Maya help in TVHM - What am I doing wrong?

notasound · September 14, 2015, 4:09am

Hello, all!

This is my first post here after lurking for a long time. It’s so nice to have a resource like this with such a supportive community.

All that aside, here’s my issue - I know this game fairly well, I’d like to think. I’ve taken my zer0 to level 72, and after getting bored with a min-maxed playstyle, started Maya. I’m not letting myself farm anything with her, all uniques I have I got by chance, and I’ve been loving it! It’s made the game so much more fun for me, I barely touch my zer0 at all anymore.

However, I’ve hit a snag - and I’m embarrassed to say where, but here goes nothing… I can’t get past the Gluttonous Thresher in TVHM. I am only underleveled by I think one level. I’m running a sub-sequence build currently (though considering re-purposing the points in that) with a Chrono Binder COM. Currently am level 40, with 5 in Sweet Release and Foresight as well. Can’t find the darn skill tree link, but that’s the gist of my build.

For gear, I’ve got a pretty diverse arsenal. I have a level 37 RokSalt that honestly is where the bulk of my damage comes from, as I’ve had terrible luck with finding SMGs. I have an assortment of elemental snipers and a Jakobs for NE. My shield is a level 37 adaptive shield with a 3.64 delay which has served me well, and I use a Stick Longbow Slag Transfusion 'nade. Relic is a cooldown one with 23.6%

I can’t believe I’m stuck on this boss of all things - any thoughts as to what I might be doing wrong? Is my gear just under-level? Thanks in advance, and I hope this post is in accordance with all rules and community etiquette - feel free to tell me if I’ve done anything wrong!

METALZ3RO1 · September 14, 2015, 4:31am

I would say you are just a tad under level, try at least finding another adaptive shield your level, I like those the best also, very well rounded

Ronnie_Rayburn · September 14, 2015, 4:45am

I usually take all his health as soon as he appears to swallow the beacon. You won’t be able to kill him at that stage, since he has to complete the cycle, but he’s a lot easier to deal with after that. A slag grenade is good to use, but even better is a Tesla, if you have one. Drop it in the area where he pops up, and it will take his shield (which is pretty powerful, btw).

if that tactic fails, you could run up on the platform next to the building to draw him there. Then you jump down behind the building. He will stay on the platform, while you can use the corner of the building for cover.

Good luck!

Poisd2Strike · September 14, 2015, 4:49am

The following is the link to the skill calculator for Maya: http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#000000000000000000000000000000

You can use that to post your current build here. You should probably consider redeeming Shift codes for Golden Keys to use at the Golden Chest in Sanctuary. That should help you get some at level gear. If RNG is kind you might even get a good SMG, preferably a Plasma Caster (Hyperion or Maliwan manufacturer if you are lucky). Up until level 72, I was using a Guarded Warder COM and whatever decent Purple shield I could find replacing them every 5 levels or so.

notasound · September 14, 2015, 4:53am

Thanks for all the help so far!

I’d completely forgotten about Teslas as since I’m used to playing zer0 (very heavy play for about a year and a half straight), I almost always use transfusion grenades. I’ll pick one of those up if I don’t already have one.

I’d love to respec, but Sanctuary is off the fast-travel network and I can’t seem to think of where any of the other stations are for that at the moment.

In other news, I leveled up to 41 which meant I can use my Slagga (accelerated prefix, gifted from my zer0) that I’d forgotten I even had. That + a purple level 34 Hyperion SMG (Transmurdera) still isn’t doing it.

http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#055001555005000000000500000000

There’s my build, with a COM that boosts Suspension +3. And thanks for the info Poisd2Strike, not sure how to get Shift codes, or even what those are! Would love to get my hands on a Plasma Caster or two though, have a full set on my zer0 and they’re staples of any loadout for me.

notasound · September 14, 2015, 5:03am

This is my favorite (although frustrating!) section of the game, for this reason. I’ve never been this stuck on it before, though. I like how not having Sanctuary makes you feel so isolated, GBX did a really good job there. I think I actually feel it more now that I’ve been playing it for a while - I’m so used to having it there.

Also switched to a Wild Cat COM that gives me +4 in Accelerate and 84% SMG damage (and only -16% accuracy!). I’m hoping these tweaks will get me through it, though after having a spawn with 3 rabid and a Super BA Stalker right in the beginning of the Outwash, I’d love a new shield - really feeling how weak this one is.

notasound · September 14, 2015, 5:15am

I’ve only got points in Sweet Release so yeah, I’ll throw on my Inflammable Turtle, that’s a good idea. It didn’t feel as good as the adaptive for me when I first got it, but I’ll give it a go now.

