Guide to playing Melee Zer0 (Level 72 OP+)

Greetings fellow BL2 Enthusiasts! In this guide I'm going to cover the basics of playing Melee Zer0, what skill tree you should run, and what gear you should be armed with etc.

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Introduction to Zer0

Zer0 is a class in Borderlands 2 that can be played various ways, the most popular being Sniper and Melee. Today, Im going to show you why Melee Zer0 is viable!

The math behind Melee Zer0

This content was made by Man of Low Moral Fiber. Do give him your support by suscribing!

Build

Here's my build I use for melee Zer0: http://www.bl2skills.com/assassin.html#505001000055055105015502515231

Skill Tree: Sniping

Sniping Skill Tree: I found the other abilities in the other skill tree "useless". I found that putting 11 points into the sniping skill tree can aid you whenever your Deception is in cooldown.

Headsh0t: +20% Critical Damage, note that this does not apply to melee crits, but using a gun like the Double Penetrating Unkept Harold with this can allow you to dish out serious damage.

Killer: Killing an enemy gives you 50% Crit Damage and 75% Reload Speed, perfect when your deception is in cooldown and you need to use your DPUH.


B0re: Use this skill whenever your enemy can be B0red. B0re deals massive damage to raid bosses like Bunker, if aimed at the right spot.

Skill Tree: Cunning

Cunning Skill Tree: The main skills of the skill tree are Death Mark and Death Blossom. I invest heavily into this skill tree to give me those main abilities and some combat abilities.

Fast Hands: 25% Reload Speed and 50% Weapon Swap Speed. Weapon Swap speed is crucial in the battlefield, that swap speed can save you if you pull out a Grog Nozzle to save your life in time.

Counter Strike: Your next melee attack has a chance to deal 250% damage in the next strike. This ability is activated by any enemy attack that does not do damage over time.


Ambush: +20% Damage when attacking an enemy from behind, or someone that is not targetting you. Note that if they are aiming your decoy, you gain that +20% damage! Putting your decoy strategically can give you this damage boost.

Rising Shot: Successfuly Ranged or Melee attack gives you 10%/9% increase damage boost respectively. Stacks up to 5 times. This ability can give you additional melee damage when doing Chain kills.

Death Mark: Melee attacking a target will mark him, making you deal 20% more additional damage when the mark is active. I believe this used to be stackable, but Gearbox nerfed it. This will help in failed assasinations, you can finish off low targets in a hit.

Innervate: Gives you 10% Gun damage, 35% additional movespeed, and you regenerate 4% health per second. This skill is your survivability skill. The longer you stay in deception when doing chain kills, the more health you gain.

Death Blossom: Allows you to throw kunais while staying invisible in Deception. These kunais have random elements (Fire,Shock,Slag,Corrosive). You can throw 5 kunais while in Deception, and it applies Death Mark stacks. This skill is used to weaken enemies before you finish them off. Note that after every kill, you can throw out 5 kunais again. Be wary of your health, getting too close to an enemy that has been infected with Kunais can kill you.

Reason Why I did not put points into Unforeseen, Fearless and Two Fang. Unforeseen makes your Decoy blow up, dealing little damage to enemies, especially in UVHM. That decoy can kill a friendly Krieg the Psycho. I've killed my friends countless times with this ability. Fearless gives you Gun damage and fire rate. I do not see why you will need this ability as melee zer0. Two Fang gives you a chance to fire twice, not good for a zer0 who uses melee.

Skill Tree: Bloodshed

Bloodshed Skill Tree: This skill tree is that skill tree that boosts Melee Zer0's abilties devastatingly. This tree focuses on your melee damage and a little survivability.

Killing Blow: Give you +500% melee boost against enemy with low health. This ability helps a lot with failed assasinations, or to finish off a raid boss.


Iron Hand: 15% Melee Damage and Max Health. Great for survivability.



Be like water: Shooting an enemy gives you a 12% melee damage boost in your next attack. Great for finishing off opponents, especially with Killing Blow.


Followthrough: Killing an enemy gives you 40% Movespeed and Melee Damage and 30% Gun Dmaage. Helps a ton in Chain Killing.


Execute: The bread and butter of your chain killing spree. This ability allows you to dash to your enemies and execute them. Make sure you aim for the back, and to the head for maximum damage.

Backstab: Your melee attacks deal 40% additional damage when you hit from the back. This allows you to maximise damage from Execute and deal massive damage.


Resurgence: Restores up to 8% of your health depending on how low you are, this is the skill that allows you to survive in the battlefield.


Like the Wind: 9% more Melee and Ranged Damage Boost when moving. Yes, it gives additional damage in executes!


Many Must Fall: The strongest ability for Melee Zer0. This ability allows you to start chains, as it gives you more invisibility time after you get a kill, meaning that your invisibility would not end after a kill. This put together with Execute allows you to dash to an enemy, kill them, and dash to another enemy to kill them.

Gear: Weapon

Slot 1: Swift Rapier, preferably Slag element. This gun gives you +200% Melee damage WHEN EQUIPPED. Whenever you start a chain, make sure you equip this weapon. The damage per hit for this weapon is little, you will want to just apply slag using this weapon, or just purely use it for melee executions.





