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• Why I'm qualified to write this guide
  
• Explanation of the concept of a "kata", the 3rd most important building block of your performance as a player (the 1st is your skill tree config, and the 2nd is your loadout, of course - your "build")
  
• The method used for gathering the data presented
  
• How the information will be formatted

Overview of Character Power

Bosses

General FAQ

• Getting Started
  
• Gearing
  
  • Gearing FAQ
• Guardian Ranks
  
• Mayhem Modifiers

General kata

Other Noteworthy Interactions

Amara

Moze

FL4K

Zane

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I plan to include any information that functions as a strong combination of "useful*" and/or "obscure**", the guide is going to be quite large. I also plan on updating it any time I figure out a new thing that appears to be worth sharing. The size of the guide warrants splitting it into multiple comments, so none of the truly useful/important information will be in this post - check the links, and/or the rest of the thread for the actual guide info.

• * Useful: objectively the best for at least 1 situation (according to my current knowledge), or helpful with providing comparisons
  
• ** Obscure: subjectively interesting and underappreciated (according to my personal perspective)

(that's me) instead of literally anyone else?

3 reasons.

1. I wrote some x86 code to patch the game in a way that lets me grab enemy HP addresses by looking at targets, which allows me to both view and edit the current and maximum values for each HP bar of any enemy. This means I can get very accurate damage numbers, and test things rapidly.
   
2. I also have some x86 code saved, associated with entity movement, which I can use to find where the game keeps that code in memory. I can then take advantage of knowing where the code is to dump addresses of enemy position data, which I can then use to move enemies to specific locations, and even keep them stuck there. It's much easier to test things on enemies that can't move.
   
3. No one else seems to have acquired the ability to do these things yet, or at least, I haven't been made aware of it. The absolute rampage of minmaxing I've been able to do, using the code tweaks previously described, has been going on for quite some time, so I am sitting on a large wealth of information. It's time to share it.

What does that mean?

First, familiarize yourself with this wiki article[en.wikipedia.org].

I've been referring to the collective of Photon Arts and Techniques in Phantasy Star Online as "kata" for a while. If I were having a conversation with you about IGAvania games, I might refer to backdash canceling, which is "one of the kata in your toolkit", along with land canceling, triangle jumping, corner boosting...a fighting game often has inputs like QCF+Attack to perform a specific attack that has a specific animation, Melee has Wavedashing and Waveshining and short hop lasers and...

...extrapolating from what these examples have in common, kata is just the word I use to refer to a sequence of actions that a player takes, which are associated with a specific sequence of actions that the character they control will take each time the kata is performed, so that a tactical goal can be achieved. For SSBM, even something as simple as "a jab" or "a smash attack" can be "a kata", but the big DPS in BL3 comes from more complicated kata.

Want to maximize your damage with Eraser on Zane? Well, the specific sequence of actions you would take to do that would be your "Hustleraser kata". Want to do big damage with Remnant? The way to do that is the "Ties That Remnant kata". Need to use the power of Remnant on something that's too far for Remnant to reach, by exploiting Groundbreaker? That's a whole other kata, with its own name (I call it the "Slingshot") and attributes (such as what the upper limit of its DPS is).

The kata you use won't actually be static, but I'll only be focusing on their optimized forms. It's up to you to adapt by using a more simple variation, that is easier to execute, when that would be sufficient.

Maximizing your damage is a combination of learning the kata detailed in this guide, and adjusting your build to take advantage of their superior power. All of the strongest kata should be included in this guide; the odds of the community finding a new interaction with "runaway nonsense scaling" are just too close to zer0.

How is Hex even getting these numbers?

• The data is collected by using by fire elemental damage when possible, and always against flesh enemies with only 1 HP bar.
  
• All stats are collected while playing solo at M11 in NVHM with "Normal" (not "Easy" - **and note the difference between NVHM/TVHM and Easy/Normal**) difficulty.
  
  • All gear used that could have a Mayhem level, and which needed to be as powerful as possible to be optimal, had a Mayhem level of 10.
• DLC is used. If you don't have any DLC, don't panic - I'll be covering what players with no DLC should be doing, too. I won't be providing DPS data for many, if any, situations in which a kata is performed without DLC, though I will still include information about gear, skill tree configs, and methods of using those.
  
• Most things are tested using the same skill tree, for each character. Exceptions will be noted, as all trees used will be specified.
  
  • Trees should be fairly optimized. There may be some room for improvement in just about every case, but there shouldn't be any improvements possible which would offer an increase in DPS significant enough to leave the superiority of one kata over another in question, or shift any kata into a different tier of power. If you think you see a way a skill tree could be improved, let me know in the comments.
• Gear should be optimized, but there may be some passive bonus or anoint choices I've made that seem sketchy.
  
  • As with the skill trees, if you think you've spotted a gear choice that seems less than optimal, let me know your thoughts in the comments.
    
    • I don't plan to immediately redo any tests. I'll probably make notes, where they're relevant, about things mentioned in comments, if I believe them to be genuine optimizations. If suggestions lead me to believe that the results I've posted are significantly misrepresenting how powerful a kata is, then I will test it again when I have time, and also once I am convinced there won't be more suggestions flooding in to prompt further testing anytime soon.
  • Weapon parts were largely ignored - only major contributors, like element parts, or projectile count parts, were given attention.
• I primarily use the skags in the Droughts. More specifically, I like to use the skags from the area where 7 spawn near the vending machine you repair for Marcus.
  
  • I try to use a bigger skag when testing single target damage with projectiles that are difficult to hit things with.
    
  • I try to use the lowest HP skags when enemy size won't matter, because consistently using enemies of the same kind and the same level removes the possibility of unknown variables affecting results, which is important when testing Amara's power.
    
  • I did not freeze the positions of the skags when testing how Indiscriminate and Eraser perform against *groups* of enemies, as I wanted to capture how the erratic behavior of enemies would affect my DPS. Instead, I achieved *some* consistency by luring the enemies together into a specific spot before performing whichever kata I was testing.
    
  • For Moze, I used the Indo Tyrant, because skags can be turned into ragdolls when they are hit by a Plaguebearer shot, and freezing their position data to keep them in place doesn't affect the ragdoll behavior at all, which allows it to interfere with testing.
• Enemy HP is set extremely high, but not so high that it causes rounding errors.
  
  • This prevents accidental kills of test targets, and keeps anoints like High Health Breaker from failing in the middle of performing a kata
    
  • Most things were tested with their HP set to 1e15.
    
  • Amara's stronger damage required things to have their HP set to 1e20.
    
  • Small experiments to figure out things with the damage formulae, or to rule out weaker kata (just so I could be sure they were weak), usually only warranted setting the HP of targets to around 1e10 to 1e12.
    
  • After a kata is performed, the new HP amounts of the targets are subtracted from their HP capacities, those numbers are documented, and then HP is reset to full capacity for each target.
• Most kata were tested with 10 trials. I know this isn't many. I also don't care - it's a video game, not a rigorous study of quantum mechanics. Probably. (Are video games just child universes of the multiverse tree...?)
  
  • The kata which had obviously consistent results were only tested once or twice, depending on how certain I was about whether I was maximizing the Guardian 4N631 bonus.
    
  • Moze's Plaguebearer kata had more trials done for it because of Cloud of Lead and Short Fuse.
    
  • Trials performed against multiple enemies generate many times more results; for my sanity, I assumed this justified performing the usual number of trials for even the most erratic kata (Indiscriminate and Eraser).
    
  • Trials in which I fumbled my inputs were discarded.
    
  • If I had the numbers I wanted, then thought some looked like outliers because of how low they were, I repeated the associated trial for as many times as there were outliers, then replaced the outliers with the new results. I did this to avoid keeping the results of any trials where I couldn't tell if I had performed the associated kata poorly, or if I simply had bad luck with some random element of the kata. The bias this has introduced has manifested as a huge boost to Zane's numbers, and a slight boost to Moze's numbers. This should not skew how Moze's kata compare to the kata of other characters, but Zane will certainly have the DPS of his kata overvalued.
    
    • My instinct is that DLC Zane is always going to be stronger than FL4K, except in areas with low gravity. Moze might consistently do more DPS than Zane, even in areas with normal gravity...but in areas with low gravity...well...sorry, boyo.
• All Guardian Rank perks are assumed to be available.
  
  • Guardian Rank is assumed to be high enough for most bonuses to be near the 15% cap (mine are all higher than 14%, and if memory serves, they're actually all higher than 14.3%).
• Borderlands Science arcade boosts are not considered.

This is how the most useful information in the guide will be structured.

The format of most info should be straightforward, so I really just want to show how you should interpret the info about the kata.

Each character will have its own section, starting with the character's name, a short table of contents of the character's noteworthy kata, and an FAQ section for providing details about that character.

Beyond that, the kata will be presented like:

• Calculated: (Calculated DPS) ["per enemy", if the kata is effective against multiple enemies] @ (average total damage per cycle [("low: #; high: #")]) per (measurement of time it takes to finish and restart the kata, on average)
  
  • A formula will be included to show how the average total damage per cycle was calculated. If the formula simply says "test result", that means the amount was directly observed (and thus, empirically confirmed).
    
  • Average total damage is an estimate of the most DPS you can expect to get out of the kata, on average, in a fire vs. flesh situation against 1 enemy (even if the kata works against multiple). It's up to you to extrapolate how that applies to other elemental matching situations. Elemental bonuses are generally applied after base damage is calculated for "dip chains", so multi-dipping shouldn't complicate your math.
    
    • Whenever I've kept the associated data about lowest and highest total damage seen during 1 DPS cycle, it is included (see: "low: #; high: #").
      
    • The DPS data may be missing for kata that did not appear to be capable of breaking the 5e9 DPS barrier
  • Given cycle times assume almost no human error, and may even be slightly shorter than what's possible. It's up to you to determine how long your own cycle times are, and how certain things affect your situation (like the availability of adds to use for Remnant).
    
    • Cycle times go by in-game time, and assume the player is solo. Many kata depend on the ability of players to swap gear while the game is paused to be optimal. Things like enemy movement and Guardian Takedown crystal charge drain can't occur while the game is paused, so it makes no sense to rate the DPS of a kata by anything other than time spent with the game unpaused.
  • The calculated DPS is computed using the other 2 numbers, and is the number I use when ranking the kata.
    
    • The calculations also factor in any info I glean from other testing; see "Tested: [etc.]" below.
  • There may be more than one of these sections to account for things like High Health Breaker (HHB; currently nicknamed "150 over 90" at the time of this writing) no longer being applicable.
    
    • In an indented note, within the first (or only) of these sections, will be details about whether the kata reuses any bonuses multiple times, and how it does so, if applicable. Some of this information may be conjecture, and whether it is will be indicated as well.
• Tested: (DPS) @ (total damage per cycle [(low: #; high: #)]) per (measurement of time)
  
  • This is the same format as seen for the "Calculated: [etc.]" bullet points, but these bullet points are for empirically observed results.
    
    • If the skill tree used for a test is relevant, the word "Tested" will be made into a link to a site that shows the skill tree config that was used
  • These sections will also include information about how the associated testing differed from the most complete form of the kata.
    
  • The extra data after the colon may be omitted. In this case, the section will have some notes about the results of some experiment someone (usually myself) did to verify the details of how some damage boost worked, and how I implemented knowledge of the results.
• Missing:
  
  • If this attribute is included, the kata will have a bulleted list of damage boosts I could have used, but have not tested, so that readers may infer how much further the kata could be improved.
    
  • Some of the kata are only included because information about them may assist players with no DLC; DPS data will not be available for those kata. There may be ways to further boost the damage for those kata beyond what is described, but no section about unused damage bonuses will be included for those kata. Players may find that information provided for other kata may suitably guide them toward optimizing any kata they plan to use.
• Loadout:
  
  • A list of the action skills, their augments, and the gear needed to optimize each kata will be included for each, kept in a code block to conserve screen space.
    
    • An explanation for the motive behind each piece of a loadout would be included, but it really bloats things, defeating the purpose of the formatting as a visual aid. Be assured that reasonably competitive gear alternatives have been tested.
      
    • Substitutions may be included. They will be listed, with indentation, below the parts of the loadout that they are meant to be substitutions for. They are either "inferior", or "superior, but only when certain conditions are met". Which of those it is will (hopefully) be noted in a later section.
      
    • Action skills, augments, and gear are expected to be equipped in the order they are listed. You should start each kata with the first thing listed for each slot already equipped, for each of your equipment slots (action skill slots, augments slots, and the slots for your COM, weapon, shield, grenade, and artifact). You should plan to switch to any other components of a loadout that are included during performance of the kata.
      
    • Each piece of gear will be described like this (except it will all be on one line):

• Procedure:
  
  • A bulleted list of the steps needed to perform a kata will be included for each. They can be quite long.
    
    • This information describes the kata itself - the other information only provides details to help you decide if you have the gear and circumstances to justify using the kata.
      
    • Fast execution is critical, especially when buffs that only last for a few seconds are being used. If a "Procedure" section says you should open your inventory, you should probably do so the moment you've completed the previous step of the kata. Clever use of the game being paused while a solo player is in their inventory is important for maximizing efficiency in every game of the series.
• Notes:
  
  • There may be additional notes to cover any interesting information that didn't fit into the other sections. This is also the section where links to video demonstrations will be.
    
  • Just about any of the sections for a kata, including this "Notes" section, may be omitted, as the information may not be detailed or verified "enough" (subjective), or it may be available from those of a related kata - when possible, information will simply be referenced, rather than copied.

This part of the guide is meant to show how the kata of each character compare to each other in terms of DPS and practicality. Each kata will be listed with its practicality, the character who would be performing it, its DPS, its name, and notes about various things (like issues that interfere with its performance), in that order.

