Borderlands 2 Gunzerker class detailed

Gearbox Software has detailed the skill trees and a few abilities of the Gunzerker class in Borderlands 2.

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Gearbox Software is bringing some new classes to Borderlands 2, with lessons learned from the previous game's skill trees. Now the studio has detailed the skills for one of those classes, the wild dual-wielding Gunzerker.

The Gunzerker's primary action skill is dual-wielding, but the wrinkles come from building from three skill trees to modify that ability. The Rampage skill tree accents the "berserker" roots of the character type, to make the dual-wielding more destructive. The Yippe Ki Yay skill in the Rampage tree, for example, grants more gunzerking time for each kill, so large groups of enemies get laid to waste.

The Brawn skill tree, meanwhile, seems more attuned to being a tank in multiplayer. The Come At Me, Bro skill taunts enemies to focus their attention on you, reduces damage, and puts you at full health -- providing a helpful distraction for your teammates.

The third tree is Gun Lust, which focuses on unique abilities with guns. The No Kill Like Overkill skill converts any extra damage you do to an enemy to health for you. Swapping to a powerful weapon like a sniper rifle would deal overkill damage to restore their health.

As in the previous game, you can select skills from various trees, and combine them for more powerful effects. Combining Money Shot with No Kill Like Overkill means the last bullet in your chamber is more powerful, which makes getting health back with the Overkill ability easier.

"We won't talk specifically about how you do respec-ing," lead designer Jon Hemingway told IGN. "You know in the first game respec-ing was ridiculously cheap to do and you could do it whenever you wanted. We do everything we can to encourage experimentation so the players can try out the different things."

Using a grenade while gunzerking throws two grenades, but the second doesn't cost ammo. "What we're really seeing people do is they will collect a grenade mod which explodes and then throws out additional grenades when those all explode. When you combine that with this it's like it's a room clearer. Just very quickly 'boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.' Everything dies," said lead writer Anthony Burch.

"The skills and the loot really have interesting kinds of interplay," said Hemingway. "All the skills and all the loot have been sort of designed in such a way that you can combine them in these crazy ways."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 28, 2011 12:15 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Borderlands 2 Gunzerker class detailed.

    Gearbox Software has detailed the skill trees and a few abilities of the Gunzerker class in Borderlands 2.

    • reply
      December 28, 2011 12:23 PM

      I'm interested in this on PC. That gamespy login and UI were pretty bad but when it worked it was pretty good. Hopefully they'll actually give the PC version the appropriate care, this time.. like they promised last time.

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        December 28, 2011 12:40 PM

        Borderlands 2 is almost assured to have Steamworks for the co-op, which should improve the online experience about 100x.

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          December 28, 2011 1:13 PM

          Gearbox has all but gone on record to say "Gamespy was a stupid decision".

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          December 28, 2011 4:01 PM

          I skipped Borderlands due to its use of Gamespy.

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        December 28, 2011 4:18 PM

        Didn't they patch Steamworks support alongside the original? I haven't attempted to mix in a multiplayer game, but I thought that one of the updates made multiplayer more Steam-friendly or some such.

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          December 28, 2011 6:52 PM

          Steam does the updates if memory serves.

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      December 28, 2011 12:30 PM

      Will own \m/

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      December 28, 2011 12:48 PM

      I really want more than four classes, or multiple abilities per class.

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        December 28, 2011 2:43 PM

        [deleted]

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        December 28, 2011 4:04 PM

        I want character customization too but I am pretty sure they're going to stick with the Diablo style class/archetype approach.

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          December 28, 2011 4:40 PM

          Then I'd want more classes then you can have in one game.

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      December 28, 2011 12:50 PM

      is he wearing a dead kennedys button? rad.

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      December 28, 2011 12:54 PM

      I fucking can't wait for this game. I love borderlands.

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      December 28, 2011 2:24 PM

      OKAY, Enough with the Gunzerker. Something else! Like the blue haired Siren.

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      December 28, 2011 4:32 PM

      WHY must you get me interested in this game with over a year to go!?!
      I mean, I already knew I was going to be looking forward to BL2, so STOP TALKING ABOUT IT!

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        December 28, 2011 4:45 PM

        I thought this game was due 6-7 months from now: July 2012.

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          December 28, 2011 6:48 PM

          I just saw FY2013. I didn't realize (until researching) they end in March now.

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      December 29, 2011 7:19 AM

      The biggest problem I forsee with this class is ammo. In Borderlands 1, EVERY class had ammo issues until you found a class mod or gun that had +ammo regen on it. Can you imagine dual wielding SMG's? You'd be out of ammo and having to walk back to a vendor after every fight! I hope they get rid of ammo, really. I like the reloading component as I think it adds a lot of value to the gameplay when deciding between a weapon with a slow reload speed compared to a fast reload speed, but running out of ammo wasn't ever fun, and every class got some means of ammo regen by end-game so at some point you didn't have to deal with ammo anyway. It's like the Borderlands devs were saying "Yah we're going to show you how much having ammo sucks in the low levels, but we realize it sucks and isn't fun, so by end-game you won't have to worry about it". Just get rid of ammo (not reloading) to begin with.

      The other issue I forsee is weapon skill levels. Borderlands 1 really encouraged you to pick a single weapon type and stick with it for the massive bonus damage, accuracy, and reload by end-game it gave. If you're constantly swapping out weapons with this guy to 'experiment', you'll end up being gimp with every weapon.

      Unless, of course, they changed how weapon skill levels work in Borderlands 2.

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        January 1, 2012 12:13 PM

        This is how Chris Taylor designs games. You're solving a small problem by simply removing it from the game. How about instead you just ask for more/more-intelligent ammo drops?

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