Built like a brick shithouse and wielding a massive buzz-axe, Gearbox describes this muscly character as a genetic experiment that’s been let loose on the world of Pandora. His brutish axe works as his Action Skill - when triggered, Krieg will put away any equipped guns and storm towards foes, allowing you to smash heads in at close range. Or, you can aim with the left trigger and throw the buzz-axe at faraway targets.
Krieg is made to be an up-close-and-personal, melee-heavy character. You’re not going to deal anywhere near as much damage with regular weapons than you will when on an Action Skill-based Rampage - and his skill trees are tailored to suit that very style of play. The result of upgrading Krieg’s skills is the power to pretty much survive - and exist - solely within Rampage.
Of the three skill trees on offer, Bloodlust is perhaps the most traditional in focus, allowing players to increase melee and weapons damage under varying circumstances. Such bonus damage is entirely based on the number of Bloodlust Stacks you’ve accrued - you gain Stacks by dealing damage to enemies, and slowly lose them as you stay out of combat. It encourages you to stay aggressive and keep in the fray at all times.
The other skill trees force players to reconsider various game mechanics in the Borderlands 2 universe. The Mania tree, for example, changes Krieg’s relationship with shields. He’s a bit of a archaic brute, you see, and so his hi-tech capabilities are somewhat shot. As a result, unlocking perks in this tree will usually provide a big bonus, at the expense of your shields.
Feed the Meat, for example, greatly increases health, but also increases shield recharge delay. While this might sound like a bad thing, it’s worth looking at other skills in other trees that might turn that disadvantage into an opportunity - Gearbox revealed that some other skills will work best when Krieg’s shields are down.
Another example of an initially disappointing perk is a skill that allows friendly fire on Krieg. Sounds crap, right? Until you realise that Krieg’s Action Skill is triggered by taking damage - so what this really does is allow co-op players to assist the Psycho when necessary and help him on his way to that next Buzz-Axe Rampage.
The final skill tree is called Hellborn, and is all about setting the Psycho on fire. When you start off in this tree, you get the chance to trigger a self-ignition whenever you kill an enemy with the fire element. As you progress, you can add various bonus effects whilst being alight - reduced damage, the ability to breathe fire, and even homing fireballs.
With the right balance of skills that suit your play style, Krieg can really change the way you play Borderlands 2. My main style of play has either been the all-guns-blazing Gunzerker or the robot-assistant tactical play of the Mechromancer. I’m not a person that likes to get up close and brutal - but ten minutes after sitting down with Krieg, and I noticed that my whole attitude to a battle scene had changed.
He’s probably not the most balanced character once you’ve levelled him up a fair amount, but there’s risk-reward in running into a hail of bullets regardless. Krieg allows us to throw away our inhibitions and fear of getting shot in the face, and instead lets us stampeded towards said steel pellets with the words, ‘Let them come. Let them come.’