• Character Power Against Multiple Targets
  
• Character Power Against Single Targets in a Crowd
  
• Character Power Against Lone Targets
  
• Character Power Against Special Cases
  
• Character Power Against 1,000,000x Enemy HP True Takedowns

Kata rankings are based on observations made during actual gameplay first, and based on DPS values calculated from isolated tests second. This is why you will see some kata with higher DPS ratings ranked below kata with lower DPS ratings.

Hollow Point is not considered, but it would benefit the kata that deal more damage in one hit more than it would benefit the others, which really only applies to kata involving Mind Sweeper, Remnant, or Eraser - the kata that are already ranked the highest.

Actually, most things that require enemies to be defeated aren't considered. This includes the Overkill Guardian Rank perk, radsplosions, and the Victory Rush artifact.

• Remnant is exceptional, because I had already tested it, it's much more prevalent, and Amara is often the first character to kill anything once enemy HP is high enough (either because of mods, or players using inferior gear).
  
• Damage from the Overkill perk may be factored in incidentally, but it needs to be "farmed" elsewhere for some things, so it is not always a practical source of extra damage.
  
• Radsplosion chains seem to benefit every kata evenly, except for the kata involving Mind Sweeper (which seems to only deal damage that either successfully kills targets, or fails to kill them at all, independently of radsplosion damage).
  
• As with everything else in this list, the benefits of the Victory Rush artifact don't apply unless enemies are already being defeated. Moze and Zane can benefit from this artifact the most, but in Moze's case, this is because of the Mind Sweeper COM (which, again, either kills things or doesn't, independently of on-kill benefits), and in Zane's case, the benefit only allows him to make Eraser more competitive with the many other things weaker than Ties That Bind, Remnant, and Mind Sweeper, at best, which means that his Eraser focused kata would not have its ranking shift by much as a result of Victory Rush artifacts. This is currently the only kata ranking shift I know of that might occur when on-kill effects are considered.

The practicality of a kata (how likely it is to be usable for some random situation) will be expressed as 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚙 𝚘𝚏 𝟷 𝚝𝚘 𝟻 𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔𝚜, and will not factor in whether a human player might have difficulty accurately hitting their targets with the associated kata. Here is what each number of asterisks means:

1. The kata only works against very specific enemies, and/or heavily depends on unlikely conditions.
   
2. The kata only works against very specific enemies, but those enemies have a significant amount of HP, lending value to niche tactics.
   
3. The kata is significantly impaired in many situations, but would still be unimpeded most of the time.
   
4. The kata only doesn't work against very specific enemies, but those enemies have a significant amount of HP, greatly increasing the negative impact of the weakness of the kata.
   
5. The kata is never impeded in any way, except by jerks, like Kenneth, who resist the elements, or abilities, that their health bar colors would have us believe they should be weak to.

The practicality of each kata is determined for the context in which the kata is being ranked (e.g. against multiple targets, or against a lone target), with the exception that the kata ranked in the "Character Power Against Special Cases" section have their practicality determined with respect to the entire game.

Character names are used to align kata that are for the same character vertically, making it easy to find other kata by that character in this list. Goofy variants of each character's name were chosen to make these alignments distinct.

Not all kata within the guide are included in this list; only the most powerful kata are mentioned here. Some may be mentioned more than once to show how various conditions may impact their effectiveness and/or practicality.

Groundbreaker affects the DPS of every kata, but some kata were not ranked by how they perform with Groundbreaker included.

• Some kata explicitly use Groundbreaker already, and were tested with Groundbreaker:
  
  • Fish Slap Nonsense
    
  • Slingshot
• If the Banish kata is mentioned for a kata ranking, that kata was tested with Groundbreaker.

If a kata could be improved by debuffs, but was not tested with the Debuff kata, a note will be included with the ranking of that kata. Many kata that are marked by those notes can multi-dip into the debuff bonuses, so those kata may be significantly stronger than their ranking suggests.

If you'd like to know why the debuffs and the Version 0.m shield buff were not used for so many tests, read this section.

For players with no DLC, FL4K will be more powerful than Zane most of the time. Amara and Moze will continue to be more powerful than both of the other characters, with Amara holding a more significant lead over Moze than she does when DLC is considered. Note that these are comparisons with all content considered; there will still be at least 1 situation in which FL4K is the strongest character, and there may be other such unique situations.

The DLC buffs Zane the most, and FL4K and Amara the least. Moze is significantly buffed by the DLC, but not as much as Zane is. This is because of what Eraser does for Zane, and what the Lucky 7 does for Moze. The Guardian 4N631 shotgun is the source of the vast majority of the extra power that Amara and FL4K gain from DLC content.

Assume that DPS values given are for DPS dealt to each target.

• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Slingshot
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Ties That Bind
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes Groundbreaker is enabled and automatically consumed
• *---- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • Average DPS will be near the IEEE 754 f32 maximum (near 3.40e38), and may overflow to +Infinity
    
  • This ranking assumes the player is using a perfect Lucky 7 reload roll, or another weapon with a similar rate of critical hits per second
    
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes there is an unusually high number of targets
• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 5.98e15
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 9.27e12
• **--- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes the player is using a perfect Lucky 7 reload roll
    
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes there is a high number of targets
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟹.𝟼𝟻𝚎𝟷𝟷 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Ties That Bind
  
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes Groundbreaker is enabled and automatically consumed
    
  • There is only 1 case I know of where DPS is reduced to just under 1/3 because of targets not being able to be frozen - the fight with >!Evil Brick and Evil Mordecai!< (DLC4 campaign spoiler) - but it's worth noting. I can't think of any other situation in which TTB would be applicable while no enemies present are able to be frozen.
• ****- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes the player is using a perfect Lucky 7 reload roll
    
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
• ***-- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes there is a high number of targets
• ***-- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟻.𝟼𝟽𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes the targets are in an enclosed space
    
  • This ranking assumes the player is not in an area with low gravity
    
  • This ranking assumes the targets are near the ground
• ****- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
• **--- 𝙵𝙻𝟺𝙺 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes all targets are within the radius of a Fish Slap grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes the targets can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is applied to flesh HP targets
• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟷.𝟶𝟾𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Indiscriminate
  
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes there is an unusually high number of targets

The "single targets" being referred are not lone targets. (That case is covered in another section.)

Assume that the circumstances being measured in this section include other targets nearby that would disrupt homing projectiles (e.g. Zheitsev's Eruption, Hunter-Seeker, and Plaguebearer projectiles, etc.), and that those targets still aren't close enough to the primary target for grenades to hit that target and any others simultaneously.

• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Slingshot
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Ties That Remnant
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Ties That Bind
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes Groundbreaker is enabled and automatically consumed
• ***** 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 5.98e15
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟻.𝟿𝟾𝚎𝟷𝟻 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Ties That Remnant
  
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
• **--- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata to redirect damage dealt to auxiliary targets into the primary target at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes the player is using a perfect Lucky 7 reload roll
    
  • This ranking assumes all auxiliary targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes there is a high number of auxiliary targets nearby
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 9.27e12
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
• ***-- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟿.𝟸𝟽𝚎𝟷𝟸 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Orb Pondering (DLC only)
  
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟹.𝟼𝟻𝚎𝟷𝟷 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Ties That Bind
  
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes Groundbreaker is enabled and automatically consumed
• **--- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Scummy 7
  
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata to redirect damage dealt to auxiliary targets into the primary target at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes all auxiliary targets are within the radius of a Mind Sweeper COM micro grenade
    
  • This ranking assumes there is a high number of auxiliary targets nearby
• ***-- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (𝟽.𝟿𝟺𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Plagueletter
  
  • This ranking assumes the damage is applied to a flesh HP target
• **--- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟻.𝟼𝟷𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Burnima
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is applied to a flesh HP target
• ***-- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟻.𝟶𝟸𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • Average DPS will be near 3.33e10
    
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata to redirect damage dealt to auxiliary targets into the primary target at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes the targets are in an enclosed space
    
  • This ranking assumes there is a high number of auxiliary targets nearby
    
  • This ranking assumes the player is not in an area with low gravity
    
  • This ranking assumes the target is near the ground
• ***-- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟹.𝟸𝟽𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Orb Pondering (DLC only)
  
  • This ranking assumes the target is near the ground
• ***-- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟷.𝟶𝟾𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Indiscriminate
  
  • Average DPS will be near 2.66e10
    
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata to redirect damage dealt to auxiliary targets into the primary target at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes there is an unusually high number of auxiliary targets nearby
• **--- 𝙵𝙻𝟺𝙺 (𝟷.𝟹𝟻𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Burn
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is applied to a flesh HP target

Assume that targets are not near any enemies that could be used for Ties That Bind, Remnant, or a Groundbreaker hit boosted by Remnant, even after Amara's speed boosts are considered. If there are enemies that can be pulled, by things like Quasar grenades, to a location that would facilitate the use of those abilities, then this information does not apply...

...and there really aren't very many targets you can find that meet these criteria, but a few of them do exist, so this section also exists. There is an "evil" boss in DLC4 these criteria do apply to. There is a similarly lonely boss in the DLC2 campaign that these criteria do not apply to, even though that boss has no additional spawns accompanying it, no enemies in the room outside of their arena, and a 1 way arena entrance.

Don't be fooled by the game's arena designs - even enemies that appear to be alone are usually able to be cheesed by Remnant. Groundbreaker is very exploitable, 5 seconds is a long time (because Amara is very fast), and I am very creative. I've been watching people come up with wacky ways of bringing enemies together for cheesing raid bosses since the early days of Borderlands 2. I even figured out that you can save, quit, and reload to make it possible to pull enemies into Captain Haunt's arena. Yeah, that's a thing.

• **--- 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
    
  • This ranking assumes a Hunter-Seeker grenade can reliably hit the target's critical hit location
• ****- 𝙵𝙻𝟺𝙺 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
• **--- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
    
  • This ranking assumes a Hunter-Seeker grenade can reliably hit the target's critical hit location
• ****- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Fish Slap Nonsense
  
  • This ranking assumes the target can be burned
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (𝟹.𝟸𝟽𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Orb Pondering (DLC only)
  
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs
    
  • This ranking assumes the target is near the ground
• ***** 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚑 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Plagueletter
  
  • Average DPS will be near 1.97e10 with debuffs applied to the target
    
  • This ranking assumes the damage is not applied to a flesh HP target
• ***-- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟻.𝟶𝟸𝚎𝟷𝟶 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • This ranking assumes players will use the Banish kata at the end of each DPS cycle
    
  • This ranking assumes the player is not in an area with low gravity
    
  • This ranking assumes the target is near the ground
• ****- 𝙵𝙻𝟺𝙺 (𝟹.𝟿𝟷𝚎𝟶𝟿 𝙳𝙿𝚂) WAR Loader Grenade (DLC only)
  
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs
    
  • This ranking assumes the target can be targeted by the WAR Loader pet

This section will cover how FL4K performs against Anathema (sometimes), how Zane performs against a certain enemy with a rare property that allows Eraser to produce long chains without the use of the Hustler COM, and how Amara's best DPS options for both cases compare. These are strange, unique cases for FL4K and Zane, but for Amara, it was Tuesday.

• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (+𝙸𝙽𝙵 𝙳𝙿𝚂!!!) Slingshot
  
  • This ranking assumes players are using Amara's infinite damage exploit
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• *---- 𝙵𝙻𝟺𝙺 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) He Bites!
  
  • Average DPS will be over 1.97e24
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes the target is Anathema, and that it is about to hit FL4K's pet with its nova while Gamma Burst is active
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 5.98e15
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
    
  • This ranking assumes additional enemies are "near" the target
    
  • This ranking assumes enemies "near" the target are affected by TTB
• ----- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟼.𝟶𝟶𝚎𝟷𝟺 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • The ranking of this kata is is speculative, because it assumes that players wouldn't need other players to help with debuffs (they would; divide by 200), that Overkill's boost can be reliably applied (it can't; divide by 5), that applicable targets would always have their critical hit locations exposed (they wouldn't; divide by 3), and that Eraser chains reliably (it doesn't; divide by 2 to 1,000+)
    
  • This ranking assumes targets are likely to cause Eraser to chain naturally, without use of the Hustler COM (so it only applies to a few enemies in the entire game...probably less than 5 of them)
• ****- 𝙰𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝚘𝚏 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚒 (?.??𝚎?? 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Slingshot
  
  • Average DPS will be near 9.27e12
    
  • This kata was not tested with debuffs, even though this kata makes them viable
• ----- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟼.𝟶𝟶𝚎𝟷𝟷 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • The ranking of this kata is is speculative, because it assumes that applicable targets would always have their critical hit locations exposed (they wouldn't; divide by 3), and that Eraser chains reliably (it doesn't; divide by 2 to 1,000+)
    
  • This ranking assumes targets are likely to cause Eraser to chain naturally, without use of the Hustler COM (so it only applies to a few enemies in the entire game...probably less than 5 of them)
• *---- 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝙵𝚕𝚢𝚗𝚝 (𝟸.𝟶𝟶𝚎𝟷𝟷 𝙳𝙿𝚂) Hustleraser (DLC only)
  
  • The ranking of this kata is is speculative, because it assumes that Eraser chains reliably (it doesn't; divide by 2 to 1,000+)
    
  • This ranking assumes targets are likely to cause Eraser to chain naturally, without use of the Hustler COM (so it only applies to a few enemies in the entire game...probably less than 5 of them)

Much of the information in this section is summarized by this YouTube video, but there are many more details and explanations here.

For convenience, this post begins with links to the character specific information. Read below these links for more context.

• Amara
  
• Moze
  
• FL4K
  
• Zane

This section covers observations made while playing through both True Takedowns with each character while enemy HP was significantly increased by hotfix mods. (Remember the links at the beginning of the guide? This is a continuation of that.)

• Originally, Mayhem 10 enemy HP was multiplied by about 10,000x for the tests that were done, but more tests were done at 100,000x and 1,000,000x HP after it was discovered that the characters can, in fact, still overkill many enemies while enemy HP is lower than 1,000,000x.
  
