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Zer0 the Assassin
Zero is the only playable assassin in Borderlands 2, and he’s also a fan favorite. It’s easy to see why he was featured in Tales from the Borderlands and brought back as a playable character for Borderlands 3. However, there are a lot of build guides for Zer0, and not all of them are very useful.
With this in mind, we combed through all the information and decided to write an article about the best builds for Zer0. He’s a great Borderlands 2 character with a unique assassin skillset and some of the best builds in the game.
A brief presentation of ZerO
Zero comes to the Borderlands series as an assassin for hire. According to his personal ECHO recordings, Zer0 was even willing to perform political hits. However, Zero was bored and wanted a more challenging environment. A bartender told him about the Vault, so he immediately went to Pandora, hoping to find a real challenge for his skills.
“I desire a challenge.”
His character is surrounded by mystery, and his face has never been shown. Zero only has four fingers on each hand and has never been officially confirmed as a human. A real name or origin Zer0 has never been revealed.
Zer0 is a classic assassin character and a great solo or co-op gameplay option. This character is for anyone who loves being stealthy in games with sniper rifles and melee weapons. Being a sniper is the best Zero build in Borderlands 2, which is perfect for solo players and makes him an essential support in co-op. However, Zer0 is also great at being fast, stealthy and deadly, allowing him to slaughter enemies.
Zer0 tree skills explained
Borderlands 2 gives you three skill trees to invest points into. Each one allows you to customise Zero and build a unique playstyle around what you feel is the best Zer0 build.
Sniping is all about dealing damage with guns. It generally focuses on firearms, but it emphasises damage from sniper rifles. The Sniping tree also includes critical hits and boosts Critical Hit Damage with sniper rifles.
Cunning improvements can turn Zero into an invisible assassin by boosting his Decepti0n Action Skill and combat abilities. The Cunning tree includes improvements to Zero’s ranged and melee combat, making it quite versatile.
Bloodshed is slightly different to the other skill trees. It focuses on melee combat with updates for melee attacks and movement speed. Bloodshed is for players who want to be in the battle as much as possible.
Sniping skill tree:
Headshot: Increases your Critical Hit Damage.
Optics: Increases the Zoom for all gun types and reduces aim disruption while taking damage.
Killer: Killing enemies will increase your Critical Hit Damage and Reload Speed for several seconds.
Precision: Improves Accuracy for all gun types.
One Shot One Kill: Increases the damage dealt by the first shot from a fully-loaded magazine.
Bore: Your shots now pierce (go through) enemies and deal massive damage if it hits another enemy (This does not work with rockets and some other special projectiles).
Velocity: Increases the Bullet Speed, Gun Damage and Critical Hit Damage for all guns.
Kill Confirmed: Aiming down the sights of a gun increases your Critical hit Damage.
At One with the Gun: Greatly improves Sniper Rifle hip shot Accuracy and boosts their Reload Speed and Magazine Size.
Critical Ascension: Sniper Rifles deal improved Gun Damage and Critical Hit Damage when landing a Critical Hit.
Cunning skill tree:
Fast Hands: Increases Reload Speed and Weapon Swap Speed
Counter Strike: After receiving a hit, your next melee attack has a chance of dealing massive Melee Damage.
Fearless: You gain a bonus to Gun Damage and Fire Rate when your shield is depleted.
Ambush: Increases the damage dealt when attacking an enemy from behind or attacking when they are targeting another character.
Rising Shot: Every successful ranged or melee attack gets a time-limited stacking damage bonus.
Death Mark: Melee attacks will mark the target for death for a short time; while marked, they will take additional damage from all sources.
Unforeseen: When you become visible again, your holographic decoy will explode and deal Shock Damage to nearby enemies
Innervate: Gain increased Gun Damage, Movement Speed and regenerate health while Decepti0n is active.
Two Fang: Each time you fire a gun, there is a chance you will fire it twice.
Death Blossom: Pressing F when Decepti0n is active lets you throw Kunai that explode with a random elemental type.
Bloodshed skill tree :
Killing Blow: Increases the Melee Damage against enemies with low health.
Iron Hand: Increases your overall Melee Damage and Maximum Health.
Grim: Killing an enemy will quickly regenerate your shields and increase your Active Skill Cooldown Rate for several seconds.
Be Like Water: Shooting an enemy will increase the damage of your next melee attack. Melee attacks increase the damage of your next shot.
Followthrough: Killing an enemy will temporarily boost your Movement Speed, Melee Damage and Gun Damage.
