Krieg, the Psycho Bandit, is the sixth and newest vault hunter to be introduced in Borderlands 2. Using the primary Buzz Axe Rampage skill, this melee-focused character uses his massive axe to inflict devastating damage. But with this new addition, players are confused about the best skills to complement their strengths.
Before we get into the builds, note that all builds are made using a maximum of 50 skill points. Along with the skill tree, this guide also contains the gearbox for each build to complement different playstyles. Let’s get straight to the OP Psycho Krieg builds in Borderlands 2.
5. Legendary Reaper Build
Two good things about this build are the use of Legendary Reaper (tier 4 skill) and Bloodbath (tier 3 skill) as primary sources of damage. Now, moving to weapons, it uses Slagga SMG to slag down enemies and Peak Opener Assault Rifle to upgrade the damage done at the cost of 4 ammo per shot, but the nasty part is that it activates bloodbath on a kill.
The Conference Call is an optional weapon to target flying enemies and bigger bosses, and the Puissant Hive is another gun for flying enemies that activates bloodbath per kill—moving forward to Rough Rider, which stacks up damage and increases max health to sustain damage from enemies. The Longbow Pandemic is used only as a utility for stacking bloodlust and corrosive damage per second. Lastly, Blood of the Ancients increases health stats and ammo capacity, which is recommended because we will use Peak Opener as the primary gun.
Krieg has two major healing skills, which depend on kills, so when you kill enemies, it restores HP and elemental empathy, which allows you to heal when enemies take damage over time.
Now, for the skill tree, we have used the following skills:
| Bloodlust Skill Tree | Mania Skill Tree | Hellborn Skill Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-filled guns (5/5) | Empty the Rage (0/5) | Burn, Baby, Burn (0/5) |
| Blood Twitch (5/5) | Pull the Pin (0/1) | Fuel the Fire (10/5) |
| Taste of Blood (0/5) | Feed the Meat (5/5) | Numbed Nerves (5/5) |
| Bloody Revival (0/5) | Embrace the Pain (5/5) | Pain is Power (5/5) |
| Blood Overdrive (0/5) | Fuel the Rampage (0/5) | Elemental Elation (5/5) |
| Blood Bath (10/5) | Thrill of the Kill (6/5) | Delusional Damage (1/1) |
| Buzz Axe Bombardier (0/1) | Light the Fuse (0/1) | Fire Fiend (5/5) |
| Fuel the Blood (0/5) | Strip the Flesh (5/5) | Flame Flare (0/5) |
| Blood Trance (0/5) | Redeem the Soul (1/1) | Hellfire Halitosis (0/1) |
| Boiling Blood (5/5) | Salt the Wound (0/5) | Elemental Empathy (5/5) |
| Nervous Blood (5/5) | Silence the Voices | Raving Retribution (1/1) |
| Bloodsplosion (1/1) | Release the Beast | – |
4. OP Melee Build
This is one of the best melee Krieg builds that uses Harold to boost bonus explosive damage in Borderlands 2, Slagga for slagging enemies, Ravager to increase weapon and bonus explosive damage, but at the cost of 4 ammo per shot on weapon slots, and Fire Fire Dog.
The downside of playing Krieg is that it has no shield option; therefore, we will be using the Rough Rider as a utility to increase max health and resistance against all damage. If you don’t have Rough Rider unlocked, you can switch it with Flame of the Firehawk, but note that it does not work above the OP levels. Equip Legendary Sickle Class Mod as the class mod, Longbow Pandemic as grenade mod, and lastly, use Sheriff’s Badge for relics.
Moving to the next phase of the build, skill tree.
| Bloodlust Skill Tree | Mania Skill Tree | Hellborn Skill Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-filled Guns (5/5) | Empty the Rage (10/5) | Burn, Baby, Burn (0/5) |
| Blood Twitch (0/5) | Feed the Meat (5/5) | Fuel the Fire (5/5) |
| Taste of Blood (10/5) | Pull the Pin (0/1) | Numbed Nerves (5/5) |
| Bloody Revival (0/5) | Embrace the Pain (5/5) | Pain is Power (9/5) |
| Blood Overdrive (0/5) | Fuel the Rampage (0/5) | Elemental Elation (5/5) |
| Blood Bath (0/5) | Salt the Wounds (5/5) | Delusional Damage (1/1) |
| Buzz Axe Bombardier (1/1) | Light the Fuse (0/1) | Fire Fiend (1/5) |
| Fuel the Blood (10/5) | Strip the Flesh (0/5) | Flame Flare (0/5) |
| Boiling Blood (5/5) | Thrill of the Kill (1/5) | Hellfire Halitosis (0/1) |
| Blood Trance (5/5) | Redeem the Soul (1/1) | Elemental Empathy (0/5) |
| Nervous Blood (0/5) | Silence of Voices (10/5) | Raving Retribution |
| Bloodsplosion (1/1) | Release the Beast (1/1) | – |
3. Lust for Hellborn Build
This is just one of the Krieg gun-based or elemental builds, and the fun part is that it is super-interchangeable, and there is so much variety in Borderlands 2. Starting with the weapons, the build uses Captain Scarlett’s Pimpernel to get a high elemental effect chance and bonus elemental damage. For slagging and healing, use the Surfeit Grog Nozzle, Hot Kitten for increased damage against corrosive targets, and Crammed Unkempt Harold for explosive damage.
