A lot of people are making Amara, Zane and Moze builds, and as the self-proclaimed Master of Maya allow me to grace you, the good people of these here forums, with my infinitely phenomenal knowledge of a game I know nothing about.
I’ll start by saying that I’ve watched no BL3 gameplay videos whatsoever, so I have absolutely no idea how action skills work in BL3, but it’s not that hard to figure out. The hexagons atop and to the sides of skill trees are action skills, chevrons are augments, and diamonds are elemental augments. You obviously get one of each. Ez. I think. Maybe. Probably not. Whatever, I love theory crafting so that’s exactly I did!
My build will focus mainly on action skills and melee, because these are things I like. Let’s begin with the skill calculator - https://bl3skills.com/siren/#5050053103151150000510000005000100000000
BRAWL: This skill tree has most of the skills I’ll want, and most of the skills in this tree sound great. Also contains 2/3 Amara’s melee damage increases. Most of this guide will be under this section.
One With Nature: 5 Points - Since we’re going back to level 50, maybe, health increases will probably be important again. Elemental resistance is important here too, we can only resist one element at a time so that’ll probably change depending on the area. +25% health and 60% resistance to action skill element.
Clarity: 5 Points - Health regeneration will probably make a difference too, until we get UVHM and OP levels again, assuming we get them at all. Bonus is doubled for 5 seconds after using an action skill, which we want to be doing as often as possible. 5% health regeneration, 10% for 5 seconds after using an action skill, though we mainly want this for the passive 5%.
Helping Hands: 5 Points - 20% damage reduction for eight seconds after using an action. We’ll be getting up to 10% health regeneration for 5 of those seconds. Nice skill synergy here.
Mindfulness: 3 Points - A weird stacking skill that gains stacks when you take damage. The shield recharge delay probably wont make a big deal here as we’ll be taking damage often, but the movement speed should be nice. +4.2% movement speed and -7.5% shield recharge delay per stack, max 25 stacks. Max 105% movement speed just for taking damage? Yes! According to the card stacks hold for 5 seconds, we’ll have to see how quickly they build.
Find Your Centre: Minor capstone - One of Amara’s few melee damage skills. +22% melee damage, and 50% melee range for 8 seconds after using an action skill, a pretty straight forward skill that speaks for itself.
Samsara: 3 Points - Another weird stacking skill, and this one sounds amazing! We’ll have to see how well it performs though. +6% gun damage and 3% movement speed per stack, max 25 stacks. Stacks build when dealing action skill damage. How quickly stacks build remains to be seen but the card implies they hold for 8 seconds. Whether action skill augment and element damage also builds stacks remains to be seen but if the applied DoT does build and maintain stacks then this skill will be ridiculous. It may override the need for Clarity altogether, in which case I’d take Root to Rise instead for +25% max health.
Do Unto Others: * 1 Point* - This skill seems rather odd. Taking damage causes a homing orb to hit the attacker that deals action skill element damage. Think of an Impaler that only activates once every 8 seconds. It doesn’t sound great, but like all things it remains to be seen, and it only takes 1 point.
Jab Cross: 5 Points - When dealing melee damage, which we’ll be doing often, gain 50% weapon damage and 55% action skill for 20 seconds WHAT!? YES! I wonder if this skill also boosts action skill augments and elemental damage.
Guardian Angel: 1 Point - Now this skill is just ridiculous. Get an instant second wind and full health after going down uh again WHAT!? 60 second cooldown and it only takes 1 point!? Yeah, actually WHAT!?
Blitz: Capstone - Melee override. Dash forward and deal elemental melee damage? 10 second cooldown or instant cooldown if Blitz kills. This will make Amara play like melee Athena, and I dig it.
SKILL DISCUSSION: If Samsara does render Clarity’s +10% health regeneration after using an action skill useless, I might consider taking Root to Rise instead for +25% max health, which will further benefit health regeneration. Vigor seems useless when Mindfulness is in the same tier and should be active more often, and can provide a much greater increase to movement speed. Arms Deal doesn’t seem too great either, +15% splash damage resistance doesn’t sound like a whole lot and situational to boot. Every great skill tree has one bad skill, this one has two. Maybe.
MYSTICAL ASSAULT: This tree seems to revolve around the “Rush” stacking mechanic. Minimum investment here but three very important skills to this build.
Do Harm: 5 Points - Gain a stack of Rush after a kill, up to 10 stacks, for +3% action skill damage per stack which are consumed upon using an action skill. Up to 30% action skill damage.
Restless: 5 Points - +20% action skill cooldown rate. Great synergy with Do Harm, Clarity, Helping Hands, and Samsara.
Ascendant: Minor Capstone - Increases the effects of all action skill augments. This needs no further description.
FIST OF THE ELEMENTS: This tree has a lot of skills that I want. Perhaps with a future level cap increase, or if the level cap on release is higher than 50. For now, minimum investment.
Anima: 5 Points - Increased DoT damage and duration, and action skill elemental DoT damage. +10% damage, 50% duration, and 30% action skill elemental damage. This is a great skill as the effective damage increase is quite extreme. Also buffs action skill damage. Holding out for action skill elemental damage and DoT to proc Samsora, in which case this skill would have amazing synergy.
Illuminated Fist: 1 Point - Amara’s last melee damage increase. +28% melee damage and converts melee damage to action skill element. Not so beneficial against shielded enemies, but we’ll see just how much damage Amara’s melee is capable of dealing. Synergy with Blitz.
ACTION SKILL: Since we’ll be spending a lot of time in melee range, Phaseslam sounds like the ideal action skill. Depending how long Downfall lasts for and if it stacks Samsara efficiently, it may be preferable, and a longer cooldown will benefit more from Restless, but it will also slow down movement.
Augment: I assume you can only augment an action skill with an augment from the same skill tree. If this is the case here, then I want Revelation and hope the nova applies action skill element and procs Samsara. If I’m wrong, Soul Sap becomes a consideration.
Action skill element: If my above assumption is correct, there’s only one to choose from. If not, you’ll have access to both so use whichever fits the situation.
In short, I have no idea. I like two action skills and two augments. I really should watch a gameplay video and do a little research before talking ■■■■. But I’m obviously right about everything and I can’t wait to play and figure this all out! This will be my first build in BL3, and that’s what matters here.
it’s probably my favorite thing about her augments, because it makes her sooool customizable.