What’s up superfans! Siren King, Slif_One… Okay that doesn’t work.
Hellooo travellers! So, I’ve been using a variation of this build that I theory crafted before release, and it works! I’ve moved some skills around due to gameplay variables, skill interactions, and some of Amara’s Brawl skill tree being changed since this build was conceived.
Special thanks go out to @sammantixbb and @Arsonist for being my theory crafting partners back then. Here it is on the skill calculator - https://bl3skills.com/siren/#5300021000000053110010000005305101311501
This is an endgame, TVHM/M3 build, that has a focus on crowd control and co-op play, much like my famous Maya build of old. It’s great for Proving Grounds, Circles of Slaughter, culling skags and bandit genocide.
SKILLS
FIST OF THE ELEMENTS: This tree contains the core skill and action skill to the build. There are a few skills along the way that synergise with each other, but most are just placeholders or DPS increases.
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Anima: 5/5 Points - This is an early placeholder skill. While extra DoT is a nice DPS increase, it’s only minor. It does synergise nicely with Ties That Bind, though. What an underwhelming start
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Steady Hands: 3/3 Points - This skill is a lot better in practice than it looks on paper, especially when using a Phasegrasp action skill. Helps you land consistent crits on grasped enemies and hit moving targets. Really good skill.
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Tempest: 5/5 Points - This is one of the best skills in the tree, and one of Amara’s best skills. It’s a multiplicative damage boost that also increases DoT, so it synergises with Anima.
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Illuminated Fist: 1/1 Point - There’s no real reason to take this skill, it’s just a placeholder point. Sometimes I just like to punch people. We want to avoid Infusion and Wildfire isn’t worth one point, so mine goes here. I punch him!
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Dread: Minor Capstone - This is an excellent skill for one point. Extra gun damage after using Phasegrasp and instant reload if the grasped enemy is killed. No brainer.
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Indiscriminate: 3/3 Points - This is the big one, the namesake of the build and the main reason to invest in this tree. 60% chance for bullets to ricochet at -25% damage on grasped targets and enemies affected by Stillness of Mind is huge area damage, especially when combined with Ties That Bind. This synergy is reminiscent of Maya’s Chain Reaction. No reason to never not take this skill if you’re invested in this tree.
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Deep Well: 1/1 Point - Flat +20% magazine size to all elemental guns, which all of ours are and should be at endgame. Another great one point skill.
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Catharsis: 1/3 Points - Just a placeholder, this isn’t that great of a skill but we need the point to go somewhere. Same reason to invest here as Illuminated Fist, also I happen to really like ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ EXPLOSIONS! (Insert Mr. Torgue gif here)
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Sustainment: 5/5 Points - This build is great for area control and burst damage but lacks survivability, so most of it will come from this skill. 20% life steal from elemental gun damage is quite a lot when you factor in ricocheting bullets from Indiscriminate and all other gun damage increases. Big burst healing that will top us off during every Phasegrasp.
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Forceful Expression: Capstone - Unlike Infusion, this skill adds additional elemental damage rather than borrowing from our gun damage. A flat 18% elemental damage is a nice bonus, especially when using Soulfire and fighting anointed enemies.
MYSTICAL ASSAULT: This tree is focused around the Rush stacking mechanic and action skill proficiency. Rush stacks are a bonus here, we mainly want the minor capstone and a particular action skill augment.
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Do Harm: 5/5 Points - Apparently I made an error during testing and Do Harm does increase damage dealt to all Ties That Bind links, so this is now 5/5.
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Fast Hands: 3/3 Points - Three stat increases in one skill, and a tier I skill at that. Faster reload speed means more DPS, and faster weapon swap speed means more efficient element matching. Mode switch speed is a handy bonus if you like Maliwan guns.
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Violent Tapestry: 1/5 Points - The coolest sounding skill in the game with the most underwhelming effect. Status effect chance increases are notorious for poor scaling to the point of being ineffectual in Borderlands games, but one point here gives us another means of building Rush stacks.
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Alacrity: 1/5 points - Reload stacking with Rush stacks. One point is sufficient, especially with three points in Fast Hands. We also need this point to reach the next skill.
