Gaige the Mechromancer DLC released for Borderlands 2
A full week ahead of the scheduled release, the DLC character class called Gaige, AKA the Mechromancer, has been released for all to enjoy! And even better news, if you pre-ordered Borderlands 2, you can enjoy her for free! If you were late to the metaphorical party, she’s yours for 800MSP. Bet you wish you’d RSVP’d now? More party references.
Gaige, voiced by well-known voice actress Cherami Leigh, is your typical overachieving punk-rock schoolgirl with a penchant for mass-destruction and killer robots. OK, typical for the world of Borderlands. How she found herself on Pandora is as yet a mystery, but she’s set to kick ass as a Vault Hunter.
Where every other Vault Hunter’s Action Skill is an inanimate object (however much Axton wishes his turret was a real girl), Gaige is the first character in Borderlands 2 to have an Action Skill that calls forth a minion of her very own. Her pet, aptly named Death Trap, can be sent into battle once every 60 seconds to unleash hell unto your foes with his energy claws. Death Trap can be upgraded through talents to have an eye laser, more powerful melee attacks or the ability to throw an orb into battle that, once shot by you, will explode in electric goodness, frying everyone around you. Death Trap can also be shot with an elemental weapon to take on that element in his attacks. Shoot him with slag and watch enemies take lots more damage. Shoot him with corrosive bullets and watch your foes melt in a delightful Wicked Witch style. This skill is only available much later on, but it sounds very appealing to those of us who like to watch our adversaries run around screaming in agony before they perish.
Besides the skills that augment Death Trap’s abilities, there are many points to be spent that will make Gaige a more effective killing machine. One such being a skill called Anarchy, which awards you with increased gun damage for every magazine you expend or for every enemy that you kill. Sounds cool, right? There’s one catch: reload prematurely and you lose all stacks of Anarchy. And seeing as Anarchy can stack up to 150 (or 300 with relevant talents) that’s a whole lotta boom-boom to waste for a simple reload.
Gaige also has a skill tree that’s more forgiving, called Best Friends Forever. A bit controversial at first when it was called “The Girlfriend Tree” by developers, this tree is well suited for players who aren’t used to playing First Person Shooters or games in general. Talents such as Close Enough give your missed bullets a chance to ricochet toward a nearby enemy, and talents such as Upshot Robot and Sharing is Caring buff Death Trap’s abilities even more. Looking at the skill tree it’s easy to see the developers’ intentions in allowing people to play together, regardless of skill level. However, all three skill trees complement each other nicely and there’s absolutely no reason why a hardcore player wouldn’t want to dip into the Best Friends Forever skill tree for a few talents here and there.
Whether you’re a big fan of having your very own bad-ass minion stomping around the battlefield, doing massive elemental damage, or whether you want to be the one doing massive damage with a high risk, high reward playstyle, Gaige the Mechromancer has you covered.
While Gaige is downloading, check out her skill tree and plot your road to domination: http://www.borderlands2.com/us/skilltree/mechromancer.html
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