The Slagged Nurse- A Siren Build

Hey everybody! Uncle Sickø here, with the first guide in my Borderlands 2 character series.

In addition to intense offensive capabilities, Maya is also skilled at keeping herself and her friends from dying. The goal of this kit is to use Moxxi weapons to provide constant healing with DoT, heal your team mates with Restoration, then turn your enemies into oozing piles of ash and slag. Essentially, you'll become the femme fatale that this planet needs you to be.

Like not dying? Like femme fatales?

Read on...

The Skill Tree-

At OP8, nearly everything scales properly, except your health pool. Without mod boosts, your health will always live at level 72. This poses a big problem if you lose your OP8 shield against an enemy who can eat a few shots from your OP8 guns. How do we solve this? Why, the abuse of DoT, of course. Between Life Tap and a decent Moxxi weapon, there are only two ways to kill you. The first is an enemy big enough to one- shot you, the second is enough enemy DoT to overwhelm the health you're pulling in.

I have everything set up like this because it works best for me, and I'll explain why, but I'm not gonna send the Gestapo after you if you personalize it. Have some fun with it and feel free to respond with any questions, concerns, or tips you may have.

Note- There was recently an update that boosted Cloud Kill, Helios, Blight Phoenix, and some other things. They're more useful and scale-able now, so you don't have to gloss over them anymore.

Cataclysm Tree

This build would be dead in the water without the oomph provided by the Cataclysm tree.

The very bottom gets 9 points. Five go into Foresight to help our sustained DPS. Four go into Flicker, since more DoT chance means more overall healing for us. It also means Scorn is more likely to slag evenly, instead of missing targets and slowing us down.

Before the update, if I had to take anything in the second tier, it would be Immolate, but now Helios has the ability to deal a workable amount of damage.

The next tier gives us Chain Reaction to increase both our overall damage dealt in crowds, but also the DoT and slag we hand out. We also pick up Cloud Kill here, because it is now awesome. I've noted though, that despite Helios having similar damage numbers to Cloud Kill, it's still slightly less effective at dealing damage. This could be for one of two reasons. My first theory is that it's DoT ticks slower than Cloud Kill. The second, much more likely, is that the recharge time for Cloud Kill is much faster than that of Phaselock, which Helios piggybacks on. So it gets to trigger more often, resulting in overall higher damage output. Either way, Helios still counts towards our healing procs, so I left it in.

Reaper is a must, in my occasionally humble opinion, especially when dealing with stouter targets.

Blight Phoenix was also on the list of perks that got a boost on the last update, but this build doesn't have the points to spare for an ability that only works on enemies that we let into our personal bubble.

Our last point in Cataclysm goes to Ruin, because its free slag means that we don't have to switch off our current weapon to spread slag ourselves.

Harmony Tree

As far as healing goes, this tree is where the magic happens.

We'll double down with ten points at the bottom of this tree by maxing out Mind's Eye and Sweet Release. I'm not sure if the melee damage boost helps the melee override from Scorn, but it's still not a huge factor. That crit boost does help the low damage from our Moxxi weapons. More often than not, a fire fight will end with a Phaselock on the last enemy, so five points into Sweet Release will all but guarantee that you'll leave with full health and be ready for the next one.

The next tier gives five points to Wreck to make you a walking blender while enemies are phased. As far as I know, Restoration still glitches to heals enemies when your AoE attacks heal an ally. With only five points to spare here, the choice between the two is easy.

The third tier gives some weight to multiplayer. If you do have a high level team, you'll probably never need Res, but if you don't have much faith in them, pull a point from Mind's eye to activate it. Aside from that, I put five points into Recompense over the redundant healing from Elated. This is because your shield will break pretty often, but your health can take a lot of heat. Since enemies deal OP8 damage, sending every other shot back home means enemies really do have a chance to just kill themselves. Handier than the redundant health boost from Elated.

We'll skip Sustenance for the same reason as Elated, in trade for Life Tap. This is generally less effective than the vampire from Moxxi weapons, but can keep you rolling when you have to switch off, whether that be for a stouter weapon, or if you run out of ammo for your main gun.

Our final point in the tree goes to Scorn. Since Maya has no means to increase weapon switch speed, this tends to hand out slag faster than switching to a slag weapon, tagging every enemy, and switching back to your damage dealing weapon. Time that you save is damage that you deal, so this one point can make or break a build like this, that requires absolute aggression to stay alive. I recommend saving this for when you're stuck in Phaselocks cool down, so you don't stall out waiting for both to recharge.

Motion Tree

We have fifteen points left over, so we can't take advantage of Quicken, but we do have a couple other cool tricks. I've done a lot of playing around with this tree, having 15 spare points and a lot of fun class mods will do that. But as far as a generally functional setup goes, this is what I use.

