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Axton the Commando
Axton is certainly an underestimated character in Borderlands 2, and finding an updated guide for Axton the commando is not an easy task. For this reason, we decided to write an article with the best Borderlands 2 Axton builds.
First of all, let’s get to know this character.
A brief presentation of Axton
In Borderlands Axton is a former soldier for Dahl’s army but sadly he got kicked out and his wife divorced him… For this reason, he decided to go to Pandore planet and this is where his story begins as a vault hunter!
“10 years of Dahl military experience, at your service!”
As you can see Axton is a human, his main weapons are rifles, grenades and turrets. This character is for you as long as you enjoy explosions, missiles and blowing enemies heads off. Axton the commando is a great and fun character, he is playable solo and in coop. In solo his turrets are very useful especially if you are new at Borderlands, because they can act as a distraction giving him the ability to survive many battles and bosses fights. In coop he is highly appreciated by other players because of his turrets which will take the aggro off your teammates.
Axton tree skills explained
As like other characters you have the choice of investing your points in 3 different skill trees:
Guerilla focuses on a mix of good health regen, fast shield recharging delay and some nice damage improvements. The guerilla skill tree is a well-balanced skill tree to start with Axton the commando.
Gunpowder is all about improving the damages Axton deals with his weapons but also the damages dealt by the Sabre Turret. Choosing this skill tree as your main skill tree for your build will make Axton a good DPS character.
Survival is for improving your survival skills, for example better health and shield stats.
Guerrilla skill tree:
Sentry: Increases damage and duration of Sabre Turret
Ready: Faster reload speed
Laser Sight: Increases the accuracy of your turret
Willing: Improves shield recharge rate and decreases shield delay
Onslaught: when killing an enemy gun damage and movement speed is improved
Scorched Earth: Sabre Turret fires rockets
Able: Regen your health when dealing damage to enemies
Grenadier: Increases to number of grenades Axton can carr
Crisis Management: When your shield is empty your gun and melee damages are increase
Double Up: Adds slag bullets and adds a second gun to the Sabre Turret
Gunpowder skill tree:
Impact: Higher gun and melee damage
Expertise: Increases weapon manipulation speed
Overload: Increases ammo for assault rifles
Metal Storm: When killing an enemy it increases fire rate and decreases recoil
Steady: Reduces recoil for all types of weapons and increases the damage for rockets and grenades
Longbow Turret: Increases h ealth and improves the distance the turret can be deployed
Battlefront: Increases damage when the turret is out
Duty calls: Increases damage and fire rate for non-elemental weapons
Do or Die: Ability to throw grenades during fight for your life and increase grenade and rocket damage
Ranger: Increases damage, accuracy, fire rate, magazine size, reload and health
Nuke: Deploying the sabre Turret will create a nuke blast.
Survival skill tree :
Healthy: Increases your maximum health
Preparation: Increases shield maximum capacity and when the shield is full you get health regeneration
Last ditch effort: Increases weapon damage and movement while in Fight for Your Life
Pressure: The lower your health is, the faster your reload and shield recharge will be
Forbearance: Increases health and reduces the elemental effect duration dealt by enemies
Phalanx Shield: The Sabre Turret creates a shield
Quick Charge: When killing an enemy your shield regenerates
Resourceful: Reduces skill cooldown
Mag-Lock: allows turrets to be deployed on ceiling and walls
Gemini: Allows you to deploy two turrets
Axton the Commando leveling build Borderlands 2
Now we have finished with the presentation of Axton let’s get to the point and let’s find out which is the best Borderlands 2 commando build for you!
One mistake to avoid when you start a new character is to focus on getting the last skill of a skill branch, the problem by doing this is you will skip some important key skills which will make your Axton vulnerable.
When you start your first run you should focus on these skills: Impact, Metal storm, Ready and Preparation. These four skills are essential for Axton because they improve all your weapon stats, a better shield capacity and health regeneration. Axton will survive better in critical situations and making him a better character to play with. Honestly starting with these skills will make your game more enjoyable.
level 0-5: Continue the game and push these levels up!
Level 5: Unblock the Sabre Turret
Level 5-10: Points on Preparation
level 10-15: Points on Impact skill
Level 15-20: Points on Ready skill
Level 20-25: Points on Sentry skill
Level 25-26: Only 1 point on Scorched Earth
Level 26-31: Points on Metal Storm
Level 31-32: Points on Longbow skill
By level 32 you should have the following skill tree: link
Now that you have the main skills for Axton you must choose what build you want to focus on!
