Overview
A build for Krieg based in the Mania and Hellborn trees, focusing on elemental damage and melee.
Build Overview
Just as the name implies, this build focuses on the Hellborn and Mania trees, which means melee and elemental damage are your friends. Hellborn Maniac is very flexible, however, and you can decide how to distribute your points based on how you play. What I’m giving you is just how I personally play the build, but you can change it up however you want as long as you keep some of the core skills that make it strong.
Core Skills
Here I’ll list some of the essential skills to the build, and how many points I feel should be put into them. These are recommended to keep Hellborn Maniac strong, while the rest of the skills can be distributed however you’d like.
Feed the Meat
Feed The Meat is one of the the first two skills in Krieg’s Mania tree.
Feed the Meat will add +10% Max Health and +0.5 sec Shield Recharge Delay per level. The recharge delay from this skill is important as Krieg benefits from his shield being down, and will help him gain stacks of Salt the Wound, another important skill in Hellborn Maniac.
Fuel the Rampage and Embrace the Pain
Fuel the Rampage and Embrace the Pain are the next tier skills in the three, both of which I feel should be speced at least a couple of points in each.
Embrace the Pain increases Fire Rate +7% per level when shields are down and adds +1 sec Shield Recharge Delay per level, feeding into other skills such as Salt the Wound or Fuel the Rampage.
Fuel the Rampage adds +20% Buzz Axe Rampage cooldown from taking damage per level; additional +20% per level from Health damage. You can now be damaged by teammates; friendly fire damage is 50% – 5% per level.
Salt the Wound, Silence the Voices, and Release the Beast
Salt the Wound, Silence the Voices, and Release the Beast are the last 3 skills essential for this build in the Mania skill tree.
Taking damage from an enemy while your shield is down adds a stack of Salt the Wound to a maximum of 20. +1.5% Melee Damage and +1% Shotgun damage per stack per level. Salt the Wound helps krieg use shotguns and melee, however you only gain stacks while your shield is down, hence why other skills that add recharge delay are integral.
Silence the voices gives you +50% Melee Damage per level. 12% chance to attack yourself with melee attacks. I highly recommend maxing out this skill and putting 5 points to this, as it greatly increases Krieg’s melee damage (up to 250%). While you will end up hitting yourself sometimes, and some players seem to think the skill isn’t worth the self-inflicted damage, it is really a great skill and worth the risk.
Activating the Buzz Axe Rampage when at or below 33% of your max health remaining (i.e., when the ! is showing) instantly refills your health and transforms you into a Badass Psycho Mutant with +100% Melee Damage and +50% Damage Reduction. Buzz Axe Rampage is instantly recharged afterwards. I don’t think I have to explain why this skill is great.
Burn, Baby, Burn and Fuel the Fire
Burn, Baby, Burn and Fuel the Fire are the first two skills in the Hellborn skill tree and both increase the chance to set you on fire.
Burn, Baby, Burn adds +7%, +15% burn damage per level. 7% chance (+7% per level) per fire attack to set self on fire, while Fuel the Fire adds 7% chance (+7% per level) per fire attack to set self on fire. Killing an enemy gives +40% Elemental Effect Chance (+40% per level) for a short time.
Numbed Nerves
Numbed nerves adds +10% damage reduction per level when on fire, up to 50% damage reduction in total (without class mods). I recommend putting at least 3 or 4 points into this skill.
Delusional Damage and Fire Fiend
Delusional Damage causes all Elemental Status Effects to have a chance to light yourself on fire. Ignite chances are determined by those accumulated from Burn, Baby, Burn and Fuel the Fire. This skill is incredibly important as it means that you can still light yourself on fire without having to use fire weapons, allowing you to switch to elemental weapons better fit against your enemy.
Fire Fiend causes melee attacks to have a 10% per level chance to Ignite enemies. +10% Weapon Accuracy and +7% Reload Speed when on fire. Fire Fiend is a great skill for this build as Krieg can still depend on melee, and the chance to ignite enemies on fire with melee means you can set yourself on fire even more!
Flame Flare, Elemental Empathy, and Raving Retribution
Flame Flare, Elemental Empathy, and Raving Retribution are the last 3 skills needed in the Hellborn tree. Both Flame Flare and Elemental Empathy should have at least 4 skill points in them each, max them out if you can.
Flame Flare adds +20% Burn Duration on you per level. 15% chance per level for your Burn effects to apply another Burn effect.
A percentage (5% per level) of Elemental Status Effect Damage done to enemies heals you with Elemental Empathy. This skill will help to keep you alive, and paired with Thrill of the Kill you’ll have an easy time healing.
With Raving Retribution, while you are on fire, taking damage from enemies will spawn homing balls of fire that seek out the attacker and explode on impact. Fireballs only trigger once per second. This skill is awesome and will help you continually set enemies on fire, setting yourself on fire yet again and causing more healing and elemental damage.
Recommended Gear
Next is a list of items I recommend. Note that these are just weapons that I use. It isn’t necessarily the best gear in the game, but it’s what suits my playstyle. You are free to change up your inventory however you’d like, but these are just items I’ve been using.
Blockhead
The Blockhead is a unique shotgun manufactured by Tediore. It is always incendiary and shoots a unique 3×3 spread of fireball projectiles. These projectiles can richochet off of surfaces. The Blockhead is a nice shotgun with sufficient damage and works great with this build. It is dropped from Creepers in the Caustic Caverns.
Slagga
The Slagga is a Legendary SMG manufactured by Bandit. It is always slag elemental, which is extremely useful in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode.
Infinity
The Infinity is a Legendary pistol manufactured by Vladof which does not consume ammo and never has to reload. The Infinity can come in any elemental, except for slag.
Hide of Terramorphous
The Hide of Terramorphous is a Legendary Maylay Shield manufactured by Bandit. It is a combination of the Maylay, Nova (fire), and Spike (fire) shield types. Due to this, I feel the Hide is a great shield for this build as the spike and nova damage will light enemies on fire, once again giving you bonuses for causing elemental effects. This shield is a rare drop from Terramorphous the Invincible in Terramorphous Peak.
Tips and Tricks
To end this guide, I’d just like to throw a few things in here.
Krieg and Bladed Weapons
From Gearbox themselves…
Krieg has higher default melee damage then everyone else.
He has a X% increased melee damage that works exactly the same way as a bayonet attachment and occupies the same slot.
That % increase scales with level. lvl 20: 13% | level 44: 50% | level 61: 77,6%
So after level 44 if you equip a weapon with a blade attachment that gives you 50% increased melee damage you would actually do LESS damage than if you were using weapon with no blade attachment. But if you equip the Law (100% increased melee damage) you will be doing higher melee damage.
Hellfire Halitosis
This is a skill overrides Krieg’s melee ability and allows him to breath fire in a small cone around him, and has a 15 second cooldown between uses. When in cooldown, Krieg switches to his regular melee attack. I have not tested this myself, but I do not believe any bonuses towards melee damage are applied to this. I personally do not use this skill.
Light the Fuse
Light the Fuse is a skill in the Mania tree that replaces Fight For Your Life. During Light the Fuse you pull out a live bundle of dynamite and can move normally. The bundle detonates when the timer runs out. If you kill someone you are revived.
Getting a revive with the bundle explosion gives you bonus Movement Speed for the remainder of the time that was left in Light the Fuse.
Sticks can be thrown with the fire button.. Detonate bundle by holding the reload button.
I personally recommend against using this skill, as I have experience with this and it feels incredibly weak, and often times hindered me more than it helped me. However, as I said, this build is incredibly flexible and if you’ve had better luck than me with Light the Fuse you’re welcome to use it.