What is solo play? Why play solo?
Solo play is exactly how it sounds–just you, your wits, and your weapons. You might wanna play solo if you’re a quest speed runner, loot archeologist, or you just wanna farm one particular level over and over. Since Borderlands 2 lets you do all this and more (especially with those DLCs), you’ll want a Vault Hunter that’ll get the job done. Here are the top 5 best solo characters to play so you can loot–er, liberate Pandora from Handsome Jack’s evil grasp.
5. Zer0 -- The Assassin
Now you see him, now you...see him, kinda?
A class act Assassin, if Zer0 isn’t spouting bad haikus he’s probably got a crit shot with your name on it. His Action Skill is Decepti0n, distracting enemies with a hologram of himself while invisibly decimating enemies from another angle.
Why Zer0 is a great solo character:
Zer0 is exceptionally heavy on offense, which means you’ll be able to run and gun your way to the top. He’s great with close to long-range tactics, and the rewards are worth the learning curve. If you’re a Hunter who enjoys illusion and self-preservation from a distance, Zer0 is your Her0.
What Makes Zer0 Good for Solo:
- B0re: Excellent crowd control if you line them up just right since your shots can pierce through enemies. This is handy when you’re facing tough boss battles, and even more useful in True Vault Hunter Mode (TVHM) or Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode (UVHM).
- An Evil Rogue class mod would increase critical hit damage up to 45%. If you complete Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, you get this mod as well as a boost to your Vel0city, Tw0 Fang, and Like the Wind skills.
- Many Must Fall: Zer0’s melee attacks are heaven-sent when you’re out of ammo. Every time you kill an enemy with a melee attack while Decepti0n is active, you deploy another holographic decoy. You can also re-stealth and add time to your Action Skill duration, making you feel like a world-class ninja.
4. Salvador -- The Gunzerker
The only expendable thing here is these guns.
See Salvador in action
A class Gunzerker, Salvador’s Action Skill is dual-wielding any two weapons in the game for a brief time period. He can also gain damage reduction, regain 50% health, and constantly regenerate health and ammo when he’s garnered enough XP.
Why Salvador is a great solo character:
The ability to build up to an almost infinite cycle of Gunzerking with rapid Action Skill cooldown makes for a compelling case. Salvador is a slow burn, and leveling up our favorite short king is worth the wait. With constant health regen and bottomless ammo, you’re pretty unstoppable once you’ve boosted all the right skill points and gotten the right guns.
What Makes Salvador Good for Solo
- The Legendary Berserker class mod is a nice boost to your health regen, increase in magazine storage, and rapid weapon swapping, to name a few. Even when shields are depleted, Salvador can still unleash a maelstrom of damage.
- Money Shot comes in clutch when you’re pinned down by the enemy, giving a lethal damage boost with your final round. This is especially handy if you find yourself in Fight For Your Life often. (Not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything..)
- Sexual Tyrannosaurus is another health regen Skill, where you regenerate a percentage of health for 5 seconds every time you take damage. If you were equipped with a Beast or Monk class mod, you could max out this skill point at 11 and receive +4.4% health regen.
3. Maya -- The Siren
It's just a Phaselock, don't get too caught up in the details.
See Maya in action
A class Siren, Maya is one of six Sirens on Pandora. Her Action Skill, Phaselock, allows her to suspend enemies in mid-air so she can add more crit damage or finish other tasks for missions. She can also boost skill branches dedicated to inflicting or resisting elemental damage, making her a well-balanced Vault Hunter for solo missions.
Why Maya is a great solo character:
Managing hoards of enemies across complex terrain gets messy, which makes Phaselock a wicked upgrade for the Siren class. The Cataclysm skill tree increases elemental damage, with a heavy emphasis on incendiary, corrosive, and explosion. The health regen is also a huge bonus if you find yourself constantly under fire.
What Makes Maya Good for Solo
- Cloud Kill deals heaps of damage with its corrosive effects. A Tier 3 branch under the Cataclysm skill tree, shooting an enemy generates a lingering acid cloud. Make sure to steer clear, since you are also susceptible to corrosive damage.
- Boosting Helios as early as possible means Phaselocking an enemy causes a devastating explosion, damaging nearby enemies. You can level this skill to 11 if you have either a Binder, Fox, Witch, or Legendary Binder class mod. The damage scales up as you level up, ensuring a smooth road to victory.
- Make time for the “Cult Following: The Enkindling” side quest to score yourself a Flame of the Firehawk shield. During Fight For Your Life, a fire nova bursts out every second which will give you a Second Wind before your magazine has time to empty. As revenge, you can Phaselock whoever hurt you and return the favor.
2. Gaige -- The Mechromancer
Thunderdome AI, at your service.
See Gaige in action
Gaige is a class Mechromancer, with the ability to summon her beloved robot DeathTrap as her Action Skill. Tiny but mighty, Gaige can not only level the playing field with her ingenious gadgets but also packs a punch with her Anarchy.
Why Gaige is a great Solo character:
DeathTrap feels like having two players for the price of one, and it can freely roam the battlefield unleashing chaos at its discretion. Additionally, because of Gaige’s tech-savvy prowess, many of her skill branches focus almost exclusively on shock and explosive effects.
What Makes Gaige Good for Solo
- Building Gaige’s Anarchy is an excellent offensive strategy, with a Prodigy class mod to help offset accuracy loss. If you’re more of a run-and-gun type, the higher the stacks the greater your destruction. It does depend on you avoiding reflexively re-loading, so have a healthy stash of guns for swapping during this phase.
- Using the Jill Of All Trades class mode ups your assault rifle damage and magazine size. Combined with The Better Half and Upshot Robot skills, you can gain a fire rate bonus and extend Deathtrap’s duration every time an enemy is killed. This allows for a stackable melee bonus, and who doesn’t like efficiency?
- Sharing is Caring is hands down my favorite perk of playing Gaige. With the diversity of bonuses out there, you could extend your damage impact a thousandfold. The Bee shield is a great choice for its unique ability to add Amp damage to the next shot without consuming shield capacity.
1. Axton -- The Commando
Mister Independent.
See Axton in action
A class Commando, Axton’s biggest plus is excelling at survival.. His Action Skill is the Sabre Turret, an upgradable Dahl model that can be outfitted with extra weapons and abilities.
Why Axton is a great Solo player:
His high defense capabilities make him an excellent ally in co-op, and solo playthrough is just as spicy. You can upgrade your Sabre Turrets to deploy two at a time in different locations with the Gemini skill, which is an incredible tactical advantage. You could make quick work of a lot of boss battles, scooping up some lovely trophies from difficult sidequests along the way.
What Makes Axton Good for Solo
- Filling out your Guerilla skill tree leads you to Double Up, adding a second gun to your Sabre Turret and changing both guns to fire slag rounds. This takes the pressure off of finding slag guns while looting. The Scorched Earth skill provides a multi-rocket add-on to your Sabre Turret, adding even more blast radius to your Action Skill.
- The Forbearance skill accounts for Axton’s lack of elemental defense, allowing for -8% status effect duration while also boosting health by +1% per skill level. Arming yourself with a Specialist class mod not only improves SMG accuracy but also lets you boost Forbearance to level 11. It reduces elemental status duration by -88% and boosts health by +11%.
- Adding Grit to your skill set is non-negotiable, since it gives you up to a +20% chance to Ignore Death, and restores 50% of your health regardless of skill point level. Equipping yourself with a Pointman, Ranger, or Legendary Pointman class mod boosts Chance to Ignore Death up to +44%.