We'll take Ward and Accelerate here. While we've carefully built a house of cards for managing health damage, Ward can occasionally prevent us from ever needing it in the first place. Accelerate can fiddle with the mechanics of some weapons, such as the omnipresent Pimpernel, but for the most part it makes you hit harder and faster, especially with the ubiquitous Sand Hawk.

Next we'll take four points in Suspension over Kinetic Reflection. I am a huge believer in Kinetic Reflection which, when paired with a Witch class mod, can completely remove the damage dealt by bullets that it reflects. The problem with it, and why I choose Suspension over it in general play, is not all enemies use bullets, meaning wasted points against really annoying enemies such as Rabid Stalkers and PWR Loaders. Suspension also keeps Ruin, Helios and Wreck rolling longer, which is nice.

Our final five points live in this third tier. Converge is an important ability for a two reasons. The first is, even when its pull doesn't throw enemies very far, it does stop them from shooting at you for a bit, which can be a life saver when you need to reload. The next is its ability to pull enemies to its epicenter in the split second before Ruin triggers, allowing slag and some DoT to get spread around by the time you're ready to get to work.

The Weapons-

The more I play, the bigger a fan I become in Hyperion shotguns and Moxxi weapons, but that doesn't make them the final word in OP8. This is the kit I run with for hopping into quick games and running around with friends.

1- The fire option
Critical Heartbreaker, or if you've farmed it out, Practicable Butcher. If you're playing carefully enough, Life Tap will be more than enough to keep you healed up, but when times get tough, the massive damage and 2.4% healing from Heartbreaker will usually take the edge off and let you take enough heat to make a tanky Gunzerker blush. Naturally, a Butcher will also heal you easily between Life Tap, its sheer damage and it's Flicker boosted proc chance. You may be wondering about the other Moxxi shotgun, the Slow Hand. For this build, it can work just fine since it has some much AoE and DoT stacking capacity, but it can't crit, it can self- damage and it has a very low fire rate. The other two here outpace it at every turn.

2- The slag option
Evisceration Rubi, in slag.This gathers some dust, sandwiched between Ruin and Scorn, but if you're trapped in your cool downs against something big, Rubi has just enough juice to keep you breathing. It may be worth putting a different pistol here, like a Ladyfist or Maggie, just to get more use out of the slot. Once you get used to riding Life Tap, and handing out slag by other means, you'll have to dust the cobwebs off Rubi every time you use it.

3- The corrosive option
Sand Hawk, in Stopping variants if you're used to leading targets with Accelerate or Flying if you're not. Most armored targets you face will be loaders, and this can hit multiple crit spots on them with each trigger pull, making that 2 ammo per shot cost still net some efficiency. If you haven't had time to farm this out yet, several purple weapons can also get the job done. I'm a fan of Dahl accuracy, so I ran with a Dahl Minigun here for a long time.

4- The ranged option
Pacifying Sloth, in slag. Without Accelerate, Pimpernel is in the saddle as the undisputed champion, but with it, the pellets that it throws go way too wide to be usable. That said, Accelerate is the one thing that Sloth needs to be a powerhouse, taking its sluggish bullets and placing them surgically on target. Its power can strip shields, and its Flicker boosted multihit will put some pre- preemptive purple on the field.

Normally I include a, "Get out of jail free card" here, but you'll see FFYL here so rarely that you shouldn't need to break out your Norfleet or Creamer unless you've done something terribly, terribly wrong.

The Gear-

The Shield-

Antagonist. This shield is a pain to get, but it is very worth it. Out of the gate, it has one of the highest available shield capacities. Then it gives you flat reduction to bullet damage. Then it reflects bullets, preventing a need for Kinetic Reflection. Then it fires homing slag darts when you take damage. Are you kidding me? If it threw in a bagel and a cup of coffee, It'd be my favorite shield ever. It's not perfect though, for two reasons. First, it works best against bullets, meaning blast damage, DoT, and melee damage can set it at a disadvantage. Second, it can accidentally slag you with its darts, which can be deadly in OP8. If these problems tip the scales for you, farm out a Blockade with fast recharge rate and delay, to bring in similar results.

The Grenade-

Quasar with a low fuse time. This works like a second Convergence to group enemies up, with the additional benefit of stripping shields. I tried the Vladof grenades here, Pandemic, Fire Bee, and Storm Front, but their range is so large that I picked up too many DoTs against myself, and they broke clean through my shields and Life Tap more than once.

The Relic-

Bone of the Ancients, in fire and corrosive. It boosts your damage and lets you hand out more Ruin. Know 'em. Farm 'em. Love 'em.

The Class Mod-

Slayer of Terramorphous is my go- to here, since it gives us more health to work with, fire DoT boosts, and several boosts to low tier perks. Thieving Trickster works here too, and is generally recognized as the best all- rounder mod, as it boosts fire rate, Chain Reaction, and Life Tap. Cleric mods are also quite effective if you can find the right one. I would have like to use the Legendary Nurse mod on a build that I originally named the Nurse, but the perks that it boosts are of little to no value for me.

