So, when does Amara get good?

Borderlands 3 Amara the Siren
#1

Full disclosure, maybe my build is just all wrong, but I feel like Amara is garbage compared to my friends all playing as the other classes. What’s going on here?

#2

I am having the same issues with her. I have looked at some build recommendations and I have read all about how OP her melee becomes, but at level 23 I am definitely underwhelmed.

The Brawl tree provides some nice survivability, but the melee is nothing impressive, especially when with the co-op scaling (I regularly play with my 2-3 other friends). On the flip side, her Fist of the Elements skill tree can be helpful with dealing elemental damage, but then her survivability takes a nose dive. In addition, her Phaseslam damage is horrible and has an insanely long recharge.

Any advice as to how to build her properly early on?

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#3

Depends on level and build, likely. I went mystical assault for leveling because I’m a sadist mage. I hit a pretty rough go between 16-22, which makes sense - the build lacks a lot of early game survivability or damage that isn’t as based until then. Then boom - a lot of at level guns. Boom. Wrath, laid bare, remnant. Boom. Tandava as a hold over until avatar.

My survivability still sucks cause I’m in a mage spec, but I’m in my secondary tree and making ■■■■ hate being within a country mile of me.

Boss fights are … hectic but very doable if I keep my head out of my ass, which is how they should be.

What are you looking at spec , gear, and level wise?

#4

Depending on what you want from early game, my advice for melee is actually hard spec into the damage reduction skill in brawl and use grasp over any of the brawl skills. You may even think about going for first to pick up the grasp and melee damage bluffs. Samsara is your friend when you start going green.

If you want better damage output, try going with foe tempest as a base, then go into ms or brawl depending on playstyle. My main advice there is to not feel pressured by brawls action skills. Grasp is always going to be good and ms has pure haymakers.

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#5

I went Fist of the Elements as my leveling tree and its been a cakewalk so far. Dishing out buttloads of elemental damage and having options of what elements that is feels like it makes things really easy. Even Killovolt was a pushover and I was only one level above him.

The Eternal Fist is just such a CRAZY good action skill for leveling.

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#6

I think the flat damage buff is where things get wacky. My luck started to turn when I got wrath. Having tempest from such a low level… well call me a donut cause I’m jelly inside.

#7

How are you building her? Link to build, would be very helpful.

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#8

This is what I’m running. Fist of the Elements tree first obviously, run Eternal Fist until you feel you don’t need the crowd control as much, at which point switch to Ties that Bind.

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#9

For the record, Mine.

Again, would not recommend just because of my own drought.

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#10

Amara you either have to determinedly flesh out one of her trees from the start, or you have to know what kind of gear you’re looking for to balance out her weaknesses if you’re double or triple dipping into all three skill trees from the start. That said I’d still take Anima and Tempest because of how they reinforce her elemental damage potential regardless of what sort of build you put her into.

Also you have to remember that enemies are a lot more strict about how they take damage from elements now that they pulled Slag out of the picture, Radiation doesn’t inflict the same kind of debuff as Slag did and Cryo doesn’t give insane critical damage after freezing enemies that it did in TPS. Both are more neutral elemental choices now that Shock has been even more firmly attached to shields, though with Tempest Amara can still chew through a lot of enemies with Shock alone if you have the right weapons, in my case it was a Hyperion SMG that lasted me about 7 levels.

This is what I have for her at level 28 currently, and a level 26 purple Roid shield with several different weapons with 80% melee damage boosts are keeping me competitive along with some good elemental weapons, especially since I just found a class mod that boosts Do Harm by 2, Clarity by 1 and gives me 2 free points into Infusion.

#11

lifesteal is so op if you have right weapons you pretty much never die

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#12

I’m only lvl 19 so far (life and playing Zane on my PS4 slow my progress) but I’m pretty happy with Amara’s damage and survivability.
I’m playing her like Maya with Phase grab, and that works very well. Buffed heath regen and weapon swap/reload speeds first, then have added some splash buff and Rush.
She’s pretty tanky to me.
–RoA

#13

I think she is pretty good from the start. Most of my points went into health and health regen. Now that those are at max levels I will focus on gun damage and elemental damage. I usually try to make sure I can survive the fight before I worry about dealing the damage. Games like this I always go with a mage and shoot for glass cannon balanced with good health

#14

I’m at Level 31 or so, and she’s doing fine. I’m mostly invested in Mystic Assault, but I have 5 points in Infusion and whatever the skill is in the Brawl tree that causes her to constantly regenerate Health. I’ve actually got enough points to get to the Mystic Assault capstone, but I’ve gotten used to having access to all 3 elements on a non-elemental weapon, and I can’t do the Capstone with those, as well.

