Borderlands 2 Zero Skills Level Up Guide

In Borderlands 2, Zero is the assassin who can stealth in and out of battlefields and eliminate enemies. Zero's assassin specialty allows him to use decoys, become invisible, backstab and do massive amounts of damage from melee attacks or from range as a sniper. This will provide a synopsis of the various skills of the assassin Zero, and guide the hero assassin on how to level up and distribute the skill points to create the ultimate damage intensive stealth hero to suit the gamer's playing style.

Before the hero assassin can activate the three branches in the assassin skill trees, he must first master the art of DeceptiOn. Deception allows the hero to create a holographic decoy and disappear or become invisible for a few seconds. The hero will decide the duration of invisibility - the longer the period, the more powerful the hero's next attack. This includes a +650% melee damage, a +200% gun damage and a +250% gun critical hit damage. However, if the hero does not use a weapon in the period of invisibility, then it will be all for naught as he becomes visible and can only deal the normal amount of damage to the enemies.

The hero will get the first skill point at level 5, and can only unlock the art of DeceptiOn at level 5. The hero should test out this skill at level 5 using the most damage intensive and yet still readily available (free) weapon. This is likely to be the ornery coach gun (a shotgun) at the beginning of the game. In some cases with a Vault Hunter's relic, it will be the Gunstock Iron. Go invisible near an enemy and then wait for the invisibility time counter to count down. At the last second, aim the weapon at the enemy and press the trigger.

With the unlocking of deception and as the hero continues to level up, the other skill trees will be unlocked.

A study of the Bloodshed skill tree suggests this is the stealth melee backstab critical damage part of the assassin's repertoire. The following is a list of the skills in the Bloodshed Skill Tree -

• killing blow - drastically increases melee damage against enemies with low health.
• iron hand - increases the hero's melee damage and maximum health.
• grim - defeating an enemy causes more rapid regeneration of shields, and increases action skill cooldown rate for a few seconds.
• be like water - shooting and melee damage complement each other and increase each other's damage.
• followthrough - defeating an enemy increases movement speed, melee damage and gun damage for a short period of time.
• execute - allows a dash forward damage intensive attack on an enemy whilst deception is active.
• backstab - no modern game can do without this skill. However, a stab at the back requires practice. If done well, backstab causes bonus damage.
• resurgence - defeating an enemy restores the hero's health.
• like the wind - moving whilst attacking increase gun and melee damage.
• many must fall - defeating an enemy whilst deception is activated results in a second hologram decoy to be set up. Potentially, this can go on forever.

The sniping skill tree allows Zero to increase his damage from range using a sniper rifle. The sniping skill tree includes the following -

• headshot - increase critical hit damage.
• optics - magnifies zoom with all gun types. When the hero is damaged, aim is not disrupted.
• killer - defeating an enemy increases critical hit damage and reload speed.
• precision - allows the hero to become more accurate with all gun types.
• one shot one kill - bonus damage is awarded for the first shot from a fully loaded magazine.
• bore - the hero's shots pierces through enemies. The second enemy so hit is dealt massive bonus damage. When deception is on, the hero's visor will highlight critical locations on the enemies.
• velocity - increases critical hit damage, bullet speed and damage with all guns.
• kill confirmed - aiming down the sights with your gun allows bonus to critical hit damage. The longer the sights, the greater the bonus.
• at one with the gun - improves accuracy with sniper rifles when shooting from hip. Also increases reload speed and magazine size with sniper rifles.
• critical ascension - a critical hit on an enemy increases damage and critical hit damage with sniper rifles. This effect is stack able up to 999 times

• fast hands - increases reload speed and weapon swap speed.
• counter strike - after getting hit, the hero's next melee attack has a probability of causing massive melee damage.
• fearless - when the hero's shield is down completely, gun damage and fire rate are increased.
• ambush - increases damage when attacking from behind or when attacking an enemy who is preoccupied attacking another enemy (not the hero).
• rising shot - each hit with a melee or ranged attack gives damage bonus for a short time. This effect is stackable.
• unforeseen - the holographic decoy from deception explodes when the hero becomes visible again, causing shock damage to nearby enemies.
• death mark - dealing melee damage marks the target for a short duration; marked targets take additional damage from all sources.
• innvervate - increases gun damage, health regeneration and movement speed whilst deception is active.
• two fang - firing a gun gives the chance to fire twice.
• death blossom - activate deception and then activate this - kunai are thrown; each kunai will explode with an elemental type damage, causing damage and death mark is applied.