Finally dialed it in: Plague Star Green Tree Loveless, all content UVH7 including all S&Thol clears sub 1:30. No melee. (Long post)
As said, zero melee. Plague Star contamination/status effects/gun build. 59 points green. 5 points red. 5 points blue.
Green tree Loveless seemed to top out at UVH 3/4, especially so in bossing. I’ve been determined to push melee-free status+guns Loveless to UVH7. Absolute success (still enjoying some min-maxing/finalizing).
Surprisingly, bossing is the easiest part. Generally essentially instantaneous, hence the minute-and-ten-second UVH7 Subjugator & Thol clear in my provided picture.
There are a few key elements. It certainly uses some strong, meta equipment. Watts, Decompiler, Devourer. Additionally, the Plague Engineer class mod, + a Ripper teleporting grenade of choice. Skillcraft x3, Deadeye or personal preference x2.
Essential basics:
–Farm element-matching sets of Decompiler shotgun + Devourer sniper. Loveless boosts both corrosive & radiation damage, so I do 99.9% of content with those 2 elements, depending on situation or preference. (I switch to an incendiary set to shave off seconds of the latter half of raid boss fights).
–Bossing Decompiler shotgun: Requirement–Torgue Stickies. For example, mine has a corrosive mag size of 4. I fire 4 sticky shots onto any boss, immediately switch to corrosive Devourer and hold the trigger down for 1 shot. Everything in the game dies immediately, with the sometimes-exception of final-form raid bosses, which can take 1-3 sticky/snipe volleys (aka a few more seconds).
Edit: The Ripple assault rifle defaults to have corrosive stickies. It has far less high-end DPS, but is an easy access option for you to try the sticky volley/snipe. Basic tanky enemies/bosses will demonstrate well. Technically also very strong for mobbing with this build, but I find sticky mobbing to be slow and clumsy. Testing with a Ripple, it would be ideal for your Devourer sniper to have a fast charging time/fire rate to shoot the shot as fast as possible.
–Mobbing Decompiler: any, whatever is your favorite/ feels the best. (Element matching w/ sniper) Note mine is an SMG swap (photo).
–Grenade: Ripper grenade. Will teleport to the enemy you hit with your Plague Star, and instantly proc the skill E2 Pulse via Unsupported Peripheral. Thus instant +40% status effect damage, overshield, etc. Min/maxing grenade & action skill play is to shoot a grenade first, activate action skill at an enemy, then fire guns. (Yes, the Alignment grenade is excellent, but does not instantly proc. By all means, use for fun.)
–Plague Engineer class mod: all rollable skills are valuable. Yes, Cat 5 is excellent, but in all my exhaustive testing, when you’re firing on all cylinders, we’re only talking about shaving seconds off of the Takedown. Same goes for your secondary modifier: I find each of Elemenental Damage, Gun Damage, and Skill Damage to all essentially wash. Personal preference between those 3, your favorite, or tolerance for farming Subjugator and Thol to find what you believe to be min/maxed best in slot.
–Skill Tree: Red points=Corrupted Path, Blue=Disdain. I do not have video capture/a You Tube channel/Twitch to have a much easier venue to show and “teach” the tree & build. But reading skills as you enter points, and play experience will of course be the best teacher. Know that I exhaustively tested and respecced to arrive at the build you see. One note: the upper left skill Nootropic Energy Drink is also excellent if you want/don’t mind keeping up Triple Bypass spam. I did not spec that here because I wanted a slightly more “neutral, passive” showcase. Note 2: bottom center point distribution leans to survivability. You could (I may) easily lower overshield spec and lean into damage elsewhere. Highly recommend leaving at least one point.
–Skill Tree Auments: I like d://file (and radiation) for mobbing, Lag Switch (and corrosive) for bossing, though that’s really “win more” and kind of unnecessary.
Yes, Decompiler/Devourer, etc., are primary, but of course don’t let that stop you from testing and having fun with all the different toys you like. I certainly have.
Also, I’m just happy to be nerdy and share. Surely this could be pushed even further (especially mobbing capability, Takedown platinum seems to fall off around Mayhem 8/9+).
Have fun if you try this out! This is a lot, and I could’ve written plenty more. Very happy to answer questions, receive input, etc. There’s certainly plenty I don’t know as an average player! Cheers.
Edit: I mistakenly neglected to add a Specializations photo. Added in the comments.
Edit 2: I’ll add some random information here. The status DPS of an elemental Draupner is massive. Not best in slot, as Ripper grenade proccing many synergies are lost, but also fun to blow up with Devourer snipers. (The swap & fire has to be as fast as you can make it, and will still be far outclassed by the sticky Decompiler combo).
Critical Decay pistol damage is mid, but a Jakobs roll has become my Crystal breaker. (Everywhere but Bloomreaper phase 1. That sucks no matter what). Interestingly you never need to fire it for it to attach stickies everywhere. Simply have it equipped. Opens interesting gameplay (infinite looping, permanent overshield…)