A way to increase the difficulty of the game beyond enemy level, also increasing the available rewards.


For this, Mayhem Mode is categorized by levels which increase certain enemy stats and have randomized modifiers that alter, for better and worse, your playthrough.
However, they don't deal more damage than before.

To compensate for all this, you get more experience, money/Eridium and a higher chance of higher rarity items.
Also, your damage output (in whatever form) increases as long as you have a gun that has the same or superior Mayhem Level than the one your're currently on (More about this later).

Some info you find online may be outdated because of the release of Mayhem 2.0 in 2020[www.gearboxsoftware.com], so keep that in mind.

Each Mayhem level buffs enemy Health, Shields and Armor, not damage.

Now, there's a higher Mayhem Level and that's M11. However, it shares the same buffs as M10, except that it doesn't have any Modifiers. Speaking of those...

These go like this:

What classifies as a Hard Modifier? Check on your Mayhem tab. Before their name, you'll see the difficulty of that Modifier.
If you want to see them all, check out the Borderlands Wiki[borderlands.fandom.com].
If you don't like a particular Modifier, you can re-roll them.
Modifiers don't affect the enemy buffs.

Given that enemies have higher stats, you may think that you need to equip your deadliest weapons, but I'll have to give you some bad news. Your current gear may not be that effective, depending on what level you chose.

Part of the reason comes from the fact that enemies have buffed stats, so you need guns that can match their buffs. How?

Mayhem Guns (They're just guns but with that Yellow text with the Mayhem Level where they were picked up)


Guns with a Mayhem level scale at 1.09^n (n=Mayhem Level). This is the other reason why your current guns may not be very effective.
The best guideline is to use weapons that have the same, or higher, Mayhem Level as the one you're playing on.

Also, to maximize your effectiveness in the field at higher levels, you'll need a great build to compensate for the enemy buffs.
If you look up builds online for high Mayhem levels, you'll notice that they are generally made with a specific purpose and everything in their equipment builds toward that purpose (Shields too!).

If you want to make your own builds but don't want to respec every time you need to change something, check out Lootlemon[www.lootlemon.com], which is the site that you'll see many YouTubers use for their build guides.

Some legendaries only drop at, or above, a certain Mayhem level. For example, in M6 or above you can obtain the Sand Hawk.

I'd say there are a few reasons why you may decide to turn Mayhem Mode on:

1. You've reached the level cap (72).
   
2. You want better loot.
   
3. You want gear exclusive to M4, M6 or higher.
   
4. You simply want a challenge.

The only advice I can give is that you prioritize your enjoyment over anything else. Remember that you can disable it.

Play with Mayhem Mode Off if it'll give you more fun. Play with it On if it will. You'll have to try it for a little while to see if it's for you or not.

Remember that enemies have buffed stats and you may also need weapons that at least match your current Mayhem Level.

Sadly, but you can look up where they spawn and farm them at your current Mayhem Level.

These are the easiest ways:

1. Buying them on a vending machine
   
2. Tipping Moxxi until she mails you one
   
3. Using Golden or Diamond Keys

Yes. You can get an M10 weapon and use it in M6.

The modifier "The Floor is Lava" spawns lava at your feet if you stand still while in combat.
If you don't want the challenge, you can re-roll the Modifiers for another one of the same difficulty.