Borderlands 2's new vault hunter is Krieg the Psycho

Borderlands 2's new vault hunter and sixth playable character is Krieg the Psycho, a melee-focused class that can rush the front line and deal damage to keep himself alive, Gearbox revealed during its PAX East panel today.

Krieg is an apparently reformed version of the Psycho enemy from the series who wields an axe and explosives to dispatch foes. Like the game's other archetypes, he has three skill trees: Bloodlust allows you to enhance your survivability by killing damage with your Buzz Axe (which can be used for melee or thrown), the Mania tree increases your damage as you take damage, and the Hellborn tree increases your fire damage, and also makes you a lethal warrior while you're on fire. With those last two trees, friendly fire is actually very beneficial for Krieg.

Krieg's actions come at high risk and offer high rewards, with his main action tasking him with rushing foes to kill enemies, which heals him — a necessary task, since, unlike Borderlands' melee character Brick, his health does not regenerate on its own.

"If you're like me, I was like, 'Fuck cover, I just want to get in this guy's face,' then this is your guy," Borderlands 2 lead writer Anthony Burch said following Krieg's reveal.

Krieg will be sold as standalone DLC, similar to how Gaige the Mechromancer was distributed, and will cost $10 when it launches in May. The game's fourth campaign DLC pack, which was not detailed during the panel, will launch by the end of June, and is included in the game's Season Pass.