Fans of Borderlands 2 may remember the next character for Borderlands: Pre-Sequel, Wilhelm
To think this is what he looked like in Borderlands 2
One of the advantages to making a prequel or in this case a pre-sequel is that it allows players to see and play as characters they’ve already ran into and this rings true for the newest character announced for Borderland: Pre-Sequel, Wilhelm.
Fans of Borderlands 2 may remember Wilhelm as he was the first major boss in the game. The difference this time however is that Wilhelm is more human than machine this time, thank you sequel.
Wilhelms unique ability is to summon two drones called Wolf and Saint. Wolf is the more offensive out of the two while Saint tends to stay behind to shield and heal you. Like Borderlands 2 Wilhelm will have three skill trees so you can upgrade him depending on your style of play.
Full Support Class: Dreadnought
The Dreadnought skill tree is a support skill tree which is used to keep Wolf and Saint around for longer. The Skill Auxiliary Tanks both increases the duration there out as well as lowering the cooldown for redeploying them while the skill Rapid Reinforcements lowers their countdowns further every time you kill them.
Out of the two drones the Dreadnought tree focuses more on Saint. By moving through the tree you can unlock skills like Energize which boosts the rate in which Saint boosts the shields of you and everyone in your party and the skill Zero Hour which cases Saint to drop a healing zone under you and your party when Saints time ran out or is recalled.
The skill tree also includes a unique skill exclusively for Wilhelm called Termination Protocols. This skill actives when Wilhelm goes into Fight for Your Life mode and instead of crawling on the ground, Wilhelm stays on his feet and walks slowly. He can also shock enemies nearby to slow them down. If you fail to kill an enemy in time instead of just dying like everyone else, Wilhelm will detonate in a nuclear explosion as he dies.
So many abilities but how will you build Wilhelm
Dreadnought is the perfect class for those of you who want to play a more supportive role because if JRPG’s have though us anything, a good team is nothing without a good support.
Combat Support: Hunter-Killer
While the Dreadnought skill tree focuses on Saint, the Hunter-Killer skill tree instead focuses on Wolf and turning both you and him into the perfect team.
What I mean by perfect team is that the Hunter-Killer tree is your only chance to get the Laser Guided skill which allows you to target the enemies you want Wolf to focus on through your reticle. The ability also increases the amount of damage that enemy takes while the skill is active.
Besides Laser Guided most of the other skills in the Hunter-Killer tree serve to make Wolf and you better fighters. Afterburner and Fire Support both increase the reloading speed of your guns as well as the damage while offering Wolf more damage and speed.
The two best skills seen so far on the tree for Wolf however are Kill Switch which causes Wolf to dive bomb the nearest enemy when his about to be recalled, expired or runs out of health while Omega Strike means that Wolf will occasionally fire missiles at enemies during battle.
Hunter-Killer is the skill tree of choice for players who want to maximise the capabilities of Wolf while at the same time buffing themselves a little. Sure you won’t be as improved as Wolf by the end but look at the plus side, by that point it’ll be able to fire missiles and who wants to mess with someone and his pet missile drone.
Run and Gunner: Cyborg Commando
I don’t know why there looking at that loot. Its not even purple rariety.
Sure you could put your points into making Wolf and Saint as useful as possible but where’s the fun in that asks the Cyborg Commando. The Cyborg Commando skill tree is for players who want to be the power behind their team and in a nice touch as you level up in the skill tree Wilhelm’s voice becomes more synthetic and his body parts get replaced with robotic parts.
This skill tree is based around increasing Wilhelm’s survivability with the skill Divert Power which means that when your shields are depleted and your health is low, your damage resistance is increased and more damage will increase your shield regeneration. On top of this Emergency Response increases your fire rate, reload speed and Wolfs fire rate when your out of shields.
Both of those skills gives the Cyborg Commando insane survivability but what goods that without some damage. The skill Power Fist replaces your puny human hand with a cyborg arm which increases your punches reach and its explosive damage with a 12 second cooldown. Meanwhile Vengenance Cannon is a shoulder mounted cannon that will only active after your shields run out but when they do the cannon fires incendiary laser blasts at the same time as your current gun.
The Cyborg Commando skill tree is perfect for players who want to always be in the thick of the action. Sure Wolf and Saint won’t be as useful but who cares when you have a shoulder mounted laser cannon.
These are only some of the abilities that latest character for Borderlands: Pre-Sequel, Wilhelm and with abilities like these his bound to be a popular character.
Borderlands: Pre-Sequel is due out on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 14th.