This guide assumes that you have just completed the Borderlands 3 story for the first time and that your only goal is to be able to farm on Mayhem 10. This was created with the sole goal of helping new Moze players transition into Mayhem 10, it is not the fastest or only way to reach Mayhem 10 but rather just one way to set up Moze players for the end-game.
I want to clarify that this is not an “M10 made easy” guide and you will not be melting enemies right off the bat. These boss fights will still be difficult farms and may take a few tries to get down but once you reach the end you will be able to farm Mayhem 10 for any rolls you want.
To ensure anyone could follow this guide I tested it by starting with no gear and using no Guardian Ranks. This guide uses specific gear, that it will teach you how to acquire, to take out each boss as effectively as possible with extremely limited gear.
Step 1: Hit Max Level (57)
Completing the story should leave you around the 40-45 level mark. Before you start farming any gear you will want to hit max level to make sure that all of your gear will drop at the max level. At this stage XP should be your primary concern, this is an ideal time to go back and complete any side quests or other objectives you missed during your first playthrough.
If you have completed all the side objectives and still are not max level the Slaughter Shaft, found on Pandora, and The Psychobillies, on Eden-6, are some of the best non-DLC XP farms. If you have the Handsome Jackpot DLC then you can farm the Scrap-Trap boss for even faster leveling.
Step 2: Get A Mayhem 5 Hellshock
Gigamind
The Build: Skill Tree (Click Here)
Augments: Capacitive Armature
With this build Iron Bear can kill Mayhem 5 Gigamind in a single use without any gear or Guardian ranks. This is a good place to farm the world drops but your final goal is to get a Hellshock. Prefix, parts, and anointments do not matter right now. If you manage to find a Bear Trooper Class mod during this farm it can make the next step much easier.
Step 3: Get A Mayhem 6 Kaoson
Captain Traunt
This will be your first difficulty jump, Iron Bear can kill Mayhem 6 Traunt but it will take 2 uses. This is where the Hellshock comes in, while it will not do much damage to Traunt himself it can easily kill the trash mobs in his arena. While Iron Bear is on cooldown you should try to avoid Traunt and focus on killing mobs in order to get Iron Bear back with Grizzled. When fighting Traunt you need to stand close to allow the Capacitive Armature to chain between him and Iron Bear but be careful of his Cryo attacks as they will do extra damage to Iron Bear’s armor. Critical hits are always important but keep in mind that Traunt’s Crit Point is -NOT- his head but instead the generator on his back. I highly suggest picking up a shield at this point.
If you use the Bear Trooper Class Mod, Iron Bear can kill Traunt in 1 use. If you choose this option swap the right-hand Capacitive Armature with a Corrosive Sabot Round. With Bear Troopers extended time you will still be able to kill him in 1 use and the Sabot Rounds will heal Iron Bear and let him keep the Specialist Bear bonus. This is a viable option if you prefer, but Mind sweeper will make time outside of Iron Bear easier and scale better into higher mayhems.
Since the next boss is mostly shields you will need a shock Kaoson. The anointment does not matter here but Consecutive Hits or Bonus Elemental Damage will all be helpful. Shock and Full-Auto are your priority rolls.
Step 4: Get A Mayhem 10 Sand Hawk
The Build: Skill Tree (Click Here)
Augments: Target Softening
From this stage on, Iron Bear is not very helpful so respec into this more Moze focused build, get rid of the Bear Trooper Class Mod, (If you used it in Step 3) and start farming Katagawa Jr.
His fight is fairly straightforward; Figure out which one is him, break his shield, he teleports away, repeat. I highly recommend a Transformer for this fight as the generators and puddles can be used to easily regenerate your shields. When his health gets low, Katagawa Jr. might stop making clones and instead start teleporting to you and making melee attacks. If this happens it is unlikely you will be able to deal enough damage to kill him in this phase, instead enter Iron Bear and wait out the attacks. He will eventually return to his normal cloning pattern, break his shield one last time for the kill.
While Iron Bear may have fallen off after Mayhem 6 he is still a good utility tool. If you find yourself overwhelmed during the fight he can serve as a second health bar and will proc Action Skill End Anointments. He can also be equipped with a target softening and hammerdown protocol in order to debuff Katagawa Jr. while Auto Bear and Security Bear can help pull aggro.
