I’ve finished TVHM with Maya, and look to be starting UVHM soon. I’m level 51, currently using a Cat com with something like +4/+3/+3 to wreck, mind’s eye, and accelerate, in no particular order.
Does anyone have any optimal builds for lv50+ to get through UVHM without too much trouble? I can deal heavy damage but I go down more often than I’d like. And don’t get me started on big bosses.
Is there any gear I can try to farm in TVHM lv50 mode so I don’t get completely crapped on? I have all the main DLC, so I can technically go grab grog/sand hawk, but I’d prefer not to.
VaultHunter101
(So long, and thanks for all the fish)
#2
Depends on your play-style to some extent. Here’s a good place to start - there are several different suggested builds depending on preferred style at the bottom of the first post. Also note that you might build differently if you play solo versus co-op, but that’s essentially covered by the difference between the DPS and Nurse builds.
You’ll find a bunch more stuff linked from the Community Maya Guide stickied at the top of this category.
Some really good advice in the above post. However, I would trade Inertia in the above for Ward and then I would focus on Quicken (and complete Wreck) before starting on Mind’s Eye. I recently started UVHM with Maya myself (also around L51, IIRC) and your Phaselock is definitely your friend, so anything that reduces the cooldown or helps while it’s up is worth focusing on, especially since with your Cat mod you’ve probably got decent extra smg damage anyway. You didn’t mention what damage it provides, but I have a Blue L54 Cat which provides 100% damage and I still haven’t found anything better even though I’m now L64!
If you’re like me, you’re probably saving the Quest rewards for when you reach L72. I would definitely echo the advice to get a Hornet - it’s so easy to get and just wrecks anything metallic. With your Cat mod you probably also want to focus on using your Eridium to increase ammo with smgs, too. I also have a Relic which improves Shock (30%) and Cooldown (30%) and that also helps a LOT.
I didn’t find Immolate that useful but there again I don’t melee much so try to stay out of FFYL! I’d rather stick points in Blight Phoenix: one of its advantages is that it helps you keep track of enemies even if they duck behind cover, as you can see the damage trails of the DOT! Even 1 point will do it.
It’s definitely worth starting the Tina DLC to get as far as the Forest, so that you can farm the Treants for a Bee Shield. I tend to pop back there every three of four levels to top up.
Try to get Ruin and Converge, they are going to help you a lot in UVHM. Sweet Release is a good way to keep Maya health up, grab it too.
Cat is a good COM, try to put 1 point in the skills it boosts (4 Ward and 1 Accelerate, 4 Sweet Release and 1 Mind’s Eye, 1 Wreck).
I agree. What In did was put 26 points in Cataclysm to get Ruin (Reaper is a must, too), then I distributed as follows:
5 Ward
5 Suspension
1 Converge.
From there, I moved to Harmony:
5 Sweet Release
4 Wreck
If you have a Comm that boosts a specific stat, like e.g. Accelerate or Mind’s Eye, then by all means take a point out of Wreck and put one there. But your goal IMO should be to get the Holy Trinity of Ruin, Converge and Wreck up to speed asap. With that your Phaselock becomes extremely potent. If you come across one, it’s worth keeping a decent Nurse COM in your backpack, too, for those times when you are running dangerously low on health and you are worried you might not be able to kill anything to get the Sweet Release boost. They usually boost the Sweet Release stat anyway so you will find yourself getting health back extra quick.
Once you have that, I think you can open things up a bit depending on your playstyle and weapons / gear you have. Sometimes it’s worth putting a point into a stat if you have a COM that boosts it, since you will get anything up to 6 levels for investing a single point. I certainly found that I re-specced Maya a lot more than I ever did my Axton characters.
As I said, I find Phaselock to be massively useful so I put 4 points into Accelerate, which then allowed me to pump 5 into Quicken and significantly reduce the cooldown rate. I have a Relic which lowers cooldown by another 30%, so combined with Quicken I can use Phaselock almost continuously. Cooldown is about the same as my shield’s
That will take you to Level 60/61. Sub-Sequence is another good one to go for and I found it a better trade-off than Mind’s Eye for general play. You can take out several mobs with that one. Wasn’t keen on Thoughtlock, though (tried it and didn’t work out well for me). You may fare better.
One thing I like about Maya is that she allows you to play with very different styles, depending on how you spec her, which in turn gives the game a fresh perspective. Mixing her points around will result in very different benefits and playstyles.
