Amara build/gear suggestions for M4 TVHM?

Borderlands 3 Amara the Siren
#1

I wanted to go through TVHM on M4 with Moze but found it too tedious. Maybe it’s the broken GR or maybe it’s Moze or I don’to have the gear or I suck or whatever. Decided to try it by going back to Amara who I also have at the start of TVHM (level 50). I do have quite a few legendary weapons but probably nowhere near all of them so no clue what coherent build I might be able to piece together.

Anyone have any suggestions for a workable build for Amara that can handle M4 and maybe isn’t too gear specific? I am currently using TTB with Avatar but I only just got to Sancturary on TVHM so I now have access to all my banked items. Just curious if anyone has any good skill/gear combinations they might suggest for M4 difficulty on TVHM mission playthrough?

#2

I’m not really one to post builds (plenty of people have already have, here & elsewhere) but I recently ran through TVHM (found it easy) & am struggling with TVHM M4. Seems that if you want Avatar + TTB then you are pretty much stuck going down the blue and the red trees. I, however, felt Guardian Angel, Sustainment, & TTB were must haves for survivability in the Take Down so that dictated a lot for me. (Can’t wait for more skill points!)

The new Spiritual Driver com is crazy fun & paired with a Projection artifact, near OP. You can farm that COM in Normal easily (or ask for them in the trading section).

Well, here’s my daily new build (always changing these up). I like to call it my “Girl on Fire!” build (but switch elements around a lot) fwiw –

https://bl3zone.com/planner/AAA1BA1BC5BN3BO5BQ1BR1BS1BT3BU1BV5BX5CA3CB5CF3CG4CJ1CM-ac1ALef1AK

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#3

OK, I’m not getting a lot of suggestions here but I have been sort of managing through TVHM M4 with just Avatar + TTB and a hodgepodge of gear. I think I’m mostly OK with my build: https://bl3skills.com/siren#0000000000000050113510330315055001310200

but maybe I could get some suggestions on some kind of gear synergy that will work with this type of build in M4? I don’t like respec’ing a lot so I’m trying to find something that is good with bosses and mobs. I don’t care about one shotting bosses or anything I just want efficiency.

I’m currently using a Transformer shield, Phasezerker mod and primarily using a Brainstormer while mobs are affected with TTB then switching to a Cutsman, Trevonator or whatever weapon to deal with various types of enemies in between TTB. I’m also trying to equip mostly anointed gear that gives damage or healing after AS but I only have a few of those.

My Trevonator is currently cryo and incendiary but I hope to get one with shock so I can replenish my shield more easily but until then just using a Storm Front shock grenade and praying. I would love to find an anointed +dmg after AS Trevonator with shock damage!

So does anyone have any suggestions for improvements or see anything I should change? I seem to be doing OK although I haven’t really done any bosses yet. The anointed mobs can be a real PITA but they are dying. I feel like I either need to improve my dmg output to kill faster or improve my sustainability/survivability somewhat.

#4

Yeah…just tried that One Punch and he not only mopped the floor with me but somehow he ended up near the spawn point and I got stuck in a death loop thanks to the STUPID revive animation where you have no control of your character for like 5 seconds…during which he just runs over to me and knocks me out before I can even move or anything. Had to quit out of the game and lose legendary items that were on the ground.

Feels OK with TTB but not so good on something immune to TTB. Phasecast I either miss or it doesn’t do enough dmg and Phaseslam he would just knock me out when I’m doing the slam animation. Definitely need some tweaks for this build or gear or something.

#5

It seems to me like all you need is patience and an understanding for what gear level Mayhem 4 is designed for. Of course, you will have a hard time in Mayhem 4, if you don’t have gear that has some sort of synergy or Anointments that boost damage. Just look at the health difference to mobs in M3. It’s FIVE times as much health and shields.
For starters, I would refer you to this build collection:

and this top gear thread:

There are a lot of viable Mayhem 4 builds, especially in the build collection.I would just like you to understand that Mayhem 4 was designed for a build that was mopping the floor on Mayhem 3, even with negative modifiers. It seems to me, that they used this difficulty level as a placeholder for the future overhaul of the whole Mayhem system (Mayhem 2.0).

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#6

TTB are so powerful with brainstormer when you have 4-5 enemys lock.
It’s so powerful that you can wipe 4 anointed enemys when brainstormer start jumping between them

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#7

I don’t claim to be any sort of Amara expert, but I have put a fair few hours with her now, and do run a level 50 in M4 at the moment. Haven’t had a chance to try Takedown as yet however. “Life gets in the way” and all that, but hopefully soon.

Until very recently, I was using a build much the same as yours, but with some minor variations: build

The only major differences being the extra points in the Brawl tree (extra damage from Personal Space is very helpful, and multiplicative), and the build relies on health regen/sustain from both an Otto artifact, and a Phasezerker CMOD bonus to Clarity (as opposed the going further down the Fist of the Elements tree for Sustainment).

For this sort of build, I was mostly using high rate of fire mid-range elemental weapons, like Rowan’s Call, Lucian’s Call, and various elemental SMGs. Perhaps against the norm, but I also run Radiation/Cryo/Incendiary as my main three weapons, as the former two still deal with flesh well enough on higher difficulties (unlike Shock or Corrosive), and get an intentionally small amount of added Action Skill element damage via Infusion without penalty (mostly assigned to Elektra for easier shield burning, regardless of weapon).

For the rest of the gear, I use an annointed Transformer (damage reflect on action skill end), and grenades are switched around regularly, mostly for utility or useful annointments. At the moment, my fourth weapon is a Brainstormer, which can also help with CC and shield shredding .

