Once the cast of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was defined, fans of the saga were surprised to see the new vault hunters and noticed a great detail: In this installment, there was no Siren. Although they had other names, Wilhelm played the role of the Commando, Nisha was The Gunslinger, and Claptrap… The bizarre character. But this time, instead of The Siren there was Athena, The Gladiator.
Although all her abilities are based on a simple shield, Athena quickly became a fan favorite. She is a Vault Hunter that can be used in many ways, although the community often has trouble discovering the best one. Therefore, in this guide, you will learn which Skill Tree of The Gladiator you should focus on if you want to get the most out of one of the characters with the most potential in the whole adventure.
List of skills
Ephodos | 5 | Movement Speed: +20%; Gun Damage: +20% |
Vanguard | 4 | Health Regen Rate: Rank 4 |
Hold the Line | 5 | Aspis Duration: +5.5 seconds |
Prismatic Aegis | 1 | “All are welcome. Go into the light.” |
United Front | 1 | Shield Capacity: +4%; Converts 5% of absorbed damage into shield power |
Clear! | 1 | Bonus Damage: +40% |
Stalwart | 1 | Friendly Absorb Amount: 20%; Maximum Health: +5% |
Return Fire | 3 | Reflect Chance: +30% |
Prepare for Glory | 1 | Gun Damage: +2% per stack |
Wrath of the Goddess | 1 | Aspis Damage is reduced by +33% each time it ricochets |
Gun Kata | 5 | Gun Damage: +15%; Melee Damage: +50% |
Mercurial | 1 | Movement Speed: +4%; Damage Resistance: +5% |
Omega-Senshu | 5 | Damage: +35% |
Rend | 1 | Bleed Duration: 12 seconds; Deals up to 100% bonus damage against targets with high Health |
Bloodlust | 2 | Regenerates 1.6% of Max Health / sec per Bleeding Enemy |
Epicenter | 1 | “This used to be a helluva town, officer.” |
Tear | 4 | Gun Damage: +28% |
You’ve Got Red on You | 1 | Blast Radius: Rank 1 |
Fury of the Arena | 1 | Reload Speed: +2% per Bleeding Enemy; Fire Rate: +2% per Bleeding Enemy |
Blood Rush | 1 | Melee Damage: +40%; Cooldown: 10 seconds |
Storm Weaving | 4 | Elemental Effect chance: +100%; Fire Rate: +30%; Duration: 9 seconds |
Maelstrom | 1 | Elemental Damage: +0.4% per stack |
Gathering Tempest | 4 | Magazine Size: +32%; Reload Speed: +20% |
Conduit | 5 | Shield Regeneration / sec: +0.10% per stack |
Smite | 1 | Cooldown: 12 seconds; Minimum Maelstrom stacks: 10 |
Unrelenting | 1 | Weapon Swap Speed: +0.08% per stack; Fire Rate: +0.06% per stack |
Superconductor | 2 | Bonus Stacks: 5; Shock Chance: 20% |
Zeus’ Rage | 1 | “At my signal, unleash hell!” |
Elemental Barrage | 1 | Free Shot Chance: 6%; Additional Chance: 0.02% per stack |
Flash Freeze | 1 | Flash Freeze Duration: 1 seconds |
Hades’ Shackles | 1 | Maelstrom Stacks: +20 per target; Tether Duration: 3 seconds; Cooldown: 15 seconds |
Best gear for Athena in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Best Weapon: Fire Hail
There is no doubt that this is the best weapon you can get for Athena, especially with this build. Fire Hail is truly the perfect weapon for the gladiator. With this weapon, you can take advantage of her continuous and powerful elemental damage and boost it to the max. In addition, this weapon benefits from critical hits and has an excellent fire rate. When you throw the shield, take advantage of it to shoot everything that moves and when it comes back, it is very likely that you will be the only person alive in the area.
Second weapon: Thunderfire
Thunderfire is an excellent choice for Athena for two obvious reasons: Shock and Fire. The fact that you can attack with these two elements at the same time in exchange for just a little fire rate is incredibly OP.
If this weapon would shine with any character, it definitely gives Athena an extra. Remember that in the Skill Tree we have Maelstrom, so just by firing this weapon, we will gain a lot of stacks that will go up faster than with any other weapon in the game.
Third weapon: Badaboom
This huge weapon may not have any special effect on Athena, but that’s no reason not to use it. Having Badaboom, the strongest rocket launcher in the game, to clear a huge wave or save you from a Second Wind is a huge guarantee that you shouldn’t waste.
Best Shield for Athena: The Black Hole
The Black Hole is basically the equivalent of having Quasar as a shield instead of a grenade. Unlike grenades, the Nova damage caused by this shield is really huge, so it’s almost certain that after the explosion, nothing will come out of it alive.
In case you are facing really strong enemies and you see that they will survive the Black Hole effect, don’t worry! They will surely be left with little life and very close to you. At that range, you can use any of the weapons we recommended above to finish destroying them.
Best grenade for Athena: Storm Front
There is not much to say about this excellent grenade. As we talked about before, elemental damage is perfect for the gladiator, and this grenade definitely makes it easier to generate it. By throwing this grenade, all enemies will be electrocuted over and over again, allowing you to gain a huge amount of stacks while doing massive damage to the shields of all enemies that fell victim to your weapon.
Best Class Mod for Athena: Celestial Gladiator
Celestial Gladiator may not give Athena a huge amount of attack effects, in fact, it is a purely defensive Class Mod, but believe me, it will save your life. When you use Athena, you normally use Aspis defensively or to take cover. Having the ability to recharge the shield when you use it will save your life a few times since many times you can’t choose when you are going to be in danger, but you can choose when you can protect yourself from it.
Alternative build for Athena
On the one hand, this build is based on the electrical damage you can generate, but on the other hand, it is focused on improving as much as possible the bonuses you get for gaining Maesltrom stacks. The use of this build is not recommended for team play, as it focuses on Solo damage and how much you can self-sustain yourself.
In exchange for what you can’t do in a team, you will have a gladiator that will be able to finish off her enemies by deploying all her elemental damage much faster than with a classic build.