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Ascendant: Minor Capstone - One of my favourite skills on paper, and an important skill to this build. Since our augment will be Stillness of Mind, this keeps Phaselocked enemies suspended for .75 seconds after taking direct damage. That’s a long time when you have high DPS and can land a lot of consistent crits.
BRAWL: With minimal investment in the other two trees for the things we needed, we have just enough leftover points to push Amara’s survivability to respectable levels and add a significant damage increase. This is my favourite of her skill trees, but this build called for investment elsewhere.
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Root to Rise: 5/5 Points - +40% max health is a huge increase, I really don’t think much more needs to be said than that. If you’re ever invested in this tree, you should have at least some points in this skill.
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Personal Space: 3/3 Points - First off, this skill actually increases damage by 18% per level, not 12. That’s a 54% multiplicative damage increase, assuming we’re within range to receive the maximum benefit, which we can and will (or should) be often thanks to a Phasegrasp action skill and heavy emphasis on crowd control. Control the field, win the battle.
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Helping Hands: 2/5 Points - This is a great skill, but inconsistent due to not refreshing on action skill activation so you have to be mindful of its duration. +12% damage reduction on the first point but diminishing returns after that, this skill caps out at 40%. With only two points invested, we have just over half the full benefit at 21% DR. Nice.
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Mindfulness: 1/3 Points - You don’t reallly need to spend a point here, but I’m a hyper aggressive player so I like to go fast, and this skill also helps you keep your shield up under fire. Since the stack cap is 25, you can get a lot out of just one point. If you don’t want it, invest this last point in Helping Hands for an extra 7% DR.
Skill discussion and alternatives
The first skill I want to discuss is Infusion. The way this skill works is that it takes a portion of your gun damage and changes its element. If your action skill element is shock, and you’re using a shock weapon, you get no benefit from this. However, the shock DoT applied from Infusion overrides the DoT of your weapon, and is far lower than most weapons, meaning it is greatly reduced most of the time. If you’re element matching by using a fire weapon against flesh or corrosive on armour, a portion of your damage is being dealt as shock which heavily reduces your damage output as shock doesn’t get the extra damage multiplier against those enemies and is slightly resisted. This is why we want to avoid investing any points in Infusion, it’s actually reducing our DPS almost all of the time. Elemental damage from Infusion also does not give us life steal from Sustainment, meaning if we use both skills we’re losing out on DPS and healing. Unless you’re using non-elemental weapons, you should not invest in this skill.
Next is Samsara. It’s worth noting that Ties That Bind damage does not proc Samsara, nor does the DoT inflicted by the Elementalist COM or AoE cloud caused by the Nimbus COM, so unless you’re using Fist Over Matter you should never use Samsara with a Phasegrasp action skill.
Finally, the choice between Laid Bare and survivability has to be made. I opted for survivability, but if you can’t turn up the extra damage from Laid Bare then you’ll need to take points out of Minfulnesss, Helping Hands, and 4/5 points from Root to Rise.
Action Skill and Augment
Now for the fun stuff. The action skill and augment are what make this build.
Ties That Bind: The “Binder” part of this build’s name. This allows for a huge burst of area damage, not unlike Maya’s Phaselock augments. Every damage increase has a significant impact on this action skill. Just grasp a badass or anointed enemy and everything else will die while you (and your friends) shoot at it.
Stillness of Mind: This is added crowd control that synergises well with any Phasegrasp action skill, particularly Ties That Bind. Interestingly, enemies that take indirect damage such as from Ties That Bind and Indiscriminate will not be released from their bubble. Furthermore, any enemy that wanders within the Phaselock radius will be bubbled, meaning this skill can pick up enemies after activating Phasegrasp if they get too close. If they’re not all dead by the time the grasped enemy is killed, you can fire a burst at each bubble and finish them all off as most will be heavily damaged by that point. Finally, Stillness of Mind keeps enemies within Ties That Bind link radius, and since they’re not moving they’ll be hit by every ricocheting projectile. Being able to shoot at a grasped enemy without being knocked around is nice, too. Maya’s room clearing ability is jealous of this disgustingly beautiful synergy.
