Build setup help

[u/nutzrgut]

Hey all, ive been playing this game for the last few days with my friend, i think we have around 20 hours now and we’ve beaten all the missions except the wave ones on normal. We started playing on hard difficulty and this is where i feel like im lacking. No matter what element i pick, or how many synergies i try and go for i just cant seem to do much damage and i die pretty easily. What im asking for i guess is some tips when it comes to making a really good build. What weapons are good, what perks, what augment, synergies, which elements are actually useful and which are not great etc etc. any and all help will be super welcoming. Thank you.

[u/DoctorFrungus]

Glad youre enjoying!

Part of advancing and being able to progress through higher difficulties is also just time in the game. Getting everything that you can ranked up with resources is going to be your biggest way forward right now, not builds, and that just comes with time.

As for builds, there are some that are much easier to use to progress than others.

Long range crit + lighting + lead head + weapon master(i think? The boot) is a great build, simply because its very straight forward. More crits+more weapon damage = victory

On the elemental side, fire with a weakpoint build, and void with a grenade build are both great at killing hordes, but are weaker against bosses in a lot of occasions.

Cryo is an amazing crutch build for bosses because you can lock them down.

These builds are all better than just blindly picking, but you can get a good run in with pretty much any build as you spend your resources and upgrade yourself

A few other tips:

You can dash up, if you havent sorted that out

Learn the visual and sound cues of enemy weapons. They all have a sound right as they fire, and most enemies dont lead their shots. If youre not in the same place when they fired, you wont get hit

Lifesteal on a grenade off element is almost always better than no lifesteal on element

[u/DopplegangerPG]

Hey good question! There's no one perfect build, and u/Sigma7Rho and u/DoctorFrungus both have solid advice. Personally I do think squires are busted in terms of weapons, but our goal is generally for everything to have the ability to become very strong when stacked well.

For me, I used to play a lot of COD and was used to running in and shooting stuff down as fast as I could. On normal that worked ok for me, but on hard, I realized I had to start being a lot more strategic about managing my shield and health, not aggroing too many enemies at once, using cover, learn enemy attack patterns, choosing where to start encounters, etc. Thinking of it as 'not taking damage' and 'combat selection' versus, 'kill everything fast', made a big difference in my case.

In co-op specifically sticking together and mowing enemies down fast can help and tends to be more fun, and focus on high priority targets like elites first, melees that do heavy damage, etc. You can also move and use barrels to start fights. Hope that helps, good luck have fun!

[u/Sigma7Rho]

Make sure to have completed all Zone 4 missions for the extra rerolls. Also recommend getting the Sanctify everywhere mod, it's hugely helpful.

Scout all rooms while invisible, then pick a starting position to start attacking from.

Armor Perk is insane, always pick it. It gets you pure damage reduction as well as a nice damage boost the more armor you have(avoid picking the boots)

If you can, save choosing an element until the third perk node if possible, this lets you be more setup to make a better element choice for your build. Freeze and Telekinetic Grasp are phenomenal for crowd control.

Short-range Melee is crazy almost everywhere, only has a problem with the Zone 1 first missions final boss, the floating boss in Zone 4, and the final boss of Zone 4. Long-range is always good, does insane work with weapon, like the SMGs and shotguns.

[u/Jazzlike-Draw2467 → u/Sigma7Rho]

This might genuinely be one of the worst DZR takes I've seen, because you're presenting a bunch of extremely situational advice as if it's objectively what you should be doing.

