about SLAG.

[Anak Paus]

is it a must have ? or i can finish this game completely without it ?
i play borderlands 2 along time ago just messing around, i wanna try to finish it now.

[Sir Tontonolous]

You can easily play without it.

...Until Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, then good luck lol. Some vault hunters can kinda bypass the need for slag like Krieg, but that has problems of its own.

[Nakos]

Depending on where you are and what you're doing, you can ignore Slag somewhat.

But by the same token, there are places where you cannot ignore it. The start of UVHM (for most people) is one of those places.

In UVHM, enemies are dynamic, they're always your level (or in the case of bosses, a level or two above you). They also heal if left alone, and they can absorb a LOT more damage than in TVHM. So at least at first, yes, you will want to Slag them.

All that said, there are characters that are more able to ignore the whole slagging process to a greater or lesser extent.

The easiest character to do that with is Maya. Maya can use a build that features Ruin, Cloud Kill, and Converge. This allows her to slag huge numbers of enemies pretty much constantly, without switching weapons. Cooldown Relics are ideal for this (also Quicken). In later UVHM, one can get the Bone of the Ancients Relics (in Corrosive, Shock or Fire), which speed up your cooldown in addition to some bonus elemental damage.

Axton has a build that'll let him Slag using his Turret. It's not quite as effective as Maya's options, but it's still pretty good. Gaige has a Slag skill too (Interspersed Outburst). Salvador can carry a Slag weapon in his off-hand (a Slag Rubi being the ideal choice).

So... yeah, you do kinda need Slag for a lot of UVHM, but there are ways to make it smoother and/or easier.

[Diogenes49]

double damage in TVHM triple damage in UVHM

[Fluffy Chops]

You can easily go without slag at least on normal what is exactly what your on if you have never finished it but want to this time.


But if you so happen to do TVHM then depending on your gear you could get away without slag once again, but as said will depend on what you have. But for few DLCs in TVHM your gonna need some slag with you, either that be a gun or a nade just something to slag them.

Since some DLCs playing in TVHM will be quite challenging the most needy might very well be Big Game Hunt DLC since even on normal they are quite bullet sponge to kill in that DLC and in TVHM the witch doctors are just even more annoying to deal with.


and as sort of told by Sir Tontonolous comment #1. You are lot more forced into using slag on UVHM even for the normal story and not DLC. Unless you enjoy the bullet spongness that much and willing to challenge yourself to do it spite its gonna take lot more bullet consumption to get by without slag on UVHM or as i've heard since i yet to ever try UVHM but i've seen what TVHM is like and i now believe others who do tell others slag is really needed for that mode since already struggled little bit in TVHM.

[deepdive0777]

You need it in UVHM.

[Alucard †]

Mostly mandatory in UVHM due to how spongy enemies can often get and because of the annoying enemy hp regen.

Optional/Not needed on any other difficulty.

[Al1X1RO]

Depends. If you know which element to use on each enemy, you can just have one gun of each and it will do the job. The only time its useful is against miniboss or a boss. Otherwise its not really that good. Compared to freeze element in Presequel its nothing cuz freeze element is broken unlike slag.
But as far as i remember there are challenges to slag someone and kill them with different gun right? or something like that so if you really want those challenges, go right ahead, but as i said and many others in here you dont need it to finish the game. Its useful against targets with very high health or against someone you have no element against.

In higher diff i guess its more useful, but its not mandatory. I always keep one slag weapon in my inv just in case. In my case its the legendary shotgun i got from one npc in The Dust.

[Kobeth]

In normal mod you can play without it just fine I would even say it's not very useful, in TVHM it starts getting more useful but still not really mandatory, in UVHM however it's mandatory as the difficulty is pretty much balanced entirely around slag.

[Amokhunter]

Like the others have said, unless you venture into the third playthrough "Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode" slag is "nice to have if convenient" so, if you can grab a 'nade or something in slag, sure, make use of it but in general just keep your weapons at or near your level and you'll do fine, spend a golden key or two every once in a while if the loot gods are stingy.

If you take on UVHM however, slag is a must have in some form. Most players go with grenades but doubling up with a skill that can slag is a good idea and to have all bases covered you might want to reserve one weapon slot for a dedicated slag weapon.

Why only UVHM? Enemies have insane HP bars, regenerate like a vampire in a blood bank and can shrug off ludicrous amounts of damage when unslagged. Additionally, weapon switching is faster in UVHM, Slag lasts longer and the dmg multiplier is increased from x2 to x3.

[Radiowavehero]

Man I hate slag , reminds me of needing to curse enemies in Diablo 2 just to be able to kill them, worst concept ever in games but there is a way to play without slag.

If anybody wants the difficulty or even just the max levels from playing UVHM but is bored from having to slag all the time there are mods that re-balance the game to make slag mostly optional without making the game easier.

The one I use is Exodus SDK https://www.nexusmods.com/borderlands2/mods/257?tab=description it adds a bunch of new legendaries , mini bosses to find , some character tweaks and also rebalances the damage certain elements do.

So rather than needing to slag everything , Instead you get more benefit from using Shock on shields , Corrosive on armor (Yellow hp bar like robots) and Fire on flesh. (anything not armor and not currently protected by a shield).

To balance this if you use the wrong element like fire on a shielded enemy it does noticeably less damage than normal , the base game already has these effects (most people know to use shock on shields for example) but the mod just increases the numbers to make slag no longer needed in UVHM , enemies are still strong and you still swap weapons to deal with them but it feels more interesting than just "slag everything always".

Modding is pretty easy and there are a lot of guides , I've got some listed here for a quick reference. Anyways I figured some of the people reading this thread might be interested.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3149494216

[Wiesshund]

Just farm the slag shield?
It works for me

[Anak Paus]

Originally posted by Wiesshund:

Just farm the slag shield?
It works for me

this might what i will do,

all the answer are awesome tho, but i see this is the easiest way. but still idk. im not on UVHM yet.