Borderlands – What aspects of Vault Hunters scale with Overpower Levels

borderlands-2

I haven't reached UVHM with any character, let alone Overpower Levels, but I'm curious to know what aspects of a Vault Hunter scale with OP levels.

I know that gear and enemies will scale accordingly, but it seems that certain Action Skills scale to OP levels—for example, I've seen screenshots showing Zer0 Decepti0n decoys and Deathtrap appearing as level 80 when invoked with OP8 characters. (Players have also reported that Axton's Sabre Turret scales to level 80.) However, what other aspects of Vault Hunters scale in a similar fashion?

For example, Krieg has a hidden damage bonus when attacking with his buzz axe which depends on his level (at 1.6% per level minus 20%). Is this damage bonus calculated as if the Psycho were 80th level if he's at OP8? (If the melee damage is calculated using level 80, the damage bonus would be 108%, exceeding that of the unique Law pistol. If not, the bonus is 95.2%.)

What else is calculated as if an OP8 character were level 80?

Best Answer

Nothing. When playing at the OP levels, you're setting the levels of the enemy and the loot that can drop. Nothing about your character increases past level 72, the max. Not health, not melee damage. Even a COM with a percentage-based increase to something like fire rate is not going to be a huge increase from OP-0 (level 72) to OP-8. You can carry OP-level weapons and other gear, and their stats will scale, but none of yours will past 72.

(And ammo from the vendors gets pretty expensive at OP-8)

Edit: This is not quite correct. See below comment that Maya Phaselock damage does scale past 72. The difference is negligible considering the damage of OP weapons and the significant damage reduction that enemies have at OP-8, but "nothing" is not correct.

Related Solutions

Borderlands – What do the secret vault symbols look like

It is the same symbol that was all over Borderlands 1, and is still the 'saving' icon in Borderlands 2.

As you explorer them, you will find some small (like this screenshot), some large, some half obscured by objects, some on floors, some on walls, etc.

borderlands 2 vault symbol

(screenshot from the video guide for the 5 symbols in Sanctuary)

Borderlands – What do the levels of Nvidia PhysX do

No aspects of the gameplay are effected by enabling this, but aesthetically there is a large difference. An nVidia card is not required to run with higher PhysX settings in Borderlands, the calculations can be done on your CPU but you will take a noticeable performance hit.

Turning the PhysX option up will effect things like cloth animation, particle effects, fluid animations, etc.

There are several videos on YouTube that run side by side comparisons of the various visual differences between the settings, here is one which does a side by side comparison with the PhysX setting on 'Low' and 'High' (the video says 'Without GeForce/With GeForce', but it has been discussed elsewhere that many users of AMD hardware are able to run the game with the PhysX setting on 'Med' or 'High' without any nVidia hardware at all).

The differences between the settings are pretty noticeable, but especially so with liquids and explosive weapons.

There is an article on the nVidia website (right at the bottom of the page) which details more specifically what the individual PhysX levels affect, along with a performance related graph comparing nVidia and AMD hardware.

            Low              Medium                   High
Debris     No GPU effects   Particle count reduced   Max quality debris
SPH Fluid  No GPU effects   Particle count reduced   Full range of effects
Cloth      No GPU effects   Low quality cloth        Max quality cloth
Particles  No GPU effects   Particle count reduced   Lots of sparks and embers

Furthermore, here is some nVidia descriptive text as to the differences between CPU based physics and PhysX, quoted from the above article:

With CPU physics, the emitted debris would shoot across the screen before fading out of existence, or in some cases, sitting motionless on the ground, unaffected by the action occurring around it. In Borderlands 2, with hardware-accelerated PhysX effects enabled, this debris will be kicked about by further weapons fire, or from characters running through it. Pieces will land on inclines and roll towards a level surface as in real life, and should another piece be in the way the two will collide, further changing their final position. Bring enough pieces together and they’ll pile up, and with the highest level of PhysX enabled these pieces will persist until removed to make room for yet more mayhem.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Borderlands – What do the secret vault symbols look like

Borderlands – What do the levels of Nvidia PhysX do

Related Topic