• The 2nd version of the 10,000x HP mod should have scaled enemy HP to 101,000,000% (notice the lack of a + sign; Mayhem 10 gives enemies +10,000% HP by default, which is 10,100% total). The mod originally used for these tests did achieve that much enemy HP, but it also increased the HP of Mayhem modifiers, such as Laser Fare traps, which made Second Winds impractical.
  
• As a result, a different mod was used, so that only enemy HP would increase (without Mayhem modifier HP also increasing), and that mod only increased enemy HP to about 9,900x the HP of Mayhem 10, because of floating point rounding errors.
  
• This also means that the mod that was meant to multiply enemy HP by 1,000,000x probably actually only multiplied it by about 990,000x, which means that enemies likely had closer to +10,000,000,000% HP instead of 10,100,000,000% HP (as they had about +100,000,000% HP, instead of 101,000,000%, with the 10,000x HP mod).

The formatting of each character's section should be somewhat straightforward, but here is a summary of what to expect:

• The skill tree spec used
  
• The Mayhem 10 modifiers used
  
• Any mods/cheats that may have been used for that character
  
  • This will only apply to Moze and FL4K
• A list of each tactic used
  
  • The kata used will be listed here, along with details about variations. Note that the kata posts also list which pieces of gear were used.
• Other important notes
  
• Sections that categorize information in this order:
  
  • Enemy HP amount (e.g. 1,000,000x Mayhen 10, or 10,000x M10)
    
  • For Moze, data will also be categorized by whether the Really Lucky 7 mod was used for the acquisition of that data
    
  • Which takedown the data is from
    
  • Which half of the takedown the data is from (because both takedowns have a checkpoint halfway through),
    
  • Which room of the takedown the data is from (because different rooms have different enemy compositions, which drastically affects which tactics work best)
    
  • Rooms and takedown halves may "single segment" and "sum of best room times" clear times provided, when possible.
    
    • A clear time of "DNF" (did not finish) means that, after about 10 to 30 minutes of time spent fighting just 1 enemy, it was determined that the current character could not possibly have their ranking improve.
      
    • A clear time of "DNT" (did not time) means that the associated room or takedown half was not timed because the character was not performing well enough to make it that far within a reasonable amount of time OR because multiple rooms were measured together as 1. (Some rooms may have tactics listed for them that are known to be optimal, even if those rooms weren't timed.)

Here are the hotfix mods that were used:

• Original 10,000x HP mod
  
  • Using this mod led to this picture[i.postimg.cc]; as you can see, even the mod that "correctly" scaled enemy HP still had inaccurate scaling due to rounding errors
• 1,000,000x HP mod
  
  • This version allows for Second Winds via Laser Fare traps (thank Zext for finding the original)
    
  • Change the 1900000 and 2100000 numbers to get other multipliers. Those are the 1,000,000x multipliers, so, for example, divide them by 100 (giving 19000 and 21000) for 10,000x HP. The default 1.9 and 2.1 values are for applying 4 player scaling, so those multipliers are included.
• Really Lucky 7 mod[github.com], which was used for some of the Moze runs
  
  • That mod was obtained from here[github.com]
    
  • This mod is an example of one of the cheats that I used for some of these runs.
    
    • This cheat in particular is the only one that was used for Moze.
      
    • Infinite HP and infinite grenades cheats were used for FL4K.
      
    • No cheats were used for Amara or Zane, because Amara + Moze + Zane already have sustainable lifesteal during their DPS loops, Amara + FL4K + Zane don't depend on Lucky 7 reload RNG, and Amara + Moze + Zane already have sustainable ammo management without relying on unachievable levels of grenade regeneration. (Notice that Amara and Zane are the only 2 characters that meet all 3 of those criteria.)

Other important settings used:

• As usual, all tests were done with gear save edited to have perfect, but legitimately obtainable, parts. This keeps things fair for all characters. Opportunistic swapping of equipped gear, that exploits the fact that the game is paused while the inventory menu is open, was also allowed.
  
• Mayhem 10 was used instead of Mayhem 11, because Mayhem modifiers afford things like Laser Fare traps, which make the process of acquiring Second Winds easy. In other words, Mayhem 10 was chosen because it's easier than Mayhem 11. This actually left Amara at a disadvantage, because the Mayhem modifiers chosen for her impacted her DPS, while the Mayhem modifiers chosen for the other characters did not affect their DPS at all. (None of the modifiers chosen affected character survival.)
  
• Testing was done with the Revenge of the Cartels event enabled. This significantly improved the DPS of Moze and Zane. There's no reason you wouldn't play with this event enabled if you were trying to improve your damage or your loot farming results, so disabling the event didn't make sense.

Some shortcuts were allowed:

• Some Maliwan Takedown doors will open even with no/few enemies defeated. Characters were allowed to progress any time either case occurred.
  
• In the Guardian Takedown, there is a hole in the left side of the last door before the Anathema fight. Crouch walking through this hole allows the enemies in the previous room to be skipped. All characters were allowed to use this shortcut. Amara defeats the types of enemies this shortcut skips faster than the other characters do, so allowing this shortcut gives every other character an advantage over Amara.
  
• The Guardian Takedown has low gravity. This allows every character to easily take certain shortcuts by simply jumping over gaps, either by using movement speed bonuses, rocket jumping, or both. These shortcuts were used to skip the mobbing sections before and after the last crystal charging section, which means that each character was allowed to skip straight to the crystals, and then to Scourge, from the checkpoint.

Here is a summary of the results seen during these modded takedowns:

+10,000,000,000% HP rankings

• Amara
  
• Moze (with the Really Lucky 7 mod)
  
• Zane
  
• FL4K (with infinite HP and infinite grenades)

+100,000,000% HP rankings

• Amara
  
• Moze (with the Really Lucky 7 mod)
  
• Zane
  
• Moze (without the Really Lucky 7 mod)
  
• FL4K (with infinite HP and infinite grenades)

+10,000,000,000% HP rankings, which also match the +100,000,000% HP rankings

• Amara
  
• Moze (with the Really Lucky 7 mod)
  
• FL4K (with infinite HP and infinite grenades)
  
• Zane

Amara still won both categories, despite that she had disadvantages that only affected her; no other characters had to deal with any such disadvantages (notably, Moze and FL4K were allowed to benefit from literal cheats, and they still couldn't clear the content faster). Here's a list of the disadvantages that only Amara had to deal with:

• Unused sources of damage bonuses
  
  • I accidentally used an infinite damage exploit during my testing, but I did not realize I had, so I did not benefit it from it much
• Only Amara had her damage reduced by a Mayhem modifier
  
• One of the skipped rooms of the True Guardian Takedown is a room that Amara would have cleared faster, so skipping it gives the other characters an unfair advantage

Zane is ranked much higher for the True Maliwan Takedown than he would otherwise be due to area of effect radius boosts from artifacts that don't even exist in every version of the game. Removing the radius boosts might reduce the length of Moze's Mind Sweeper chains as well, which suggests that her DPS might be significantly lower in other versions of the game. Amara and FL4K do not depend on any such removed content for their DPS.

• Skill tree[www.lootlemon.com]
  
• Mayhem modifiers used:
  
  • Speed Demon
    
  • Pain Tolerance
    
  • Laser Fare
    
  • Not the Face
• No cheats used

• Slap Slingshot
  
  • A variant of the Slingshot kata that uses a Fish Slap grenade, while a Guardian 4N631 shotgun is held, to redirect damage dealt to a group of mobs into a boss via Groundbreaker
• FP Slingshot
  
  • Like Slap Slingshot, but with a Face-puncher used to apply Groundbreaker damage to a single, distant target
• Slam Slingshot
  
  • Like Slap Slingshot, but with a slam used to apply Groundbreaker damage to many enemies at once
• Freeze Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a freezing shield to make flying enemies fall into pits
• Quasar Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a Quasar to pull grounded enemies into pits
• Grasp Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses Amara's Ties That Bind action skill with the Stillness of Mind augment to hold enemies in place while they are over pits, so that they are forced to fall into them
• Glamour Stall
  
  • Using the Ties That Bind action skill with the Glamour augment to convert a large group of enemies into allies, giving plenty of time to safely prepare an attack
• Glamour TTR
  
  • Performing the Ties That Bind kata with the Glamour augment, while positioning Amara favorably for luring any Remnant orbs that may appear as one would for the Ties That Remnant kata
    
  • The variant that was usually used did not include use of freezing shields, so assume no melee vs. frozen bonus is applicable except where use of freezing shields is explicitly specified
    
  • The Zheitsev's Eruption debuff is applied to nearby enemies just after the final Ties That Bind cast, as one would for the Debuff kata; the Zheit is swapped into and out of Amara's hands via the inventory menu so that its startup animation is skipped
• Stillness TTR
  
  • Like Glamour TTR, but with the Stillness of Mind augment used in place of Glamour
• Freeze Augmentless TTR
  
  • Like Glamour TTR, but with no action skill augment equipped, and a Frozen Snowshoe or Frozen Heart with the ASS/BreakFill anointment equipped during the final Ties That Bind cast before it is immediately replaced with the usual Ward shield
• Driver Jump
  
  • Temporarily equipping a Spiritual Driver class mod for more points for the Mindfulness skill, then using the extra speed to jump farther
• Pacifist Crystals
  
  • Amara can charge all Guardian Takedown crystals without fighting any enemies. Read the "What about the Guardian Takedown crystals?" section of this post for more info.
• Diadem Lure
  
  • Scourge's Diadems do % based damage to Scourge. Luring them into Scourge by walking around the boss in a circle after each phase will cause it to blow itself up and end the current phase instantly, even with modded HP. it's funny

• Amara's infinite damage exploit was not intentionally used. It was not confirmed that the Ties That Bind tactics I was using could produce infinite damage until after I ran through each takedown. Also, it was only (partially) used for the +10,000,000,000% runs.
  
  • Amara can clear the 1st half of the True Guardian Takedown within at most 30 minutes, even with enemy HP set to +Infinity. I did it with a build that was intentionally left unoptimized in exchange for not needing any DLC gear, DLC skills, or the need for ammo drops (because the build had infinite ammo). The clear times you see in later sections of this guide were not farmed to be optimal, and do not account for Amara's ability to deal infinite damage.
• Pain Tolerance was likely lowering Amara's DPS by more than usual, because Hex grenades are used to keep her HP full, and they hit enemies multiple times. The other characters weren't penalized by Pain Tolerance, because they used Freeze Tag instead.
  
• There are still quite a few optimizations that weren't used.
  
  • 1 example: the melee vs. frozen bonus was only used for 1 room of 1 of the takedowns, and none of the others.
• Amara didn't need the Zheitsev's Eruption, It's Piss, or S3RV-80S-EXECUTE debuffs, or the Version 0.m buff, until the Zheitsev's debuff was finally used for +10,000,000,000% HP scaling.
  
  • ALL of these bonuses should apply to Fish Slap hits, Ties That Bind hits, and Groundbreaker/Remnant hits, so they should all be triple dipped. Cube those bonuses on your calculator really quick, then get back to me about how you think I'm "only optimizing for Amara" when you see just how big those bonuses she's missing are.

• Amara vs. +10,000,000,000% enemy HP
  
• Amara vs. +100,000,000% enemy HP

True Maliwan Takedown

• 1st half (17 minutes, sum of best rooms: 14 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
    • Glamour TTR + Slam Slingshot works best for the enemies here, but the door opens automatically after about 1 minute
  • Pre-Kraken (3 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slam Slingshot works best for the enemies here, but the Kraken appears automatically after about 3 minutes
  • Kraken fight (1 minute)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
  • Valkyrie shields (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot (bypasses damage being capped by the shield gate)
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot (bypasses damage being capped by the shield gate)
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (3 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot (bypasses damage being capped by the shield gate)
  • All 3 at once (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot (instantly kills all 3 via Radsplosion chain)
• 2nd half (DNT, sum of best rooms: 27 minutes)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (7 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot until heavies are gone
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • Bridge (9 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot until heavies are gone
      
    • Freeze Dunk flying enemies once they begin to interfere too much, if they are still alive
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • 4 Heavies room (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
      
    • Grasp Dunk remaining heavies
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + FP Slingshot
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
    • Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (9 minutes, including previous rooms after "4 Heavies room")
    
    • FP Slingshot using damage from destroying bottom half with Remnant
      
    • Otherwise, Glamour Stall + Glamour TTR + FP Slingshot using damage from Remnant hitting adds

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNT, sum of best rooms: 34 minutes)
  
  • Plant room (5 minutes)
    
    • Stillness TTR + Slam Slingshot
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
      
    • Quasar Dunk and/or Grasp Dunk remaining enemies
  • Pre-crystals guardians (9 minutes)
    
    • Stillness TTR + Slam Slingshot
  • Crystals (6 minutes)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Anathema (14 minutes)
    
    • Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
• 2nd half (DNT, sum of best rooms: 98 minutes)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
    • Driver Jump
  • Crystals (3 minutes, including previous rooms after "Anathema")
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Post-crystals (4 minutes)
    
    • Grasp Dunk (for Speed Demon) + Driver Jump
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
      
    • Diadem Lure
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (66 minutes)
    
    • Freeze Augmentless TTR + Slam Slingshot
      
    • Freeze Dunk flying enemies
      
    • Grasp Dunk remaining enemies
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
      
    • Diadem Lure
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (19 minutes)
    
    • Freeze Dunk flying enemies
      
    • Grasp Dunk remaining enemies
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (2 minutes)
    
    • Glamour TTR + Slap Slingshot
      
    • Diadem Lure

True Maliwan Takedown

Tactics will not be included for this category, because they match the tactics used for the "+10,000,000,000% enemy HP results" category (except the Zheitsev's Eruption was not used for this category).

