon keep sereph vendor but if not get a good vladof absorb shield and relic if your using pistols would be the sheriffs badge from mishap at lynchwood

[Mr. Matt]

Crap, I think I sold the Rubi. Is the class mod that gives "gun damage" a good one? Shouldn't my weapons only be automatic since the last skill in the middle tree increases my fire rate the longer I hold the shoot button down?

Also, should I go with Hyperion for my gun brand???

[zverozvero]

Vladof snipers give great results in mid range. Combo of 2 Hyperion pistols/smgs make for very nice combo too - long range zerking.
Since you go Rampage (and aim for normal/TVH), you will be good without slag offhand. Double throw of slag grenades will do - Transfusion for additional heal, bouncing betty/biddy or Magick Missile for better slag.
Or you can go slag off weapon to get easy slags and stronger grenade, like Vladoof area ones. Longbow vladoff grenades solve long range zerking nicely.

If you can get hands on some Moxxi life leech weaponry, close range will be good but TVH without Moxxi or Brawn tree regeneration skills make zerking in close a glass canon.
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Not sure if those work with Keep firing, but Jacobs shotguns act automatic if they empty clip in one shot - they'll start reloading and 'll shoot again without tapping.
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It isnt exclusive to Ruby. Keep hand on any Moxxi weapon and you'll have life leech. You can get 2 smgs per character (not per difficulty - per character) for multiple tips in Bar. Can use those if you need life leech bad.

[Mr. Matt]

I like the reasoning behind your thoughts, zverozvero. I just finished with the Angel/Jack part in normal with Salvador and have had good luck so far with a bandit slag smg and a torgue spitter assault rifle. I'm not sure if I can find a better combo, and moreover, I'm not sure though how I will incorporate the left-hand skill tree and actually benefit. It looks like it's mostly about switching guns, but I've now got a setup where switching guns isn't needed. I mean...unless I get two spitters and two slag smgs, and have my 1 & 2 slots mirror my 3 & 4 slots? XD

I hear the right-hand skill tree is great in normal and kinda meh in TVHM and absolutely horrendous in UVHM.

[Overlord Hades]

It depend on what you want to do, if you wanna use pistols which is sals bread and butter (see harold build as the common one) then go pistols and gun damage. If you want a general build go for stuff that increases gun damage. Generally anything thats automatic works with him because you will typically be gunzerking. Thats what I did from levels 1-72, although I farmed the harold a few times, its a really good gun and drops off savage lee which isnt hared to get if you dont care about the variant.

This is just some basic advise though.

[rresuggan]

optimum gear for sal is slot 1 harold slot 2 slag rubi or grog nozzle slot 3 explosive r/l (ahab nukem creamer are best) slot 4 slag pimpernal with 10 shot mag relic sherrifs badge shield rough rider grenade magic missile/chain lightning both work mod unstoppable berserker (blue with 6 yipee ki yay 5 last longer or blue chaotic evil monk +6 money shot +5 asbestos for raid bosses
only points in 3rd tree go in incite and asbestos
if you insist on non legend swap harold for pocket rocket from torque vendors 55 tokens

[HiTmAn]

chaotic evil monk +6 on money shot u really need.. ophan maker.shotgun for scarlet dlc.. grog..sherriff and deputy badges..get DUPH.lady fist..u need singularty nades with 0 fuse...slag would be best..longbow...later u farm best shields antagonist.. rough rider is also good on sal..get sham logan gun to restore nades and rockeet ammo

[Enter a profile name]

ORPHAN MAKER. in left hand is pretty op on him.

[Enter a profile name]

can hit damage caps pretty easily.

[Mr. Matt]

Hmm, and what about a playthrough where I'm stuck with a friend who doesn't have any of the DLCs and I'm playing exclusively with him? =/

Since I've missed a ton of uniques/quest rewards or derped and sold them, any standard types of weapons/shields/mods to lean toward?

