[Build] Maya - the True Bandit

Borderlands 2 Maya the Siren
#1

Maliwan builds and hyperion builds are kinda obvious choices for Maya, but I’m not sure how many of you ever considered a true Bandit build on her. Well… Here’s something to bite down on. A true Bandit build, with nothing but Bandit gear and a Bandit allegiance relic.

The Build - Pretty standard for a Siren.

Guns

Jolly Roger, Purple Bandit SMG and Badaboom. A fourth is optional. The main issue with all of these guns is the low accuracy. Even with the accuracy prefix, the SMG is really wobbly. Jolly Roger, however, is a badass shotgun.

Gear

Hide of Terramorphous, Chaotic Evil Cleric (Suspension and Life Tap), a purple Bandit slag Bouncing Betty, and a Bandit Allegiance relic with damage and reload buffs.

With the increased mag size on Bandit weapons, and the 11/5 in Suspension, you can phaselock an enemy. Kill the other enemies around him. Go to lunch, and then come back from lunch and kill the guy you still have phaselocked. Once you get the kill skills going, you’re almost unkillable as long as you keep shooting the enemies. Hide of Terra is not the best shield in the game, but it’s still a great shield. The only real weakness to this build is that you have to be fairly close to the enemies, because of the low accuracy. The shield will go down, but that’s when the payback kicks in.

And the Badaboom… Well… I guess that’s my new Bandit sniper.

EDIT: Since we’ve learned that Scorn does NOT benefit from Flicker, I’ve moved the points to Helios instead. I’ve also given the Tattler a second chance, but the accuracy on it is way too low for my liking. It’s still very powerful, if you hit anything, and it will fit nicely with this build.

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Siren Master List: Build Collection
So what can you do with maya..? Ideas?
The Florentine Love/Hate Thread
Siren Master List: Build Collection
#2

I’d suggest the Tattler, it’s one of her best SMGs. The Sawbar is also really good, especially with 0/5 in Accelerate.

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The Florentine Love/Hate Thread
#3

Also one of the most inaccurate, which is already a problem. It’s also one of the most overrated weapons in the game, as far as I’m concerned. The only way to damage an enemy with it, is if you toss it on the ground and hope that the enemy trips on it. No one thought this was a good gun until Bahroo did his top 5 of each type. Then, all of a sudden, this was considered to be a badass gun. But, no one uses it… I’d choose a purple or blue Bandit SMG over the Tattler every day of the week, and twice on saturdays.[quote=“khimerakiller, post:2, topic:1550902”]
Sawbar
[/quote]

This is a good gun, but it only shines if you have the correct distance. This, and the fire-only element, limits it’s usefulness.

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The Florentine Love/Hate Thread
#4

Yes, the Tattler is excellent. Spray elements everywhere and a useful blade. Bone Shredder is pretty good too.

I do a lot of work with Bandit weapons and my allegiances focus on getting the most out of maylay shields (the only non roid shield Bandits make is the Pot of Gold, which could be fun) :stuck_out_tongue:

I actually prefer the Love Thumper. I spec Harmony pretty liberally with it. There was a discussion about Recompense… my conclusion from it was that it works ok up to about OP3. Before that it’s worth speccing with a Bandit shield.

My Bandit Siren (who hasn’t got to OP8 yet, in the 60s) chooses Fleet over Inertia. It works well with the Banshee mod (the only Bandit siren mod in the main game - the Tina mods are Bandit, and preferable for most of my play, because even though the Banshee comes with appropriate skills, shield recharge and lowered health work against maylay shields).

Anyway I like to maximise the time a roid shield is down so that I get the melee and phaselock boosts, so I don’t spec Inertia - this means you have to forsake the reload speed, but the shield power doesn’t become redundant as soon as you get a kill. Fleet meanwhile works very well with a shield-down approach. My combat rhythm with Bandit is different to any other weaponry; I don’t reload at each small break / after a kill but keep firing (and swap weapons), so reload speed in battle is less significant.

For similar reasons, I spec Accelerate rather than Ward.

I also always spec Backdraft - the fire melee damage works great, especially with a roid shield and Banshee mod. Again, I don’t play at OP8 with any of my characters except for fairly conventional coop stuff, so haven’t really tested how the damage stacks up there, but I love using it at OP3 and below.

I embrace the lack of accuracy with Bandit and go for painting the walls rather than sniping. It synergises well with Chain Reaction. If you’re taking full advantage of the melee bonuses which are such a big part of what the Bandit brand offers, you will be up close and personal anyway. Maya has the health bonuses to get away with it even at high levels.

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The Florentine Love/Hate Thread
#5

I’m glad I’m not the only one underwhelmed by it. I find myself clenching my sphincter hoping for more DPS.

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The Florentine Love/Hate Thread
#6

It has a high damage-per-ammo output but you only really benefit from that at super close range (which is true of a lot of Bandit weapons). I personally like the Tattler for spreading elemental DPS around everywhere (similar to the Slagga for slag). You can work with it, but like a considerable number of weapons, it scales poorly at OP8 in comparison to a strong performance at earlier levels e.g. 50s and 60s (or so I found, at least, in doing several Bandit playthroughs from level 0 up). I’ve found OP8 in general results in quite a reduced backpack which I don’t enjoy, so these days I bask at OP3.

