ATHENA THE GLADIATOR
BEST BUILDS ON ELPIS!
ATHENA BUILDS
Leveling Up
Level 1 to 32
Versatile • Aspis
PLAYSTYLE
Athena’s Aspis ability allows her to absorb tons of incoming fire by bringing up her shield, and throw it back for an incredible amount of damage. If you want to live your fantasy as a Greek Goddess wielding a gun in one hand, and a shield in another, this leveling-up guide will take you through the necessary steps to ensure survival and high damage output in the early game.
SOLO
Athena is a powerful character, and she can hold her ground easily in solo. She also has multiple skills that provide her with assistance. Most of her skills directly influence her Aspis potential which makes her a stronger character the more she levels up. While her full potential is unlocked around level 50, at this part of the game she’s still one of the strongest characters, but you’ll definitely have to make liberal use of her Aspis ability.
COOP
Athena is also a great character to have on the team thanks to her damage potential, as well as support capability. She can block incoming damage, and even provide health regeneration thanks to the Vanguard skill. Additionally, she can revive fallen allies with her action skill and even taunt enemies to directly attack her, giving teammates some breathing room, and opportunities to concentrate fire on specific enemies. Her Aspis continues to influence her usefulness in solo and co-op.
SKILLS
Level 0 – 3: Unlock Kinetic Aspis
Level 3 – 8: 5 Points in Ephodos
While Aspis is active, Athena gains 20% gun damage and 20% movement speed.
Level 8 – 9: 1 Point in Maelstrom
Dealing Fire or Shock damage stacks Maelstorm, which increases elemental damage with each stack. Maximum stacks can be 999, and elemental damage is boosted by 0.4% per stack.
Level 9 – 10: 1 Point in Hold the Line
Aspis‘ duration is increased by 1.1 seconds.
Level 10 – 14: 4 Points in Vanguard
While Aspis is active Athena and her team regenerate health.
Level 14 – 15: 1 Point in Prismatic Aegis
Aspis can now absorb multiple elements.
Level 15 – 16: 1 Point in Clear!
Throwing Aspis can now revive an Ally. Gun damage during FFYL is also increased by 40%.
Level 16 – 21: 5 Points in United Front
Increase shield capacity by 20%, and 20% of the damage received to Aspis will now recharge your and your allies’ shields.
Level 21 – 26: 5 Points in Prepare for Glory
Activating Aspis taunts nearby enemies to attack you, and you get a Prepare for Glory stack for each enemy that attacks Aspis. Each stack boosts gun damage by 10% and lasts for 5 seconds.
Level 26 – 27: 1 Point in Wrath of the Goddess
Throwing Aspis now ricochets between 4 targets.
Level 27 – 31: 4 Points in Storm Weaving
Swapping weapons activates Storm Weaving for 9 seconds during which the fire rate is increased by 30%, and status effect chance is increased to 100%.
Level 31 – 32: 1 Point in Gathering Tempest
Magazine size is increased by 8% and reload speed is increased by 5%.
Storm
Level 50
Elemental • Aspis
PLAYSTYLE
Athena can not only negate incoming damage, but also absorb it, and throw it back towards enemies. It doesn’t end there, because of her strong affinity with elemental weapons, and literal thunder. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and this build capitalizes on both her Aspis and elemental damage.
The game plan isn’t very complicated. You want to lob a few grenades at the start of the battle and activate your Aspis as soon as you see incoming fire. When maxed out, she’ll throw it back, and you’ll automatically activate numerous abilities that will do a mix of direct, and elemental damage. This is when you can use your guns to do additional damage while enemies recover from your Aspis.
SOLO
At level 50, this is a great build for solo play, because it makes use of Athena’s most powerful toolkits. This mix of gun, shield, and elemental damage makes her a walking God of thunder who can easily go up against most enemies and bosses at this level without breaking a sweat. Additionally, she also has some skills that give her both shield and health regeneration, improving her survivability by a considerable margin.
COOP
Athena is always a great character to have on the team, because of her multiple support, and offensive abilities. While her Aspis is activated, she heals the entire team, and she can also taunt enemies to divert attention, providing enough openings for the team to strike. Athena can stand her ground, but any support is welcome, especially when she is using her Aspis and is limited to free-aiming, which can be a bit inaccurate.
GEARS
Slot 1: Thorny Ol’ Rosie – Electrocution
Slot 2: Thorny Ol’ Rosie – Fire
Slot 3: Thorny Ol’ Rosie – Corrosion
Slot 4: The Nukem
Grenade: Lobbed Quasar
Shield: Prismatic Bulwark
MOD: Celestial Gladiator
OZ Kit: 3DD1.E
SKILLS
Hold the Line extends her Aspis duration by over 5.5 seconds, while Prepare for Glory taunts nearby enemies to distract them towards herself.
Zeus’s Rage spawns lighting and fire which damages all nearby enemies, while Wrath of the Goddess allows the Aspis shield to ricochet between targets.
Shooting or killing an enemy while airborne smites the target, causing fire and shock explosions. Vanguard heals Athena, as well as her allies while Aspis is active.
Friction
Level 50
Melee • Survivability
PLAYSTYLE
Athena is a powerful character who can take different routes, and melee is one of them. This Greek gun-wielding Goddess is blessed with a very strong action skill that can take damage in, and throw it back, while also using her sword to deal tons of melee damage. With this build, we’ll be capitalizing on her melee potential, and improve her survivability as well.
Your game plan is pretty simple. You want to activate the Aspis to absorb damage and throw it back to activate multiple abilities to impact multiple targets. After that, you want to jump in and do tons of melee damage, which will boost your speed and regenerate your health. Any gun damage dealt to enemies will also boost your melee damage. So anytime you shoot an enemy, follow up with a melee attack to maximize damage.
