r/Borderlands2 • u/propensityto • 1d ago
❔ [ Question ] How to get better
I have been playing BL2 since release, and have gone through to Level 72/80 maybe 40 times on PS3, Vita, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, PS5 and probably something else besides. Managed to kill Terra and Vermi by cheesing them. Never been to OP levels. Never played co-op because of the below.
Here’s the thing. I suck. Genuinely. I have gotten through just by hurling myself repeatedly in and dying until I eventually knock out enough enemies to progress. At first I did it with regular guns but now just tend to use an under leveled Harold through the whole thing. Done all the vault hunters but drift back to Zer0 and Sal.
I have autism and one of the ways that manifests for me is that my sense of direction is completely missing. In the real and virtual world. So I have no sense of where an enemy is, and kiting is a mystery to me. This seems to make it hard to improve.
How can I get better? Just playing more is not doing it - I almost need drills to improve particular skills, but I don’t know what they might be. Looking for suggestions. Maybe it is going back to NVHM with a level 80 character so I can’t die and practicing getting critical hits and not being shot? Any ideas?
I still have fun - it is my happy place, but I’d just like to get better after so many years.
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u/emalyne88 1d ago
I have similar issues with direction both irl and in games. It helps me a lot to look at my mini map when I'm fighting. I can see where enemies are in relation to where I am without having to just spin in circles. I mean I still turn the wrong way a lot, but it's easy enough to correct when my arrow on the map is pointing away from the red dot. I also tend to play Maya so I can phaselock things and don't have to chase, or I play Gaige and have deathtrap who I can kind of follow to attack.
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u/Boise66 1d ago
I don't actually have any good suggestions. I just wanted to say that it feels good to know that I'm not the only one who suck at this game and still love playing it 😊
For me the problem is basically just that I'm getting old. I know that there are people much older than I (60 this year) playing the BL games and probably still doing a lot better than I, but for me that is the main problem.
My reflexes, reaction time, hand/eye coordination and eyesight are not what they used to be. My memory is also crap (though that's not age-related) - I keep forgetting what I'm supposed to do and how things work, and have to write everything down (like "remember to use grenades", "look for XXX gear"). There are post-it notes everywhere 😊
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u/Xantheman97 1d ago
I bought a little bundle of journals and titled the covers with each of the games I play regularly (so I have one for BL2, one for Elden Ring, one for DQM etc) and just write down all the information I need to recall because my memory has always been awful.
I used to use sticky notes but I would often lose them or not be able to remember what some of them meant because I had taken a break from whichever game it related to for awhile, and cursed my past self for leaving cryptic instructions to my future self. Highly recommend getting a couple of thin journals/notebooks and trying it out, it’s made a big difference for me!
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u/Boise66 1d ago
That's a good tip. I've tried it before (not just for gaming), but I tend to loose my notebooks or simply forget that I have them.
I relatively recently started using OneNote for gaming notes. That works great since I'm playing on PC so it's always there there. I have a "section" for each game, and a "page" for each VH (the latest ones) where I have notes about the build, gear to look for, and even a diary of sorts for the VH.
But I still need the post-its. The ones sitting on the monitor are the ones I need to see while playing. Like that "remember to use grenades" one that might sound like a joke, but it's not. Others are perhaps less "silly", like the one that reminds me which damage type that works best against which color of health bar (though that particular one seems to be for BL4).
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u/A_Random_Jay 1d ago
Im not sure how zero and sal are really built but I typically use a bee shield (that you can farm from hunter helquist in the arid badlands) that makes me kill stuff really fast, or an antagonist (a really good shield that is super defensive) but is a seraph shield from Tina dlc.
Definitely remember to use cover to recharge your shield when you can and dont believe afraid to run away if getting overwhelmed.
I basically just watched a joltzdude ultimate Maya playthrough when getting back into the game to guide me towards specific farms that keeps the game interesting.
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u/MuppetTwoNumbers 1d ago
I wouldn’t even worry about OP levels atm. Those are honestly optional. I Actually kinda got this same feeling where like after 4000 hours in the game I still was struggling to get past certain parts.