I use Maya on my alt account to PL mules on my main account. Yesterday I finished TVHM with her and the build is like this: http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#535101010013000000005550500501
Since I don’t plan on moving her from the Vault of the Warrior this might not be the most optimal build for UVHM but it got me through. As a comparison, my Maya on my primary account looked more like this: http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#555101010055055005210000000000
Edit: 21 July 2019- with the Oct 2015 patch I’d take the point from Quicken and put it into Cloud Kill- it’s definitely no longer one of Maya’s worst skills…
Now that Im not on mobile anymore I can post properly the link with the spec.
Try this one with your Cat COM.
The first goal for UVHM as Maya is Ruin in my opinion. Slag is really needed and you get Reaper and Chain Reaction on the way down. After filling the Cataclysm tree, move to Motion for your support and control skills. Suspension and Converge will allow you to control the battle better and synergyze incredible well with skills in the Cataclysm tree. Suspension allows more use of Chain Reaction and Converge will benefit it directly by grouping enemies for the ricochet. And for the elemental effects from Ruin and your grenades (think Vladof AoE and Torgue MIRVs, even Dahl bouncing grenades).
After this you can move to Harmony to get Sweet Release for more sustain and survivability. Also, Mind’s Eye and Wreck add more damage and are boosted by your COM.
For me, this is the base for every Maya build: Ruin, Converge and Sweet Release.
After this, I could suggest you to get Quicken as it reduces cooldown and let you benefit more from your phaselock.
While your advice is generally sound, it’s worth noting that farming Tubby/Chubby enemies before level 61 is a waste of time as they do not drop the Legendary Siren class mod. Only class mods they drop are the 3 new mods that are all 61+ only.
As for the OP, if you’re looking for gear to carry you at the beginning of UVHM, I’d suggest doing these missions at lvl 50 in TVHM, if you haven’t already.
Safe and Sound: Heartbreaker is a great shotgun.
Whoops: Sandhawk, in the Capt Scarlett DLC. Best Smg in the game.
Don’t Copy that Floppy: Pimpernel is the best sniper in the game, but requires a bit of getting used to since you need to aim differently.
All 3 of those weapon can last you multiple levels to start out UVHM along with the build mentioned earlier that focuses on slag with Ruin in the Cataclysm tree. Not all enemies require slag, but it’s an invaluable tool to have and requires nothing more than using your action skill, which is going to be used constantly anyway.
Lastly, make sure you check as many red chests along the way as you can. Chest loot is better in UVHM so finding decent weapons in chests is very helpful. It’s still not a great loot source, but it’s much better than TVHM where you mostly see greens with the occasional blue.
Many blue rarity weapons are fine to use along with Ruin while your leveling up, so don’t be afraid to try any out. Especially if they are fire or corrosive weapons.
UVHM can be an eye opener at the start with the big jump in enemy health, but Maya is, IMO, the best character to run through this difficulty for a first time. Her ability to slag tons of enemies with Ruin + Converge, along with excellent crowd control and her ability to be very good with all weapon types makes her a powerhouse. Good luck.
Very good advice, but I’d recommend putting points into Inertia as the next step in the build you linked.
While I don’t love the skill as much as some of the Maya experts that used to post here, it’s an excellent survival skill in tough situations. Can’t count how many times it’s kept me up while having DOTs applied by regenerating my shield and the added reload speed is a nice bonus.
After that, then I’d suggest rounding out the damage skills like Wreck, Accelerate and maybe Minds Eye as well. It always a consideration to respec into Kinetic Relection if you’re going into a map with a heavy amount of gun toting enemies like Sawtooth, Thousand Cuts, Southpaw Steam & Power, etc.
UVHM build really depends on your primary skill tree and what you want to focus on moving forward. A lot of the current advice is focused on Ruin and not so much Scorn as a means to slag. For a Harmony based build compatible with Cat this is a great start: http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#550001450055054100510000000000
I had gotten so use to running Slagga and Crossfire with Krieg, I carried it over to supplement Scorn. This type of build gives up control in favor of tanking which is more my style. Legendary Cat makes short work of enemies with and without PL and it works great with non-SMGs as well.
I would have to disagree about trading Inertia for Ward, for the same reason @Jimmy_cornflower mentions above. Inertia has saved me from going into FFYL many times. Ward simply can’t do that. Although I generally tend to use both skills, I prioritize Inertia for its usefulness over Ward. Ward tends to be more useful with a Shield such as The Bee due to the large recharge delay and relatively low shield capacity (compared to many other shields). Quicken is really a toss up, since it depends on the COM and the Relic you use . If you use a Legendary Siren + Bone of the Ancients, Quicken has diminished returns.
Apologies to the OP, as I was not aware that Tubby / Chubby enemies could not drop the Legendary Siren and only dropped the newer (Legendary Cat, Legendary Binder and Legendary Nurse) COMs. I knew that the newer COMs were Level 61+, but not that the Tubby / Chubby enemies could not drop the Legendary Siren.