Best Mid Game builds for Axton the commando borderlands 2
The following builds will take you to around level 50-55. We will see 3 mains builds for Axton: Double Up, Gemini and Nuke.
Double up build – Axton the Vanguard
The advantage of this build is your turret will deal good damage and above of that it will also slag enemies which allows Axton to deal greater damage. This double up build is great for solo because you not be relying on your turrets for survivability. In Co-op this build is highly appreciated, while your turrets are slaging and distracting the opponents your team will be taking care of more complicated enemies.
This build is relying on the skill Double Up in the Guerrila skill tree, adding slag and a second gun on the sabre turret.
Gemini build – Axton the Engineer
With the Gemini build you will rely more on your turrets, the fact is you will be able to deploy two turrets simultaneously. Believe me, with two turrets you feel safe and in addition, you can deploy them on walls and ceilings, useful against bosses.
Solo and in Co-op the Gemini build is enjoyable, you let your turrets do the work while you go exploring the surroundings.
This build is relying on the skill Gemini which allows you to deploy 2 turrets.
Nuke build – The Nuclear Commando
The nuke build is not used as much as the other 2 builds above; however, it is still an interesting build you play with. As the name suggests this build is based on explosions and damage made by guns and grenades. The downside of this build is your turret won’t deal a significant amount of damage, the turret will only be used as a distraction.
This build is polyvalent: being fun and useful for your team to play solo as in coop.
The nuke build is built around the Nuke skill which creates a nuke blast when the turret is deployed.
Best Level 72 OP 8 Axton Builds and Skill Trees
The following builds are end-game builds. You have now made all the main missions in vault hunter mode and you would like to complete the Digistruct Peak Challenge, well let me tell you reaching this milestone requires many hours of hard work, congrats!
Now let’s focus on the real bests Axton UVHM builds!
The Gemgineer build
Credit to Ninja_Mrrr and Arcxna
This commando build is a great guide to turn your Axton into a lethal weapon with the help of his best friends: his turrets! He can deploy two turrets with 2 guns on each of them and in addition being able to deploy them in a far range with the skill Longbow.
For this build you imperatively need the COM – Legendary Engineer, this mod will improve: Sentry, Able, Impact, Battlefront and Resourceful.
Your main action skill will now have a fast cooldown giving Axton the ability to deploy his turrets in a small timeframe. While his turrets are deployed, his gun damages are nicely increased and in addition the turrets will regen Axton’s life when dealing damage to enemies.
To play this build efficiently you must use your turrets in the most optimized way possible. by this I mean deploy your turrets when you are against enemies and when the job is done all enemies are cleared out then recall your turrets to gain some extra cooldown time. You must support your turrets by slagging enemies with your Magic Missile grenades.
Best gears for Axton Gemineer build
Weapon 1: Razrez Lyuda – Elemental: Fire or Shock
Weapon 2: Twin Hornet
Weapon 3: Slippery Ogre
Weapon 4: Rustler’s Twister
Shield: Antagonist
Relic: Shock Bone of the Ancients
MOD: COM – Legendary Engineer
Grenade: Magic Missile
The BeeFour build
Credit to KIjackalLL
Why is this build named the BeeFour? Because it relies on 2 turrets with 2 barrels on each of them and in addition the shield The Bee.
This build is great for Axton, with this build you will be able to pass through OP 1 to OP 8 in no time! On youtube you can find players accomplishing the OP8 Digipeak solo with the BeeFour, this is how amazing this build is.
The Bee Shield is great but it has important downsides which are low shield capacity and slow cooldown (6 seconds). However, the commando skills are great to minimize the downside of the shield by reducing its cooldown and increasing shield capacity.
Here are the main points with this BeeFour commando build:
– Fast shield regeneration
– Nice health regeneration: 18% every 3 seconds
– Minimum cooldown for your turrets
To play this build you must keep in mind to shoot enemies only when your shield is full. As soon as your shield gets down, jump around, hide for a bit to let the shield regenerate. As soon your shield is full again don’t hesitate to target enemies by this your health will regenerate faster.
Pay attention that this build only costs 68 skill points, giving you 4 extra points to use as you wish.
Best gears for Axton BeeFour build
Weapon 1: Sandhawk – Elemental: Fire
Weapon 2: Sandhawk – Elemental: Corrosive
Weapon 3: Gromky Lyuda – Elemental: shock
Weapon 4: Norfleet – Elemental: shock
Shield: : The Bee or inflammable Bee
Relic: Fire bone or corrosive bone
MOD: COM – Legendary Engineer or COM – Legendary Soldier
Grenade: Magic Missile
