OS X Borderlands 2 - True Vault Hunter Mode

[Irishman]

So, a search of MR reveals no threads dedicated to discussions of those of us who've played through Borderlands 2 and unlocked "True Vault Hunter" Mode.

At level 30, I recently beat Handsome Jack and the Warrior, plundered some nice loot, and went back in to see what all the hubbub was about, specifically with regards to TVM. Well, short answer is it's a HELL of a lot harder than the first playthrough. You get to keep your level ups, your weapons, your skill tress, your relics, etc.

But, the bad guys get harder, too. And there are more of them, and more badass class baddies than before. I'm up to 3/4 of the way through level 33, on the mission to find the Firehawk.

I learned today, while reading through the gearbox forums, that you can switch back and forth between TVM and Normal Mode - which has the same difficulty level as they did on your first play through. This means that, playing on my Firehawk mission, I was encountering level 8-9 enemies, instead of level 35-36 enemies. They were toast! Sometimes, one shot toast! But, I was getting enemies with level 8-9 loot, which sucked.

I even went into Fink's Slaughterhouse while in normal mode, which I'd beaten about 2 times among about 8-9 tries back during my first play through. I figured it was a good way to earn some XP and cash. It was. I didn't level up to 34, though. I made it all the way through the rounds, without a single second wind needed.

Coming back out of Fink's, back into The Fridge, my mission info got all out of whack. It thought I was doing a side mission for Lilith from later in the game. I was only able to get back on track by selecting my character again, picking TVM again, and getting dumped back into the grinder.

Oyy!!

My question is, even though there are lots of Youtube videos about leveling up, obtaining legendaries and the like, they don't tell what mode you have to be in, nor to they hold your hand enough to make me confident of what to do. For one, I'd like to go back to farm the Warrior, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. Do I have to play through the game in normal mode, switch to TVM when I want to take him out, then hope to get through Handsome Jack before taking out the Warrior?

 

[David 12]

Congratulations on making through the normal mode. My advice is to complete the entire game again in true vault hunter mode. Make sure and level up your weapons along the way because as you are finding the enemies are much tougher.

The key is picking the right weapons, build, Mods and relics for your character. I am now an OP8 Axton, and I mostly play a legendary soldier and rely heavily on slag.

Once you finish tvhm, you will be able to unlock the ultimate vault hunter mode and I would then go through the dlc's.

Your best bet is to go to the gearbox forum and take a look at what other players recommend for your character. It is a hard game and sometimes it seems impossible but somehow you get better and make it through.

I would resist going back and forth between normal and tvhm. It is too easy and as you discovered the drops will be at the lower level which don't do you any good. Stay on tvhm and play through the game again.

Good luck

 

[Irishman]

I recently had to do some load out modification while in the Dam Fine Rescue mission, in the Bloodshot Stronghold, particularly against Mad Mike!

I've gone back to Sanctuary and gotten rid of the non-elemental, non-legendary items I had in my backpack, choosing a fire sniper, a corrosive sniper, and a slag sniper. I kept the only strong shotty (unfortunately, non-elemental) because it did decent damage and used double the ammo per shot. This morning, at a level 35 & 95%, I got my hands on an amazing shotgun with corrosion! I can't see myself giving it up any time soon.

Why, you may ask? Because it let me finish off Mad Mike. I started off throwing my turret at him (longbow-style), then slagging at his shields while my turret chewed at him. Then I learned something. I switched to my fire sniper (because online I read that MM was vulnerable to fire elementals). Bam bam bam!! No more damage than the slag sniper. Sooop, a bit worried cause he was making that slow, Michael Myers-style death walk to me at the entrance to Satan's Suckhole, and my turret was refreshing while I reloaded, and reloaded. I threw my last fire elemental grenade at him as he came up the ramp at me. I switched fast to the new corrosive shotgun and unloaded at him just as I went into "Fight for your Life". That half second was the longest one for me in my time with the game so far.

Awesome.