Gaige the Mechromancer is one of the six possible characters to choose from in Borderlands 2 and the only one with a cool Mech buddy. In this article, I will show you the best builds for Gaige in Borderlands 2, including all of the best weapons, shields, and class mods for the Mechromancer.
I will try my best to make this a one-stop shop for the best builds for Gaige, regardless of how you like to play her. Whether solo, OP-10, Anarchy (Discord looping included), or a Mech-focused build. Whatever your playstyle, I’ll add it here.
And yes, this includes builds that can beat raid bosses.
Gaige Deathtrap Build – Solo/Leveling Build for Mechromancer
This is the best build for leveling Gaige, as it provides her with a tanky front-liner to soak up bullets, and that tanky robot can also 1v1 bosses for you.
Also, this is the most beginner-friendly build for the Mechromancer because you can honestly AFK and let Deathtrap handle everything. You have nearly permanent uptime on Deathtrap due to Upshot Robot, which increases his duration and melee damage from every kill either of you gets.
On top of a robot that auto-kills everything for you, you also get Close Enough, a skill that causes your bullets to automatically bounce to enemies if you end up missing the shot. It really can’t get much easier than that.
It’s a very strong solo build that also functions as a leveling build.
Normal Mode/TVHM Skills
For those of you wondering what to level as you beat the game’s normal mode (or you have a boosted character), here is what you should level.
Note: This is all in order, and the Best Friends Forever Tree:
- 5/5 – Close Enough
- 4/5 – Fancy Mathematics
- 1/1 – Buck Up
- 1/1 – Upshot Robot
- 4/5 – Unstoppable Force
- 1/1 – Explosive Clap
- 4/5 – Made of Sterner Stuff
- 5/5 – 20% Cooler
- 1/1 – Sharing is Caring
This leveling build for Gaige takes you to level 31 and uses only the BFF tree. You’ll end up with an unkillable Deathtrap that has a copy of your shield (lots of options below) and has a 30% lower cooldown, and only goes away once everything is dead (in theory, at least).
If you’re wondering what to do after level 31, you can take a few different routes. You can keep the same build but start going into the Ordered Chaos tree and grab Anarchy to power Gaige up, or you could go into the Little Big Trouble tree and give Deathtrap more damage.
Personally, I’d go with the Ordered Chaos tree, as there is a good Deathtrap skill there, as well as skills that make Gaige do lots more damage. LBT tree skills are lackluster for Deathtrap compared to the BFF tree.
Best Weapons for this Build
For this leveling build, it really doesn’t matter what gear you have. This is the Deathtrap AFK build for the Mechromancer, which means you almost have zero other skills that make you stronger. Pick up the strongest gun/shield available at the time and use that.
Moreover, because this is a leveling build, you shouldn’t be farming guns or gear. Focus on getting to UVHM before doing that, or at least TVHM.
The following builds will focus more on the important gear you need to get.
Best Gaige OP10 Build – Anarchy
This is the legendary OP10 Anarchy build for Gaige. You can take this build into the highest difficulty level, OP10, and still completely demolish mobs of enemies and raid bosses alike. Max level, level 80 OP10.
There’s a lot that goes into this build. You need some good gear that will take time to farm and a pretty efficient skill build as well, but the result is well worth it.
With this build, you will have up to 400 stacks of Anarchy, giving you up to 700% extra gun damage. The only downside, your accuracy is decreased by the same amount.
To alleviate this as best as possible, Close Enough bounces your bullets to enemies at 50% reduced damage. Even with the damage reduction, you’re still doing 350% extra damage.
This build is very close to the Admiral Bahroo build from many years ago and still works today.
Best Weapon for Anarchy Gaige
Not only is it essential to have the right skill tree for Gaige, but you’ll also need to get the correct weapons for her. Here are the best weapons for this Gaige build.