Slot 2: Grog Nozzle. Make sure this weapon is a slag element and has a bladed attachment. You will need its 50% additional melee damage. Note that whenever you use your grenades, equip this weapon for healing. Your melee attacks restore your health too. This weapon is your survivability tool. A Rubi may work too, but I find it very underwhelming as the healing is too low.


Slot 3: Double Penetrating Unkempt Harold. This weapon is regarded as the strongest pistol in the game. This weapon will help when your Deception is on cooldown and you need to kill your enemies faster. You can consider putting Two Fang with this ability, but in my opinion it will not be needed




Slot 4: Pussiant Norfleet Only take out this weapon for second winds. I prefer a Corrosive element for it. Slag deals lesser damage and I find it weaker that way. In the later stages, those Loader would kill you often, a corrosive type can end their life and get you a second wind without any problems.

Gear: Shields

Shields:
Hide of Terramorphous - Highest Roid Damage Shield in the game, regenerates after a few seconds. Usage of this shield depends on your playstyle, I love the Love Thumper now, because this shield regenrates after a few seconds, which really starts to annoy. You'll have to pop grenades to break your shield, which is really frustrating.






Love Thumper - A shield that takes 2 mins to regenerate, and gives you a massive Roid Damage boost. This shield is best used for Solo play, as its roid damage can kill your teammates in Co-op. I use this shield more than hide of terra now, because it gives consistant damage, and 1 shotting ability.






Order - A shield that syncs well with Law, but the combo starts to get weak as you reach UVHM. This shield provides a decent Roid Damage boost, but the hide of terra just outshines it in every way.

Gear: Relics

Relics:
Bone of the Acients -This Relic is your best relic. If you are thinking of using a melee damage boosting relic, note that it gives you an extra 2% more melee damage. You would want to use this relic for more executes instead of a slightly higher melee damage boost.

Gear: Class Mods

Class Mods:
Legendary Ninja - Provides you with Extra Melee Damage, which is very useful for Zer0. In my opinion this is the best possible class mod for Zer0.







Legendary Hunter - Can be a replacement to Legendary Ninja Mod. This Class mod will provide you with more survivability, as it restores you with 10% health whenever you activate deception. This, combined with Resurgence, can give you a ton of survivability!

Gear: Grenade Mods

Grenade Mods:
Chain Lightning - This should be your primary Grenade Mod, this grenade mod can pop your love thumper and still leave you with 90+% hp. Do note that whenever you are going to throw this mod out, have a Grog Nozzle in your hand for healing!









Storm Front - This grenade can be a replacement to the Chain Lightning. This Mod provides you with AoE damage, great for dealing with mobs all stuck close together.







Magic Missle - This grenade should only be used vs tanky mobs or raid bosses. This grenade sends out 4 baby grenades instantly, and these grenades will home into targets, slagging them.

TL;DR: General Gear

1st Slot: Slag Rapier

2nd Slot: Evisceration Rubi / Grog Nozzle

3rd Slot: Double Penetrating Unkempt Harold

4th Slot: Pussiant Norfleet

Shield: Love Thumper / Hide of Terra

Relic: Bone of the Acients

Class Mod: Legendary Ninja

Grenade Mod: Chain Lightning

In-Game Mechanics: Health Gating

Health Gating is a mechanic in Borderlands 2 that keeps you alive when anything hits you. You will not die when you have 50% health or more when something hits you real hard, especially in UVHM. This is the reason why you were able to survive hard hits by Raid Bosses or Story Bosses.

Why is this so important to melee characters, such as Zer0 and Kreig?

If you're armed with a Grog Nozzle, your melee hits will restore you to 100% health, allowing you to Health Gate another hit. This is the reason why Melee Zer0 thrives on this. You never die, as long as you can land a melee hit.

Always remember that your Grog Nozzle is the equivalant of Dr. Zed, take it out whenever you're below Health Gate.

Playstyle

As a melee zer0, your job is to assasinate. You need to make decisions quick for your team - Who to take down first? Your job is to assasinate and 1 shot the strongest enemy in the area, such as badasses.

How do you do your combo correctly?

Stealth -> Deplete your shield using grenade mod ->Throw Kunai at enemy -> Walk behind enemy -> Find head/critical spot -> Attack. This combo will ensure you deal the most amount of damage, while staying safe.

Do note that you need to look at your shield and heath bar at times, you don't want your grenade mod to kill you instead.

Keep taking down people, and try to maintain your stealth. Once your stealth is down, whip out your Unkempt Harold and start blasting at people.

Waiting until the last 0.1 second, then assasinate

This will amplify damage, especially versus tankier enemies. The longer you wait while in Deception, your next execute will deal significantly more damage!

Tips and Tricks

Always throw down your decoy at an angle where enemies would turn their back to. You DO not want to throw down your decoy directly in front of you, and end up dying.

Jump before you throw down your decoy, this will bug out and you will not need to sit though the 0.5s long animation.

Always throw your kunais before you kill an enemy! Your kunai count will reset whenever you get a successful execute!