SOLO
At level 50, this is a good build for Athena, making her an offense-heavy melee character who can do more than just swing a sword. You’ll want to move around a lot, and do tons of melee damage while your Aspis charges, and even shooting a few rounds into enemies will ensure that your melee is boosted. After the Aspis is charged, just absorb damage, and throw it to activate even more bonuses.
COOP
Athena can hold her ground, provide healing to the entire team while her Aspis is charged, and target multiple enemies when her Aspis is thrown, making her a great damage dealer for the rest of the team to capitalize on. Any support provided to her while she’s up close and personal is appreciated, but in most cases, she can hold her ground, and regain health from bleeding enemies as well.
GEARS
Slot 1: Excalibastard
Slot 2: Fridgia
Slot 3: Miss Moxxi’s Probe
Slot 4: The Nukem
Grenade: Storm Front
Shield: Shooting Star
MOD: Vicious Blademaster
OZ Kit: Acrobat Oz Kit
SKILLS
Shooting enemies allows Athena to do increased melee damage while killing enemies boosts her movement speed and damage resistance.
Clarity of Purpose directly increases her melee damage by over 25% and her max health by 15%. While Aspis is active, Athena and the team regenerate health, while Bloodlust regenerates her health for each bleeding enemy.
Return Fire has a chance for incoming projectiles to be thrown back while Aspis is active.
Thunder
Level 70
Elemental • Versatile
PLAYSTYLE
Athena has tons of tools to make her a viable choice, especially when it comes to her elemental damage output and survivability. Her Aspis shield is an incredibly powerful tool that we’ll be focusing on with this build along with her gun damage.
Her game plan with this build isn’t that complicated, but does take a bit of practice to fully utilize successfully. At the start of any combat encounter, you want to activate the Aspis ability, which in turn will activate tons of your skills, and take in some damage. Don’t wait for any enemy to be in the cooldown state, you want the shield to get hit, and a lot. With enough juice in the shield, it’s time to throw it and reap the rewards while you start outputting gun damage to boot.
SOLO
This build is perfect for solo play and makes excellent use of Athena’s multiple abilities. The focus on survivability and thunder are key here, and as long as you effectively use the Aspis ability, most enemies, and bosses won’t stand a chance. Her elemental damage is boosted tremendously, and Athena will often not consume ammo if you activate Storm Weaving by swapping weapons. Essentially, it all comes down to how well you’re using the main Aspis ability, which can in turn boost your damage output.
COOP
Athena is always one of the best characters to bring to a team because of her excellent damage, AOE (Area of Effect) attacks, support and Aspis ability. She can revive teammates, regenerate health, and even regenerate shields while she summons the literal power of thunder. Some of her kill stills can boost her fire rate significantly, making her a perfect character to finish off enemies with as well, which happens often thanks to her Aspis being thrown around the battlefield.
GEARS
Slot 1: Fire Hail
Slot 2: Hyperion Development Shotgun
Slot 3: Thunderfire
Slot 4: Badaboom
Grenade: Storm Front
Shield: Black Hole
MOD: Celestial Gladiator
OZ Kit: Tranquility
SKILLS
While Aspis is active, Vanguard regenerates Athena and the team’s health, United Front absorbs Aspis’ damage to convert that into shield for the entire team, while Clarity of Purpose boosts Athena’s maximum health by 3%.
Zeus’s Rage spawns lighting and fire which damages all nearby enemies, while Wrath of the Goddess allows the Aspis shield to ricochet between targets.
Prepare for Glory taunts nearby enemies to attack Athena, while giving her a stack of gun damage.
Minerva
Level 70
Melee • Versatile
PLAYSTYLE
Athena is basically a Greek Goddess who happens to know how to wield a gun and summon thunder. While a lot of builds focus on her Aspis ability, Athena isn’t defined entirely by it. This build focuses on all her abilities, but melee in particular. Guns and shield combined makes her a formidable warrior who can also shoot well.
For this build, you’ll want to absorb damage with her Aspis, but also liberally use her melee attack. With each melee attack, you’ll apply bleed, but that’s not really our main focus. Thanks to Blood Rush, Athena can now dash toward enemies, which allows her to get into this loop where you start with Aspis, throw the shield, melee at an enemy, and finish off with some shooting.
SOLO
This is a great build for solo play because it utilizes most of Athena’s toolkit in a meaningful way. She’s fast on her feet, great with melee, and Aspis ensures she always has a powerful projectile that summons a host of elemental effects. Athena doesn’t really need a lot of support, and at Level 70, with this build, she’s a force to be reckoned with. She has also multiple abilities that directly regenerate her health and shield.
COOP
Similarly, Athena is a valuable asset to have in a team thanks to her diverse toolkit. She has AOE attacks, a great defense mechanism, melee that does great damage, and elemental damage output that can hit multiple enemies at the same time. She also heals the entire team during her active Aspis and taunts enemies to focus fire on herself, giving the team room to direct their fire towards enemies without any worry. Any heals provided to her are helpful, but for the most part, she will be doing her own thing.
GEARS
Slot 1: Thunderfire
Slot 2: Acuminous Frostfire
Slot 3: Practicable Crowdsourcing
Slot 4: Muckamuck
Grenade: Quasar
Shield: Shield of Ages
MOD: Celestial Gladiator
OZ Kit: 3DD1.E
SKILLS
Hold the Line extends her Aspis duration by over 3.3 seconds, while Prepare for Glory taunts nearby enemies to distract them towards herself.
Tear makes bleeding enemies take more gun damage while slamming enemies now pulls them into a singularity.
Slamming enemies also link nearby enemies with a shock tether which shocks them, releases a fire nova, and and stacks an additional Maelstrom. Each Maelstorm increases elemental damage by over 0.4% per stack.