I suppose I would recommend either farming Pyro Pete the Invincible (in TVHM) since he is a known drop source for the Legendary Siren (even though you cannot get any Seraph Crystals in TVHM), farming the Loot Train in How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day DLC (hoping to get lucky), farming Red Chests in general (hoping to get lucky) or posting a request in the Trade Section of the forums.
Incidentally @Scootalewis, depending upon the platform (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, etc.) you play Borderlands 2 on, I may be able to help you with a Legendary Siren COM.
Also, there is apparently a permanent 3x Legendary drop rate being applied as of 5/26/2015 for Borderlands 2, TPS and the Handsome Collection across all supported platforms.
I guess it depends on your playstyles. I went up the left side of the Tree as I found Ward much more useful than Accelerate, and then once I had converge I focused on Sweet Release and Wreck to maximise the effects of Ruin. I rarely go into FFYL (with some notable Boss exceptions, damn you Bloodwing!) and found Inertia didn’t help me much at all.
In my advice above I also mentioned getting the Bee, which IMO helps massively in UVHM, especially with any enemies caught in your p/l. It’s one of the easiest farms once you get to the Forest and I get one every few levels. As you say, Ward helps a lot with that. As for COMs, I found a decent Cat to be more useful than the Legendary Siren, which in any case I only got at L64! I found Quicken to be very useful indeed as it means I get to use Ruin+Converge+Wreck almost continuously (I also have a Relic which increases cooldown by 30%. It all depends on the rest of the gear you have as it can make a big difference of course
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I know about DLC weapons and such - I have a 72 Salvador - but Maya is almost certainly going to be a lot harder to get through. Whoever said it was wrong - I’m not necessarily gonna save quest rewards, if I think I need it I’ll grab it. I am on PC, for anyone who cares.
I wasn’t aware that Ruin was such a necessity for UVHM - my build right now looks like this:
I wouldn’t say Ruin is necessary, exactly. That’s one of the great things about Maya - there are so many different ways to play her.
Ruin was essential for me because I like a high DPS build. When you add Converge and Wreck not much survives, especially if you have a Bee shield like you do and if you pump up Suspension.(and Reaper). But use whatever feels good. Personally, I didn’t have much use for the Harmony Tree beyond the 2nd Tier as I play solo and it’s much more useful in Co-op. But again, if it works for you go with it. I just focused everything around damage and my Phaselock and concentrated on having that up as long and often as possible.
I notice you have a Shock Plasma Caster. I had one at Level 57 and it was a life saver. It lasted me until Level 64 when combined with my Cat MOD (100% SMG damage) and Shock Bone of the Ancients Relic (30% Shock and the same in Cooldown). Not much is immune to Shock so it’s a pretty solid go-to weapon and should take you far. And your Rightsizing Presence will definitely help against Boom Bewm, although I strongly recommend you get yourself a Hornet from Knuckledragger when you start UVHM. It’s an easy farm and will make that fight much easier.
I can’t speak for Salvador but if I’m honest Maya was quite a lot easier than Axton in UVHM, which surprised me. Only a couple of places were tricky but Ruin really helped in tackling enemies before they could fight back.
I think with your Bee you might find putting points in Ward will help. 8.12 seconds is a pretty horrific delay and you can cut that by up to 40%. I just found a Bee with 8.4 seconds and I’m debating whether to keep it!
You have some pretty solid gear already, much better than I had when I started UVHM. You might be surprised that it’s not as hard as you thought. Good luck!
VaultHunter101
(So long, and thanks for all the fish)
#17
Hell yes on the Casters - I used up my generous stock of almost 50 golden keys throughout N/TVHM just so I could have good guns, and it did NOT disappoint. I can run the WEP at lv50 with nothing but my shock plasma caster and my bee, though with the 49 bee no wonder haha. I only ever have to switch for the super badass - my corrosive hyperion smg does that one well.
I appreciate the advice re: ruin - I was dreading having to slag-n-swap my way through UVHM, so I’ll definitely try speccing into Ruin.
Incidentally, I hear Chain reaction can be really good against certain bosses, like Bore - can anyone give examples? Is Bunker one of them?
VaultHunter101
(So long, and thanks for all the fish)
#19
I used MoLMF’s Blurred Trickster build to take out Hyperious- the mod I used was a blue one that’s
+6 Chain Reaction, +5 Kinetic Reflection. It also worked well on Terramorphous and I’m about to try my luck vs. Voradicious(?) and Master Gee (I may be a masochist at heart- or just completely crazy… ).
).