This run back to the Gluttunous Thresher is going very smoothly, I’m anticipating a good fight.

edit: Also, new question. Is it worth equipping an SMG damage relic for this fight with 16.2% increase? I’d be losing my cooldown relic of roughly 23%, but am not using PL a ton during this fight.

Poisd2Strike · September 14, 2015, 5:21am

IIRC, you should be able to fast travel to the area where you first meet Sir Hammerlock (Liar’s Berg?). There is a Respec station there.

Shift codes are codes that you redeem in the in-game menu to get Golden Keys. The Golden Keys allow you to open the Golden Chect in Sanctuary. Each Golden Key you use usually gives you two items at your level. Most of the time they are Purple or E-tech. You will only get a Blue item if that item is a Relic. You will never get a White or Green item. Also, you cannot get Legendary, Seraph or Pearlescent items from the Golden Chest. Unfortunately, you need to be able to get to Sanctuary to use them. You also need to link your Steam ID, PSN ID or Xbox Live GT to your Shift account.

Since you switched your COM to a Cat, I would likely recommend the following build (depending upon the 2nd skill the COM boosts) . You don’t really need more than 5-6 points total in accelerate, since certain weapons can be negatively impacted by too many points in that skill.

http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#415001550005050000000500000000

notasound · September 14, 2015, 5:30am

Beautiful, thank you for that! I’m on my way there. now. I’m going to go with your proposed build but take one point from Ward and put it into Immolate for the time being - I specced into it when I hit 41 and it’s already saved me a couple times. The other skill my COM boosts is +3 Mind’s Eye, so I’ll be hitting that.

I’ll check this out after I get through this mission, for now I’m gonna stick with a build that’s more familiar for me. Curious, though - why the investment in skills like Blight Phoenix and skipping ones like Chain Reaction or Immolate on the way down?

And I am playing on PS3 currently.

Poisd2Strike · September 14, 2015, 5:39am

That is not a good solo build for level 41. There is nothing in the Motion tree, which means there are no defensive skills (Ward, Inertia) and no Quicken, Suspension, etc. Also, the Harmony tree has no healing skills selected (Sweet Release, Elated) which means the character has no way to use PL to regenerate health. Lastly, the Cataclym tree includes some of Maya’s worst skills: Helios, Backdraft and Blight Phoenix. Yes, you have Ruin but you don’t have Converge and Converge + Ruin is essentially a Slag Singularity Grenade.

@notasound, you do NOT want to use that build unless you want to get very frustrated. Trust me on that.

notasound · September 14, 2015, 5:47am

I have one now because this section is frustrating for me, but typically I don’t like occupying a slot with a weapon that I’ll only use in FFYL. Immolate essentially makes my Slagga a fire Florentine in FFYL, and I quite like that - though when I eventually spec into ruin I definitely won’t be rocking a slag weapon either. Thanks for the keys! I’ll be redeeming the code soon, after a couple goes at this thresher.

@Poisd2Strike here is the build that I went with, keeping in mind that my COM is +4 Accelerate +3 Minds Eye and I’ve grown attached to having a point in Immolate:

http://bl2skills.com/siren.html#415001540014050000000510000000

And again, thank you all for your help. This has been a very pleasant first experience on the forums, something I’d expected after months of lurking, but good to experience nonetheless.

edit: I got him!! Such a crazy fight. I threw a Tesla and started shooting with the Slagga, taking out his shield. He then slapped me through one of those crates, putting me into FFYL. The tesla was still active and I just kept shooting - I think the slag + Immolate damage is what did it, because I actually downed him while in FFYL. After all this time, I can’t believe that’s how it happened!

WinterschneeFee · September 14, 2015, 5:53am

Chain Reaction is one of Maya’s best skills, you never not want to have it. Phaselock is Maya’s primary tool for an offensive build so it will always work to some degree unless there’s simply no valid phaselockable target around which happens only with a few raid bosses.
If you one-shot enemies it isn’t going to do much but it’s great if you use the phaselocked target as a source of offense which is the best approach for boss battles, especially with Wreck.
Building around it requires a different build but it’s an excellent skill as it works with all bullet-based skills.

