Background (Taken from the Borderlands Wiki)
Whatever Krieg went through to make him the blood-drinking, meat-loving killer that he is, he wasn't always like this. Krieg's psyche has a remnant of who he used to be--a literal inner voice which forces Krieg to only kill the deserving, and help others. The voice remarks that he remembers helping people, getting paid with loot, and other Vault-hunter-esque pursuits. It's also informed Krieg that should Krieg ever kill an innocent person, the inner voice will take over and commit suicide to kill them both.
In his graphic backstory, Krieg is shown wandering the wastelands wielding only his buzz axe, killing bandits and other hostiles along the way. The inner voice seemed to have far less influence on his actions, barely able to keep his blood lusting vessel targeting hostiles over non-combatants. After narrowly avoiding getting splattered, Krieg sees Maya at a train station. Krieg's inner voice knew she was a Siren and a Vault Hunter, and told Krieg to ally with her. Krieg, however, screamed at the top of his lungs, "I'm the conductor of the POOP train!". Maya interprets this as being hostile and opens fire, only to attract a pack of rats.
Too focused on Krieg, Maya does not see the cannibals approach from behind. Somehow Krieg's inner voice, with some difficulty, managed to influence his darker side to warn Maya by shouting, "Turn around, pretty lady!" and he defends Maya, butchering the rats and terrifying one of them unconscious. After helping Krieg finish off the rest of them, Maya softens up to the madman, and Krieg's inner self gains hope that perhaps he can regain himself, though his outer self was too preoccupied screaming about ribcages and cockatiles to express it. Afterwards he is seen clinging to the side of the train, which explains how he ended up in Windshear Waste.
Compared to Gaige, Krieg’s story (As much as we get, anyways) is filled with a little more tragedy. Once you learn more of his backstory, you actually become a little sympathetic towards his cause. He’s incredibly bloodthirsty, yet somehow he has a heart & consciousness.
Character
On the surface, Krieg is just like one of the numerous psychos you see all over Pandora. He’s bloodthirsty, wears a mask (This time around, you actually see one of his eyes, which is brown colored), and carries around a buzz axe. He’s also like the psychos in that he shouts & rants the goofiest shit. What separates Krieg from the rest of the psychos is two-fold. For starters, he’s far more dark & violent than the standard psycho. He takes a rather unholy glee in killing people, and the things he says can actually be quite disturbing (Example: “There is no me, there is no you! There is only the never ending spit and bile of combat! The twenty-four hour murder spree of shining metal! I drink the blood and eat the loot and breathe the numbers, because I! AM! A MONSTER! NOW AND FOREVER!”).
The second aspect of Krieg that makes him different from all the other psychos is that he houses a second personality within his mind. A majority of the time you see & experience Krieg’s manic/violent, but on occasion you hear a more calm voice. This second personality was from before Krieg went insane, and now acts like something akin to a moral compass, steering his psychotic side away from innocent people (At one point, the 2nd personality says that if even a single innocent person is slain, then he’ll take control & kill them both).
Strengths
Fire & Explosive Master
- Like Gaige, Krieg is a elemental master. Both of these characters know how to use explosive weaponry, but Krieg has an edge up on Gaige because of his “Light The Fuse” skill, along with certain skills in his Hellborn tree & Bloodlust tree (The Bloodlust tree my least favorite, but I’ll get to that in a bit). What separates these two is their other chosen element. Whereas Gaige enjoys the power of electricity, Krieg loves fire. Krieg’s Hellborn tree enables him to master fire, along with the other elements about halfway down the tree. Not only does he want to be on fire, but Krieg also wants to set everything else on fire.
Buzz Axe Rampage
- Like Gaige, Krieg’s skill is part of his character. In this case, his ability is that he draws out a two-handed buzz axe, and becomes a slicing psychopath! In addition to attacking enemies up close, he can also throw his axe at distant enemies, and while it doesn’t hurt as much as an up close attack, but it does stun the target for a second or two. On top of that, you gain full (Yes, full) health everytime you kill a target, and when you’re on cooldown, enemies attacks reduce the cooldown time. Nice!
Melee Master
- Although Zer0 can fight up close, it’s much more of a strength when it comes to Krieg. Krieg, despite the Bloodlust tree, has more strength when he closes the distance, and puts an axe in their head. Things become a little interesting when you get towards the bottom of the Hellborn tree, when “Hellfire Halitosis” becomes available. Just step right up to an enemy, press the V key (Console players press whatever,) and you’ll breath fire. Once they’re burning, just hack them apart!
High Reward
- If you’re the kind of gamer that enjoy a high amount of rewards, then Krieg is the character for you! Although he has to go against everything that the other character avoid, Krieg gains some fun bonuses. Get knocked out when you have “Light the Fuse”? Then pull out some dynamite & blow somebody up! Have “Numbed Nerves” and you’re on fire? Gain some damage reduction! It’s these kinds of thing that make Krieg an interesting character to play.
Weaknesses
Unconventional
- As I stated a bunch of times, Krieg is an unconventional character. He basically goes against what the other characters avoid, such as running toward gunfire, increasing the time it takes before your shields regenerate, etc. If you’re someone that prefers more traditional rules & tactics, then Krieg is somebody that you won’t like.
Bloodlust Skill Tree
- Mania tree I love. Hellborn tree I love. Bloodlust tree, not quite so much. For those who don’t know about this tree, here’s a quick summary of it from the Borderlands Wiki page:
“Focuses on ranged combat using a Bloodlust stack mechanic. Dealing damage to an enemy adds a stack of Bloodlust to a maximum of 100. Stacks decay after 3 seconds if you haven’t dealt damage at a rate of 1 stack per second.”
Honestly, this feels like a weaker version of Gaige’s Anarchy skill/ability. There’s a couple skills that relate to Buzz Axe Rampage, but everything else is related to ranged combat. I’ve looked at the skills in Bloodlust and while they seem to be fun, with the way I play Krieg this tree doesn’t help me.
Awaken the Beast can be Overpowered
- I love this skill! The “Awaken the Beast” skill works as follows:
“Activating the Buzz Axe Rampage when at or below 33% of your max health remaining (i.e., when the ! is showing) instantly refills your health and transforms you into a Badass Psycho Mutant with +100% Melee Damage and +50% Damage Reduction. Buzz Axe Rampage is instantly recharged afterwards.”
The first couple parts of the description I don’t have a problem with. Hell, I find the activating at or below 33% health controls it somewhat. It’s the last part that’s a little troublesome. I’ve unleashed chains of “Awaken the Beast” augmented Buzz Axe Rampages dozens upon dozens of times since I selected the skill. It’s definitely helped me out of a jam many times, yet I feel as if I’m abusing the game in someway.
High Risk
- Like I said earlier, Krieg is a character that requires a high amount of risk in order to gain rewards. If you need your Buzz Axe Rampage (and you don’t have “Awaken the Beast”) recharged, you need to get shot. If you need a bonus to your melee or ranged damage, you need to be on fire. If you’re not watching Krieg’s condition during a firefight, then there’s a very good chance you might stumble and get killed.
Overall Opinion
As much as I enjoyed Gaige, Krieg was somebody I enjoyed more. He mannerisms, his bipolar personality, and the fact that some of his skills go over the wall just coalesce into a weird whole. Krieg is the perfect kind of character for those who prefer the strange to the stable, the sick to the sane, and the terrible to the typical.
Krieg gets a 8 to 8.5 out of 10
See you all next week, when we’ll be sailing the sandy seas in the first story DLC. Until then, stay Otaku!
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Here's a more serious, but still charming, video for Breast Cancer Awareness. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnogLQLQAQM
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