What we know about Borderlands 2's Classes

Official box art: Just as badass as the first game.

If there's one game that I want to camp out for this year, it's Borderlands 2.  The first game was a breath of fresh air to me, and caught me entirely by surprise.  It stayed in my Playstation 3 for months, even usurping the place that the highly-addicting Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 called home.  Mixing a shooter with loot-driven RPG character customization and allowing multiplayer that exponentially rose this effect worked to a perfect degree.  Grabbing my attention immediately, I was able to play through it four times before becoming bored with it, and that was only because all my other players dropped out.  All the classes I played with, and had fun playthroughs with each.  The newest game promises new classes, bringing with them even new crazy gun combos.  Here's what we know of each:

Commando:
Roland, move aside.  There's a new soldier in town!  Armed with a similar turret, Axton the Commando promises to be the perfect entry-level class for Borderlands 2's run and gun gameplay.  This time around though, the turret is much more customizable, offering differing gameplay for each of his development trees, unlike Roland who really only developed it into a support tree class.  With short range, medium range, and defense options, including the oppurtunity to deploy it across ranges (like the longbow grenades from Borderlands 1), this versitile option should be a solid choice for any team.



Opinion section:  He looks much more promising than Roland, who I found to be lacking in customization.  With more offensive options, I look forward to playing around with Axton, as having a turret buddy to go along with my group could only be helpful this time around.  Plus, the name Axton just sounds way more superior than Roland.

Gunzerker:
Offering the heavy artillery this time around, we have Salvador, the "Gunzerker".  Aptly named for his special, he is able to activate his ability and dual-wield any guns in the game for a limited time.  Feel like dual shotgunning?  Done.  How about going a little crazy with some Rocket Launchers?  A little unrealistic, but there you go.  Wanna spray bullets with a Machine Gun and Submachine Gun combo?  You're the boss.  The mixes are wild, but you get the point.  His tree focuses on weapons, surprisingly enough, and survivability.

Like a boss

Opinion? I always enjoy being a tank, getting close and personal with some shotguns, and his ability seems like it would just be an absolute blast (pun unintended). Multiplayer action with Salvador seems limited other than a tank role, but who doesn't want to dual wield guns?  For a single player option, this would be appropriate for sure.  In addition, his short stature makes me giggle.  He more than makes up for it.  Plus Brick (the tank from Borderlands 1) was limited when the enemies got tougher, and his ability was really lacking after the first playthrough, making him almost useless.  This is definitely a step up.

Assassin: Meet Zer0, the resident badass killing machine of Pandora this time around.

Zer0's the one stabbing the other guy through the crotch.
Good thing too.  I would hate for Zer0 to be the guy
getting stabbed

The most unlike the characters from Borderlands 1, he specializes in getting close and dirty with his enemies, by turning invisible and striking with a really cool looking blue (Plasma? Laser?) blade.  His abilities don't really show a preference to a type of weapon, but anything that leaves him/her (not known yet) mobile is the best.  One tree enhances the melee attack when guns are used, and vise versa with sword strikes enhancing gun damage, playing up the fact that you should be slicing and shooting alternately to achieve maximum efficiency.  Pistols and Submachine guns are probably the way to go here.

Opinionized:  Wow Zer0's cool.  Like really cool.  Offering the biggest change up in talents, it's really hard to catagorize him/her just yet.  Zer0 definitely looks to be the most difficult to use so far, so get some practice in single player first before taking him/her over to your friend's games, but using your buddies as a distraction while you get up close would be crazy useful, so look forward to having at least one assassin on your team.

Plus, he's so cool.

Siren:
Sharing the name of the class before her in Borderlands 2, Maya doesn't fall far from the siren tree, especially since according to Borderlands lore, she's one of only six in the universe.  Sharing in Lilith's phasing abilities, This siren plays around with other dimensional powers with great success.  She can Phaselock an enemy, effectively removing them from battle and neutralizing the threat for a while.  Maya's trees all revolve around the effects of the phaselock, offering offensive damage capabilities while one is active, defensive skills such as reviving allies and health regeneration, and controlling abilities, making this Siren a force to be reckoned with.

You WANT this guy phaselocked.
Trust me.

What do I think?  Lilith was my last played with character in Borderlands 1, and also the only character I deemed worthy enough to play through the game with multiple times.  Maya will most likely be that character again.  You will want one on your team. Phaselocking an enemy out of the battle for a while will become real useful when dealing with badasses, due to the fact that they can ruin anyone's day just by showing up.  And controlling the flow of battle is always useful when shit starts hitting that fan.  I'm glad we never have to face sirens, and I'm more glad we get to play as them.





So there you have it.  Look forward to more Borderlands 2 information in the coming months, as I know I'll be sharing it! It drops September 18th, and that date should be circled multiple times on your calender!

SEE?!?!
JUST LIKE THIS