Soulfire: We want Amara’s action skill element to be fire. This will deal extra damage to the fleshy enemies which constitute most of the game’s enemies, and in particular those pesky anointed. Many people use and suggest shock, but our shock weapon is both the shield stripper of the build and the highest damaging weapon in the loadout, so a little extra damage versus flesh will go a long way. Another reason to use Soulfire is for Forceful Expression, which most Phasezerker builds don’t use. 18% gun damage being dealt as fire all the time is huge, even if you’re using a fire weapon, and when you’re not it’s still extra damage and an extra potential DoT with no penalty to gun or elemental damage such as you would suffer from using Infusion.
GEAR
GUNS:
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Incendiary Rowan’s Call - Since enemies will be spending a lot of time in the air, a gun that specialises in crits is a solid choice. Every crit ricochets two bullets, and has a chance to spawn a third thanks to Indiscriminate, as well as adding two rounds to your mag. During Phasegrasps you’ll virtually have infinite ammo - which you’ll want on your incendiary gun at Mayhem 3 - deal huge crit damage, and ricochet bullets everywhere.
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Brainstormer - In light of the recent hotfix, I’ve been experimemting with different guns and stumbled upon some nasty synergy between this gun and Ties That Bind. I replaced my Flakker but I rarely used it anyway, and now my build is much better off thanks to a new discovery.
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Corrosive Linoge - This thing is basically a fully automatic shotgun but better than most shotguns and with a deeper ammo pool. It can melt flesh and even shields, even against negative modifiers, and makes armour disappear. Accuracy is an issue as it has a very wide spread, but it has a high rate of fire and seems decently accurate when ADS. Great in any element for when you just need to blanket an area in bullets or deal large damage to heavy targets.
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Radiation/Cryo Westergun - Another consequence of the recent hotfix. The Westergun is very solid now, with a freed up SMG slot it fits perfectly in the build and being a Maliwan weapon we have access to the two elements the loadout was lacking. On M3 this gun is a guaranteed drop from Private Beans, with a chance to drop twice.
OTHER GEAR:
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Stop-Gap - I was using Re-Charger until I got sent a good Stop-Gap. This shield synergises really well with a Last Stand artefact, making it hard for you to die. Probably one of the best shields in the game.
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Diluvian Firestorm - What even is a Diluvian? This is my favourite grenade mod in the game. It blankets an area in a huge incendiary AoE that can strip light shields, kill squishy enemies, and dent heavies. Great after a Phasegrasp or against clustered mobs. It also triggers Sustainment. “Diluvian” is the prefix that a Rain Firestorm gets when it has a “Large” part/accessory. Mine also has the longbow delivery mechanism. Still solid after the 75% damage nerf.
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Last Stand Otto Idol - My #1 relic for non-specific/niche builds. Five seconds of damage immunity every forty seconds after falling below 50% health is a lot of survivability, plus 18% health recovery after every kill. Kill me now bitches. This artefact synergises with the Stop-Gap shield and Amara’s Sustainment skill.
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Phasezerker - Let me start by saying that I’m not using this COM for the buggy Rush exploit. I don’t even know how to do it, and don’t care for it. This is mainly for the cooldown and damage provided from Rush stacks, which are gained after every action skill activation and consistently maintained during combat. The three skills this COM can boost are Anima, Conflux, and Clarity. I’m looking for one that adds +5 in Clarity.
Outro
The basic playstyle is very similar to Maya’s. Grasp a heavy, kill the mob, dance around until your action skill is off cooldown. Mindfulness will give you some survivability during cooldown while you bunch up enemies and pick off the stragglers, and your grenade will proc Sustainment if you need it. Amara’s niche seems to be burst damage, so this build makes the most of gunplay and crowd control.
This build performs very well at TVHM/M3 and really well co-op. This is my secondary Amara, I have a different build for solo (I’m mostly a solo player) but I’m not sure if I’ll write a guide for that build yet, at least not any time soon.
Thanks for reading if you did and thanks for the click if you didn’t, I hope you liked it and hope it serves you well in your vault hunting escapades.
Don’t forget to like, follow, and obey!
Edit: A quick montage displaying the synergy between the Brainstormer and Ties That Bind. All of these clips were taken from the same run -
EDIT: Scroll down to post #28 for an in-depth analysis on why I use certain skills and gear, and the specific or preferred parts for some of my gear.