For shield, go for Flame of the Firehawk. Get Legendary Torch Class Mod to complement the bloodlust skill tier for this build. Choose Incendiary Fastball for the grenades option, but if you don’t have it unlocked, go for Chain Lightning. Lastly, for relics, use Bleed of the Ancients.
Now, for the skill tree, invest your skill points mainly in the bloodlust and hellborn skill in the following manner:
| Bloodlust Skill Tree | Mania Skill Tree | Hellborn Skill Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-filled guns (5/5) | Empty the Rage (0/5) | Burn, Baby, Burn (9/5) |
| Blood Twitch (5/5) | Pull the Pin (0/1) | Fuel the Fire (6/5) |
| Taste of Blood (0/5) | Feed the Meat (5/5) | Numbed Nerves (5/5) |
| Bloody Revival (0/5) | Embrace the Pain (10/5) | Pain is Power (0/5) |
| Blood Overdrive (0/5) | Fuel the Rampage (0/5) | Elemental Elation (10/5) |
| Blood Bath (5/5) | Thrill of the Kill (1/5) | Delusional Damage (1/1) |
| Buzz Axe Bombardier (0/1) | Light the Fuse (0/1) | Fire Fiend (3/5) |
| Fuel the Blood (0/5) | Strip the Flesh (4/5) | Flame Flare (6/5) |
| Blood Trance (0/5) | Redeem the Soul (1/1) | Hellfire Halitosis (0/1) |
| Boiling Blood (5/5) | Salt the Wound (0/5) | Elemental Empathy (5/5) |
| Nervous Blood (5/5) | Silence the Voices | Raving Retribution (1/1) |
| Bloodsplosion (1/1) | Release the Beast | – |
2. Javelin Krieg Build
Moving on to the Javelin Kreig Build is good against everything but the bosses. Considering gear, this is the easiest Kreig Build that you can get. For the weapons, start with Crammed Unkempt Harold for taking down waves of the enemy with bonus explosive damage. Agresive Slagga to slag down enemies, while the Large Launcher explodes like a grenade when reloaded; this is one reason we want to increase the magazine size so that the damage from a throw will one-shot almost anything.
Equip the Rough Rider as the shield, Longbow Slag Crossfire as a grenade, Legendary Psycho as a class mod, and Blood of the Ancients as relics. These utilities align perfectly with the skills we have lined up next.
| Bloodlust Skill Tree | Mania Skill Tree | Hellborn Skill Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-filled guns (10/5) | Empty the Rage (0/5) | Burn, Baby, Burn (9/5) |
| Blood Twitch (10/5) | Pull the Pin (0/1) | Fuel the Fire (6/5) |
| Taste of Blood (0/5) | Feed the Meat (10/5) | Numbed Nerves (5/5) |
| Bloody Revival (0/5) | Embrace the Pain (5/5) | Pain is Power (0/5) |
| Blood Overdrive (0/5) | Fuel the Rampage (0/5) | Elemental Elation (5/5) |
| Blood Bath (5/5) | Thrill of the Kill (1/5) | Delusional Damage (1/1) |
| Buzz Axe Bombardier (0/1) | Light the Fuse (0/1) | Fire Fiend (5/5) |
| Fuel the Blood (4/5) | Strip the Flesh (5/5) | Flame Flare (5/5) |
| Blood Trance (0/5) | Redeem the Soul (1/1) | Hellfire Halitosis (0/1) |
| Boiling Blood (1/5) | Salt the Wound (0/5) | Elemental Empathy (5/5) |
| Nervous Blood (5/5) | Silence the Voices | Raving Retribution (1/1) |
| Bloodsplosion (1/1) | Release the Beast | – |
1. Explosive Krieg Build
For this one of the Krieg builds in Borderlands 2, we will use the Slow Hand as the primary slag weapon, Peak Opener as the primary source of damage, Casual Carnage to get a bonus on explosive damage, and Big Badaboom to get massive explosive damage. Now, for the utility, we will use The Rough Rider to protect from all kinds of damage, Flesh Crunch as the class mod, Longbow Pandemic as a grenade, and Elemental Relic as a damaged relic, which can be swapped with the blood of the relics.
Now for the skill tree, invest your skill points as:
| Bloodlust Skill Tree | Mania Skill Tree | Hellborn Skill Tree |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-filled guns (5/5) | Empty the Rage (0/5) | Burn, Baby, Burn (0/5) |
| Blood Twitch (5/5) | Pull the Pin (1/1) | Fuel the Fire (5/5) |
| Taste of Blood (0/5) | Feed the Meat (5/5) | Numbed Nerves (5/5) |
| Bloody Revival (0/5) | Embrace the Pain (5/5) | Pain is Power (5/5) |
| Blood Overdrive (0/5) | Fuel the Rampage (0/5) | Elemental Elation (4/5) |
| Blood Bath (5/5) | Thrill of the Kill (1/5) | Delusional Damage (1/1) |
| Buzz Axe Bombardier (0/1) | Light the Fuse (0/1) | Fire Fiend (0/5) |
| Fuel the Blood (0/5) | Strip the Flesh (10/5) | Flame Flare (5/5) |
| Blood Trance (0/5) | Redeem the Soul (1/1) | Hellfire Halitosis (0/1) |
| Boiling Blood (5/5) | Salt the Wound (9/5) | Elemental Empathy (0/5) |
| Nervous Blood (5/5) | Silence the Voices | Raving Retribution (1/1) |
| Bloodsplosion (1/1) | Release the Beast | – |
