Other Borderlands 3 Guides:
- Borderlands 3 Shift Codes!
- Borderlands 3 Tips and Tricks.
- Borderlands 3 Achievements Guide.
- Borderlands 3 Easter Eggs and References.
This guide will go over all the essentials of what you need to use in the end game, currently TVHM and the Mayhem 4 difficulty.
Contents
Comprehensive Guide to Amara
All credit goes to Banafrit!
Strengths ‘n Weaknesses
So you picked Amara, eh? Wise choice! Now, you’re probably wondering what you’ll be good at, or bad at with this character, as well as this build. We got you covered on that too!
Pros
- Can do great damage in close range.
- Can do a lot of elemental damage, increasing that of which is already on elemental weapons or items, or by adding new elements on top of it!
- Powerful end-game skills, such as Sustainment, Personal Space, and Helping Hand(s).
- Arguably the best mobber out of all four characters.
- Very flexible when it comes to building!
- Good crowd control with phasegrasp.
Cons
- While highly effective in close ranged, it can prove difficult to close the gap in some cases.
- Not as effective against bosses.
- At a distinct disadvantage with most non-elemental weapons or items.
- Cannot phasegrasp certain enemies.
- May struggle in the early game to new players, as its hard to compliment her action skill early on.
Skill Trees
As with every character, Amara has three skill trees to invest 52 skill points. They’re as follows:
Mystical Assault
With hard focus on her action skill, this tree is great for making her already great action skills even better with additional bonuses and effects! Some skills include Do Harm, Violent Tapestry, and Deliverance! This however, may not be as effective as her other trees, as this is reliant on more precise type of play, and revolves around a cooldown of an action skill. Also, guns may be better off using against enemies, especially bosses.
Brawl
Primarily showing off the capabilities of Amara’s greatest strength, you’ll be able to kill enemies with a lot of melee with this build! This tree has everything you’d wanna see in a melee build, including a bigger health pool, life steal, and even damage resist to make you a walking tank! Some skills include Sustainment, Guardian Angel, and Personal Space. This tree is good for all skill levels, and should be invested into first, as it may compliment her other skills. Namely those in Fist of the Elements.
Fist of the Elements
Elemental weapons are already great at any point in the game, but this makes them even better! With this tree, you’re getting elemental damage no matter what gun or attacks you use based on your action skill element. With a proper build and a loadout, your guns can be doing two or more types of elemental damage at once. This will not only increase your overall DPS, but this will also makes your guns VERY flexible in the case it is resisted by an enemy.
Build Directory
Stormbreaker (Melee + Elementalist)
This is a basic build that can work in all levels of play, even Mayhem 4! This build gives you the sustainment you need while also dishing out a lot of damage on top of it!
Your capstone will be Blitz from the Brawl tree, as it is what compliments the melee-centricity of this build, and can let you attack more enemies if you can kill an enemy with its dash effect. Plus, you get 100% more melee damage, on top of the bonuses from Illuminated Fist and Find Your Center. Needless to say, Blitz is a must have requirement, as you will be playing around in the close range a lot.
Your action skill will be phaseslam, as it benefits from Sustainment’s lifesteal. Be warned however, that the game does NOT consider phaseslam’s damage to be that of melee damage. Aside from that, this action skill is good, quick, and has a good aoe to it. Once you get anointed gear later on, you’ll want to farm for some gear that gives you melee bonuses after phaseslamming, namely a really good shotgun, or a weapon that gives bonus melee damage so long as it’s simply in your hand.
Do not touch your action skill element however. Shock arguably works the best in this build, as not only will it help with taking out the shields on any target with any gun you use, but it’ll add this to your melee, and you’ll get slightly more damage from Tempest, which grants +30% elemental damage and an extra +20% to shock. Howeve,r if you’re struggling, feel free to switch the element temporarily, just don’t forget to switch back!
Weapons
Obtainable from any loot source, I just so happened to get this from Katagawa Jr in Atlas HQ on Promethea. This gun gives you corrosion to deal with armor bars, and is your best gun to use when decently far away due to the high damage multiplier. As shown in the screenshot, your best bet is to farm an anointed variant that benefits from high weapon damage increase after phaseslam. This makes the gun melt ANY target after using your action skill, so long as the enemy isn’t immune to corrosion or resistant to it.
