In Borderlands 3 there are many ways to play the Vault Hunters. With Zane, for example, you can freeze enemies – and it’s quite fun.
This is the problem with Zane: Anyone playing Zane will have noticed that he is not necessarily the strongest compared to other Vault Hunters. This was partly due to rather buggy abilities. However, you can have a lot of fun with Zane’s abilities – Cryo builds are currently very popular in the community.
What are Cryo builds? Zane has several skills that utilize the Cryo element. This means: Zane has many ways to significantly slow down and ultimately freeze enemies.
That’s why Cryo builds are fun: One thing to note – you do not achieve the highest damage with Cryo builds compared to other Vault Hunters. Really difficult enemies like anointed enemies can therefore become a problem. The advantage, though, is: Ice blocks do not fight back and can be attacked further. Additionally, it’s quite fun to turn a room full of enemies into an ice sculpture gallery.
This is how Cryo builds work for Zane
These abilities you need: Zane has the ability to equip a second action skill instead of grenades. This ability should definitely be utilized in Cryo builds. There are many variants of Cryo builds. With this skill, Zane can freeze enemies very quickly – including some that are actually immune to Cryo damage. Here we want to provide you with a good foundation.
Skills from the Hitman tree
These skills you should choose: As one of the fundamentals for Cryo builds, you should utilize the SNTL drone. For this, use the following skills:
- Brutal Momentum
- Drone Delivery
Brutal Momentum increases weapon damage at increased speed, Drone Delivery ensures that SNTL throws grenades at your enemies.
That’s why the drone is important: If you equip a grenade like the Recurring Hex with Cryo damage, the drone can help you freeze enemies. Additionally, it allows you to equip non-Cryo weapons with Cryo damage.
Because: Some anointed weapons for Zane cause an effect of 50% additional Cryo damage. So as long as SNTL is active, you can deal extra ice damage with these weapons. By the way, anointed weapons can currently be found more frequently in the ongoing event.
Skills from the Undercover tree
These skills you should choose: From the Undercover tree, you get the second action skill, the Barrier. In addition, there are many abilities that can improve Zane’s Cryo damage. Choose these skills:
- Adrenaline
- Always Ready
- Brain Freeze
- Hang Tough
- Dominant and Competent
- Scrap Trap Skill Set
- Chill and Stay Cool
That’s why you need these skills: This skill combination increases weapon damage, improves accuracy, and reduces the time during which you cannot activate your action skills. This is essential: You want to keep the action skills active for as long as possible.
Particularly important is the skill “Brain Freeze”. Critical hits have a chance to slow and freeze enemies. This ability is stackable. Particularly weapons like the Maggie that fire many projectiles at once can offer you the chance for many critical hits. Sometimes it takes only one shot for enemies to be frozen.
Then there’s also “Chill and Stay Cool”. This skill regenerates shields and health when you freeze enemies. However, if both are already full, the action skill cooldowns and durations are reset. This means: Each frozen enemy allows for a stronger use of the action skills.
Skills from the Digi-Clone tree
These skills you need: From the Digi-Clone skill tree, you should best acquire the following abilities:
- Synchronization
- Uprising
They give Zane additional weapon damage. Also, the skill “Sticky Bomb Mod” can be very worthwhile as it allows for more grenade throws that can freeze enemies if you have the right effects.
What about the remaining points? If you have distributed your skill points according to this pattern, you still have some points left. You can use these to further enhance Zane’s Cryo framework, boost his lifespan, or deal even more damage. Here, however, it greatly depends on what weapons and items you prefer. You need to experiment!
Have you tried Cryo Zane yet? If not, why not test him out and freeze a few cursed enemies in the Halloween event:
