Zane (Operative) Hitman Build Guide Gear (2024)

Last updated on Dec 07, 2019 at 09:31by Motoko2 comments

Welcome to the gear page of our Hitman Zane build,where you will find the best-in-slot gear for that build and the stat priority you need to follow for each slot.

This Hitman Zane build guide is split in 3 different pages. The other 2 pagesare the build overview and the skills, which you can access by clicking thebuttons below.

The build focuses on shotguns with high damage per shot and low pelletamount, possibly with travel time to abuse damage increase traits that rely onyour movement speed like Violent Momentum and Violent Speed.

While elemental damage on skill end makes the build quite versatile, it isadvisable to have multiple copies of those weapons, with matching elements touse against different type of enemies, in particular:

• An Incendiary weapon to deal with flesh (red health bars)
• A Shock or Radiation weapon to deal with shields (blue health bars)
• A Corrosive or Cryo weapon to deal with armor (yellow health bars)

The strongest weapons for the build are blue/purple alien shotguns, whichcannot be targeted directly and therefore obtaining them can be quite inconsistent,as you may get lucky/unlucky with vendors, Jabbermogwai, or Eridian Fabricator.

First option is the Protuberance, an alien Torgue shotgun lobbing anelemental projectile at a location, which will then split in 4 extra afterimpact, each dealing splash damage. Very powerful for focusing single targets,it can make short work of badasses and bosses when using the appropriateelement. In Shock variant, it can also be used to replenish your shields if you haveThe Transformer equipped.

Second option is the Host, the Hyperion counterpart, another alienshotgun that lobs a projectile which will inflict a strong elemental damage overtime and can bounce multiple times. It is a superior choice for mobbing,compared to Protuberance, however, it requires a precise playstyle andrelies on kiting/funneling several enemies in a line to maximize the number oftargets hit by each pellet.

The last key weapon is the Face-puncher, best in its Redundantvariant, and it is primarily used to replenish shotgun ammo, in conjunction witha Cutpurse or a Bullet Vamp artifact, as both Host andProtuberance are relatively ammo hungry.

When dealing with bosses, a Lyuda or a Cutsman of thematching element are always a solid choice.

If you have yet to find an alien barrel shotgun, Projectile Recursioncan be a substitute, but requires some aim while being on the move, and Zane hasno means to keep targets immobile unlike Amara, thus some ricochets might end upmissing their target.

For Class Mods, Executor gives just another kill skill which weamplify with Death Follows Close and can be activated with Action Skillsthanks to Seein' Red. Ideally, we want 2 to 3 points in Playing Dirty to reach 95 or 100% chance for additional projectile.

Regarding Artifact choice, the Cutpurse affix is mandatory and without, it youwill starve for shotgun ammo. The best legendary Artifacts areVictory Rush for even more damage, but Splatter Gun can be analternative, albeit much rarer. Last but not least, Otto Idol can be aviable option, especially if you prefer a more defensive loadout.

Shield mods are mostly used as platform for Anointment effects after Skillends, and the general strong defensive ones are preferred, such asThe Transformer to absorb Shock damage or Stop-Gap.

While Grenades are mostly used for the Anointed After Skill End effect, bothyour Clone and the SNTNL will periodically drop one, tilting the choicetowards utility grenades. It's Piss, Recurring Cryo Hex, andTran-fusion are all excellent options, but ultimately the most importantroll is a 50% extra elemental damage after Skill End Anointment, so do not sweatif you cannot find one, and check the Ammo vendors for the desired Anointmentinstead.

Anointed rolls are special additional effects that can appear on weapons andshields at higher levels. The special effects relate to the use of actionskills and provide powerful temporary buffs.

For this build, you should look for anointments that give you a directboost to your damage. On weapons the strongest affixes are:

• 'On Action Skill End, Splash Damage is increased by 125% for a short time'when using Protuberance or Host.
• 'On Action Skill End, Weapon Damage is increased by 100% for a short time'.
• 'While SNTNL is active, Gain 50% of damage as bonus Cryo damage'.
• 'After swapping places with your Digi-Clone, Weapon Damage is increased by75% for a short time'.

For Shields and Grenade you want instead two of the following Anointmentswith different elements (two identical Anointments wont stack):

• 'On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus Incendiary Damage with Weapons for 10 seconds.'
• 'On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus Shock Damage with Weapons for 10 seconds.'
• 'On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus Corrosive Damage with Weapons for 10 seconds.'
• 'On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus Cryo Damage with Weapons for 10 seconds.'
• 'On Action Skill End, gain 50% bonus Radioactive Damage with Weapons for 10 seconds.'

It is extremely important to have as many elements as possible spread betweenyour native weapon element, and anointment effects, as it will increase theversatility of your loadout without requiring multiple weapon swaps mid combat,and reduce the chances you are facing the type of enemies resistant to theweapon element you decided to stack.

This build utilises strong general weapons that can drop anywhere in thegame. Therefore there are no specific mission drops to support this build.

Slot	Item	Special Effect	Secondary Stat/Effect Priority
Weapon 1	Protuberance	Does high splash elemental damage and spawn 3 additional projectiles on impact.	% Weapon Damage
Weapon 2	Host	Lobs a powerful elemental projectile that bounces on surfaces and throughenemies, leaving a strong elemental damage over time effect on anything ittouches.	% Weapon Damage Critical Hit Damage
Weapon 3	Any of the two types above for mobbing purposes		Weapon Charge Speed
Weapon 3 Alternative	Cutsman for bosses	Fires two projectiles connected by a powerful laser
Weapon 4	Face-puncher	Each pellet does damage as if it was a melee hit.	Redundant version for 14 pellets per shot.
Shield	The Transformer Stop-Gap	Absorbs all Shock damage and convert it into Shields. Provides 5 seconds of immunity after shield breaks.	Max Health
Class Mod	Executor	2 or 3 points in Playing Dirty	% Shotgun Damage % Magazine Size % Elemental Damage
Artifact	Victory Rush Otto Idol	Bonus damage and movement speed for 60 seconds after killing a badass. Recover 13% max health after killing an enemy.	% Shotgun Damage % Magazine Size % Elemental Damage
Grenade Mod	It's Piss Hex Tran-fusion	Clear status effect on allies and debuff enemies with 20% increase damage taken. Homing grenade that will fire beams at any nearby target. Heals for 120% of damage dealt, heal shields for 30% of damage dealt.	Recurring variant