If you are using a keyboard to play, rebind your keys. I binded my Melee to "C", Grenade to "X". I have a far comfortable time and improved my gameplay for me.

Switch out weapons and grenades when the situation calls it! Do not use your storm front when approaching a raid boss!

Remember that Hide of Terra/Love Thumper gives you the damage boost when depleted, do not be afraid to use a grenade to deplete your shield!

Try not to use Love Thumper in Co-op mode, the nova blast can kill your teammates!

Put your decoy stratagically, make your enemies confused!

You get bonus damage from Ambush - Enemies target your decoy.

Love Thumper: How to use it effectively in Co-Op

If you're killing your own teammates in Co-Op, you're doing something wrong. I know that you want to have some fun with your friends, but what you're doing is selfish! Your friend will not only go into FFYL mode, but will also grumble.

Here are some tips to use the Love Thumper effectively:

1. Have basic communication between your teamates, for example, go on Skype and talk to them. No game is fun without communication.

2. Look around your friends: Are they close to a monster you're wanting to assasinate? If so, tell them to either back off and have you take the kill, or find other monsters to kill.

3. If you and your friends are fighting a Mini-Boss, tell them to stay a safe distance away from you.

4. Ask your friends if they need help whenever they are in trouble, if they can handle it, let them. But if they say that they cant, help them by slagging the enemy. Try not to land your teammates in FFYL.

5. Learn the radius of the Nova blast from the Love Thumper! This can help you by estimating whether the blast will affect your teammates.

Things Borderlands 2 didn't point out to you.

1. While in Deception, it gives you 230%-650% Melee Damage, 40%-200% Gun Damage!

2. Execute does more damage than a regular melee hit in deception. It increases your melee damage to 460%-1400%!

3. Whenever you get a kill with Many Must Fall, you get 2 extra seconds of invisibility.

Practise with Melee Zer0 to become better!

This content was made by Man of Low Moral Fiber. Do give him your support by suscribing!

Assasin's Resources and other useful links!

I'll be finding useful stuff here! Adding them in for you guys who view this guide!

Zer0's Skill Tree!

Skill Tree[www.borderlands2.com]

Learn How to play Melee Zer0 with Gothalion

Ninj-Antics with Gothalion![forums.gearboxsoftware.com]

Have some questions to ask? Look into this thread, made by Karnedge!

Zer0 FAQ![forums.gearboxsoftware.com]

Want to learn how to handle CO-OP with your friends? T-O will teach you how!

T-O's Co-Op tips[forums.gearboxsoftware.com]

Math behind Melee Zer0. The real and complete, made by Voshy!

Thread link![forums.gearboxsoftware.com]

jiandersonzer0's Compreshensive Zer0 Guide

Reddit thread link!

Changelogs

December 29, 2013

-Added Love Thumper section

December 25, 2013

-Updated Gear

-Fixxed Blurry Images

-Added in images for skill tree abilities

-Added a TL;DR: General Gear Section

December 24, 2013

-Updated Build

December 23, 2013

-Added the Assasin Resources Page, and other useful links!

December 18, 2013

HOTFIX

-Addressed an issue where only one instance of Death Mark could be applied in a multiplayer game
-Zero’s Deception ability can now be activated when firing and reloading a Tediore SMG

Buff for Melee Zer0 players!

Zer0's Kunai (from his skill Death Bl0ss0m) can now apply Death Mark to multiple targets. Stackable by 4 times, which is 80% in total!

The End - Consider giving this guide a thumbs up if you enjoyed it!

Acknowledgments:

Borderlands 2 Wikia[borderlands.wikia.com] for providing me with these pictures of Weapons and Shields!

Man of Low Moral Fiber for providing these videos!

mentalmars[mentalmars.deviantart.com] for providing the branding image for the guide!

Check out my other guides!

BEST BANEZERKER WORLD

[Phantasm]

im not sure if you stated somewhere in the guide but could you list all the dlc / expansions ill need for the gear and weapons. the only dlc's i konw that ill need for this are the levels 51-61 and 62-72.

[radiriz]

I have an idea for "Love Thumper: How to use it effectively in Co-Op" Go on steam chat, if you are using steam that is. Then tell them to stand back when it is low. The blast then shouldn't hit your friend(s).

[Topaz Magoo]

nice build good explanations of choices, and nice formula!

[jacksongamer2013]

YAY

[Tealtyr]

WINNER

[jacksongamer2013]

@spaghetti-sensei, edited for clarity.

[Tealtyr]

yet you put rubi anyway
is bad is wrong

[jacksongamer2013]

@spaghetti-sensei, both the Grog and Rubi work for a Melee Zer0. But I've taken favour to the Grog Nozzle recently because how it syncs so well with a Love Thumper.

[Tealtyr]

When you were explaining skills, for the reload speed you said "pull out a rubi to save your life", even though you meant grog nozzle there.
fooled

[jacksongamer2013]

@billthebetta, I think somewhere in the forums someone mentioned it was a RNG thing. I cant find it right now. But yeah, thanks for the support! I'll be looking forward to making more guides this year =D