Someone said an explosive rocket launcher...I used to love those, but I read that unless a Torgue weapon shoots those yellow projectiles, then you're not getting any extra damage (i.e. shotguns deal the damage from the yellow projectiles plus like 85% of the listed damage, whereas explosive rocket launchers deal the listed damage as blast radius damage ONLY). If that's true, then one fire and one corrosive launcher would be best to have at all times.

Gunlust is really making me scratch my head for where to put the points. Locked and Loaded seems like the clear winner for the first five, but those next five? I'm only getting crits while gunzerking if using a hyperion smg. I hear I have to skip Steady as She Goes from Rampage if I'm going to use those as it inverts the accuracy/recoil or something with Hyperion???

I guess All I Need is One might be best since if I did have rockets, I could switch weapons when I go into FFYL mode to do 40% more damage with a single rocket? Pistols seem so lackluster. I only really like Vladof pistols because Hyperion pistols kinda have a crap fire rate from my experience, right?

Will Divergent Likeness screw my Hyperion SMG or pistol accuracy if I wield different types of guns together and get the accuracy from that skill? The damage sounds better to me, though...

I guess Auto-Loader could work if I used mirrored weapon sets (i.e. basically the same guns in slots 1 & 3 and the same in 2 & 4)?

If I'm using automatic weapons, is Money Shot worth bothering with? It says it's based on the magazine size.

Lay Waste looks great but I don't think I have the points for it. Down Not Out is a no-brainer must. Going into FFYL mode pisses me off bad when I've just activated Gunzerking, since the cooldown takes so long despite having a fair amount of cooldown-related skills in Rampage. That said, is I'm Ready Already from Rampage (25% better cooldown) better to take than Filled to the Brim? I mean, if I -do- take Money Shot, Filled to the Brim sounds like cancer, as kids these days would say.

Thoughts on Keep it Piping Hot? I do suck pretty bad when I don't have gunzerking going, but might it be useless if I switch the above skills out to have the cooldown improvement?

Lastly, No Kill Like Overkill sounds awful except with single-shot weapons like rockets, snipers, and shotguns...

[Draekus]

a Torgue Plump Lance with a good scope and a Bee shield....bringin' the BOOM !!!

[zverozvero]

Yep, Steady as she goes wrecks Hyperion aim so its one or another. I'd prefere good hyperion gun (blue/purple) pistol, smg, shotgun (with 1 ammo per shot).

Money shot needs 10+ mag size for max effect so check on gun you use. Some will benefit some will not. If i recall it was (and is) bugged and actual max magazine size is 12 not 10. Goes much better with Maliwan pistols.

NKLO builds up huge overkill of Moneyshot crits, but its indeed all about guns that make reliable moneyshots with big overkills.

Piping Hot was procking with Get some but it might be patched out. If it was, Down not out and Get some should hold you in nearly constant Zerking and it might be a waste. Get some goes before Cooldown rate, not after, so its not stacking well. Spending in Ready Allready might be not worth.

Messed that a bit. Good touch can be aquired again and again so you can get one for each if you have enough cash. Just make it separately, 1 per game session.
Also check out this guns:
http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Lascaux
http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Gwens_Head
If they are close to your current level, they'll ramp you good. Lascaux is 'allways there' and Gwen might take several restarts to spawn in Ellies.

UVH without OP is well fine with Brawn even in coop.
http://bl2skills.com/gunzerker.html#210000000005555000515155005155051
Runing this in OP8 with Interfacer, Florentine, Legendary Berserker (for speed), Blood of the Seraphs and Storm Front.
Brawn works for Solo if weapons are high on their own. In 3+ coop enemies got buffed above what Brawns % can heal in face-on fight.

[Mr. Matt]

Wow, fantastic info, thank you. I think I may give up Hyperion guns so that I can have that improved recoil and aiming with everything else. It'll be a bit sad because Athena in TPS made me fall in love with Hyperion SMGs. Now I'm thinking maybe all vladof pistols or something. Divergent Likeness and I'm Your Huckleberry will gave me 45%-ish extra pistol damage bonus, making them not awful. Granted, ammo may be an issue whilst Gunzerking...that and actually finding that many vladof pistols. Vladof slag pistols don't grow on trees.