Received from Gigamind in the Meridian Metroplex on Promethea, the Hellshock used to be a terrible pistol until the most recent buff to it. With this gun, you have shock damage to compliment your Tempest skill, as well as fire damage to destroy health bars. For this build, I prefer to have the critical damage after the action skill ends, but you can probably find a much better anointed effect on it to your liking. Just know that I prefer it over what else there could be.
Ah Conference Call, good to see you back ‘ol friend! This gun is best farmed from Judge Hightower in Lectra City on Promethea. Being a target for one of Zer0’s assassinations, you can use your map to find where he is if you’ve stumbled upon him already. If not, take a left at the start of the map, and keep going as far as you can, as he is on the edge of the map. The Conference Call is used here, as you’ll want to be in close to dish out your melee damage, and you shoot at your enemies as you approach. Not only this, but this shotgun benefits from skill such as Personal Space, which can increase the damage by a whopping 36% if you’re shooting at point blank range. This also is good in combination with Jab Cross, as you can alternate between firing a shot, and then hitting with a melee attack for more bonus damage. As for your anointment, go for weapon damage after phaseslam or your action skill. You can get higher than 100% as shown above if you’re lucky!
The Kaos is not only a good shock weapon, but a good gun at a distance with its interchangeable firing modes, being a DAHL weapon. Found off of the Psychobillies in Ambermire on Eden-6, this gun can come in any element, but for this build its recommended you get a shock variant. This weapon also has the potential to have higher DPS, as enemies killed will create an explosion that is the element of the Kaos, and has a 100% chance to apply the appropriate status effect on hit targets. Try to get one to increase your melee damage after action skill or phaseslam, that way you can use the previously shown Conference Call to shoot the enemy as you approach, then switch to the Kaos before phaseslamming the area.
Shield
The Black Hole is dropped by Wick in Lectra City on Promethea, and functions as a really good nova shield for Amara. You’ll be in close most of the time anyway, so these novas will easily help out with your damage. Try to find an anointed one which boosts melee. With this, you can stack this with the Kaos for a massive 400% melee increase, as shield anointment bonuses are passive and will work as soon as the appropriate criteria is met.
Class Mod
This classmod is an alternate to the overused Spiritual Driver, but is still pretty decent for this build. Use either or, depending on what you want. This legendary classmod is obtainable from any loot source, including the Moxxi slot machines in Sanctuary, so it may take some time to find the correct one. With this, you get another 100% melee damage, and increased gun damage and action skill damage with Jab Cross. On top of all of this, you get a passive -29% damage reduction to any attacks that hit you while this class mod is equipped. Assuming you have Helping Hand(s) invested into as shown, you get another -40% resistance on top of that. That’s a massive -69% (nice) damage reduction!
Grenade Mod
Farm Aurelia on Eden-6, and you should be able to find this one. Getting one with the anointment as pictured above is useful, as radiation is a sought after elemental damage type in Mayhem Mode, where shock damage may be nerfed. Not only this, but after throwing this grenade, all weapons will not only apply their appropriate elemental effects, but you also have your action skill’s element, as well as the radiation, effectively damaging the enemy with three different elements, and heightening the DPS even more!
Relic
This item is 100% required for this build, or you will die A LOT. It is dropped randomly from any enemy or found from your obtainable loot sources, so it may take some time to find. But the extra melee damage is good, as well as the life steal. With your melee damage, every melee attack that lands should refill your health bar back to 100%, which will likely make you very difficult to kill. Try to go for one with +75% melee lifesteal, as this will also stack with the +20% of damage dealt with elemental weapons and items from Sustainment.
Why you should use this build
Pros
- High melee damage.
- High elemental damage.
- Become a tank after phaseslamming, and become very hard to kill with high lifesteal.
- A flexible build, can be changed a lot with some anointments, elements, and weapons choices.
- Gives you some sort of distinct advantage, even at range.
- Perfect for mobs.
Cons
- Struggles against bosses. Not impossible to kill them with this build, but it’ll be very difficult. Do NOT go for a melee hit if you know you’ll be hit into fight for your life in return, or if you can’t land the attack.
- Relic and classmod may be difficult to find, as well as anointments.
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