- The Norfleet
- Logan’s Gun
- Grog Nozzle
Basically, the Norfleet is a crazy rocket launcher with a massive AOE. Because of this, the accuracy loss you suffer from high stacks of Anarchy doesn’t really matter because of how large the AOE is.
Logan’s Gun is mainly used in conjunction with the Sham and isn’t here for damage. If you shoot at the ground towards your feet with the Logan’s Gun and have the Sham equipped, you will regenerate rocket ammo. This allows you to sustain your insane damage with the Norfleet.
And, of course, the Grog Nozzle is your weapon for healing/staying alive—a classic weapon for every build.
Note: Gaige can’t use the Infinity Pistol if she has the Smaller, Lighter, Faster skill. You won’t have any bullets in the magazine (because of the decreased magazine size) and therefore can’t fire the gun.
Best Shields for Anarchy Gaige
For this build, in particular, you will be using the Sham. You want the Sham to be able to regenerate rocket ammo and to keep pumping out DPS with your Anarchy stacks + Norfleet.
You should, of course, aim for the highest percentage Sham you can, but the percentage doesn’t matter that much.
Best Class Mod for Anarchy Gaige
The best class mods for Anarchy Gaige will be the Legendary Anarchist Class Mod or Slayer of Terramorphous Class Mod. Legendary Anarchist is better, more generally, but the Slayer of Terramorphous is considered overkill unless you’re fighting raid bosses.
Legendary Anarchist gives you:
- 10/5 Unstoppable Force- Kill skill, gives move speed and shield regeneration
- 10/5 Myelin – Shock resistance and shield capacity
- 10/5 Typecast Iconoclast – Chance to gain an extra stack of Anarchy
- 9/4 Smaller, Lighter, Faster – Faster reload speed, smaller magazine size
- 50% Weapon Damage
Slayer of Terramorphous gives you a bunch of skills as well, but the main draw of the class mod is that it increases your max Anarchy stacks even further. You can get another 200 stacks of Anarchy which equals about 350% extra damage.
Legendary Anarchist is the better class mod for Anarchy Gaige mobbing because it allows you to stack Anarchy faster and provides a few nice-to-have skills. Slayer of Terramorphous is better for raid bosses.
Alternative to Anarchy Build (if you’re not quite ready)
I have an alternative to this build I use when doing ultimate vault hunter mode for the first time or if I haven’t farmed the correct items yet.
This build takes Blood Soaked Shields and has the option to take either Fancy Mathematics or Myelin, whichever you prefer.
With Blood Soaked Shields, every kill you get will fill up your shields entirely, which pairs well with a high-damage Anarchy build that thrives off kills. For this build, you really only need the Bee shield (and even that isn’t mandatory), as it pairs well with the skills.
The Bee shield does extra AMP damage as long as you’re fully shielded, which means as long as you can keep getting kills, you can keep benefitting from the AMP damage. Pairing this with a Lady Fist makes your damage go crazy.
I wouldn’t say this build is anything crazy, but it allows you to get through UVHM a bit easier without needing to farm for a bunch of Legendaries first. Legendary farming sucks with Gaige because she loses all her Anarchy stacks on reloading the game. I’d rather not do it unless I needed to.
You can also grab the Fibber in Eridium Blight for some good damage as well. The Ricochet Fibber is the best Fibber for Gaige as it always has full damage even with the Close Enough skill. Thankfully, the Fibber doesn’t need to be farmed. You can just complete the Mal questline.
If you don’t get the correct Fibber (Ricochet Fibber!), alt F4 before the game saves, and try again.
The Conference Call is another great weapon for Anarchy Gaige, and it drops from the Warrior with around a 1% drop rate. If you’re worried about going into UVHM, farm the Warrior beforehand, and you’ll have one of the best guns for Anarchy Gaige.
Conclusion
Those are the best Gaige builds in Borderlands 2! Hopefully, this helped you find a build that will take you all the way through UVHM and OP10!
