Borderlands 2

[Anteros]

Yes, you should. In TVHM and UVHM, Slag makes combat go far more smoothly, and automatic weapons tend to be the ones with the most viable of abilities. Plus, you're basically saying you restrict yourself to the weapon type that has the second-lowest maximum ammo pool in the game. That's not smart at all.

Besides, the most viable sniper rifles are Jakobs and Maliwan, as Dahl snipers burn through your ammo quickly and have wicked recoil, Hyperion snipers waste a few bullets before becoming pin-point accurate (small ammo pool + wasted shots = no ammo very quickly), and Vladof sniper rifles are basically high-powered machine guns. They're hardly snipers, and their ROF is so high that it's nearly impossible not to waste a few shots while trying to control the damned things.



Not in the late levels of TVHM and UVHM.



Not in the late levels of TVHM and UVHM.



Those "pointless melee talents" serve to boost your melee damage to insane levels. Sure, backstabbing is silly and worthless, but extra damage when your enemy is at low health, at upwards of 2200% more melee damage (when used in conjunction with the Law, without Decepti0n) With Decepti0n, your melee damage to an enemy can reach well into the tens of thousands.

Oh, and F0ll0wthr0ugh increases your movement speed, gun damage, and melee damage every time you make a kill. Bloodshed's capstone skill (Many Must Fall) means you can do equip the Vladof Rapier, cloak, and drop a dozen enemies, dealing 1300% damage on each strike, with F0ll0wthrough giving you a nice boost up to 1560% damage after the first kill. Like The Wind also gives 15% more melee damage while moving, and Iron Hand gives an additional 15%.

So no, none of the skills in Bloodshed are pointless, as while they all focus in melee, they do so in such a way that every one of the exceptional skills of the tree synergizes perfectly. Throw in Cunning so you can deal with targets that are difficult to target, and you've got yourself a very capable character.

I like how you just assume that I've not played the same levels of the game as you just because we disagree. Damage increases don't just go away because your enemy has more health. Also...it's possible to crit with other guns besides sniper rifles.

I've already said that I only snipe when I'm playing with other people. In this scenario they're applying the slag. Either that or I'm hitting a target with the kunais from deception to apply mark of death and slag before lining up the crit. I'm not saying sniping is optimal...but I don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be either.

As for bloodshed...it's a fine build if that's the type of character you want to play, but it isn't productive to tell someone to spec for melee if they're asking about sniping.