Execute: When Decepti0n is active, press V to dash forward a short distance and attack with a unique melee for high damage.
Backstab: Attacking from behind will deal additional Melee Attack damage.
Resurgence: Killing an enemy with a Melee Attack will give you back health.
Like the Wind: Deal increased Melee Damage and Gun Damage while moving
Many Must Fall: While Decepti0n is active, killing an enemy with a Melee Attack causes you to deploy another holographic decoy, re-stealth and will add more time to Decepti0n’s duration.
Zer0 the Assassin leveling build Borderlands 2
There are various great Zer0 builds in the game but finding the one that best suits your playstyle should be the goal. Starting to build Zero up from Level 1 ensures you pick the best skills.
Investing skill points wisely will give you a top-tier Zer0 build. New players often focus on getting to the last skill from a skill tree which isn’t always a good thing. Doing this means you can skip some essential skills that will weaken Zero overall and limit your abilities while playing Borderlands 2.
Investing the skills into these will help support any Zero build: Fast Hands, Killer and Ambush. These are essential Zero skills since they’re strong for any play style. They work well with all guns and melee weapons and give you time to decide what weapons you want to focus on.
Once you’ve decided what type of weapon you want to main with Zero, there are different strong builds for Zero to choose from. In the early game, this is what we recommend:
Zer0 the Sniper: Focus the points into Headshot, Bore, Precision and Killer.
Zer0 the Fast Melee Fighter: Level up Iron Hand, Counter Strike, Ambush and Grim.
Other builds for Zero exist, but the above is generally considered the best for him. They are also the most commonly used across solo and co-op play.
Best Mid Game builds for Zero the Assassin in Borderlands 2
Zero has two main build types; sniper and melee. Both are powerful options for him and the most popular. Other builds for Zero are often seen during the mid game, including the infamous shotgun Zer0 build.
Redistributing your skill points in Borderlands 2 is easy, so there’s no need to worry about ‘locking in’ your playstyle during the mid-game. For this reason, we’ve included the fun shotgun build that’s pretty enjoyable at this point in the game.
Shotgun Zer0 Build
The shotgun zero build is an interesting option since the skill tree options do allow for it though it’s not a very traditional build. This isn’t the best option for the end-game content, but it’s fun during the mid game.
This build allows you to combine the best of Zero’s gun and close-range skills. It’s a unique zero build for solo and co-op. Zero can plough through enemies in solo and co-op when using this build, plus it will impress everyone you play with.
Here’s what you need to spec into:
Sniping
- Headshot
- Killer
- Precision
Cunning
- Fast Hands
- Fearless
- Rising Shot
- Unforseen
- Innervate
- Two Fang
- Death Blossom
Bloodshed
- Killing Blow
- Iron Hand
- Followthrough
- Execute
In reality, most of the Sniping skill tree works well with a shotgun zero build. All of the skills above a great for a shotgun build, but we’ve highlighted the skills you should priotitize.
Sniper Zer0 build
This is a classic build for Zero and one of the most popular in Borderlands 2. Zer0 is a fantastic long-range assassin at all stages in the game, especially for the end-game. With that in mind, we’ve briefly covered this build here for the mid-game since we have a longer section dedicated to this build later for the end-game.
This is a tremendous solo build since it has high survivability and can quickly kill enemies. However, it can also be an essential co-op build since Zer0 can cover his allies from great distances and let them safely take down the complicated enemies.
These are the most critical skills for a mid game Zero sniper build:
Sniping
- Headshot
- Killer
- Precision
- Bore
- Kill Confirmed
- Velocity
- At One with the Gun
- Critical Ascension
Cunning
- Fast Hands
- Ambush
- Rising Shot
Bloodshed
- Ir0n Hand
- Grim
- Followthrough
This is best used with a sniper rifle, but this build can also work with any type of gun if needed or prefered. Add your extra points wherever you prefer depending on your playstyle.
Best Level 72 OP 8 Zer0 Builds
After completing all the main missions in the vault hunter mode, there’s the difficult Digistruct Peak Challenge to complete. It requires the best end-game zero builds, and luckily, we have the best guides for it here.
These are the best Zer0 builds in Borderlands 2. They are perfect for end-game content, but they’re also top tier for the mid-game as well.
Zero the Sniper Assassin
Zero has the unique advantage of becoming an extremely strong sniper. His sniper build allows him to deal massive critical hit damage from a safe distance. The advantage of this is dealing high damage to enemies with a low risk of taking damage during almost every fight.