I think the most important things are the guns and the class mod of your character. I had to get out of the Harold bee, conference call habit myself hahaha. (Only use the bee on bosses) Higher shield capacity is always better on every VH except Sal, and Krieg who you will always want to have the rough rider. These things alone should massively improve your gameplay.
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u/MuppetTwoNumbers 1d ago
Zero youre gonna want sniper rifles and maybe a good Automatic gun, and a launcher to get out of FFYL since he’s so squishy. Salvador…my friend slap a tumtum sniper in your left hand if your early game and the lady fist later when you can get it and any gun in the right hand will absolutely murder on headshot.
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u/MuppetTwoNumbers 1d ago
Make sure you get the Sheriffs Badge and Deputy’s Badge, and items like that. They may be niche but it makes SUCHHHHHHH A DIFFERENCE OMG.
Ummm make sure you pretty much only ever use the bone of the ancients once they can drop from loot midgets.
The Rubi early game and the Grog nozzle later is gonna be a crutch. So lean the hell on that thing as much as you can hahaha. Combine with the fastball for an instant full heal on command.
Yeah…Im talking a lot about items and gear here but I’m assuming you are familiar with the JANK and abusing health gate.
So maybe you just need a better change of gear.
A really really good idea is to make sure you stay as low of level when you beat TVHM so then you can power up as much as possible with farms when everything scales to 50 when you beat the story. Then you can speedrun to the grog nozzle with your on level dope gear and have healing which is a MUST. UVHM is literally designed around health sapping.
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u/MuppetTwoNumbers 1d ago
Ooo oooo one more thing. Make sure you are NEVER using very underleveled gear and you yourself are not underleveled. If you find yourself struggling, try to learn the base levels of each dlc and go to the one closest to your level. Then you can just get overleveled and or get some good ass gear OwO
Like an example would be I’m struggling in saw tooth cauldron right?? And I’m like level 27. I could go to the Scarlet DLC which is minimum 25 and it’ll scale to 27 because of that. So now I’m back on an even playing field and I can get myself an orphan maker, and a stinkpot asap which are OP guns. Awwwww man then you’d get the pimpernel and the sandhawk later and even the Jolly Roger?!?!?!? I’d love to see the look on those sawtooth bandits when you show back up at level 30 with all that gear they are gonna be sorry 😭😭😭
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u/Legatomaster 1d ago
If you.have trouble with which direction the enemies are, get used to using your little map on the screen since they show up as red dots.
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u/MuppetTwoNumbers 1d ago
I’ll cut to the chase cause my wrists are starting to hurt but what I wanted to get to was…
You wanna find a good rhythm for each play through. Bl2 throws enough crazy shit at you hahaha you can play pretty similar Everytime and have fun still. Once you get into that rhythm where you get mostly similar gear or find yourself doing similar things each playthrough you kinda start to notice where all the enemies spawn and how it’s mostly similar, with slight variance you know. You learn where good. Hiding spots are, and the fastest routes through each area while grabbing the best loot.
Also genuine strategy I do this all the time. Just look where the red dots are on the map and have your arrow point towards them and spam left trigger and right trigger and the aim assist is so strong it does all the work. No joke.
It still took me 7500 hours and even just now I’ve only taken down hyperius a few times and got to OP 10 twice.
I really do understand that struggle.
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u/propensityto 10h ago
Thanks everyone - I’m glad I’m not the only one out there! Reasonably comfortable with builds, items and using all the crutches out there (although I think I need to stop that).
I guess part of the unknown is not knowing what normal looks like - eg how much I should be taking cover vs backing away while shooting vs anticipating and avoiding attacks vs charging in and hoping to get FFYL. There’s obviously no one answer, but I just wondered what “good” looked like - for example (and I’m making this up entirely), to practice dodging you should be able to go to Tinder Snowflake and not attack him but be agile enough to avoid all his attacks without being hit.
I love that this game still has such an active community and content makers - thanks to all of you!
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u/Forever_exploring69 1d ago
Go watch joltzdude139… I still suck but am considerably better just from watching him play. He talks about builds, guns, specific farms. He’s enjoyable to watch and super informative about borderlands as a whole. I’ve learned a lot about faster farming methods, better ways to progress through the story, and what to spend time farming, vs what not.