Zer0 Melee build vs sniper build?

[Elllll]

As above, and where should i put skill points on each tree?
Or is it better to have a combination of both?

[dontu_worry]

Do one of each, from scratch. He first things I would go for are bore, fast swapping and kunai.

[SunDrippedDevil]

As a very experienced Zer0 player (who plays Zer0 almost exclusively), I can tell you that mixing both leads to a less effective and optimal Zer0.

Points are too limited and these builds are highly specialized (especially melee, which requires specific gear). Furthermore, and this is purely my opinion, melee is not worth playing before lvl 31 (the fastest that you can unlock many must fall in the melee tree). It is perfectly viable to level as a pure melee, but definitely not as efficient.

Either way, there are some must have skills regardless of whichever type of Zer0 you are building:

Deathmark, Death Blossom, and B0re. An endgame Zer0 without these skills is a subpar Zer0.

Either a good Sniper or a good Melee build will always max the central blue cunning tree.
Both build will always build to have b0re in the green tree.

In essence this is how I build my sniper Zer0s (mainly for general purpose mobbing. I will use different skill builds for certain raid bosses):

By level 16: http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000000000000000000000000

Straight bee line for B0re. It is the most powerful and most gamechanging skill for how early it can be acquired. With it, you can decimate enemies, certain bosses, and even get seconds winds easier if you aim correctly and wait for the precise moment.

By level 31:

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000000000000005050500000

I will grab killing blow, grim and follow through. I will always level any Zer0 this way for the first 31 levels. (I find levelling as pure melee to be inefficient). From this point on my builds will diverge. I will start with sniper:

Upto level 41, I will do this:
http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000050050000005050500000

Ambush is great in combination with deception and b0re for massive damage.

Al level 42, I will reskill to the following:

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000050555104010000000000

Death blossom becomes a massive DPS boost. Note that I never not have b0re.

By level 57:

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000050555104015050500000

I retake killing blow (good utility for finishing off low health enemies and bosses), grim (massive dps boost due to cooldown reduction, and some defense), follow through (massive dps boost and helps to keep other dps skills like rising shot and killer up for even more dps).

Starting at 58, I begin to fill out the green tree. This is what I prefer at 72 (I favor pimpernels):

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505051045150555104015050500000

Arguments can be made for having vel0city, but I don't like that skill because it messes with the pimpernel projectiles, and even the lyuda projectiles. You can always drop one shot one kill, or kill confirmed for it. As a sniper, at one with the gun is too good. Some people like precision (helps with the skull masher or if you dabble in sandhawks as it tightens their shot spreads). You can exercise your preference depending on the guns you use between one shot one kill, kill cofirmed, velocity, or precision.

I cap off the build with Critical Ascension (I generally don't find that I need many stacks unless I'm killing raid bosses. Exploiting all my skills and their synergies is perfect for me with general mobbing and non raidbosses)


In the case of melee:

Follow the previous up to 31.

At 31 respec to:

http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#000000000000000000005500515401

You can either choose Iron Hand or be like water. I prefer iron hand as I don't shoot too much. The additional melee damage from iron hand is negligible (due to where it lies on the damage formula) and the extra health can make it harder to health gate. Exercise your preference. 4 points in resurgence is all that you will ever need. DO NOT skill grim for any reason if you want to melee. You want your shields down for roid damage from melee shields.

By 51: http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#000000000005055104005500515401

This is what I prefer to do for the damage.

by 57: http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#000000000055055104015500515401

Grab death blossom, and fast hands at the top.

By 68: http://bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000055055104015500515401

Retake B0re.

The final 4 points are for whatever you wish to use them for. I might max out innervate, and stick the rest into velocity for second winds. You could also put them in resurgence, or throw them anywhere.

That's are how I build melee and sniper zer0s. Hope it helps.

In my opinion, making a hybrid melee and sniper build is a terrible idea. You will be nowhere near as powerful as specializing in one or the other.

[Elllll]

Thankyou!

[SunDrippedDevil]

You're welcome. Happy murdering.

Are you familiar with how deception works? The longer you stay in deception, the larger damage bonus you get for your next attack. In general, if you wait until around 2.15 seconds on the timer, you should get max damage bonus.

[Elllll]

Originally posted by SunDrippedDevil:

You're welcome. Happy murdering.

Are you familiar with how deception works? The longer you stay in deception, the larger damage bonus you get for your next attack. In general, if you wait until around 2.15 seconds on the timer, you should get max damage bonus.

Yes, thanks.

[pino]

Originally posted by Telf:

Originally posted by SunDrippedDevil:

You're welcome. Happy murdering.

Are you familiar with how deception works? The longer you stay in deception, the larger damage bonus you get for your next attack. In general, if you wait until around 2.15 seconds on the timer, you should get max damage bonus.

Yes, thanks.

Hey, SundDrippedDevil, I just wanted to thank you for this well written Zero info.
I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
You took a lot of time to explain it so well and it is appreciated.

[Napoleon Bonerfart]

Thanks for the build guide! It's really well explained, I really appreciate the help.