For the most part, this build seems to perform pretty well for me in M4. It’s not a one shot boss destroyer, and depending on your playstyle, could perhaps do with some more defensive skills from the Brawl tree, but gets the job done well enough If you’re smart with using cover and your Action Skill (TTB+Stillness of Mind) for Crowd Control as needed.

A lot more recently, I picked up one of the new Spiritual Driver CMODs, and have been playing around with builds using only Fist of the Elements and Brawl trees. Definitely a lot more tanky for the tougher content, and you don’t lose any damage either. Catch is, you need to farm the CMOD in M4 as a unique drop from Sylestro, and depending on RNG, it could take a while… I was lucky enough to bag a decent one after about 25 attempts or so, but others have taken a lot longer (and shorter) timeframes too. RNG is RNG…

In short, there’s no reason you can’t tackle M4 with your build I think. Elemental weapons are key though, and high ROF helps out in a number of ways.

Hope this helps!

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#8

Yes. That brainstormer is a beast with TTB on multiple mobs and especially with lots of do harm stacks. It’s great. The question is…what to do on a boss or mob like One Punch where TTB is worthless and no other mobs. He just charges you and I seem to have no way of dealing with that type of problem.

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#9

It’s been a while since I farmed One Punch, but doesn’t the Stillness of Mind augment slow him up a bit? I seem to remember it does, but I could be wrong there…

I recall clearing the area first, triggering him, then using Stillness of Mind and a lot of Grenades to soften him up.

Edit: pretty sure he doesn’t have shields either if I recall correctly? So setting your Action Skill Element to incendiary should also pay dividends I think

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#10

Hey thanks for that suggestion. I really need to get better at adjusting my build for different circumstances. I think I was only using soul sap and it never occurred to me to switch to SoM. Maybe that would have helped much more than soul sap on a single target. Will give that a shot thanks.

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#11

I hope I’m right on that for you, but if I am, the delay is much more valuable in that scenario than the health regen, as he will pretty much one shot you regardless, hence his name. :blush:

I also remember backpedaling a lot to keep him out of range, while peppering him with grenades and gun fire, to keep him staggered or at a mid-range distance wherever possible.

#12

Thanks for the info. I didn’t even see that “build collection” thread. I do notice that most of the builds are listed for up to M3 difficulty. Anyone know if that is because they were added prior to M4 but they may also be good for M4 or are they purposely leaving out M4 on them because they are not suitable for M4 difficulty?

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#13

I guess the question I still have with regard to SoM is…if a mob is immune to TTB will it also be immune to the phaselock effect of SoM?

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#14

From my experience, i’s honestly a bit of both I think. Most listed as M4 will mean the creator has done specific testing or run throughs. Doesn’t mean M3 listed builds can’t be viable for M4 though too, but some may need more skill to pull off if they’re not fully optimised is all.

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#15

Some of them are updated, they just did not message Dank to change it yet. Mine is updated and Dank changed it already. I know that the Facepuncher White Elephant and Tediore Amara are updated for Mayhem 4 as well.

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#16

Yeah, I did the same thing but he runs so fast I couldn’t keep him away enough and/or do enough damage before he finally caught me. I did come close but ouch he hurts. So does anyone know if a boss like that is immune to the phaselock effect of SoM?

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#17

Wish my old grey brain could remember for you mate, but sadly it’s letting me down here and now.

Even if it doesn’t, (while I do feel that it does), you could also look at grenade types that could slow his roll too.

Singularity nades should send him airborne for a little while at least, as one idea? A decent Cryo weapon could slow him back too, especially if your Action Skill Element is Incendiary to pump out a bit of extra flesh damage.

Some of the major bosses are immune to your Action skill, but if there are adds around, with TTB you can still do linked damage to the boss by locking up the adds.

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#18

There are some that are immune to Phaselock, mostly major story
bosses or mini bosses. A good example would be the armored Anointed Militant in Hammerlock’s Side Quest. I usually use a Phasecast Anointed Weapon (Hellwalker for me) to deal with them. Basically Phasecast and burst them and retreat once the bonus is off. Rinse and repeat. Avatar helps to extend the bonus on the Anointment (always 10 sec)

Oh and try the Quasar. It helps so much in Mayhem 4 to reduce damage.

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#19

I been trying to figure out how to make my build with TTB a bit more tanky but obviously I have to lose Avatar in the process. So I’m trying to figure a way to lose some points in the MA tree but compensate for the loss of Avatar by using Restless + other gear with +AS cooldown modifiers.

I’m not at home to test but curious if anyone has tried or maybe has thoughts on a build like this:
https://bl3skills.com/siren/#2301310000000050103510330005055001010000

Would that be viable with maybe some artifact/mods that also add +% CD modifiers to keep AS up as much as possible? I know with Avatar I can use my AS all the time but I haven’t tried this without Avatar and just relying on CD modifiers.

Also, just FYI I plan to use a Phasezerker MOD with Brainstormer and TTB for groups of mobs and I also put 1 point into arms deal so that I can more easily get shock splash damage on myself to keep my Transformer shield up (not sure how well that will work).

#20

So I been using a slight variation on the build I posted above:
https://bl3skills.com/siren/#2300330000000050103510330005045001010000

I was able to clear Lectra City on M4 without much trouble. However, no matter what I try I can’t kill that One Punch guy. Singularity nades have no effect. Cryo seems to have no effect (or not enough). Stillness of Mind doesn’t do anything. I can’t outrun him. Can’t survive being hit even once obviously and I can’t kill him before he gets to me. HTF do people kill this POS on M4?