Best solo Maya build?

Borderlands 2 Maya the Siren
#1

So, first time Maya player here, i was wondering what the best build was for playing solo, any suggestions?

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#2

Im going for this:
http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#555001055055050000005550500501

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#3

I used essentially the same build except for skipping Sub-Sequence in favor of Sustenance to get Maya to lvl 72 solo…about the only thing that REALLY slowed her down were the four kings in Tina’s DLC (UVHM) and that was mainly due to them being immune to elemental damage. There were a few scary moments in TVHM with the rabid skags in the WEP, but some thought beforehand gave me a viable strategy for them.

#4

I really think Sweet Release gives enough health back, if I really need health I just apply my nurse mod and regenerate health from this.

#5

For the way I play her, having both SR and Sus maxed basically eliminates worrying about her health in general; it also keeps her out of FFYL regularly (unless I’ve done something stupid, which happens).

#6

I have a similar build, although I stopped using Sub-Sequence a while back. While it can be useful, it often targets enemies I don’t want and it has the added disadvantage that it can just bounce about if no enemies are in range, thereby delaying when you can use p/l again. I found it a nuisance more often than not. With your points in Quicken and a good Bone of the Ancients, you’ll find the ability to have almost no delay with p/l means you can target who you want when you want, which is much better,

I use Inertia instead, which really helps keeping shields up. It’s especially useful with The Bee, as it negates its long recharge delay.

#7

http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#555101340052053002005550500501
This is my current build for her at OP8 using a Blurred Trickster mod that is +6 Chain Reaction, +5 Kinetic Reflection… Edit June 14 2019: with the October 2015 patch I’d most likely take a point from Quicken and pick up Cloud Kill-it’s a VASTLY better 1 point skill now…

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#8

Since this is your first time playing Maya, I recommend using a Legendary Siren COM (Cooldown and Gun Damage) and a Bone of the Ancients (Cooldown and Elemental Dmg) Relic. This Combo basically eliminates the need to put any points in Quicken. Sure, you could still put points in Quicken but that would be overkill. I also came up with a Build that has a good balance of DPS skills, defensive skills (Ward and Inertia) and health regen skills. IMHO Inertia is a must have skill (at least in higher difficulty), unless you are using a Rough Rider Shield or Flame of the Firehawk Shield. The Build I came up with is as follows:

http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#444001400045053104205550500501

With a Legendary Siren COM, you would end up with 9/5 Ward, 9/5 Accelerate, 9/5 Mind’s Eye, 10/5 Foresight and 10/5 Flicker. (Converge + Ruin) acts as a Slag Singularity Grenade. Once you get to UVHM, Slag becomes very important since a Slagged target takes 3x damage. Defense is handled by Ward and Inertia. Additionally, there are a few points in Sweet Release, Elated, Sustenance, and Life Tap to assist with health regen; and even 1 point in Res should you decide to play online co-op at some point.

Forum ID: Poisd2Strike
GT: Poisd2Strike
Trades: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/poisd2strikes-humble-shop/367700
Gun Prefixes | Gun Parts | Max Stats
Maya OP8 | Banshee RR / NRR | Binder | Cat | Nurse | Siren | Trickster B / M

#9

Since i’m playing solo, should i put the extra point of Res into Elated?

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#10

If you’re playing solo, you really don’t need Elated, Sustenance or Life Tap: Sweet Release should be more than enough. I’m running a L72 Maya and very, very rarely go into FFYL.

#11

A matter of personal choice really- myself, I hate depending on random health vials or killing enemies to replenish health, and while all classes have a healing regen mod by the time I hit level 72 I’ve been reluctant to use one on any character.

#12

Your playstyle and which area you’re currently in will decide where you wanna put your last points. I personally use a build like this a lot of the time. I rely heavily on Grog / Chain Lightning for most of my healing. But Sweet Release is nice to have.

#13

very true. I just meant any one of these on their own should be enough. All three together seems a bit overkill and ties up points you could use elsewhere. But it is personal preference

#14

I would highly disagree with this. If your in OP8 the more healing skills the better, lets you play really fast.

Here is my build thread and video.