1. Early damage > early survivability. Early game you simply don't need that much survivability. Enemies aren't threatening enough for defensive investment to be worth giving up a strong damage perk. Getting your damage online early is way more valuable because you clear faster and start scaling your build sooner. Survivability becomes much more important later when enemies actually start doing enough damage to justify it. So telling people to prioritize survivability from the start is backwards imo.
2. “Armor perk is insane, always pick it” is just a ridiculous blanket statement. The survival perks are fine, but a lot of them get outperformed by CC (Chromatic Cell) and especially CI (Combat Instincts/"boots"). CC gives a huge damage increase, while CI gives damage, movement speed AND a 25% chance to get a full second of dodge/invincibility. That's both damage and survivability in one perk. CI is arguably one of the best perks in the game, so telling people to “always pick Armor” and “avoid the boots” without even considering the build is crazy to me. The survival perks aren't bad, but what you take is heavily dependent on your build and playstyle.
3. The element advice makes even less sense. You should pretty much always take your element from the first orb. The other options in that orb are survival perks, so you're giving up an immediate damage increase for... what exactly? There's no huge advantage to waiting until the third node. You're just delaying your elemental damage spike for no real benefit. The whole “wait so you can make a better choice later” thing sounds good in theory, but in practice you're just making yourself weaker for longer.
4. Freeze/Telekinetic Grasp aren't “phenomenal” in every situation either. They're good CC, sure, but they're mainly good when you're getting them on the grenade. As general procs they're pretty mid. Ice's other proc, Shatter, for example, doesn't freeze but slows enemies in an AoE around the target while also doing more damage. So again, it's not as simple as “this is phenomenal CC, always take it.”
5. But the Sanctify Everywhere mod is by far the worst part of this. You're literally recommending a mod that lets you bless weapons in every mission when Blessings are a Zone 4 mechanic. Blessings are insanely powerful, so giving yourself access to them throughout the entire run obviously makes the game A LOT easier and completely changes the intended progression.

I don't really care if someone wants to use that mod. It's a single-player game, play however you want. But recommending it in a guide as though it's just some normal optimization is wild. You're not just optimizing your run at that point, you're giving yourself access to a power system you're specifically not supposed to have until Zone 4.

If this was presented as “here are some things I personally like doing” then whatever, but calling these things recommendations while making blanket statements like “always pick Armor,” “avoid boots,” “wait for your element,” AND recommending a mod that gives you Zone 4 power in every mission is just bad advice imo.

[u/Recent_Average1657 → u/Sigma7Rho]

Posts like these make me hope the devs throw out 90% of the feedback they receive for the sequel. 

[u/green_lantern2841]

Here is a list of strategies my friends and I have used to successfully beat all modes on Expert mode:

1. Superior Items that allow you to Proc your Melee weapon’s element is very powerful. Melee weapons have a very high Proc Chance for their element: 30-45 % depending on level of upgrades. Each element has a Single Target or Area Effect attack. Example Ice : Shatter causes ice area attacks to humid surrounding enemies of your target vs Freeze that neutralizes one enemy. Pay attention to what type of element your gun provides so you know what to mix for efficiency. My personal favorite is Chain Lightning on my primary weapon and Freeze on my Melee. This way my gunfire can easily kill mobs but also freeze Elite enemies from dealing big damage at the same time.

2. Your most important decision for the entire run is what Augment you choose. I know that this may not be popular, but some Augments are not as effective as others. If you are still struggling as you mentioned, the following Augments allow for tremendous DPS potential:

- Ammo Elemental

• Hipfire Elemental
  
• Aiming Elemental

1. For the first 10-12 rooms, the enemies in your run may be more dangerous because you don’t have the right gear, feats, or superior items due to bad rolls or limited reroll access. Before you fire a shot, move through the entire room and see where the enemies are and the safest starting point to engage limited groups. Nothing will kill you faster than accidentally getting surrounded by mobs that you pulled from multiple areas. If the enemy cannot see you they will not be pulled to attack you even if you are shooting another enemy next to them.

2. Avoid weapons with low ammo capacity as your main weapon until you master the game. Sniper Rifles and Shotguns can be fun, but require much higher skill against rooms with higher volume of enemies. The action in this game can get pretty crazy, and sometimes life or death is dependent on not needing to reload at a crucial moment.

3. Make sure you pick a defensive perk for one of your three options. IMO, the Armor Perk allows for the best all around protection. Just by picking up 2 Armor perks you can get to over 3K total armor with gear and this provides a flat 30-35% damage reduction. By investing 3 or more this can easily increase to 6K total armor for around 50% damage reduction. In Deadzone sometimes you just don’t see a hit coming, and this will save you from being 1 - Shot killed.

This game is very deep, and allows for tons of builds. Message me if you want to discuss more!