As an avid Borderlands 2 player with over 1000 hours played, I‘ve developed a seasoned perspective when it comes to the strengths and weaknesses of the various vault hunter classes. Whether you‘re a new player jumping into the acclaimed looter shooter for the first time or a veteran looking to try a new character, picking your vault hunter is an important choice that will define your whole experience on Pandora.
The key is finding the playstyle that clicks with you personally – something I‘ve gained plenty of insight on after mastering every vault hunter multiple times over. So let me guide you through what makes each of Borderlands 2‘s classes unique.
Critical Analysis of the 6 Vault Hunters
There‘s no objective "best" vault hunter for every player or situation. However, based on extensive testing and experience playing all the content from Normal Mode to Overpower Level 8, I‘ve assessed the key qualities that distinguish the vault hunters:
| Vault Hunter | Damage Output | Survivability | Mobbing | Bossing | Skill Floor | Skill Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salvador | A | B | A+ | B | E | D |
| Zer0 | S | D | B | A | Hard | Very Hard |
| Gaige | S | B | A | S | Easy | Hard |
| Maya | A | B | A+ | B | Medium | Hard |
| Axton | B | A | A | B | Very Easy | Medium |
| Krieg | S+ | C | A | S+ | Hard | Very Hard |
Damage Output: Raw damage dealing capabilities
Survivability: Tankiness and ability to avoid death
Mobbing: Clearing out groups of normal enemies
Bossing: Taking down tough single targets like raid bosses
Skill Floor: Entry difficulty to be viable
Skill Ceiling: Mastery difficulty to maximize potential
As you can see, each character excels in certain areas over others. Let‘s dive deeper into their unique playstyles and mechanics to help you find the perfect match.
Salavador the Gunzerker – Easy Explosive Power
For those who love unrelenting action with impressive firepower, Salvador is a great pick. He effortlessly shreds enemies at close range thanks to his signature Gunzerking ability:
Gunzerking: Enter a rampage, firing two weapons simultaneously for 12 seconds. Grants health regeneration and reduces damage taken by 50%.
- Cooldown: 42 seconds
- Can be used while in Fight For Your Life
By dual wielding weapons like the Grogg Nozzle and Interfacer, I‘ve personally peaked at over 30 million damage per second on Salvador! While his technical skill ceiling is lower than others, he still allows for incredibly explosive, high-risk play.
Mowing down mobs with ease, Salvador truly shines when you grab a Rubi pistol for healing and unleash endless streams of bullets. However, he suffers in longer boss fights where his Gunzerking downtime leaves you vulnerable. Ultimately, Sal‘s raw stopping power coupled with beginner-friendly skills make him a destructive no-brainer choice to start.
Zer0 the Assassint – High Risk, High Reward
For players who enjoy methodical planning and patience, Zer0 provides tense stealthy gameplay culminating in massive single-strike damage:
Decepti0n: Become invisible and spawn a holographic decoy for 5 seconds. Your next attack while cloaked deals bonus damage based on the amount of time spent invisible.
- Cooldown: 8 seconds base
- Bonus Damage: Up to 1000%
As an assassin, proper skill rotation is key to mastering Zer0. By coordinating Decepti0n‘s bonus damage multiplier with hard-hitting sniper rifles, I‘ve hit over 50 million damage on a single crit!
Of course, this requires extremely precise timing and aim to pull off compared to other vault hunters. Additionally, managing Zer0‘s relatively low health pool places heavy emphasis on finding safe positioning before striking. Overall, be prepared for steep learning curve, but landing that perfect sniper shot after vanishing in thin air is supremely satisfying.
Gaige the Mechromancer – Caotic Technology
For demonic tech and robot summoning madness, Gaige and her trust Deathtrap provide a wild destructiveride:
Deathtrap: Summon a hovering robot buddy to attack enemies for 60 seconds. Has multiple upgradeable attacks like lasers, claws, and tesla coils.