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#15

That may well be true for OP8, but I think it’s overkill for L72. I only ever run 3 points in Sweet Release and it pretty much covers my healing needs. I very rarely have to resort to health vials. I find the points specced into Inertia and Kinetic Reflection are much more worthwhile, but I accept that different playstyles suit different builds

#16

You need to be careful when giving advice to new player and not make broad assertions without qualifying them.

The OP never said any level so by saying he wont need any more healing than sweet release could ruin his time in the game if he took it.

I am just assuming that the OP is starting at level 1 since there was no mention of level and since leveling up you will not have perfect gear or anything close to it, the more healing the better.

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#17

Optionally, you could put the 1 point in Res into Elated. I suggested Res since it only costs 1 point; just in case you do decide to play co-op. However, if you know you won’t ever play online co-op, then taking the 1 point out of Res and putting it into Elated (or even Sustenance) certainly makes sense.

I also recommend using Shift codes to get Golden Keys that will allow you to get at level gear, periodically, from the Golden Chest in Sanctuary. You usually get two items, unless the item you get is a Rocket Launcher. IIRC, you will always get at least a Blue item. Most of the time you will get a Purple (or even E-tech) item, but sometimes you will a Blue item (depending upon the item).

Additionally, if you have the Tiny Tina DLC and Seraph Crystals you should eventually consider acquiring both a Florentine SMG and an Antagonist Shield. If you have the Captain Scarlett DLC, you will eventually want to acquire a Sand Hawk (at least Fire element) and probably a Pimpernel Sniper Rifle (Fire or Corrosive).

You could optionally farm the Forest area in the Tiny Tina DLC for a The Bee Shield, but I would caution against relying on The Bee too much. I have one but only ever use it if I am doing something like farming the Loot Train in the How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day DLC. I highly recommend getting the How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day DLC. It is relatively inexpensive ($3.00 USD), isn’t too long and also is a decent source of farming for Legendary and even (some) Pearlescent items.

If you have the Torgue DLC and enough Torgue Tokens, you should probably farm the Torgue Vending machines for an Unkempt Harold (Explosive) pistol. If not, you could try your luck farming Savage Lee. Also, you should probably farm Knuckledragger for a decent Hornet (Corrosive) Pistol. Knuckledragger is very easy to kill and the Hornet (Corrosive) Pistol is one of the best Corrosive pistols in the game. It works very well against Loaders and those pesky Surveyors and anything else that is Armored.

You don’t need to worry too much about your gear in Normal mode and even to some extent in TVHM. The most important thing is to have at level gear (or very close) that is preferably Blue or better in Rarity. Since Maya is very good with SMGs, you could always tip Moxxi to get a Bad Touch (Corrosive) SMG and then a Good Touch (Fire) SMG. Just keep tipping her until you are happy with the Good Touch (Fire) SMG she gives you. Also, Hyperion or Maliwan brand Plasma Casters work very well for Maya; Dahl and Tediore less so and just stay away from Bandit Plasma Casters altogether. If you have the DLC I mentioned above but not the Torgue Tokens or Seraph Crystals, you could always post a thread in the Trade Forum for your gaming platform.

Since this is the OP’s first time playing as Maya and since he indicates he plans on mostly (if not exclusively) playing Solo, having more skill based health regen options is desirable. You, myself, @Derch and others who are more experienced with Maya may be comfortable will fewer health regen skills. The Build I suggested is very balanced (DPS, Health Regen and Defense) and does not rely on any Moxxi Weapons, Transfusion grenades or a Grog Nozzle / Rubi to assist with healing. Sure, they are nice to have and I even suggest getting a Good Touch (Fire) SMG, mainly because of how easy it is to acquire.

In fact, I am going to alter my current Legendary Siren Build accordingly and see how I do at OP8. If the OP uses a Legendary Siren COM and a Bone of the Ancients, putting any additional points in Quicken is overkill. As far as other skills go, I wouldn’t recommend Kinetic Reflection, Sub-sequence or even Scorn to someone who has never played as Maya before. Granted, they are all good skills. Fleet is only really used with a Rough Rider and Breakneck Banshee COM. And even though certain skills are at least viable in Normal Mode (example: Cloud Kill, Helios, Backdraft, Blight Phoenix) I would advise against using them at all since they do not scale well later and might give the wrong impression of Maya. (The wrong impression would be that Maya is weak, not that the skills do not scale well in TVHM and especially UVHM).

