Survivalist is often panned by many for not being very good, and I can understand the reasons why, but I also think it's got potential that people aren't seeing, because I've definitely had games with it where it worked great, good enough that I even said it felt like the best one, so what gives?
Well, the things you're blocked from taking are a bit painful. No SoB means no rapids, and it also has no Hellrunner or Berserker, so it can't use its tankiness for melee either, and it'll always be slow and unable to dodge.
However, it does have great options open to it, and if Berserker was allowed, I'm positive it would be OP. You can still take Brute, so it isn't barred from melee, it's just not as good as Vampyre, which it shouldn't be. Keep a Hatred Skull on hand in case you find Dragonslayer and use your other options for the rest of the game.
Notably, Eagle Eye and Intuition are allowed, as are Finesse/Whizkid/Juggler, Reloader/Shottyman, and Son of a Gun/Dualgunner.
The most obvious way forward to me is a Pistol build that caps off with Tough as Nails2/Ironman3/Badass and becomes unkillable. Get your Whizkid as needed, make a really nice armor, and you're golden.
Something I've noticed is people really underrate TaN, but having opened with it before, it is really noticeable and even makes green and blue armors feel like red armor. I wouldn't open with it instead of SoG > Dualgunner, but it makes a big difference, and people kinda act like it does nothing.
Ironman is of course not really something you open with, it's something you take after your build is finished so you can make it to the end, so that's what we'll do with it here. Just like Scavenger, this isn't really meant to be the thing that launches you into the midgame, it's meant to seal up your victory after you had fun being creative with your other options.
Badass is the weakest trait in the build, but it also makes large medpacks great once you get it, so we'll take it last.
I'm gonna run through some UV games with it and come back with my findings.