• 1st half (18 minutes, sum of best rooms: 10 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
  • Pre-Kraken (3 minutes)
    
  • Kraken fight (0 minutes)
    
  • Valkyrie shields (1 minute)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
  • All 3 at once (2 minutes)
• 2nd half (22 minutes, sum of best rooms: 22 minutes)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (4 minutes)
    
  • Bridge (7 minutes)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (3 minutes)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (3 minutes, including previous rooms after "4 Heavies room")
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (2 minutes)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (3 minutes)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (0 minutes)

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (60 minutes, sum of best rooms: 60 minutes)
  
  • Plant room (DNT)
    
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (30 minutes, including previous rooms)
    
  • Anathema (30 minutes)
• 2nd half (60 minutes, sum of best rooms: 60 minutes)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Post-crystals (10 minutes, including previous rooms after "Anathema")
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (50 minutes, including previous rooms after "Post-crystals")

• Skill tree[www.lootlemon.com]
  
• Mayhem modifiers used:
  
  • Speed Demon
    
  • Freeze Tag
    
  • Laser Fare
    
  • Post Mortem
• Cheats used:
  
  • The Really Lucky 7[github.com] hotfix mod
    
    • Some runs were done without this mod. Those that did use it will be marked accordingly.

• Slap Banish
  
  • A variant of the Banish kata that uses a Fish Slap grenade, while a Guardian 4N631 shotgun is held, to redirect damage dealt to a group of mobs into a boss via Groundbreaker
• FP Banish
  
  • Like Slap Banish, but with a Face-puncher used to apply Groundbreaker damage to a single, distant target
• Freeze Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a freezing shield to make flying enemies fall into pits
• Freeze Drop
  
  • Like Freeze Dunk, but for bringing flying enemies down to ground level, rather than into pits
• Quasar Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a Quasar to pull grounded enemies into pits
• FSN
  
  • A variant of the Fish Slap Nonsense kata that sacrifices melee vs. frozen, S3RV-80S-EXECUTE, and It's Piss bonuses
    
    • Auto Bear was used for instant Big Surplus activation
      
    • Terror was applied after self DOT, for healing from Knife Drain (Moze is very good at downing herself, even with a low level Sellout)
      
    • S3RV is difficult to use because of Some for the Road, which is active when Big Surplus is
      
    • This tactic was used for a boss that couldn't be frozen
      
    • Moze can easily down herself with It's Piss grenades, even when they have a low level
      
    • Refreshing the Zheitsev's debuff just before Groundbreaker is applied seemed to help
      
    • EMC was not used for Anathema (TODO: can Moze crit Anathema with a Hunter-Seeker?)
• SftR Mind Sweeper
  
  • The Iron Bear and Some for the Road variant of the Scummy 7 kata; Guardian 4N631 swapping included (which means that Lucky 7 rolls are lost each time this tactic is used)
• Freeze Mind Sweeper
  
  • The Iron Cub and Frozen Snowshoe (or Frozen Heart) variant of the Scummy 7 kata; Guardian 4N631 swapping included (which means that Lucky 7 rolls are lost each time this tactic is used)
• ASA Mind Sweeper
  
  • The Iron Cub and ASA/Grenade% anoint variant of the Scummy 7 kata; Guardian 4N631 swapping sometimes included (which means that Lucky 7 rolls are lost when this tactic is used for especially healthy enemies)
• Cub Speed
  
  • Iron Cub gives a stack of Speed Demon when it blows itself up. i'm serious, it's actually amazing
• Pacifist Crystals
  
  • Moze can charge all Guardian Takedown crystals without fighting any enemies. Read the "What about the Guardian Takedown crystals?" section of this post for more info.
• Diadem Lure
  
  • Scourge's Diadems do % based damage to Scourge. Luring them into Scourge by walking around the boss in a circle after each phase will cause it to blow itself up and end the current phase instantly, even with modded HP. it's funny

• The Plagueletter kata was tested with the Debuff kata to determine if it was a viable alternative to the "FSN" tactic described previously. It's...it's bad.
  
  • We're talking "doesn't even deal 20 billion DPS" bad. That's not the amount of DPS you want for a 100 trillion HP boss.
    
  • The S3RV-80S-EXECUTE debuff interferes with shield amp bonuses.
    
  • The tested DPS loop looked like:
    
    • Face-puncher shots for Terror
      
    • S3RV
      
    • Throw It's Piss while allowing Zheitsev's Eruption to fire repair animation projectiles
      
    • Self DOT for Elemental Projector
      
    • Slide for Toboggan amp, shoot at target
      
    • Hold Guardian 4N631 with Elemental Projector artifact equipped
• Matching elements is very important for Mind Sweeper chains - specifically, matching the element that most of the enemies that will be hit by the micro grenades are weak to. This means that Moze will inevitably need to reload her Lucky 7 so that she can match a different element.
  
  • This is especially devastating when the Really Lucky 7 mod is not being used, because Moze already takes at least 2 to 5 times longer to progress through modded HP takedowns without that mod, even when the HP modifier used is only +100,000,000%.
    
  • Matching the element of the enemies that are most likely to be hit (and, therefore, most likely to continue a Mind Sweeper chain) means matching the element that "fodder enemies" are weak to instead of the element that bosses are weak to. This increases the chances of losing "Mind Sweeper fodder enemies" before the boss they're being used for is defeated, which results in a situation similar to a softlock. (That's a fancy way of saying that Moze won't do any DPS anymore.)
• The anointed Mesmer grenades that were used had their level set to 1, so that Moze wouldn't down herself. It may not even be possible for a solo player to acquire such a grenade, possibly even by doing something like using a 2nd controller.

• Moze vs. +10,000,000,000% enemy HP
  
• Moze vs. +100,000,000% enemy HP

True Maliwan Takedown

• 1st half (DNT, sum of best rooms: 13 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper works best for the enemies here, but the door opens automatically after about 1 minute
  • Pre-Kraken (3 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper works best for the enemies here, but the Kraken appears automatically after about 3 minutes
  • Kraken fight (1 minute)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Valkyrie shields (4 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (0 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (0 minutes with luck; will usually softlock in this phase or previous)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • All 3 at once (3 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
• 2nd half (DNT, sum of best rooms: 34 minutes)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (5 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper until heavies are gone
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • Bridge (12 minutes)
    
    • Freeze Dunk flying enemies
      
    • SftR Mind Sweeper until heavies are gone
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • 4 Heavies room (2 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Wotan, grounded (4 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Wotan, jumping (8 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper + Slap Banish
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (1 minute)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
    • Freeze Drop + SftR Mind Sweeper + FP Banish (if not using Freeze Drop)
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (2 minutes, including previous rooms after "Wotan, remaining pre-split phases")
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Plant room (4 minutes)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • Pre-crystals guardians (22 minutes)
    
    • Freeze Mind Sweeper
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
  • Crystals (8 minutes, including time to get to Anathema)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Anathema (DNF; would have taken just over an hour if the boss hadn't glitched)
    
    • Freeze Mind Sweeper
      
    • FSN if the boss's AI glitches, until it's unstuck (est. 7 hours per phase at +10,000,000,000% HP)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper + Cub Speed to skip to the next area
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Post-crystals (DNT)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper + Cub Speed to skip to the next areas
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
      
    • Diadem Lure
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
    • Freeze Mind Sweeper
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
      
    • Diadem Lure
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
    • Freeze Mind Sweeper
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (DNT)
    
    • SftR Mind Sweeper
      
    • Diadem Lure

True Maliwan Takedown

Tactics will not be included for this category, because they match the tactics used for the "+10,000,000,000% enemy HP results (WITH the Really Lucky 7 mod)" category.

• 1st half (30 minutes, sum of best rooms: 30 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (DNT)
    
  • Pre-Kraken (DNT)
    
  • Kraken fight (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie shields (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • All 3 at once (30 minutes, including previous rooms)
• 2nd half (40 minutes, sum of best rooms: 40 minutes)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (DNT)
    
  • Bridge (DNT)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (29 minutes, including previous rooms after "All 3 at once")
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (11 minutes, including previous rooms after "Wotan, remaining pre-split phases")

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (180 minutes, sum of best rooms: 180 minutes)
  
  • Plant room (DNT)
    
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (60 minutes, including previous rooms) (DNT)
    
  • Anathema (120 minutes)
• 2nd half (90 minutes, sum of best rooms: 90 minutes)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Post-crystals (15 minutes, including previous rooms after "Anathema")
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (75 minutes, including previous rooms after "Post-crystals")

Tactics will not be included for this category, because they match the tactics used for the "+10,000,000,000% enemy HP results (WITH the Really Lucky 7 mod)" category, except for the use of the "ASA Mind Sweeper" tactic in place of the "SftR Mind Sweeper" and "Freeze Mind Sweeper" tactics when possible, and the use of the "FSN" tactic during 1v1 fights with Valkyries.

True Maliwan Takedown

• 1st half (91 minutes, sum of best rooms: 91 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (DNT)
    
  • Pre-Kraken (DNT)
    
  • Kraken fight (11 minutes, including previous rooms)
    
  • Valkyrie shields (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • All 3 at once (80 minutes, including previous rooms after "Kraken fight")
• 2nd half (DNF)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (DNT)
    
  • Bridge (DNF)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)

True Guardian Takedown

not happening, lmao. ain't nobody got time for that (DNT)

• Skill tree[www.lootlemon.com]
  
• Mayhem modifiers used:
  
  • Speed Demon
    
  • Freeze Tag
    
  • Laser Fare
    
  • Post Mortem
• Cheats used:
  
  • Infinite HP
    
  • Infinite grenades

• Freeze Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a freezing shield to make flying enemies fall into pits
• Quasar Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a Quasar to pull grounded enemies into pits
• Fish Slap Spam
  
  • FL4K's mobbing variant of the Fish Slap Nonsense kata
    
  • Excludes a 2nd Rakk Attack! activation for ASE/Melee% in favor of having charges left for future freeze shield activations
    
  • The S3RV-80S-EXECUTE and It's Piss debuffs are also excluded, since they don't work for multiple targets very well and don't contribute as much of a damage bonus
    
  • Elemental Projector is skipped in favor of keeping the Unleash the Dragon artifact equipped so that more burn DOTs can be applied (for more Groundbreaker damage, which scales by the number of enemies that are burning simultaneously)
    
  • The EMC anoint and the Hunter-Seeker grenades that would be used to trigger it are not used, since EMC can't affect more than 1 target at once
    
  • About 4 Fish Slaps are thrown per cycle instead of the usual 2, since the EMC anoint is not being used, and this causes Groundbreaker damage to be applied repeatedly, while also applying burn DOTs that build Groundbreaker's damage, for much faster kills
    
  • ASE/Rad% is used so that Fish Slap kills trigger Radsplosion chains that wipe out entire groups of enemies once 1 to 3 of them die
• Pacifist Crystals
  
  • FL4K can charge all Guardian Takedown crystals without fighting any enemies. Read the "What about the Guardian Takedown crystals?" section of this post for more info.

• Don't like the tree I used? Let's do some math:
  
  • If we ignore the green tree, even though it gives +50% from The Power Inside and +30% from Hidden Machine (both of which are easy to use),
    
  • then assume that we'll get +400% pet bonuses instead of +320% (50% elemental damage instead of 42%), giving a best case boost of 1.05634x,
    
  • and then assume we also get +21% from Pack Tactics, for a best case boost of 1.21x,
    
  • then the total best case boost comes out to about 1.27817x...but FL4K doesn't need to be 28% faster to compete, they need to be over 100 times faster. FL4K's tree is not going to save them from ranking last. There aren't any multi-dips offered by it that would make that approximately 1.28x bonus any better, if it was even achievable to begin with.
    
    • FL4K is probably losing half of the bonus from The Power Inside due to self DOT for Elemental Projector, but the skill should still be helping significantly. Because the green tree is actually seeing use, changing FL4K's tree to something other than what was used for these tests might actually lower their DPS. In fact, the tree that was used is already almost exactly the same as the tree recommended as "the best" by other educated members of the community...now stop asking me about whether I used a good FL4K build for these tests.

• FL4K vs. +10,000,000,000% enemy HP
  
• FL4K vs. +100,000,000% enemy HP

True Maliwan Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
    • Fish Slap Spam works best for the enemies here, but the door opens automatically after about 1 minute
  • Pre-Kraken (3 minutes)
    
    • Fish Slap Spam works best for the enemies here, but the Kraken appears automatically after about 3 minutes
  • Kraken fight (DNF)
    
    • Fish Slap Spam
  • Valkyrie shields (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • All 3 at once (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (DNT)
    
  • Bridge (DNT)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Plant room (DNF)
    
    • Fish Slap Spam
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNT)
    
    • Fish Slap Spam
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Anathema (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Post-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (DNT)

True Maliwan Takedown

Tactics will not be included for this category, because they match the tactics used for the "+10,000,000,000% enemy HP results" category.

• 1st half (DNT)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
  • Pre-Kraken (DNT)
    
  • Kraken fight (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie shields (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (DNT)
    
  • All 3 at once (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNF)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (DNF)
    
  • Bridge (DNT)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Plant room (9 minutes)
    
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNF)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Anathema (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Post-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (DNT)

• Skill tree[www.lootlemon.com]
  
• Mayhem modifiers used:
  
  • Speed Demon
    
  • Freeze Tag
    
  • Laser Fare
    
  • Post Mortem
• No cheats used

• Slap Banish
  
  • A variant of the Banish kata that uses a Fish Slap grenade, while a Guardian 4N631 shotgun is held, to redirect damage dealt to a group of mobs into a boss via Groundbreaker
• Slam Banish
  
  • Like Slap Banish, but with a slam used to apply Groundbreaker damage to many enemies at once
• Freeze Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a freezing shield to make flying enemies fall into pits
• Quasar Dunk
  
  • The variant of the Dunking kata that uses a Quasar to pull grounded enemies into pits
• Hustleraser
  
  • Zane's mobbing variant of the Hustleraser kata
• Erootser
  
  • Like Hustleraser, but with a Complex Root used instead of a Globetrottr
    
  • Slide for Toboggan, shoot with triple amp shield equipped
    
  • Swap to Version 0.m, spawn the circle by using a MNTIS cannon charge
    
  • Swap to a Red Suit for safety
    
  • DPS was multiplied by about 6 times relative to only using the Red Suit as usual
• Jerasercho
  
  • Like Erootser, but with a Jericho used instead of a Complex Root
• Pacifist Crystals
  
  • Zane can charge all Guardian Takedown crystals without fighting any enemies. Read the "What about the Guardian Takedown crystals?" section of this post for more info.