While I agree with the former, I disagree with the latter. Considering you should be killing enemies as often as possible, skills like Inertia and Life Tap should come into play quite often and both can keep you from going into FFYL, this is especially true in the higher OP levels.

I concur. I would also add that since it is the first time the OP will be playing as Maya, having more healing skills will help with survivability as he gets used to the nuances of the character.

Forum ID: Poisd2Strike
GT: Poisd2Strike
Trades: http://forums.gearboxsoftware.com/t/poisd2strikes-humble-shop/367700
Gun Prefixes | Gun Parts | Max Stats
Maya OP8 | Banshee RR / NRR | Binder | Cat | Nurse | Siren | Trickster B / M

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#18

And likewise your insistence on one way only is also damaging. I’ve already said that different playstyles may affect your choice. Why can you not do the same?

I also play exclusively solo. With my Maya character I never specced any health regen skills above Sweet Release and I never felt I was missing out. So I stand by my original post and really don’t see why it should be an issue. Everyone here is simply giving advice based on their own experience and I’m just doing the same.

Once a character gets to the OP levels he should be able to make some judgements for himself based on his own playstyle. But for the vanilla game I’ve shared my experience, as you have. I feel that the benefits of speccing into other skills outweigh any advantage health regen may give and Sweet Release is a pretty decent fallback.

#19

There’s nothing wrong with having healing skills, but I feel that it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. It’s a question of balance.

No build is “wrong,” since everyone has their own playstyle. Personally, I think speccing into Ruin early on in the game is more desirable than going straight up the Harmony Tree. Pretty much the only exceptions might be adding points in Sweet Release and Ward. And then once you have Ruin try to get Converge as soon as possible, since they compliment each other so well. After that I would put points into Wreck and then work towards getting Quicken, since I rely on p/l a lot. By that time, you’ve probably gotten used to relying on SR for your heath regen so can live without the others. Of course, they are nice to have, but it’s my opinion that the lower Motion skills are a better place to invest your points in.

#20

I never said my way is the only way. All I did was post my build to counter your point of you don’t need them. Also in my thread I have a build video and in that video I even talk about other ways to play her making the very point that I in no means think my build is the only way.

Saying this…

Is what I countered. In that post you never said “at op0” or “in my experience” You just said “If you’re playing solo”

Thats what I took issue with, not posing a build, not giving advice, but making a blanket statement like that.

I never even said you can’t do it like that, I simply was saying that wasn’t the only option and I never again say my build is the only option either.

I’ll even go further for you.

In my time in the forums there have been 100’s of threads and posts where people have complained that UVHM was giving them a hard time, and thats what this place is for. More often than not those people complaining had a lack of healing skills and were dying all the time. Many of us, including me would suggest respecing and getting more healing skills, and more often than not they came back and thanked us because the game was now more playable and enjoyable for them.

I never try to give advice on what I do but ask where they are having issues and try to help them fix those issues. What works for me might not work for everyone. I don’t love thoughtlock but if someone is having issues with thoughtlock I won’t tell them to not get it any more. I’ll try to see where else we can move points around, maybe its the gear, etc…

Now with this case the OP is just starting so there isn’t anything to go off of, so seeing different builds and gear set ups is a good thing.

My real suggestion to the OP, so @TheJack if you are starting at level one, don’t worry about builds until later in TVHM and UVHM. Play around with guns and skills, respec and try as much as you can. See what you like and don’t like so when you hit the wall that is UVHM your a bit more ready for it. NVMH and TVHM are really forgiving and UVHM is not as much. The way the game scales the hardest part of UVHM can be the early levels since its a big jump in difficulty and you don’t have as many skill points to make up for it. By the time you get to 72 all those skill points make it pretty easy again and if you want more of a challenge then you can do the OP levels to get some difficulty back if that is what you enjoy.

I don’t even like going after a certain build early in the game, I play to what I find. You will out level your gear fast early on and I would often respec to the best Com I would find. It’s rare in Normal to find blue/purple coms but if you do it can be worth it to spec into them, rather than a certain build.

So basically play it and enjoy, go slow and explore pandora. When you hit a wall let us know and we will be more than glad to help.