Since Traunt is our next target you will want a Shock Sand Hawk. Either Full-Auto or Semi-Auto will work but Full-Auto will get you more out of Some For The Road, which you will be picking up on Step 5. The anointment does not matter but Consecutive Hits, 300% over 90, and Bonus Elemental Damage will all be helpful. Element and Full-Auto are your priority rolls.
Once you get a Mayhem 10 Sand Hawk you are officially at the end-game. While you do not need a good roll to move onto the next steps or continue gearing, it might be worth refarming Katagawa Jr. until you get the roll you want. Sand Hawks are likely to become part of your main load-outs going forward, so it’s your choice to acquire good ones now or later.
Step 5: Get A Mayhem 10 Kaoson
The Build: Skill Tree (Click Here)
Augments: Target Softening
This is the exact same fight as Step 2 only this time you will not be relying on Iron Bear as much. Since the Sand Hawk has such a wide spread you will need to be close to make sure all your shots hit, but not too close as it does splash damage. Once the first clip is almost empty, enter Iron Bear and hit Traunt with 1 Target Softening before immediately exiting. Forge and Redistribution will now regen ammo while Some For The Road will allow you to keep shooting without expending any.
If you do end up going down during the fight there should be plenty of trash mobs for you to get a second from, in a pinch the ice pillars that Traunt spawns can be ‘killed’ for a second wind as well.
Depending on your roll and other gear you should be able to kill Traunt without completely depleting your ammo, if you do run out of ammo it is just a matter of stalling for Forge and Redistribution to take effect or for Iron Bear to come back so you can use Some For The Road again. Even with significant investment in ammo regen the Sand Hawk will still drain insanely fast, get used to buying ammo from the vendor outside Traunt’s area after every fight.
Hammerdown Protocol - If you are using the Consecutive Hits anointment, the Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge, or the Harmageddon Guardian Perk then you can replace 1 of the Target Softening arms with a Hammerdown Protocol. This will inflict the Radiation status effect on Traunt which will help stack the Pearl and Consecutive Hits while giving you an extra status for Harmageddon.
While you do not need a good roll to continue gearing you are now at the end-game so it might be worth refarming Traunt until you get the roll you want. Kaosons are likely to become part of your main load-outs going forward, so it’s your choice to acquire good ones now or later.
What Next?
Congratulations, you are now Mayhem 10 Viable. The Sand Hawk can deal with most bosses in the game while the Kaoson will deal with general mobs. Since you can now farm Mayhem 10 without too much trouble your next step should be to find a build you enjoy and fine-tune your loadout to fit it. If you do not know what you should be farming next here are some suggestions for Moze’s best gear:
Grenade Mods
Grenade Mods currently do not get any a Mayhem bonus so you can farm them on any Mayhem but Mayhem 8+ will guarantee anointments.
Any good Vampyr grenade with a 25% On Grenade Throw anoint. A good Vampyr grenade creates as many explosions as possible. Vendors are a good source for grenades. Look for a Torgue Clusterfuck or parts such as: Divider, Mirv, Tracking, Bouncy
The Ideal Grenades Are
- Cloning Maddening Tracker - Purple Atlas Grenade
- Epicenter (Spring)
Shields
Shields also do not get a Mayhem bonus so you can farm them on any Mayhem but Mayhem 8+ will guarantee anointments.
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Big Boom Blaster - The Unstoppable
- Despite it’s small capacity, the boosters that this shield drops makes it a great defensive option and can help maintain ammo.
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Recharger - Urist McEnforcer
- Effectively double the card capacity and high part variant make this a strong and versatile shield.
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Transformer - Killavolt
- One of the best defensive shields in the game, the Transformer turns shields’ biggest weakness into sustain. This shield is also part-locked meaning it will always roll with the exact same stats, excluding anoints, making it an easy farm.
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Old God - Guns Love and Tentacles DLC
- One of the best offensive shields in the game, the Old God will boost the damage of its elements by 20%. You can get a Radiation version for general mobbing or use it to take elemental matching even further.
Anointments:
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50% Bonus Elemental Damage On Action Skill End
- The go-to anointment for getting extra damage. Moze does not spend much time in Iron Bear at higher Mayhems but this is great for bossing and goes well with Some For The Road which you will be picking up later.