WinterschneeFee · September 14, 2015, 6:10am

That may work for low level but eventually you simply won’t kill mobs, especially badasses, in just a few shots unless you go for full on destruction (I know it’s easy to do with the Cat COM even on OP8). very useful for bosses still.
Once you reach UVHM Helios, Backdraft and Blight Phoenix become almost comically bad, even for healing with the Grog Nozzle so you don’t have much else to spec into anyway. Also keep in mind that redirected bullets with this skill can be redirected again. This can actually be incredibly useful for slagging many mobs with the Slagga if you don’t want to rely on Ruin which opens up new build possibilities (not by much as Reaper is ridiculously good).
Although this skill is not what is topic is about.

notasound · September 14, 2015, 6:12am

Thank you! This is the easiest time I have ever had with the defending the beacon section of this mission, really loving the changes to this build.

While I do agree from the ample reading I’ve done on Maya’s builds, I do have to say this - one of the things that made me sick of playing zer0 (and the game as a whole until I switched to Maya) was that it felt like there was a right and a wrong way to do things. It didn’t feel fun for me anymore, I felt pigeonholed into a certain type of play because it was ‘better.’ What I’ve been enjoying with Maya is using weapons/gear that I ordinarily wouldn’t. I probably won’t even pick up a Pimp or a Sandhawk for her. I think it’s important to recognize that build diversity is one of the things that can make this game fun for people. Though yes, I will be grabbing CR as soon as I can.

Yeah, sorry to be the newb here but I’m not sure this was covered in the rules - what’s the etiquette on this? Abandon the topic now that I’ve completed what I was asking about, or let the discussion continue?

Poisd2Strike · September 14, 2015, 6:14am

Helios, Blight Phoenix, Backdraft, Cloud Kill, and Recompense get useless the higher you level and are obsolete in UVHM. Chain Reaction is one of Maya’s best skills for damage. In fact, on PC, PS4 and Xbox One it is possible for Maya to one-shot an OP8 Saturn and BNK3R using a Blurred Trickster (10/5 Chain Reaction) and Pimpernel without a Bee shield.

Your health will eventually get drained, especially if you have no skills to boost you shield (Ward and Inertia). Using a Turtle shield is hardly optimal. Sure, I used a Hoplite for awhile. Eventually I realized there were better options, such as the Antagonist. And if you are playing Maya and relying on Moxxi weapons for healing, you are doing something wrong. The build I use most often in my Siren build. And I don’t use Moxxi weapons and have no problem surviving.

This ^

That build looks just fine. Focus on balancing defense, DPS and healing. Look at some of the Builds in my ‘signature’ to give you some options.

The Norfleet (Explosive) is a hacked / modded item. There is no legitimate Norfleet (Explosive).

jobieholmes · September 14, 2015, 6:17am

Hello i am currently a level 53 gunzerker if youre on xbox one and wish for help, im willing to do that

WinterschneeFee · September 14, 2015, 6:17am

The problem with Maya is that many skills in that Cataclysm tree are just soooooo bad. If you want to reach Ruin, or even just Reaper, you will end up with the best skills which for the most are Foresight, Immolate, Chain Reaction and Reaper. This still leaves us with 5 points so most put them into Flicker. There’s sadly not much to do for Maya.

It’s your topic, if you want to talk about something specific that is fine. I just didn’t want to derail this topic.

Well, if it works for you it’s fine. I still rather not rely on Moxxi guns for healing, Maya’s better than that but that’s just me (although it’s VERY hard to resist Moxxi’s Good/Bad Touches as they are ridiculously powerful with the Cat COM).

notasound · September 14, 2015, 6:24am

Yeah, as far as I’m concerned if I rarely only used the Rubi with Zer0 who has nothing in terms of healing, I really don’t want to be using any Moxxi weapons with Maya.

I’ve heard quite a bit about this, and am more or less comfortable with where I think I’m going to put my points in Cataclysm at this point. The real question for me is are there skills in the other trees that are useless/have poor scaling? I also only play solo, so things like Res and Restoration I won’t be picking up, so I won’t get Scorn. I liked Thoughlock, but it’s gonna take a lot of getting used to and I want to learn Maya better first before getting deep into that.

Oh okay, cool. I’m liking where this is going - it’s done a lot for me so far!

Poisd2Strike · September 14, 2015, 6:25am

Except that the Norfleet isn’t available in the Explosive element. It is only available in Fire, Shock, Corrosive and Slag.

WinterschneeFee · September 14, 2015, 6:26am

Cataclysm got it the worst, the rest are generally fine. Kinetic Reflection is very weak in it’s offense but the bullet damage reduction is remarkable. Recompense is also pretty poor but can be used effectively on 72 with the right (but very specific) combo.