There was a chuckle followed by a good several hours of excitement when everyone found out that Claptrap would be a playable character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.
Sure, many of us thought he’d suck and would just be practical joke by Gearbox, but those lot were surprised when the game was released – who knew the silly little robot who is allergic to stairs could be such an amazing Vault Hunter!
For more help on Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Builds, read our Gladiator Athena Builds, Enforcer Wilhelm Builds and Lawbringer Nisha Builds.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Fragtrap Claptrap Builds
If you’re planning to play Claptrap, you’ll want to get to know how the robot acts out in battle, and for that you’ll need our assistance.
Our guide covers the Skill Trees and offers you several builds that you can get a good idea from of what exactly Claptrap is meant to do. All in all, I’ll say that our robot friend is one of the most creative characters made for Borderlands games.
Fragtrap Skill Trees
BoomTrap
Claptrap’s BoomTrap tree is associated with explosiveness and pure offense. However, if you want to be benefitting from this tree, it’s more ideal to combine it with Fragmented Fragtrap as it requires a lot of craziness.
You have a high risk, high reward system for this tree, with plenty of skills that turn Claptrap’s damage into explosions, but often come with penalties to other parts of his game.
Having said that, it’s an excellent tree to have in combination with I Love You Guys, because it allows you to pitch in enough damage while helping your buddies as the ultimate support character.
Generally, you want to invest in BoomTrap only after you have your basic foundations laid and know how Claptrap functions in battle, be it in solo play or co-op.
I Love You Guys!
Arguably the best support tree in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Claptrap earns his badge of being the textbook team robot because of the brilliant skills available in this line of skills.
While the use of ILYG is limited in solo play, its colors truly show when you’re playing with a big party, especially in True Vault Hunter mode.
The tree consists of all kinds of selfless buffs and defensive support skills that will not only aid others but also put you in a better position while fighting.
While you may not necessarily use the depth of this tree in solo play, there are certain skills that really standout even when you’re venturing Elpis all alone.
ILYG thus stands out as one of the most well designed trees in the game for how well it serves its purpose yet still manages to have enough in it to be mildly considered in solo play.
Fragmented Fragtrap
The Fragmented Fragtrap tree seems very strange at first – almost like a gamble really, but once you get the hang of this crazy tree you’ll begin to love it.
The idea is to utilize different kinds of Subroutines that greatly buff certain aspects of Claptrap’s game while debuffing the rest. This allows Claptrap to rapidly change his playstyle and have a chance against every kind of opponent in the game.
The major downside though is that with the unpredictability of the subroutine, you’ll often have to keep the constant changes in the back of your mind and adapt accordingly to get the best out of them.
This further requires you to have a mixed arsenal of weaponry and gear that you could rapidly switch around to compliment the subroutines that are currently in effect.
Because there is so much going on, Fragmented Fragtrap as a tree is more suited to solo play (especially True Vault Hunter mode) than co-op.
Fragtrap Claptrap Builds
Build #1 – Explosive Trap – Click to View Build
This is a solo build for Claptrap that utilizes the explosiveness of the Boomtrap tree.
Note that for this build, you’ll need to have your basics of playing Claptrap set and ready, and for that you should actually be starting off by investing in Maniacal Laughter, Fuzzy Logic, and Drop the Hammer.
By the time you max out these three skills, you should have an idea of how Claptrap functions in solo gameplay. Next up, you’ll want to slowly start chewing away at the Boomtrap skills one at a time.
Things will only start getting really tough for you during the mid and later stages of the game, so you can afford to fill in All the Things are Awesome and You’re… GOING TO LOVE ME. Once you have them up a few points, start putting in points in Boomtrap.
Coincidental Explosion and Load n’ Explode work brilliantly with weapons like shotguns, snipers, and pistols, especially considering how often you have to reload them more frequently than Assault Rifles or SMGs.
Try to stack as much of Load n’ Explode as possible, and you should be doing tons of damage.
Start With a Bang is one skill you should keep a close eye on though. It does a lot of damage, but it also hurts you, and it might not be the best choice if you find yourself constantly at low health.
If you’re enjoying the free kills from the nova blast too much to want to avoid it, maybe you can invest in Killbot to balance the books.
This build will require a bit of practice because of its high risk, high reward playstyle, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be a brave little robot that is slaying mobs of enemies while at lowish health at all times.
Build #2 – BuddyTrap – Click to View Build
This build is paradise for your friends when you play co-op, and you’ll really let your robotmance out through the I Love You Guys tree.
With a whopping 39 points invested in the selfless support line of skills, you’ll have everything you need to support your group even in the toughest encounters.
Claptrap was basically made as a primarily support character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and perhaps this build is the way Gearbox really wants you to play the little robot.
Start off with maximizing the first two skills of ILYG, i.e. Best Buds 4 Life and Maniacal Laughter, followed by Drop the Hammer and Fuzzy Logic. Once you have these set, it’s time to go through ILYG.
The ideal way to do this is to get to High Five Guys as quickly as possible; invest the minimum required points to unlock the next tier till you have all the skills you need in ILYG.
Once that is done, simply start mastering those skills every time you level up. This way you’ll have lots of different ways of helping your team early on.
Yes, I know the old saying that goes, “quality over quantity,” but when it comes to Claptrap’s awesome friendship you want to let your buddies know all the different possible ways you can express your love for them.
Build #3 – CrazyTrap – Click to View Build
This build focuses entirely on the Fragmented Fragtrap tree. The skill line heavily utilizes Subroutines, which are closely tied with Frag Stacks.
Certain subroutines will greatly buff specific aspects of Claptrap’s play-style but debuff others, and it is important for one to be aware of which subroutine is in effect so he/she can make the necessary changes to compliment it.
At the start, you want to build your Claptrap in a more conventional way, investing in Drop the Hammer, Maniacal Laughter, and Fuzzy Logic. Once you have these three preliminary skills up, it’s time to move onto the in-depth Fragmented Fragtrap crazy tree.
It’s going to be a roulette as you select All the Guns, so make sure you have every kind of weapon in your arsenal to switch to whenever a subroutine is selected.
Next up is Safety First, which gives a nice random buff to either health or shields, and the debuff can be easily overcome with All the Guns. From there on, you will need to develop Claptrap and get to Rainbow Coolant as quickly as possible, while maximizing Death Machine on the way.
Death Machine has no catch to it, so you can really utilize the buff and go on a rampage when combined properly with the All the Guns weapon buff, resulting in a carnage that you would’ve never imagined Claptrap to be capable of.
Build #4 – OverlyAttachedTrap – Click to View Build
What happens when you combine an explosive claptrap with one who loves his friends? You get a creepy, overly attached Claptrap that is both scary and a bit too cuddly.
Well, considering you’re up against Hyperion and your foe is called Handsome Jack, I think everyone could use a few cuddles. This build uses a mixture of Boomtrap and I Love you Guys!
You won’t be an explosive all-out assaulter, and you certainly won’t be the kind of robot who sits back and lets his friends stay in the heat of battle.
You want all the action, you want the world to see how much you care about your friends, even if they don’t really consider you all that great of a bud.
You’ll go in all guns blazing, yelling at the top of your robot voice while cleverly avoiding any place that has stairs, shooting your way and giving glittering buffs to your friends even when they don’t need them.
You’ll be lending a helping hand in both combat and assistance, and you should build your Claptrap in such a way that you have both aspects of the game covered (offense and support) at all times.
Don’t forget to share your own builds with us by commenting below!