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
- Can be resummoned instantly after expiring
Beyond her ability to melt foes with elemental damage, Gaige‘s real power lies in Anarchy stacks. By quickly depleting ammo with repeated reloads, she gains stacking damage bonuses up to 400% extra while lowering accuracy.
The result? Utter ridiculous bullet fireworks as I‘ve gunned down bosses in seconds flat! However, losing all stacks on death means her damage rollercoaster requires caution. Overall, Deathtrap makes Gaige a great solo class, while her Anarchy enables everything from automated lasers to pure rocket launchers devastation!
Maya the Siren – Elemental Controller
Offering broad elemental powers with crowd control, Maya provides versatile play functions:
Phaselock: Envelop an enemy in a stasis sphere for 10 seconds, rendering it unable to fight back. This sphere deals increasing damage based on enemy health missing.
- Cooldown: 13 seconds
- Pulls nearby enemies toward it
As a Siren, Maya unsurprisingly revolves around utilizing elemental status effects to their fullest potential. By coordinating skills like Chain Reaction and Ruin with guns using fire, shock, or corrosion damage, I can inflict devastating damage when triggering multiplicative explosions.
Combine this with Phaselock‘s cc and healing abilities, and Maya brings great utility in both solo and – especially – coop play. However, she does rely on very specific builds/gear to trivialize those super tough raid bosses compared to other vault hunters. Overall, Maya‘s elemental crowd control strengths make her a superb choice if you prefer strategic setup over raw firepower.
Axton the Commando – Reliable and Balanced
A well-rounded shooter bolstered by deployable sabotage, Axton provides straightforward effectiveness:
Sabre Turret: Deploy an automated turret to defend an area for 20 seconds. Fires at nearby enemies and projects a protective shield. Can be upgraded to provide healing, nuke explosions, or extra missile pods.
- Cooldown: 42 seconds
- Multiple charges at later levels
As an ex-Dahl military man, its unsurprising Axton focuses on reliable gun damage and grenades rather than flashy abilities. By dropping my Sabre Turret repeatedly into the fray and gunning foes down alongside it, I can efficiently juggle consistent firepower with defensive utility.
In prolonged battles, even basic turret healing or ammo refills provide just enough sustain to push through compared to flimsier characters. Ultimately, Axton may not have supremely broken combos, but his balance and ease-of-use keeps him a steadfast choice from your first playthrough well into the late game.
Krieg the Psycho – Chaotic Devastation
Unleashing lethal melee insanity, Krieg‘s bloodlust constantly fuels his rampage:
Buzz Axe Rampage: Charge into a psychotic melee-only mode for 20 seconds. Krieg ignores normal health, instead gaining increased damage resistance and regaining health equal to a percentage of damage dealt.
- Cooldown: 90 seconds base
- 500% extra melee damage during rampage
Simply put, Krieg is an absolute blast to play if you enjoy constantly walking the razor‘s edge between death and destruction. By directly converting the damage I deal into healing, my rampages let me laugh maniacally even against swarms of enemies surrounding me!
The trick is timing rampage activation for when your health drops low to regenerate tons of health mid-fight. Add bonus explosive or melee damage from skills and you‘ve got an unstoppable train of pain in your hands! Of course, learning to properly manage Krieg‘s risk-reward aggression is quite difficult – but ultimately the most rewarding and fun in my opinion!
Hopefully breaking down the unique mechanics and strengths of each vault hunter has provided some insight to help choose your character. Again, there is no definitive "best" – just the class that clicks most with your preferred playstyle.
As someone whose extensively experienced everything Borderlands 2 has to offer, I highly recommend experimenting with all the vault hunters at some point to keep things fresh. But for now, pick whoever sounds most appealing and exciting to you personally! The most important thing is having fun slaying psychos on Pandora‘s chaotic alien planet.
Let me know if you have any other questions down below! For more Borderlands content and guides, be sure to check back on the site. Happy looting!