Questions and Answers-

Whats the point of being a Nurse?
Heal your friends, toast your foes, prevent damage to yourself, and turn every firefight into a purple, green, and red light show.

Can I use the Nurse is solo play?
Yes, but it does has a really hard time with bosses, since most of its oomph comes from DoT and abilities activated by killing smaller enemies.

Why did you add Cataclysm instead of putting your points into faster and more effective healing?
Because Life Tap, slag, and damage output.

Why doesn't the Nurse use Restoration, Elation, or Res?
Restoration is still glitched, as far as I know. Hitting an enemy and team mate with AoE will heal them both. Elation doesn't have the oomph to matter in OP8. Res is 98% useless and 2% not trusting your team.

Why doesn’t this Siren use the Norfleet, one of the best elemental weapons in the game?
Three reasons. The main one being how wasteful it is when firing. No spare rockets after blasting up a hoard is no bueno. The second is the Restoration bug that, with this, can fully heal every enemy in its impressive range with every shot. The third is that if you're talented enough find and to farm out a Norfleet, then the chances are decent that you don't actually need it.

Why use Moxxie items instead of any others?
Moxxi weapons have competitive damage outputs, and usually perform well. Adding to this their ability to heal based on your damage output, makes them stand out. I had tested a lot of shotguns that all felt the same when I came across the Critical Heart Breaker. Accuracy out to mid- range, above average critical damage up close, and the ability to fully heal me by emptying a magazine has put it on my top 10 list for best items in the game.

Why not use an Infinity, if handing out DoT and slag is such a priority?
Simply put, I'm not a fan of it anymore. While it is a uniquely amazing gun, it's visually boring to me, and loses a lot of damage at range due to its wide pattern.

What head is that?
It's Kawaii Killer, and it's a rare drop from Vermivorous. The skin with it is Verdant Violence.

I'd really like to try this build, but I don't have time to farm all that gear. Would you mind duping for me?
Not anymore, due to annoyingly high demand. Sorry.

Notes-

Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you enjoy this build as much as I do.
If you'd like, check out my other guides here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/opheliologist/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides

Edits-
2/9/16
- Complete guide overhaul to account for changes made after the recent update.
- Various spelling, grammar and continuity corrections

8/15/2013
- Guide Visibility returned to Public
- Guide revised and updated
- Questions and Answers expanded
- Grammar, spelling, and continuity improved

8/22/2013
- Guide updated
- Various spelling and continuity corrections

[X his only love xx]

that cat headpiece is a rare drop from the enemy: Vermivorous the Invincible . it kinda spawns like a normal baddass varkid where varkids spawn. this is mainly for you CRdog400

[CRdog400]

is it a mod

[CRdog400]

how did you get that helmet

i used to main a siren solo and i got all the avalible heads/suits and i never got that one

[Sickologist]

Roarkachu- If you're doing co- op, I'd recommend getting to Res as soon as possible, then finishing middle tree, then right tree for your elemental, the left tree to finish off. If it's just solo, probably right tree, then left, then center. Only pull points to Res and other multiplayer abilities if you're going into co-op so you don't waste anything.

[(Nappling) -Bau Bau ♡]

Just wondering how you would build this from lvl 1-71- 72?

Cheers.

[z00t]

Interesting guide. I usually solo as a legendary cat, but was looking for a decent team support build. I will be keeping an eye out for the trickster mods and experiment.
I agree, the Chu' is a very underrated weapon. I went through Pete's Bar with one, no grenades, no phaselock, just the smg. It wasted the place. Very impressive. Just don't keep it selected though. :) I tend to use the Florentine now, since it doesn't slag you, but for anyone who doesn't have sufficient seraph crystals to go shopping for a Florentine, the Chu' is a very capable substitute.

[Wall rush man]

why not use the florentine instead of the slagga?

[Sickologist]

It was a consious decision to exclude level guides, as my guides are here to enhance your experience, not directly control it. With that said, they are all fairly outdated, so I ought to update them soon. Thanks for posting.

[Jwashwa]

Cheers for replying, I thought I'd ask as there wasn't a bit in this guide (like I have seen in others) about what talents your should choose while levelling, maybe it would be an idea to add this into your guide?

[Sickologist]

I have the best luck focusing on survival over damage.
-First 30 levels could be- Sweet Release>Wreck>Elated>Ward>Suspension.
-After that, you can safely finish off Motion with Convergence>Quicken(only 4 points)>Inertia>Sub- Sequence>Thoughtlock. This will get you to level 46. By having these skills, your phase will be longer, letting Elated and Wreck keep the pressure on.
-Next, perhaps Foresight>Immolate>Chain Reaction>Backdraft>Reaper>Ruin. Cataclysm is the last in line because you won't really need it until you start seeing harder enemies at later levels. We avoid the other options here because, while flashy, they just don't scale well.

I hope I could help. Feel free to add me if you have any other questions.