• Zane's DPS gets destroyed in the Guardian Takedown, where the low gravity breaks the Globetrottr's projectile behavior. The Maliwan Takedown offers better points of comparison...if you're willing to ignore that Eraser doesn't work well in certain versions of the game, due to the removal of an AoE radius bonus from artifacts.

• Zane vs. +10,000,000,000% enemy HP
  
• Zane vs. +100,000,000% enemy HP

True Maliwan Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slam Banish works best for the enemies here, but the door opens automatically after about 1 minute
  • Pre-Kraken (3 minutes)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish works best for the enemies here, but the Kraken appears automatically after about 3 minutes
  • Kraken fight (10 minutes)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Valkyrie shields (DNF)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • All 3 at once (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish until heavies are gone
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • Bridge (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish until heavies are gone
      
    • Freeze Dunk remaining flying enemies
      
    • Quasar Dunk remaining enemies
  • 4 Heavies room (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Wotan, grounded (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Wotan, jumping (DNT)
    
    • Hustleraser + Slap Banish
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Plant room (DNF)
    
    • Erootser or Jerasercho
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Anathema (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
    • Pacifist Crystals
  • Post-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (DNT)

True Maliwan Takedown

Tactics will not be included for this category, because they match the tactics used for the "+10,000,000,000% enemy HP results" category.

• 1st half (13 minutes, sum of best rooms: 9 minutes)
  
  • Ratch area (1 minute)
    
  • Pre-Kraken (2 minutes)
    
  • Kraken fight (0 minutes)
    
  • Valkyrie shields (1 minute)
    
  • Valkyrie 1 Half 1 (0 minutes)
    
  • Valkyrie 2 Half 1 (1 minute)
    
  • Valkyrie 3 Half 1 (2 minutes)
    
  • All 3 at once (2 minutes)
• 2nd half (DNF)
  
  • Room after Valkyries (3 minutes)
    
  • Bridge (9 minutes)
    
  • 4 Heavies room (0 minutes)
    
  • Wotan, grounded (4 minutes)
    
  • Wotan, jumping (DNF)
    
  • Wotan, remaining pre-split phases (DNT)
    
  • Bottom half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)
    
  • Top half of Wotan, post-split (DNT)

True Guardian Takedown

• 1st half (DNF)
  
  • Plant room (DNF)
    
  • Pre-crystals guardians (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Anathema (DNT)
• 2nd half (DNT)
  
  • Pre-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Crystals (DNT)
    
  • Post-crystals (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 1 (DNT)
    
  • 1st Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 2 (DNT)
    
  • 2nd Scourge mobbing section (DNT)
    
  • Scourge, HP bar 3 (DNT)

or,

Why the Debuffs and the Version 0.m Shield Buff Are So Much Worse in Practice Than They Are in Theory

Implementing the debuffs (Zheitsev's, S3RV, It's Piss) and the 0.m leads to a long list of issues:

• Amara, Moze, and Zane do more DPS when there are more enemies together. However, while Amara can kind of spread the benefits of debuffs to other enemies via TTB, Moze, Zane, and FL4K can't do anything like that.
  
  • Moze also has to sacrifice her Lucky 7 reload rolls to use the Zheit and S3RV debuffs.
    
  • Since Moze and Zane both rely on high rates of fire for finding long Mind Sweeper/Eraser chains quickly, using the debuffs for mobbing situations can ruin their DPS, and for lonely targets, their chains become pitifully short anyway.
• Aggressive enemies get too close for the Guardian 4N631 bonus. Normally, this can be remedied if we just choose to target something else that's not so close to us, but that's a waste of our debuffs if the enemy we just marked is the one that is in our face.
  
• The biggest bonus is from the Zheitsev's debuff, but the homing projectiles will almost certainly target the wrong enemy when there is more than one to deal with.
  
  • The homing projectile issue also applies to Hunter-Seeker grenades being used for the EMC anoint.
    
    • Amara can hold enemies in place, but it's often better for her to use Glamour for safety, which does not hold enemies in place (except for the 1 that it glitches to be invincible).
  • Console players may not be able to reload cancel the Zheitsev's Eruption quickly enough for its maximum benefit to be viable, but if they can, their timing will need to have much greater precision.
• Aggressive enemies will easily knock players out of any 0.m circles they spawn.
  
  • We also can't use the 0.m with the Frozen Showshoe (or Heart), because the 0.m circle will disappear before we can Fish Slap our target due to the inventory menu being temporarily disabled after each time an action skill is used to trigger a shield effect.
    
    • Enemies don't stay frozen long enough for reversing the order to help.
• Aggressive enemies make the accuracy of S3RV and Jarate throws unreliable, but the debuffs don't last long, so players will only have time for 1 attempt at each debuff.
  
• Flamethrower heavies will simply kill runs because of their burn immunity. Amara can drop them off of the map, and Moze and Zane can kill them if they're grouped with enough other enemies for their Mind Sweeper/Eraser chains to grow long, but these heavies ruin Unleash the Dragon tactics. In that situation, no amount of extra buffs/debuffs will help.
  
• Some enemies hide. Good luck applying all of the debuffs you want to use to someone that keeps running away to hide behind a barrier or box.

Let me reiterate: most enemies move.

Seriously, even with all of those debuffs, I still had FL4K spending 3 to 4 minutes fighting a single 10,000x HP Stormchucker. The Valkyries move so much that I spent nearly an hour taking down just 1 10,000x HP Valkyrie's shield (3e12 shield points) while using the same tactics that had instantly evaporated the 10,000x HP Kraken (4e12 armor points).

Numbers given are for level 72 with Mayhem 10 scaling applied.

Boss HP has a pattern of being increased by 30% or 40% per additional player (bosses will have 1.0x, 1.4x, 1.7x, or 2.1x HP for 1, 2, 3, or 4 players, respectively). Some bosses (including the True Hag of Fervor) have their HP fluctuate because their level is randomized. Since BL3's level scalar is 1.09, this means that boss HP can be multiplied or divided by 1.09 per level above or below their usual level. (This means that the True Hag can probably have around 62 billion HP (6.19e10), at most, with 4P scaling applied.) I have not exhaustively verified which enemies are actually bosses, or which ones have randomized levels.

Data for the bosses is formatted like ("#" = 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝙿) ("𝚂" = 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍, "𝙰" = 𝙰𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛, "𝙵" = 𝙵𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚑) ("(𝚎##)" = 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝟷𝟶 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝙿 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 (𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚡𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎)), and numbers given are those found during solo play.

TODO: Other bosses
For comparison purposes, I am including how much health the highest HP non-boss enemies in the game have. Use the following key to understand the abbreviations:

• Mant - Mantakores
  
• W. - Wraith
  
• S. - Spectre
  
• R. - Revenant
  
• F. - Fortified
  
• B. - Badass
  
• I. - Infernal
  
• P. - Possessed
  
• +/-N means that the numbers are for an enemy + or - N levels from 72.

This is the "General FAQ", which means it's the place for Frequently Asked Questions that aren't character specific. As with the character specific comments, some of the questions here are actually "Fabricated *** Questions", which means I made up a question to answer so I could convey some info that should be covered, but which I feared wouldn't be asked about. Example:

What formula should I use to estimate the damage dealt by the EMC anoint (the one that makes an explosion when getting a critical hit with a weapon that matches the element of the DOT applied to the target; "elemental match crit")?

Fortunately, I made a comment about this in the past already, so I don't need to cover this here. (The formula may not be entirely accurate, but the important part is that you'll do several seconds' worth of damage in an instant.)

What do those acronyms mean?

• EMC - See above!
  
• ASA - Action Skill Active
  
• ASC - Action Skill Cooldown
  
• ASD - Action Skill Damage
  
• ASE - Action Skill End
  
• ASS - Action Skill Start
  
• COM - Class Optimization Module
  
  • This is another way of referring to a class mod.
• Consec - Consecutive Hits
  
  • This is the anoint that gives you more gun damage for repeatedly hitting enemies within about 1 second, at most, in between hits; the hits can come from any source (consider: Spiritual Driver self DOT).
• Dmg - Damage
  
  • Yes, an artifact with a FireDmg part means "it boosts fire damage", just like you thought. Look, I've hit the character limit in some of these posts - it's why some of them were split. I'm also...kind of...copying the important stuff from my own private notes, which are somewhat sloppy, and full of abbreviations...
• DOT - Damage Over Time
  
  • This specifically means "status effect damage", like burn damage, etc. It does not include things like Phaseflare damage ticks, despite the fact that Phaseflare's damage is spread out over many rapidly applied ticks of damage, and therefore is, quite literally, "damage over time". I will not be using the acronym "DOT" to refer to anything but damage that works with the EMC anoint.
• FFYL - Fight for Your Life
  
  • This is the mode a vault hunter or pet (usually) enters when their HP reaches 0, during which time they may survive only by achieving a "Second Wind". Borderlands 3 is, apparently, the first game in the series where stealing someone's kill still gives them a Second Wind...
• HHB - High Health Breaker
  
  • This is the anoint that makes you do more damage to enemies that have at least a certain percentage of their max HP still intact (at the time of this writing, the anoint is sometimes called "150 over 90", and sometimes written as "150/90", because it gives 150% damage to enemies with over 90% of their max HP).
• OGT - On Grenade Thrown
  
  • This is the anoint for grenades that boosts gun, grenade, and action skill damage when you throw grenades with this anoint. Its only real appeal is that it requires less of an investment to make use of it.
• TGT - True Guardian Takedown
  
• TMT - True Maliwan Takedown
  
• URad - Unhealthy Radiation
  
  • This is for referencing the anoint that gives you bonus radiation damage when your health is low.

What are those things written like Stuff/OtherStuff?

Things like "ASS/BreakFill" are references to anointments. I refer to many "anoints" by writing them like "Activation Condition/Resulting Effect" (but without spaces), so in this example, the anoint referenced is the one that makes your shield count as "broken" and "recently refilled", simultaneously, when you start an action skill.

What do you mean when you say that something "gets Mayhem scaling"?

Unlike the OP levels of BL2, or the Chaos levels of Wonderlands, increasing the Mayhem level in BL3 also buffs the player. Things like melee damage will be multiplied by some large amount that increases as Mayhem level does, which makes items like the Fish Slap and the Stinger much more powerful. This also applies to the damage dealt by certain skills. Since some of these boosts can be combined together, it's actually quite easy to have the boosts to your own damage outpace the boosts to enemy HP as your lobby's Mayhem level increases - you can actually be much stronger, relative to your enemies, at Mayhem 10/11 than you are at Mayhem 0. There's a post in r/borderlands3 that covers some of these boosts - easily found via Google - and MentalMars also has an article about it[mentalmars.com].

What is "multi-dipping"?

Read this post.

How should I deal with the Mayhem modifiers?

You can read the section about Mayhem modifiers here.

What are "Guardian Ranks" and "Guardian Rank perks", and how do I use them effectively?

You can read about Guardian Ranks and the perks that come with them here.

Why is the Guardian Takedown so terrible?

It's not! Allow me to use this post (and the rest of this guide) to convince you.

Wait, why are you telling us to apply DOT to ourselves?

This guide contains instructions to apply DOT to your character because it triggers the damage boost from Elemental Projector artifacts.

I want to clarify that the DOT you should be applying to yourself should always be of the type that matches the element of the damage you are doing - for example, if you're going to be doing fire damage, you should be applying burn to yourself when the guide instructs you to apply DOT to yourself.

Amara can use Infusion to easily apply shock (electric) to herself, and any character can use the level 26 Sellout, from a specific sidequest[borderlands.fandom.com] (base campaign spoiler) during their NVHM playthrough, to apply burn (fire) and/or melt (corrosive) to themselves.

There's no real need for freeze (cryo).

There's no easily found option for irradiating (radiation) your character. I have found that low level Torgue shotguns suffice for self inflicted irradiation. Such a shotgun may also be helpful for applying shock to your character; any character that isn't Amara may otherwise struggle with shocking themselves.

Wait, are we supposed to be as far from our targets as possible when holding the Guardian 4N631?

Yes! YES! Absolutely. It would be redundant to mention this every time instructions for a kata recommend holding the Guardian 4N631, but the damage bonus of the weapon does depend on how far you are from things you are dealing damage to, so you do need to be far away from them (note: nova shields supposedly receive a greater bonus if you are closer instead).

Just assume that any time you're expected to be holding the shotgun in your hand that you're also expected to be far away from your enemies, and actively moving away from them (just in case you weren't far enough already).

How far is far enough? Try setting an enemy on fire by using a melee damage source on them while wearing the Unleash the Dragon artifact. While holding the Guardian 4N631, move around your target, alternating between getting closer to it and further from it. You can watch your DOT increase as you move further away, until it stops increasing once you've reached the distance that gives the greatest damage bonus. Get a feel for this distance, and keep it in mind when using the Guardian 4N631.

The Guardian 4N631 is not really useful for anything other than its distance based damage bonus - it's the entire reason the gun is recommended for use. If you're close to things while you're holding it, you may not even be benefiting from it.

What is "AreaDamage"?