#7

I ended up getting it for Maya’s OP and used it exactly that way ( phaselock and rush the target) but found equal or better results with Bitch, Lascaux…Honestly it’s not a bad gun, I just find it’s no better. I’ll grant that it probably benefits from a Blurred Trickster ( which I never end up using ). Of course this is all moot because I’m comparing it to non-Bandit guns.
I also blame Bahroo for tricking me! (jk)

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#8

Lol, I’ve never watched Bahroo’s videos (indeed I generally avoid borderlands youtubers as I find they make claims which would initially put me off doing something but which I eventually do and find I like). I’m just a hands on learner :grin:

A gun like the Bitch is top gear for Maya in a way I would never claim the Tattler is, but my own gun preferences aren’t all just about being optimal for swiftly dispatching enemies. I like the Tattler for reasons that make me like a lot of Bandit guns - I enjoy the accuracy / damage tradeoff (I’ve never tried a Bandit Gaige but I would love to - I know @Adabiviak has one), I like spraying elements across unsuspecting enemies and then punching them, and I like being able to fire for an absurdly long time without reloading (and the inevitable pang when the magazine empties at a crucial moment and it will be three years before the reload is done). :stuck_out_tongue:

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#9

That would kick ass.

Good for you. I started out learning from some these jokers before finding the real deal here. Bahroo to his credit has rather good understanding of the mechanics.

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#10

It truly is very good, and I consider myself and my word above the influences of Bahroo based on my contributions to the community (at least in TPS).

Maya also has no qualms with getting near enemies to use it, and the power it has is worth it.

No one uses the shotgun Fibber, but it too is powerful. Some times (most of the time) it takes someone popular to make something popular. I haven’t played BL2 in like 3 months, but I’d gladly do a video in any base game map you want.

But once you do get the distance it basically has Bekah levels of power, just something you could keep in your backpack.

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#11

[quote=“Ronnie_Rayburn, post:3, topic:1550902”]No one thought this was a good gun until Bahroo did his top 5 of each type.[/quote][quote=“khimerakiller, post:10, topic:1550902”]No one uses the shotgun Fibber[/quote]I don’t believe we’ve met.

[quote=“Jefe, post:9, topic:1550902”]That would kick ass. [/quote]She does. :wink: Maya’s such a rock star on her own merits, I don’t think there’s a manufacturer whose weapons she couldn’t get around with though.

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#12

Sorry - random thought : I finally just realized what Guajiro Pandoreño means :laughing:

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#13

The Tattler is a very powerful SMG. While the Sandhawk is the runaway champion when utilizing the Cat Com, on other coms the Tattler can outperform the Sandhawk in certain circumstances due to the latters smaller magazine size. While the Bitch and PC cab seem equal to the Tattler in Bandit Maps, the difference in their power becomes quite clear when running without a Cat Com in Loader maps.

No one really used the Tattler before because it was far weaker before the Loot Hunt (which gave it an additional pellet). The Tattler is inaccurate and should be used at relatively close range. Which should not be an issue given you are running Maya with Life Tap. Furthermore, your build incorporates the Sledge Shotgun, which is about as inaccurate as a weapon can get.

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#14

It was in the context that “no one used the Tattler”. Just because something wasn’t found to be powerful in the past 3 years doesn’t mean it isn’t. Plus I know you use everything, you filthy landscaper. :stuck_out_tongue:

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#15

You’re using bandit so you’ll have to be close anyway. Why not just take a tattler along? Can’t hurt, it’s not like there’s great diversity among bandits anyway, most of them occupy the same space (close up, barrel down the throat).

#16

If someone wants to use the Tattler, or any other gun, it’s completely up to them. But, I won’t!

The Tattler is powerful at close range. REALLY close range. And for that, I keep a shotgun. On my standard builds, I use a Ravager, but here I use Jolly Roger. People may use whichever gun they want. I choose these guns, because they work. Even at mid range.

Sledge’s shotgun is there simply because I like it. Jolly Roger is all you need, really, but I like it. So, I use it for variation. It get’s the job done too.

It’s a shotgun! It’s not supposed to be accurate. It’s supposed to rip the bandits a THIRD one if they get too close.

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#17

Oddly enough, when accuracy is needed with Bandit I would recommend shotguns. The longer ragne killer uses a Hyperion barrel and counters many of the characteristics of Bandit weapons, including offering a lot more accuracy. In terms of red text guns, the RokSalt is a worthy choice for this in my own opinion - comparatively good accuracy, and of course really fast reload.

Bandit shotguns do have a bigger mag than other brands but it’s not huge like other types of Bandit gun, so I like having more than a shotgun on hand. I also like using an SMG to spread elements across a room, then switch to a shotgun like the Roger or Sledge to finish them off.

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#18

Yeah, I was really surprised about this. Jolly Roger, especially with the critical prefix, has a reticle that’s almost as tight as the one on the Striker.

RokSalt is also a really good shottie. Well worth mentioning!

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#19

How did the Gub get missed?

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#20

I was gonna mention the Roksalt :slight_smile:

Also… I’m on team Tattler
You might not like it, but it’s not overrated

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