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After exiting Iron Bear 75% Increased Shields And Health
- A more defensive option for people that prefer to use Iron Bear as a panic button rather than a proc for buffs.
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After exiting Iron Bear kills increase Iron Bear’s cooldown by 30%.
- This will help you get Iron bear back when farming lower mayhems and will make sure you will always have him in case you get overwhelmed in higher Mayhems.
Class Mods
Class Mods do not get a Mayhem bonus so you can farm them on any Mayhem. Class mods can not be anointed so you can farm them on any Mayhem levels.
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Mind Sweeper - Tink of Cunning
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+1 in Redistribution and ideally +4 in Torgue Cross Promotion. 2/1 Redistribution will be your best option here. TCP is a direct buff to your splash damage and will be more beneficial but the sub-stats are more important.
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Splash damage is one of the best damage rolls here It applies to Moze’s guns, Iron Bear and Short Fuze. For your other sub-stats general damage increases, like Weapon Damage, will offer more freedom in your weapon selection but specific bonuses like SMG Damage or Dahl Crit will provide larger bonuses at the cost of limiting your choices.
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Blast Master - Arbalest of Discipline
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+1 Redistribution and ideally +4 Vampyr. Since not reload is so critical to Blast Master Redistribution is almost mandatory. Skag Den is not worth more than 1 point in most cases so you are better off getting as much Vampyr as you can, however sub-stats are more important.
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Splash damage is one of the best damage rolls here It applies to Moze’s guns, Iron Bear and Short Fuze. For your other sub-stats general damage increases, like Weapon Damage, will offer more freedom in your weapon selection but specific bonuses like SMG Damage or Dahl Crit will provide larger bonuses at the cost of limiting your choices. If you do not have mag size on your Artifact or are having a hard time maintaining your weapon you can pick up that role here as well.
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Artifacts
Artifacts do not get a Mayhem bonus so you can farm them on any Mayhem. Class mods can not be anointed so you can farm them on any Mayhem levels.
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Last Stand Victory Rush
Area of Effect Damage, Magazine Size Bonus, Weapon Type Damage, Elemental Damage -
Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge - Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC
Magazine Size Bonus and Fire Rate/Health Regen/Max HP
Weapons
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Kaoson - Captain Traunt, Mayhem 6+ Only.
- If you were wondering why I suggested SMG damage and Dahl Crit roles, this is it. Despite the nerf the Kaoson remains one of Moze’s best guns; splash, delayed explosions, elemental, with sustainable ammo make this an incredibly versatile and effective weapon. This will likely be the primary mobbing weapon of any Mayhem 10 Moze build.
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Sand Hawk - Katagawa Jr, Mayhem 6+ Only.
- With its insane ammo consumption the Sand Hawk is extremely hard to maintain but very much worth it when you do. It might be too difficult to consistently mob with but combine it with skills like Some For The Road, Forge, and Redistribution this will be able to deal with almost every Mayhem 10 boss and badass. *Worth noting that Dahl Snipers get a 20% damage increase while in Semi-Auto mode.
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Plaguebearer - Warden, Mayhem 6+ Only.
- The Plaguebearer is a great mobbing launcher. It is easy to maintain with Means Of Destruction and available in all Elements making it an ideal mobbing weapon in end-game content. The Plaguebearer has a similar effect to the Scourge launcher but with a higher base damage and a vortex on contact, the only downside is the charge time between shots.
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Backburner - Agonizer 9000, Mayhem 6+ Only.
- Typically used for slow or stationary bosses, the Backburner can dish out tons of damage in a small area. Like the Plaguebearer this launcher is easy to maintain and comes in every element. Be careful when using it in co-op as it does have friendly fire.
If you still are not sure on what kind of build or gear you want, these resources should teach you more about Moze and guide you further into the end-game.
Other Resources
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Recommended M10 Moze Builds - Moze Builds managed by the community Discord
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Legendary SpreadSheet - Detailed list of Drop Locations and Information
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Moze Community Resource Guide - Compilation of Moze Resources on the Gearbox Forums
Thank you to @Prismatic and @sammantixbb for advising and helping me create this document.