Artifacts can have 2 different parts that boost splash damage (denoted by the text "Area-Of-Effect Damage" after some indication of the percentage it will be boosted by), and the one with "AreaDamage" (sic) in its internal name also boosts your splash radius.

The radius boost of "AreaDamage" parts will stack with any splash radius boost you get from a class mod, and seemingly also with Torgue Cross Promotion (a skill for Moze). The stacking seems to occur regardless of whether the skill triggers.

"AreaDamage" has a wonky interaction with the Complex Root that makes the radius of the weapon's shots absurd. With the Root, and possibly in general, this is considered to be a glitch, even though it's possible to use the combination by accident, and doing so is a natural consequence of doing what would be optimal if this behavior did not exist.

You can usually tell if you have the right part by how low it appears in your artifact's passive stat bonus list. Lower means it's more likely you have the right part, but the only way to know for sure is to check if it affects things like the radius of your Complex Root shots, or any nova released from a Frozen Snowshoe/Heart.

Why are all the names of the kata so dumb?

because mald about it, that's why

How do I prepare for the highest Mayhem levels?

The timeline I'm going to recommend for you may seem daunting, but Borderlands 3 is actually quite lenient in terms of what it asks of its players, which means I can be, too. One of the goals of this guide is to lead you along a path of least resistance, so when I say "skip straight to M11", I'm telling you to do that because I absolutely believe that you can do it. Yes, you. It helps, of course, if I give the necessary details that justify such a recommendation...

...which brings us to the following outline:

• Start by completing the story and unlocking Mayhem mode.
  
  • You can use the parts of the character FAQs covering which skills are the most helpful to get an idea of how to configure your skill tree as you progress through the story, which should assist you with doing so.
    
  • You can try farming powerful rare items to make your progress easier as well, such as by playing through Arms Race (if you have DLC5), or farming things like variants of T.K's Wave from The Holy Dumptruck. More on that in the Gearing part of the guide.
    
    • You may not even need to farm any legendary gear. BL3's drop rates are notoriously generous, and you will likely find some overpowered gear while completing the story.
  • Playing through Arms Race actually feels very similar to the initial campaign experience because of how it's balanced to ignore Mayhem modifiers and Mayhem bonuses for enemies, so if you familiarize yourself with what works well in Arms Race, you will also do well in the campaign. I have a video about Arms Race, and the video's description goes into detail about what gear I look out for, and how I use it.
• Turn the Mayhem level all the way up to 11. Yes, seriously.
  
  • Alternatively, you can drop the level to 10, then attempt to farm these specific modifiers:
    
    • Lootsplosion, for farming world drops more quickly; replace with Speed Demon if you don't need the drops
      
    • Freeze Tag, to keep this modifier slot from being too obnoxious; you may prefer Pain Tolerance if you're Amara, or something else entirely if, for example, you don't mind being unable to do deal radiation damage, and would thus be okay with using the Totally Radical modifier
      
    • Laser Fare, to help you stay alive, as the traps spawned by this modifier can be spawned by simply attacking enemies, and these traps also have low HP
      
    • Post Mortem, as it's the least disruptive modifier for this slot (unless you're Amara, in which case Not the Face is better), though you may prefer Buddy System for times when you're not in a hurry (or if you just want more Hollow Point damage)
      
    • If you do farm modifiers, note that choosing to not keep the new modifiers will allow you to reroll the same sets of modifiers in the same order each time. This means that if you accidentally reroll past a modifier set that you wanted to keep (or just investigate), you can discard the new modifiers and start your rerolling process from your last kept set, sort of like restoring a save state. I recommend that you keep a new set of modifiers after each chunk of rerolls you do, if none of them were worth keeping, so that you don't lose as much progress when restoring the state of the modifier set.
• Start farming! You'll need to start small by farming things that don't require much power (or effort).
  
  • You can simply try fighting the weakest skags you can find with your action skill.
    
  • Look for deals at vending machines after using a "money grenade" to get some cash. You can find good "money grenades" from those vending machines, too - look for grenades with at most 1 Money part; for the other 2 slots, the grenade should have at most 1 of any of the Divider, Bouncy, or MIRV parts. Duplicate parts are okay if that's all you can find. These need to be on a Homing grenade - particularly if you're using a Bouncy part. Keep in mind that the Divider part is actually the worst of the bunch; you ideally want a Homing/MIRV/Bouncy/Money grenade.
    
  • If you do have some money, tipping Moxxi is a relatively cheap way to get some great weapons. The Crit and the Hail she will give you are some of the best guns in the game, and they both have a Lifesteal effect that will keep your character alive.
    
  • Remember to fire the Eridian Fabricator while its firing mode is set to "Legendary". You'll need a good chunk of Eridium to use that mode, but it can be worth using when you're new to Mayhem mode. You should stop doing this once you have some decent gear; eventually, you'll need to conserve Eridium for rerolling anointments.
    
  • I've written some other posts (spoilers) in the past that have even more detail about getting started with the highest levels of Mayhem right after completing the campaign, but they are somewhat dated. They may still give you some ideas, and they will further justify starting with M10/11, as well as indicate which things get "Mayhem scaling". Exploiting the Mayhem scaling applied to your character's skills makes Mayhem mode significantly easier.
    
  • Note that when you're starting out, you're also farming EXP to get your character to the level cap, and to get those juicy Guardian Rank perks (which are necessary for some of the most powerful kata, though you should be fine regardless in unmodded BL3, even if you have no DLC). Any area with high enemy density is great for this, which includes Circles of Slaughter and Takedowns, but you are, of course, limited by what you're currently capable of defeating, which...yeah, that might just be skags for a while. Eventually, you'll move up to being able to handle the CoV - I personally loved farming in Lectra City when I was new to the game.
    
  • You won't need to start so small if you are reusing gear you've obtained from an earlier character. Remember to use your bank to pass items between your characters.
• Once you're at the level cap, and you have some decent gear, you should focus on farming for specific items, at which point you'll want to head over to the Gearing guide.
  
  • Prioritize the gear that you need for any kata you are relying on to farm your loot targets, and once you have decent variants of everything...you should be ready to steamroll the game!
    
    • You may want to farm such items at lower levels during your journey toward the level cap, because the extra time spent farming extra copies of items that you'll be farming again later may ultimately save you more time than waiting would. Having more power earlier speeds up the process of farming EXP significantly.

There are some items that are more effective if they have a lower level, because their role requires players to damage their characters, rather than their enemies. There is a list of these items here.

Sometimes a player can acquire an item that has a low level by completing a quest, even if their character has a much higher level, but some items may not be able to appear with low levels once a player's character has reached a higher level, and players may need to create a new character before they can acquire such items. If you are a new Borderlands 3 player, you should familiarize yourself with those items which are more effective when they have lower levels so that you don't miss them during your first playthrough.

Here is a list of all of the...lists...of items that this guide references:

• Gear that SHOULD have a LOW level
  
  • This is the same list that was mentioned previously.
• Gear that CAN be farmed while you have a LOW level
  
• Gear that SHOULD be farmed after you have a HIGH level, but which CAN be farmed while enemies have LOW Mayhem levels
  
• Gear that SHOULD be farmed after you have a HIGH level and which SHOULD have a HIGH Mayhem level
  
• Other great items that you may not need, but should be aware of

As the titles of the lists imply, the Mayhem level of the current lobby will affect the quality of some pieces of gear that appear, but not others, and there are some pieces of gear that will be effective regardless of their level or Mayhem level. You can safely assume that the lists are sorted "from least to most difficult to farm", up through the list of items that depend on high levels and high Mayhem levels, but I want to reiterate that only certain items within the 1st list can be "missed". Also, the items in the lists are sorted by how important they are, but they are not sorted by how strong you will need to be to farm them. If something feels like it's too difficult to acquire, consider farming for something else instead, and acquiring your original target later.

Each entry in each list should have the name of the item that is currently being referenced formatted as a link to an article about that item, with information about where that item can be obtained. Where applicable, information will be included about what the best parts are for that item, and/or what role(s) the item is best for. The list of the best parts for an item may include an anointment part. There is a panel within the Sanctuary III ship, near the Crazy Earl's shop, which allows players to reroll item anointments - the price is 250 rid-rock per roll - so players should avoid worrying about the anointments of their loot too much and focus on the other parts of their new gear. Keep in mind that anointments related to the Terror system are only available while the Bloody Harvest event is active.

Some items are "world drops". You can find such items just about anywhere. I personally like to farm for world drops by rerolling Mayhem modifiers until I have Lootsplosion, and then farming enemies in Lectra City, or the boss that drops the Ward. You should probably farm for items that aren't "unique" (red text, may have a dedicated source, unique part(s)) by reloading and examining vending machines...preferably those near a spawn point.

Some items are from Joey Ultraviolet's underbosses. The specific group of underbosses that spawns in Joey's arena will appear there again if you kill your character (or allow them to be killed) so that they respawn just outside of the arena before Joey is killed. This means that you can rapidly farm items from a specific underboss. You can save, quit, and reload your save file to change who will appear in Joey's arena.

Some items are from Arms Race. 🍋Lootlemon has a map[www.lootlemon.com] that will help you identify where certain Arms Race drops are more likely to appear. Arms Race items can also drop from Heavyweight Harker, so players will have a chance to acquire some of those items every time they complete a round of Arms Race. The page about Heavyweight Harker[www.lootlemon.com] actually has links to articles about each Arms Race item.

Some items are from "Vault Cards", which appear in one of your inventory menu tabs if you have the Director's Cut DLC (DLC6). You will obtain purple keys by opening chests that become available as you gain EXP, and those keys can be used to purchase Vault Card items. Every purchase after the 1st will award you with an anointed version of the item you've chosen; the 1st variant you obtain of each Vault Card item will not be anointed.

Most items can be obtained from the Diamond Armory. If you have Diamond Keys (which can be obtained from SHiFT codes, or from opening chests from DLC6's Vault Cards), you should visit the room that is beyond the door that is at the bottom of Sanctuary III's bridge, under the place that Ava and BALEX are usually at.

Here's an explanation of each DLC tag:

• DLC1 - Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot
  
  • The DLC with the Casino
• DLC2 - Guns, Love, and Tentacles
  
  • The DLC with Hammerlock and Wainwright's marriage
• DLC3 - Bounty of Blood: A Fistful of Redemption
  
  • The Japanese Western DLC
• DLC4 - Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck
  
  • Krieg's brain!!
• DLC5 - Designer's Cut
  
  • The Arms Race DLC that also grants access to the purple skill trees
• DLC6 - Director's Cut
  
  • The DLC that has Hemovorous and The Seer, as well as a small campaign hosted by Ava

The Gearing FAQ will, hopefully, provide any information you may still need after you've read the rest of this gearing guide.

How do I figure out where to find any gear that's not recommended by this guide?

🍋 Lootlemon[www.lootlemon.com] is a great resource for information like that. It lets you sort lists of the unique items of each game in the Borderlands series by various criteria. It won't necessarily have all of the information that you might want, so I recommend that you try using a search engine to find wiki articles about the items you're seeking. The wiki resources should include some pages with tables that let you sort lists of unique items by their attributes as well. Try to familiarize yourself with all of the unique item effects that aren't simply boosts to your stats.

What should I do if I have gear that I like that isn't covered by this guide?

BL3 is very lenient. It has an "Easy" mode, and the characters and most of the items are all far more powerful than they need to be for unmodded content. There's no need for anything in this guide to be precisely copied, and there is a lot more to enjoy about the game.

Of course, games are always more fun for someone who has more agency, and that comes from having power. If you want to make your own powerful build, consider:

• DPS is just DPH (damage per hit) times HPS (hits per second), so you can increase it by increasing your damage or by increasing the rate at which you apply damage to things.
  
  • This means that most builds are going to focus on weapons and tactics that deal high burst damage,
    
    • Builds that focus on high burst damage are going to do much more DPS, especially if you have access to the DLC items, because those builds make it easier to stack lots of damage boosts with each other until your damage is so high that having a lower rate of fire/melee attacking won't matter.
  • or else they will focus on weapons and tactics that generate a high number of damage sources in a short amount of time.
    
    • It is much more difficult to reuse damage boosts or stack them with attack rate boosts when you're trying to shoot or melee more quickly. The Toboggan requires you to stop firing so you can slide again, the Elemental Projector buff requires you to swap to a weapon that lets you apply DOT to yourself, and it would be incredibly difficult to rapidly swap COMs so that multiple COMs are boosting each shot you fire or melee attack you perform (in a way that's effective, at least) when you're also attacking rapidly...and there are certainly other significant examples.
• Your primary weapon doesn't have to be a gun. The Fish Slap grenade and the Stinger shield are perfectly viable as choices for your primary weapon.
  
  • Choose a weapon that complements the tactics you are building around. If you want a burst damage build, you want things like a Fish Slap, a Plaguebearer, a Complex Root, or even weird stuff like a Masterwork Crossbow. If you want a build that puts out a lot of melee hits or a build that gives your guns a high rate of fire, you want things like the Face-puncher, a Kaoson, or a Lucky 7.
    
  • Remember to gather any utility weapons that you might need. Something for applying DOT to yourself (for Elemental Projector, at least), a Guardian 4N631...maybe even an Omniloader.
    
    • There are debuff weapons, such as Zheitsev's Eruption, but not all utility items are weapons. The It's Piss grenade also boosts the damage taken by affected targets. You may need to account for such items.
      
    • Zane's clone offers a unique opportunity for Zane to have a clone effectively using weapons with high rates of fire while Zane himself uses weapons that deal high burst damage. A hybrid build is going to require more weapon farming, but it can be worth the effort.
• Shields don't have to be for defense. An Infernal Wish can provide great shield capacity while also giving you a DPS boost that will range from "good" to "ridiculous".
  
