Wilhelm is the “Enforcer” in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel. Knowing how he was in Borderlands 2, I was interested in seeing him as a playable character in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel. After seeing his action ability, I knew he would be the first character I play as.
Before we begin, his drones Wolf and Saint do not disappoint. They help so much when you put the right skills in and I leveled up through the normal play-through using their skill trees exclusively.
I used this build while playing in a group, but it should still work in solo play. I use a different build in my second play-through in True Vault Hunter Mode, but that is another guide altogether.
This guide will go over my Wilhelm drone leveling build including:
- Wolf and Saint: The Real MVPs – What Wilhelm’s action skill does and why it is fantastic.
- Drone Build – The build I chose, what each skill does and why I chose it.
Wolf and Saint: The Real MVPs
Wilhelm’s action skill summons two drones called Wolf and Saint. Wolf has health and shields and flies around attacking enemies. Saint does not have health or shields, cannot be damaged, and stays back to heal Wilhelm and restore his shields.
These drones can really save your life. Wolf is a terror to the enemy and kills better than I thought he would. He also seeks out enemies farther than I thought he would go.
Saint isn’t as great as Wolf early on, but if you put points into the Dreadnought tree to buff him up, he’s very helpful.
In fight for your life mode, if you have Wolf and Saint summoned, Wolf’s kills can revive you as well. This helps a lot with your survival. Wolf has saved me more times than I’d like to admit.
Drone Build
First, here is a picture of the build I used. I used the official Borderlands skill tree editor on their site:
The order you pick depends on what you’re going for.
- If you want more attack with Wolf at the beginning, start with Hunter-Killer.
- If you want more survival with Saint, start with Dreadnought.
This build goes up to level 30 around where you end up on your first play through on Normal. Now, let me explain each skill choice.
Hunter-Killler
- Fire Support – Increases damage with all gun types and increases Wolf’s damage.
- Need I say more? I pure damage upgrade all around. A must if you want more damage.
- Afterburner – Increases Wolf’s Air, Reload, and Projectile Speed.
- I like the damage upgrade more since it also buffs Wilhelm, but this is helpful because it will let Wolf kill faster and more often.
- Suppression – Increases fire rate for Wilhelm and Wolf after killing an enemy.
- Great for kill enemies faster, though you have to keep killing for it to ber useful.
- Venom Bolts – Wolf’s shots have a chance to do Corrosive damage. Also increases Wilhelm’s corrode chance and damage with guns and grenades.
- This is a great skill actually. The build has one point, but after testing I’d suggest taking a couple of points from Suppression and adding them to Venom Bolts
- This adds more damage, great for armored enemies, and doesn’t require you to kill to activate it.
- Laser Guided – Paint the target by pressing the action skill while Wolf and Saint are active. Target takes increased damage from all sources and if the target dies while Painted, Wolf and Saint’s duration gets extended.
- This skill is everything you want. Not only does the target take 25% more damage from everything, but wolf will focus on that target. Plus, you get 5 more seconds added to their duration every time you kill a Painted enemy.
- Great for focusing a hard enemy/boss or keeping Wolf and Saint out longer by killing weak enemies.
- Kill Switch – Whenever Wolf dies or time expires, it will dive bomb and explode on enemies.
- This skill gives you an extra burst of damage. The explosion does a lot of damage and saved me multiple times while in Fight for your Life.
- Rolling Thunder – While Wolf is alive, you gain a stack of Rolling Thunder every 5 seconds. This adds bonus damage to Wolf.
- I chose this because I like to get as much damage as I can, and it is easy to keep Wolf and Saint out longer to maximize this buff.
Dreadnought
- Fortify – Increases max health for Wilhelm and Wolf. Also increases damage with all gun types while Saint is active.
- More health = better survival. Also another nice bonus to all gun as long as Saint is active.
- Auxiliary Tanks – Increases Wolf and Saint’s duration and cooldown rate.
- Normally I’d put 5 points in a skill like this, but Fortify is so good and they already come back pretty fast. Still, if you find yourself needing them more, swap some points from Fortify into this great skill.
- Heat Sinks – Improves Shield Recharge Rate and Delay. Effect is doubled while Wolf and Saint are on Cooldown.
- Great skill depending on the situation. Increases your survival a lot while waiting on Wolf and Saint, but is counter productive if using a Roid shield.
- Energize – Occasionally boosts shields for Wilhelm and teammates and increases the rate Saint regenerates Wilhelm’s health.
- This is where Saint starts to get good. Now he can also restores shields, plus he regenerates health quickly. I didn’t notice Saint helping much until I got this skill.
- Termination Protocols – Replaces Fight for Your Life with Termination Protocols. This allows you to walk at reduced speed, fire weapons and constantly shock nearby enemies. You also cause a nuclear explosion when time runs out.
- Prepare to die less with this skill. It gives you shock damage as well as being able to shoot. Also, when close enough you can explode and do a lot of damage.
- The best part is if you kill someone with the explosion, you get revived.
- Zero Hour – Saint explodes putting a healing zone underneath you when he expires.
- Another reason to be a part of the Saint fan club. This heals a good amount and it works for your teammates as well.
- The only drawback is that you must stay in the healing area to get the effect.
That’s it for my Wilhelm Drone Leveling Build for Borderlands The Pre-Sequel. If you have any more questions about this build, or some tips of your own, let me know in the comments!
Please visit my Borderlands Pre Sequel Beginner’s guide for more tips and guides.