These are the most important skills for a Zero sniper build:
Sniping
- Headshot
- Killer
- Precision
- Bore
- Kill Confirmed
- Velocity
- At One with the Gun
- Critical Ascension
Cunning
- Fast Hands
- Ambush
- Rising Shot
Bloodshed
- Ir0n Hand
- Grim
- Followthrough
Add your extra points wherever you prefer depending on your playstyle.
Best gear for Zero the Sniper Assassin build
Weapon 1: Longbow
Weapon 2: Amigo Sincero (Commander Lillith DLC)
Weapon 3: Lyuda
Weapon 4: Godfinger
Shield: The Bee / Antagonist
Relic: Bone of the Ancients
MOD: Legendary Sniper / One Shot Sniper
Grenade: Transfusion / Chain Lightning / Magic Missile
Zero the Fast and Deadly Melee Fighter
This is the second most common Zero build in Borderlands 2. Unlike the sniper build, this one requires Zer0 to be close to enemies at all times. It turns him into an exciting close-range character with the potential to stay cloaked while quickly killing enemies.
Being fast and deadly with a melee weapon requires you to focus on putting points into specific skills. Here are the most essential skills:
Cunning
- Counter Strike
- Ambush
- Unforseen
- Death Mark
- Innervate
Bloodshed
- Iron Hand
- Grim
- Followthrough
- Execute
- Resurgence
- Like The Wind
- Many Must Fall
Add your extra points wherever you prefer depending on your playstyle.
Best gear for Zero the Fast and Deadly Melee Fighter build
Weapon 1: Slag Rapier
Weapon 2: Evisceration Grog Nozzle
Weapon 3: Double Penetrating Unkempt Harold
Weapon 4: Prudential Norfleet
Shield: Hide of Terramorphous / Love Thumper
Relic: Bone of the Ancients / any Cooldown Relic
MOD: Legendary Ninja / Blue Shadow Ninja
Grenade: Kiss of Death / Longbow Stormfront / Chain Lightning
Best Builds for Zer0 Level 80 OP10
Zero at Level 80 OP10 is pretty fantastic. However, he’s very sniper heavy. Melee builds just don’t work very well at this point in the game, so it’s not generally advised. His sniper abilities and skill stacks also apply to other types of weapons.
Best Zero Level 80 OP10 Standard Sniper Build
Zer0 is obviously a fantastic sniper, and this doesn’t change much at Level 80 OP 10. His sniper skills allow him to kill enemies at a distance and the overall level scaling is much better with guns. Snipers are also given an advantage over other builds due to certain skills being able to stack into something extremely powerful.
Sniping
- Headshot
- Killer
- Precision
- Bore
- One Shot One Kill / Velocity (depends on the type of sniper rifle)
- At One with the Gun
- Critical Ascensipn
Cunning
- Fast Hands
- Ambush
- Death Mark
- Rising Shot
- Unforseen
- Innervate
- Death Blossom
Bloodshed
- Killing Blow
- Grim
- Followthrough
Best gear for Zero the Sniper
Weapon 1: Barking Pimpernel
Weapon 2: Maliwan Snider
Weapon 3: Razrez Lyudmila
Weapon 4: Amigo Sincero (Commander Lillith DLC)
Shield: Antagonist / Blockade
Relic: Heart of the Ancients / Blood of the Ancients
MOD: Legendary Sniper
Grenade: O-Negative / Transfusion
Zer0 Level 80 OP10 Pistol Build
While Zero is best as a sniper, not everyone enjoys playing as one. His skills allow him to use other guns very effectively, and it’s possible to get the same overpowered stacks without sniper rifles. This build provides many of the same benefits as the sniper build but might be a little more interesting for those who would rather be closer to the fight.
Sniping
- Headshot
- Killer
- One Shot One Kill
- Bore
- Velocity
If you have leftover points, Precisi0n is a great skill for pistol builds since many of these guns can have a wide spread.
Cunning
- Fast Hands
- Fearless
- Ambush
- Rising Shot
- Death Mark
- Innervate
- Two Fang
- Death Blossom
Bloodshed
- Killing Blow
- Grim
- Followthrough
- Execute
Best gear for the Pistol build
Weapon 1: Pimpernel / Grog Nozel
Weapon 2: Maggie
Weapon 3: Hornet
Weapon 4: Harold
Shield: Antagonist
Relic: Sheriff’s Badge
MOD: Legendary Killer
Grenade: O-Negative / Transfusion
