Zer0, the assassin character in Borderlands 2, can be an incredibly powerful vault hunter when equipped with the right gear. His skill set lends itself well to high burst damage through critical hits, allowing him to quickly take out enemies before they can react.
However, with the wide selection of guns available in Borderlands 2, it can be daunting to figure out which ones synergize best with Zer0‘s abilities. This guide covers the optimal weapons you should seek out for your Zer0 playthrough, whether you‘re leveling up or taking on end-game content.
Overview of Zer0‘s Playstyles
While most vault hunters tend to specialize in a certain range or damage type, Zer0 is remarkably versatile depending on how you build him. Here are some of the most common playstyles:
Sniper: Focused heavily on dealing massive critical hit damage from long range. Longbow, Lyuda, Pitchfork excel here.
Melee: Dash in and out of combat utilizing melee overrides and healing skills. Requires good roid shields/class mods.
Grenades: Stack grenade and gun damage to spam high burst explosives. Fastball, Bonus Package work great.
I‘ll be focusing primarily on gear for sniper and melee builds since those tend to perform the best in the end-game. Let‘s start with some weapons perfectly suited for any Zer0 looking to rule from afar.
Best Sniper Rifles
Lyuda
Without a doubt the Lyuda is Zer0‘s bread-and-butter sniper rifle. With incredible damage, fire rate, accuracy and recoil control, it allows you to churn out immense critical damage from any range.
A single shot breaks off into a horizontal spread of 3 projectiles, essentially tripling your damage at no extra ammo cost. It also has superior elemental damage across all variants except slag. Lyuda can carry you through the entire game even at higher difficulties.
How to Get: Farm Gettle in The Dust
Elements: All except Slag
Pitchfork
For burst damage against single targets, nothing beats the Pitchfork. It fires a single projectile that splits into 5 homing darts upon a short delay. All 5 darts receive the full amp damage bonus, allowing this gun to annihilate even raid bosses when used properly.
Aim for crit spots and time your shots so all darts hit nearly simultaneously for incredible damage potential. It can be difficult to use, but extremely rewarding once mastered. Just beware of the heavy ammo consumption with each shot.
How to Get: World drop or Terramorphous
Elements: All
Pimpernel
The Pimpernel has the special ability to fire 6 child projectiles outward in a nova pattern upon hitting a target. These extra pellets receive boosted gun damage based on grenade and rocket launchers you have equipped.
By swapping to a high damage rocket like the Nukem after firing, you can inflict tremendous burst damage as the child pellets gain the damage bonus. This allows the Pimpernel to inflict some of the highest critical DPS amongst all sniper rifles.
How to Get: Quest reward from Don‘t Copy That Floppy
Elements: All
Best Shotguns
Shotguns can serve as excellent cleanup weapons once your enemies get too close for comfort. These boomsticks have the raw power to shred foes at close quarters.
Conference Call
The Conference Call is basically an elemental shotgun sniper rifle with its tight spread and absurd range. It fires a horizontal wall of 14 pellets that ricochet 3 times off surfaces for a total of 42 shots per trigger pull.
Needless to say, this wrecks groups of enemies and even distant targets easily. It also has the unique ability to spawn extra projectiles depending on your gun damage. Get a copy in every element available for versatile destruction.
How to Get: Warrior, Handsome Sorcerer
Elements: All
Butcher
For pure elemental chaos at close range, grab a Butcher. It consumes 2 ammo per shot to fire a wide horizontal spread of 18 projectiles. These shots also ricochet once to hit more targets within the meat grinder‘s range.
To sustain this bullet storm, the Butcher has a chance to return 2-6 ammo to your reserves per shot. So even with the heavy ammo usage, you‘ll rarely ever have to reload if your aim is on target. It works great with Zer0‘s many reload speed skills as well.
How to Get: World drop, Chupacabratch
Elements: All
Best Shields
A good shield is crucial for survival in Borderlands 2‘s higher difficulties. These are some of the best to equip on your Zer0 run.
Antagonist
This Seraph shield not only offers powerful explosive resistance, but also unique reflection abilities. Upon blocking damage, it will spawn homing slag projectiles towards the attacker.
This effect does not consume ammo, can slag targets, and also heals you for a portion of the damage reflected. An incredibly versatile defensive tool for Zer0 builds.
How to Get: Seraph Vendor (Requires Seraph Crystals)
Resist: Explosive
Special Effect: Damage reflection
Evolution
While the Evolution lacks any damage resistances, it makes up for that with raw health restoration power. It provides exceptional hp regen rate, capacity, and delay.
It even heals nearby teammates for a portion of the health regained. Great for keeping your health topped off during combat as Zer0.
How to Get: Hyperius The Invincible
Resist: None
Special Effect: Team hp regen
Hide of Terramorphous
This shield offers complete immunity to fire damage along with very rapid recharge delays. The fiery spike design also fits nicely with Zer0‘s aesthetic.
Perfect for raiding through areas heavy with elemental damage like the Dragons Keep DLC. It can literally block any fire attacks thrown at you.
How to Get: Terramorphous the Invincible
Resist: Fire
Special Effect: Immune to fire damage
Best Class Mods
Class mods are how you really define your build‘s focus and damage output. These class mods offer big benefits for their intended playstyles.
Sniper Class Mod
As expected, the Sniper class mod is ideal for any Zer0 looking to deal high gun critical damage from afar. At 5/5 it provides huge buffs to sniper rifle damage, critical damage, gun damage, and even max health.
This mod alone can boost the Lyuda and Pimpernel‘s damage output to astronomical levels. Pair it with sniper-boosting relics and skills for nuclear assassination power.
How to Get: Tubby enemies, chubby varkids
Boosts: Sniper damage, gun damage, critical damage, health
Blurred Trickster
Those favoring melee Zer0 will benefit tremendously from the Blurred Trickster. It gives major bonuses to melee damage, cooldown rate, movement speed, and even shield recharge delay.
Combined with Roid shield bonuses, you‘ll be dashing around dismantling enemies with deadly sword strikes and kunai throws. This mod fuels the elusive assassin playstyle beautifully.
How to Get: Tubby enemies, chubby varkids
Boosts: Melee damage, cooldown, speed, shield delay
Closing Thoughts
I hope this breakdown gives you some ideas on how to put together a powerful Zer0 for your next Borderlands 2 playthrough. Let me know if you have any other favorite gear for the assassin vault hunter! He has incredible build diversity, so there‘s plenty of options to explore.
Now get out there and score some sick critical kills, vault hunter! Haiku to you.