  • If you're struggling to survive, there are better things to prioritize than capacity when choosing a shield that will protect you. Things like the Stop-Gap and Super Soldier can simply make you invincible. Borderlands 3 also has a health gate system, just as other games in the series do, so keeping your health above 50% will keep you alive just as well as any shield can. Shields aren't so great for healing, though, so you're better off using them for boosting DPS.
• Unless you're actually using your grenade as your primary weapon, you're probably going to want a grenade that offers some sort of utility effect.
  
  • Some examples include:
    
    • Moze likes CMTs for regenerating ammo (and, perhaps, for healing),
      
    • Amara can use Hex grenades to easily keep her health full,
      
    • FL4K can use Hunter-Seekers to exploit Head Count,
      
    • You might not be manually ordering Zane to throw his grenades most of the time, so Zane's grenade slot is essentially just an anointment slot. That said, you might like to have an occasional cryo Hex, thrown by one of Zane's skills that result in automatic grenade throws, to assist you with freezing enemies with Brain Freeze...
      
    • ...or maybe you'd like to have money grenades flying around so that you can get some extra dosh.
      
    • Quasars are invaluable for putting enemies closer to where you want them, including launching enemies into pits to get rid of pesky enemies that have glitched to become invincible.
• Your artifact can be a large source of your damage dealing power.
  
  • If you decide that you would rather use your artifact for defense, you can just use a Knife Drain artifact and bring a Face-puncher with you everywhere. That combination will make it nearly effortless for you to keep your health full.
    
  • If you need your artifact to help you move around more quickly, it can do that too - Snowdrift is a thing.
    
  • Usually, you want an artifact that will make your character deal more DPS. Again, you need to choose something that complements your build:
    
    • If you want more burst damage, you might need to bring along something like a Toboggan.
      
    • If you want more damage for a fully automatic weapon, the Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge is great for that.
      
    • If you use an Elemental Projector artifact, it will help a lot when you can use it for a burst damage build, but any character that can keep DOT applied to themselves for long enough might benefit from using the Elemental Projector effect for any of their damage sources.
      
    • The best artifacts for melee builds are the Unleash the Dragon, the White Elephant, and the Static Charge, but which of those is best at any given moment can change during combat. Why not have all 3?
• You should definitely collect all of your character's class mods.
  
  • Completing your collection is important, because you might find a way to benefit from temporarily using a class mod that your build wouldn't normally rely on.
    
    • You might use Moze's Eternal Flame COM to, occasionally, reset Moze's action skill cooldown.
      
    • Maybe you'll suddenly need the Red Fang COM's taunt effect while playing as FL4K after a long period of finding no use for it.
      
    • If you're Amara, you really want a COM with lots of points in Do Harm to go with your Phasezerker COM, which is a COM that helps just about any build.

You can use the FAQ sections about character skills to get an idea of what the skill spreads of your COMs should be like. You can also use those sections to get an idea of which skills will support your gear choices, though this guide is designed in a way that may help more with making gear choices based on skill choices instead.

If you've read all of this, you may have noticed that the summary for how to choose gear for your build is...to just choose everything. Farm it all. Your loadout is a major part of your build that you can change at literally any moment, and it's worth taking advantage of that flexibility.

You'll want to feel out the path of least resistance on your way toward completing your gear collection, but every new piece of gear you acquire is another chance at becoming more powerful. I do recommend that you start with the most important pieces of gear that are listed at the top of the gearing guide, however, because it's much easier to start with a powerful build that you've copied and work your way toward your own build than it is to do that process in reverse.

• Sellout[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Ambermire/Ambermire - Rogue's Hollow/Sell Out (Quest)
    
    • You don't actually have to squish yourself to finish the quest. There's a Photo Mode glitch that allows you to interact with the button from a safe distance.
• Ward[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/The Floating Tomb/The Floating Tomb/Graveward
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. You won't miss fighting them, but you might miss their best drop if you wait too long before farming them. I like to farm them as soon as I have access to Mayhem mode so that I can get versions of this shield that have anointments.
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Roid/Roid/Roid] ASE/Rad%
      
    • [Roid/Roid/Roid] ASE/Melee%
      
    • [Roid/Roid/Roid] ASE/ASC
      
    • [Roid/Roid/Roid] Slam/Melee%
• (Purple Torgue shotgun)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • Rad
      
    • Shock
• It's Piss[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Konrad's Hold/Konrad's Hold/Sloth
    
    • Captain Thunk should be riding on Sloth. Maybe the grenade actually drops from Thunk? Just kill them both. They will appear while you're traversing the main path through the area, but you should look around at each enemy that spawns so that you don't miss them (other enemies do spawn near them).
  • Recommended variants:
    
    • Terror/Dmg%FireRate%
      
    • ASS/Grenade+1
      
    • ASE/Rad%
• (DLC6) Mesmer[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Enoch's Grove/Enoch's Grove/The Gravekeeper
    
    • The target spawns along the path forming the northwest side of the southwestern part of the map, in the graveyard. You're probably supposed to go all the way around that southern circular part of the map clockwise to get to the target, but Amara can just use Phaseslam (or Downfall) cancels to jump from a wooden platform to an area with a door that is a short sprint from the target...because of course she can. A good platform for that can be found as soon as players reach the circular trail from the fast travel station.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • ASS/Grenade+1
      
    • ASA/Grenade%
      
    • ASE/Rad%

• Face-puncher[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Reliance/Muldock, the Anointed
    
    • Muldock is in Fort Sunshine - the sheltered area that you're supposed to get into by riding on the objects carried by the crane track - but players can use the Photo Mode glitch to open the door from the outside. You'll respawn in there if you save, quit, and reload. Muldock is encountered during the campaign.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • x14 Mag8 Melee/TerrorChance
• Psycho Stabber[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Meridian Outskirts/Meridian Outskirts/Borman Nates
    
    • Turn left after leaving the garage that the fast travel station is in. You don't need to even use the elevator to get to where Borman Nates spawns - you can mantle onto things until you're on top of the elevator, and then you can mantle onto the ledge above.
  • Best variant:
    
    • HHB
• (Any grenade)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • Terror/Dmg%FireRate%
      
    • ASS/Grenade+1
• Infinity[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/The Anvil/The Anvil/Anointed Alpha
    
    • Acquire the "Malevolent Practice" sidequest from Sanctuary/Sanctuary/Hammerlock. The quest may be available from Hammerlock while he is at Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin.
      
    • The target spawns in the prison that is northeast from the triangular room at the center of the map.
  • Best variant:
    
    • Fire EMC
• Hunter-Seeker[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/The Anvil/The Anvil/Dreg and Rage
    
    • There are 2 paths that lead directly west from the southern section of the map that the fast travel station is located in. The targets are at the end of the longer path of those 2, within a large room that is mostly square. Players may need to travel to the northeast side of the southern section of the map and take a U-turn to reach the catwalk that leads to the target area.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Div/Div] Fire Terror/Dmg%FireRate%
• Unforgiven[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Knotty Peak/IndoTyrant
    
    • The target spawns within the flood plains at the northeast corner of the map; this is also near the Voracious Canopy exit.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Max crit bonus] HHB
• Frozen Heart[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Blackbarrel Cellars/Blackbarrel Cellars/Aurelia
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
• Frozen Snowshoe[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Midnight's Cairn/Midnight's Cairn/Valkyrie Squad
    
    • The squad spawns at the end of the 1st half of the Maliwan Takedown.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
• Zheitsev's Eruption[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Midnight's Cairn/Midnight's Cairn/Wotan
    
    • The target spawns at the end of the 2nd half of the Maliwan Takedown.
• S3RV-80S-EXECUTE[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Nekrotafeyo/Desolation's Edge/Desolation's Edge/General Traunt
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler.
• Version 0.m[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Midnight's Cairn/Midnight's Cairn/Valkyrie Squad
    
    • The squad spawns at the end of the 1st half of the Maliwan Takedown.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
• Quasar[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/Warty
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex, near the center of the map, will lead you to Lectra City.
      
    • Wick and Warty spawn at one of the corners of the map; they can be reached quickly by players that travel around the edge of the map counter clockwise from the fast travel location.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/Grenade+1
• Deathless[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Splinterlands/The Splinterlands - Pitt's Stop/Phoenix
    
    • The Phoenix is located at the top of the winding path south of the fast travel station.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • Snowdrift
• Band of Sitorak[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Ambermire/Ambermire - Rogue's Hollow/The Unstoppable
    
    • The target spawns southwest from the fast travel station, about twice as far from it as the place where the Sell Out quest can be accepted.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Trigger Happy/Trigger Happy] ShieldBreak/Amp
• (DLC5) Toboggan[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Plunderdome
• (DLC6) Guardian 4N631[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Fallen Heroes
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • HHB
      
    • ASE/Splash%
      
    • EMC
      
    • ASE/Melee%
      
    • URad
      
    • Phaseflare/PhaseflareASD%
      
    • MNTIS/MNTISASD%
• (DLC6) Blade Fury[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Bunker Masters
• (DLC6) Shlooter[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Welcome to Pandora

• (Any weapon)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • IB/Railgun%
      
    • IB/Vanquisher%
• Whispering Ice[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Knotty Peak/Lair of the Harpy (Quest)
    
    • The "Lair of the Harpy" quest is a base campaign quest.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also appears in the Veteran Rewards vending machine that is near Earl after the target quest has been completed.
  • Best variant (fixed parts, so you will always get it):
    
    • [Singularity]
• Rocketeer[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/Tumorhead
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metro
      
    • Acquire the "Proof of Wife" sidequest from Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City.
      
    • The target spawns at a location just south of where the quest is accepted.
      
    • For future reference, be sure to remember how you reached the target after the quest has led you to it.
• (DLC5) Eternal Flame[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Dam, WTF

• Monarch[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/Killavolt
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex, near the center of the map, will lead you to Lectra City.
      
    • Killavolt's arena is at the end of the map furthest from the fast travel location; Moxxi will send you there during the "Kill Killavolt" sidequest.
  • Best variant:
    
    • x8

• Victory Rush[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Jakobs Estate/Jakobs Estate/Azalea
    
    • Acquire the "Witch's Brew" sidequest near the fast travel station.
      
    • The target is in the area north of the fast travel station that is unlocked during the quest.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Elemental Projector [[Matching element]Dmg/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [GrenadeDmg/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [[Matching weapon type]Dmg/[Matching weapon type]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [FireDmg/FireDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [MeleeDmg/MeleeDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Snowdrift [[Matching element]Dmg/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Snowdrift [MagSize/GrenadeDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Snowdrift [SplashDmg/MagSize/PistolDmg]
• Static Charge[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Knotty Peak/Artemis
    
    • Acquire the "Irregular Customers" sidequest from Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Reliance.
      
    • For future reference, be sure to remember how you reached the target after the quest has led you to it.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Elemental Projector [[Matching element]Dmg/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [FireDmg/FireDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [MeleeDmg/MeleeDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [SniperDmg/SniperDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [HeavyDmg/HeavyDmg/"AreaDamage"]
• Unleash the Dragon[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Jakob's Estate/Jakob's Estate/El Dragón Jr.
    
    • The target spawns near a waterfall left of the bottleneck passed shortly after heading right from the fast travel spawn point.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [FireDmg/MeleeDmg]
• Stinger[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Minos Prime/The Shattered Tribunal - Drop Pod/Anathema
    
    • The target spawns at the end of the 1st half of the Guardian Takedown.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Matching element] ASS/BreakFill
• White Elephant[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Guts of Carnivora/Guts of Carnivora/Agonizer 9000
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location is also a spoiler.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Elemental Projector [FireDmg/FireDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [[Matching element]Dmg/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Elemental Projector [MeleeDmg/MeleeDmg/"AreaDamage"]
• Red Suit[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Nekrotafeyo/Tazendeer Ruins/Tazendeer Ruins/Atomic
    
    • Atomic spawns with his buddy Sylestro at the end of the left side of the "hilt" of the sword shaped part of the map
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Amp/Amp] ASE/Rad%
      
    • [Amp/Amp] ASE/ASC
• Transformer[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Splinterlands/The Splinterlands - Pitt's Stop/Queen Ant Wanette
    
    • Acquire the "Just Desserts" sidequest from the center of the map.
      
    • The quest will take you to the target by leading you to the southwest corner of the map.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • ASE/ASC
• (Purple shield)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Amp/Amp/Amp] ASE/Rad%
      
    • [Amp/Amp/Amp] ASE/ASC
      
    • [Amp/Amp/Amp] ASE/ApplyTerror
• (DLC2) Old God[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Xylourgos/(DLC2 Named Enemies)
    
    • You'll encounter valid targets during the campaign.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • Fire ShieldBreak/Amp
• (DLC5) Infernal Wish[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Launch Command
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Amp/Amp] ASE/Rad%
      
    • [Amp/Amp] ASE/ASC
      
    • [Amp/Amp] ASE/ApplyTerror
• (DLC5) Toboggan[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Plunderdome
    
  • Best variants:
    
    • [SniperDmg/SniperDmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • [HeavyDmg/HeavyDmg/"AreaDamage"]
• (DLC6) Re-Volter[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Eschaton Row/Eschaton Row/Sumo
    
    • The target is near the end of the path.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from other DLC6 named enemies and chests.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
• (DLC6) Super Soldier[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Fallen Heroes
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
• (DLC6) Company Man[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Darkthirst Dominion/Darkthirst Dominion/Hemovorous
    
    • Acquire the "You. Will. Die. (Over and Over.)" sidequest from Sanctuary/Sanctuary/Claptrap in a small room connected to Ellie's garage.
      