Also, prefer Phasecast as my Action Skill. I get why Phasegrasp is awesome, but I don’t want Amara to be just a Maya clone. I’m also not much of a melee player. I’m actually hoping someone will put together a Mystic Assault/ Fist of the Elements/ Phasecast build, but I’ll probably have to do it myself eventually

#15

Get Clarity for HP regen + Helping Hands for dmg reduction, use phasegrasp. Make a brawl/elemental hybrid for your first playthrou.
Once you have enough points, respec into elemental for Sustainment & use high elemental dmg weapons.

Amara is strong af!

#16

im definitely an Amara main the moment i respec into melee and i phaseslamed like 5 maliwan troops, lvl 19 (as i was) and they completely vanished into a bloody mess. i was using fire and it still demolished their shields. (not playing on easy lol) i think her biggest strength no mater what build is groups of enemy’s. Her CC is absolutely amazing. in my opinion she should be strong at lvl 13. no matter what tree you go her game changers are amazing especially early game. when she reaches amazing levels is 24-28 . either you reach a capstone or half in 2 trees. at lvl 24 FotE and brawl , just with the game changers i was wiping enemy’s. electric wiping out shields completely with 1 punch. health demolished with 2 . now i use FotE as my build. any situation and i can change elements.

(they do need a new method to swap elements i.e holding down the action skill button to cycle elements before useing the skill/ if its on cooldown to swap before using)

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#17

Amara is insanely strong. I can 1v1 any super bad ass just with my fists. And then after that is a blood massacre festival with the Melee override final ability.

Just go green tree/orange tree for the fire fist and the melee boost, get a shield that boost your melee when depleted (I have a 180% shield) and get a relic that gives you back health when you melee damage (I have a 50% health regen green relic)

I’ve been playing with two friends, a Zane and a Fl4k, both lvl 40 and they can’t deal the same damage I can. I’m basically invincible 90% of the time.

#18

Respectfully disagree. Clarity and Samsara are more than enough to keep you alive, I think Helping Hands is only really good in boss fights where there aren’t big mobs to build Samsara stacks. Samsara is better in mobbing situations, which is most of the game’s combat, it’s honestly broken. I guess that one’s more each to their own though, I health stack to get the most out of Clarity and Samsara, but you could bypass Mindfulness for Helping Hands if you want that extra survivability. Brawl Amara doesn’t die easily so long as you have Clarity and Samsara.

Where I strongly disagree is Phasegrasp. It holds enemies high and at silly angles, not really great for melee, and doesn’t have the raw damage output of Phaseslam. When you get down to Jab Lock, Phaseslam gets stupid, it kills weak enemies without it and super kills them with it, dents badasses, and most importantly builds Samsara stacks thanks to its large radius. It’s also a movement option, which is important for melee as it lets you close the gap on priority targets fast, or you can use it as an escape and pick up some Samsara stacks along the way. It’s a utility skill as well as an offensive option. Phaseslam also benefits heavily from Do Harm. IMO Phaseslam is Amara’s best option for melee. Phasecast with Helping Hands would probably be better for boss fights where you don’t wanna be jumping towards them, but that’s situational, Phasegrasp is more for gun builds.

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#19

right now i am playing TBH mode on mayhem lvl 3 and am destroying the enemy. she is very strong. so don’t worry you will get there.

#20

I am lvl 35 solo only and its been easy.

First points should go into brawl for personal space and clarity, nothing is better early game. Blue tree seems to require the most points to use properly so I’ve ignored it. After getting ok elemental weps I went into Anima and Tempest in the red tree. From there I started working toward getting the melee skill in both green and red trees. The End

Other notes of interest. I have a blue lvl 20 shotgun that shoots 1 rocket w/ radiation dmg 75% chance @ 330/sec which is still enough damage to 1 shot most badasses at lvl 35 with anima and tempest. I found a corrosive version in the shop at lvl 29 w/440~ dps that lobs instead but thats the only 2 so far with that high of elemental dmg. While those guns are OP I mow down mobs just fine with a random bladed radiation SMG that only has a lil over 100 dps dot on it when I’m trying to save ammo.