    • RAAAAID BOOOOSS! MEEDLY MEEDLY MEEDLY MOW!
  • Best variants:
    
    • Jakobs [Fire Rate Boost 2/Crit Boost 3/Damage Boost 3] [MagSize/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]
      
    • Jakobs [Fire Rate Boost 2/Mag Boost 2/Damage Boost 3] [MagSize/[Matching element]Dmg/"AreaDamage"]

• Phasezerker[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • The Skydrowned Pulpit/Proving Grounds - Fervor/Hag of Fervor
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Fervor" sidequest from Eden-6/Jakobs Estate/Jakobs Estate. You can approach the Eridian Lodestar from below (the area with Heckle; hug the right wall and spam your jump key), so don't worry about taking the wrong path to the quest marker.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • (Anima +5, Conflux +0) [ASD/SplashRadius/SplashDmg]
      
    • (Anima +5, Conflux +0) [SplashDmg/MeleeDmg/ASC]
• Dragon[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Ghostlight Beacon/Proving Grounds - Cunning/Tink of Cunning
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Cunning" sidequest from Pandora/The Splinterlands/The Splinterlands - Pitt's Stop. The quest can be obtained from the center of the map.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Do Harm +5) [ASD/SplashRadius/SplashDmg]
• Breaker[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Gradient of Dawn/Proving Grounds - Survival/Skag of Survival
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Survival" sidequest from Pandora/Devil's Razor/Devil's Razor - Boomtown. The quest can be obtained from the northeast corner of the map.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • (Find Your Center +1, Jab Cross +4) [ASD/MeleeDmg/SplashDmg]
      
    • (Find Your Center +1, Jab Cross +4) [SplashDmg/MeleeDmg/ASC]
• Spiritual Driver[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Nekrotafeyo/Tazendeer Ruins/Tazendeer Ruins/Sylestro
    
    • Sylestro spawns with his buddy Atomic at the end of the left side of the "hilt" of the sword shaped part of the map
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Mindfulness +3) [SplashRadius/SplashDmg/[Matching weapon type]Dmg]
• Elementalist[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • The Hall Obsidian/Proving Grounds - Supremacy/Sera of Supremacy
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Supremacy" sidequest from Nekrotafeyo/Desolation's Edge/Desolation's Edge. The quest can be obtained from the southwest corner of the map.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Wildfire +5) [SplashDmg/MeleeDmg/ASC]
• (DLC4) Muse[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Krieg's Mind/Castle Crimson/Castle Crimson - The Walls/Evil Lilith
    
    • The target is a DLC4 campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from other DLC4 enemies and chests.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Laid Bare +3, Illuminated Fist +1) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/MeleeDmg]

• Mind Sweeper[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex/Archer Rowe
    
    • Acquire the "Dynasty Diner" sidequest from the room that the fast travel station is in.
      
    • Use the eastern exit of the room that the fast travel station is in and travel north on the road to reach the target's spawn location, which is northeast from the end of that road and hidden between some buildings.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • (Fire in the Skag Den +4, Redistribution +1) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/GrenadeDmg]
• Bloodletter[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Gradient of Dawn/Proving Grounds - Survival/Skag of Survival
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Survival" sidequest from Pandora/Devil's Razor/Devil's Razor - Boomtown. The quest can be obtained from the northeast corner of the map.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Desperate Measures +3, Phalanx Doctrine +2) [SplashDmg/HeavyDmg/ASD]

• Friend-Bot[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Precipice Anchor/Proving Grounds - Discipline/Arbalest of Discipline
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Discipline" sidequest from Promethea/Meridian Outskirts/Meridian Outskirts - Drop Pod. The quest can be obtained from the southwest corner of the map.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Barbaric Yawp +5) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/ASC]
• (DLC4) Peregrine[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Krieg's Mind/Benediction of Pain/Benediction of Pain/Dr. Benedict
    
    • The target is a DLC4 campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location may also be a spoiler.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Interplanetary Stalker +5) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/ASC]

• Executor[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex/Baron Noggin
    
    • The target is directly south from a Catch-A-Ride, in a secluded space at the southwest corner of the map. The pit that the target is hiding in is southwest from a part of the map that is vaguely shaped like a donut.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • (Good Misfortune +2, Violent Violence +2, Playin' Dirty +1) [MagSize/PistolDmg/JakobsCrit]
• Infiltrator[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Ascension Bluff/Ascension Bluff/Skrakk
    
    • Travel southeast from the fast travel station to find the target at the south side of the southwest corner of the map.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Supersonic Man +3, Like a Ghost +2) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/ASC]
• (DLC4) Hustler[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Krieg's Mind/Sapphire's Run/Sapphire's Run/Locomöbius
    
    • The target is a DLC4 campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location may also be a spoiler.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from other DLC4 enemies and chests.
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Brain Freeze +5) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/HeavyDmg]
• (DLC5) Spy[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Madwidth Power
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Our Man Flynt +1, Headsman's Hand +4) [SplashDmg/SplashRadius/HeavyDmg]

• Fish Slap[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Joey's Planet/Cartel Hideout/FISH SLAP!!!, Tyrone Biggums, Joey Ultraviolet
    
    • Enable the Revenge of the Cartels event and speak to Maurice while you're aboard the Sanctuary III to acquire the quest that will guide you to Joey Ultraviolet's Villa.
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Link/Link/Link] [Matching element] Terror/Dmg%FireRate%
      
    • [Link/Link/Link] [Different element from Stinger] ASE/Rad%
      
    • [Link/Link/Link] [Different element from Stinger] OGT
• Plaguebearer[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/The Anvil/The Anvil/Warden
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss. They're at the end of the longest path from the fast travel station.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Fire URad
      
    • [Matching element] URad
      
    • [Matching element] ASE/Splash%
      
    • [Matching element] SNTNL/Cryo%
• Backburner[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Wayward Tether/Proving Grounds - Instinct/Tyrant of Instinct
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Instinct" sidequest from Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Knotty Peak. The quest can be obtained from an Eridian Lodestar that is to the northwest from the fast travel station.
      
    • Turn "True" mode ON; the target will have the wrong drop pool otherwise!
      
    • Also available from Pandora/Guts of Carnivora/Guts of Carnivora/Agonizer 9000. The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location is also a spoiler.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Corro URad
      
    • Fire URad
      
    • [Matching element] ASE/Splash%
      
    • [Matching element] SNTNL/Cryo%
• Sand Hawk[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Atlas HQ/Atlas HQ/Katagawa Jr.
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location is also a spoiler.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Full-Auto [Matching element] ASE/Splash%
      
    • Full-Auto [Matching element] EMC
      
    • Full-Auto [Matching element] SNTNL/Cryo%
• Pestilence[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Nekrotafeyo/Tazendeer Ruins/Tazendeer Ruins/Sylestro
    
    • Sylestro spawns with his buddy Atomic at the end of the left side of the "hilt" of the sword shaped part of the map
  • Best variant:
    
    • HHB
• Monarch[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/Killavolt
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex, near the center of the map, will lead you to Lectra City.
      
    • Killavolt's arena is at the end of the map furthest from the fast travel location; Moxxi will send you there during the "Kill Killavolt" sidequest.
  • Best variant:
    
    • x8 [Matching element] HHB
• Globetrottr[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Minos Prime/The Shattered Tribunal - Drop Pod/Scourge
    
    • The target spawns at the end of the 2nd half of the Guardian Takedown.
  • Best variants:
    
    • Rad ASE/Splash%
      
    • Shock ASE/Splash%
      
    • [Matching element] ASE/Splash%
      
    • x6 [Matching element] HHB
• Jericho[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Cathedral of the Twin Gods/Cathedral of the Twin Gods/Crushjaw
    
    • The target is below Rachel, near the entrance to the Great Vault. After the drop, travel in the other direction, away from that entrance.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variants:
    
    • ASE/Splash%
      
    • HHB
• Scourge[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Nekrotafeyo/The Pyre of Stars/The Pyre of Stars/Brood Mother
    
    • The target is found in a cave at the end of the map's primary circular path. Players that can "Pestilence Fly" can go straight to the cave, but other players will have to travel clockwise to traverse the full path (except for Amara players; Amara can just use Downfall twice in a row to glide up a slope and mantle onto a ledge for a shortcut). This is completely awful and not worth doing (and the target doesn't even seem to spawn every time).
      
    • Fortunately, this drop is also available from Promethea/Cistern of Slaughter/Cistern of Slaughter. The targets are the "Alacritous Vanda" spawns that appear within Round 5 of the Cistern of Slaughter quest.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • Fire URad
• Hive[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Splinterlands/The Splinterlands - Chop Shop/Princess Tarantella II
    
    • The target is out in the open desert area that is northeast from the fast travel station, and it spawns slightly to the northeast from the center of that area.
      
    • If you get a Roisen's Thorns instead, just keep it; she's ~beautiful~
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • URad
• Sleeping Giant[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/One Punch
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex, near the center of the map, will lead you to Lectra City.
      
    • One Punch appears after players solve a puzzle in the tunnel that is under the center of the map. From the wiki: "A method that works best is to hit the floor handle twice, then spin the valve on the wall next to it."
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • [Matching element] HHB
• Hellwalker[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Splinterlands/The Splinterlands - Pitt's Stop/Road Dog
    
    • The target spawns in the center of the map, in an isolated area that is filled with stacked metal containers and decorated by a giant skull that shoots fire out of its nose.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • EMC
• Grease Trap[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Joey's Planet/Cartel Hideout/Roaster, The Tenderizer, Joey Ultraviolet
    
    • Enable the Revenge of the Cartels event and speak to Maurice while you're aboard the Sanctuary III to acquire the quest that will guide you to Joey Ultraviolet's Villa.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • EMC

• (DLC1) Lucky 7[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • The Handsome Jackpot/The Compactor/The Compactor - Trashlantis/Scraptrap Prime
    
    • The target is a DLC1 campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler.
      
    • The target is at the northwest corner of the map; travel northwest from the fast travel station instead of north to reach the entrance to the boss's arena.
      
    • Also available from Gradient of Dawn/Proving Grounds - Survival/Skag of Survival. Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Survival" sidequest from Pandora/Devil's Razor/Devil's Razor - Boomtown. The quest can be obtained from the northeast corner of the map. Turn "True" mode ON; the target will have the wrong drop pool otherwise!
  • Recommended variants:
    
    • Consec
      
    • Clone/AmmoRegen
• (DLC3) Complex Root[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Gehenna/Ashfall Peaks/Ashfall Peaks/Lani Dixon
    
    • The target is in a separate area just east of the main path that flows through the center of the northern half of the map, where 3 large sections of the map connect; that area is also just south from being directly east of the fast travel station. Look for glowing green objects that can lift characters onto distant and/or high ledges along the route. Players approaching from the recommended fast travel station may need to pass the target and take a U-turn to reach their destination. The target will be invisible; attacks that affect wide areas will help.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from other DLC3 enemies and chests.
  • Best variants:
    
    • [Matching element] ASE/Splash%
      
    • Rad/Shock HHB
• (DLC6) Blade Fury[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Bunker Masters
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • x1 HHB

• (Purple Longbow grenade)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • [Sticky/Sticky/Sticky] OGT

• Crit[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Sanctuary/Sanctuary/Moxxi's Tip Jar
    
    • Visit Moxxi's bar while you are aboard the Sanctuary III; her jar is on the bar counter. Place tips into the jar until she mails you this item.
  • Easily obtained gun that is very powerful. It is almost always available.
• Hail[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Sanctuary/Sanctuary/Moxxi's Tip Jar
    
    • Visit Moxxi's bar while you are aboard the Sanctuary III; her jar is on the bar counter. Place tips into the jar until she mails you this item.
  • Easily obtained gun that is very powerful. It is almost always available.
• T.K's Wave[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Droughts/The Droughts/The Holy Dumptruck
    
    • Acquire the "Dump on Dumptruck" sidequest from a poster by Ellie's garage.
      
    • There is a ramp that is to the north, from the fast travel station, that leads to a road that passes by a tower made out of stacked crates. The target spawns at the top of that tower, which is west from the road.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Easily farmed gun that is powerful. It is able to be obtained by characters that have not even progressed very far into the campaign.
• (Any artifact)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • Knife Drain
  • Use this with a Face-puncher to maintain your health gate, then enjoy the invincibility.
• Launch Pad[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Slaughterstar 3000/Slaughterstar 3000 - Drop Pod/Red Rain
    
    • "Red Rain is encountered during Wave 5 of Round 5 of the Slaughterstar 3000."
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • Cutpurse
  • Infinite ammo. Just slam while you're holding a weapon that needs more ammo.
• (Purple Homing grenade)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • [MIRV/Bouncy/Money] ASS/Grenade+1
  • Useful for affording important items from vending machines and buying SDUs.
• Commander Planetoid[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Devil's Razor/Devil's Razor - Boom Town/Sheega
    
    • Acquire the "Sheega's All That" sidequest from Tina, right by the fast travel station.
      
    • The target is at an elevated location at the north side of the map which has 2 paths that connect the area to the rest of the map.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Different element from other gear] Stone
  • For farming rid-rock.
• Omniloader[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • This item is awarded to players that complete a particular base campaign quest.
    
  • Shorter cycle times for DPS loops. Swap it into one of your slots, shoot, reload, then put it away.
• Hex[www.lootlemon.com] (the grenade)
  
  • Eden-6/The Anvil/The Anvil/Sky Bullies
    
    • The targets appear at the back of the room at the northwest corner of the map.
      
    • "When the [spawn location] of the Sky Bullies is approached [too] quickly[,] only 1 of them will spawn. Wait about 10 [seconds] after going through the door that slides upwards."
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Div/MIRV] ASS/Grenade+1
  • Useful for triggering Sustainment, and for freezing enemies.
    
  • Not to be confused with "Hex", the person (hey that's me!!), who is more useful for triggering salty Zane mains on reddit
• Crader's EM-P5[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Guts of Carnivora/Guts of Carnivora/Agonizer 9000
    
    • The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location is also a spoiler.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from Maliwan Takedown bosses.
  • Boosts your movement speed while you are on the ground.
• Vanquisher[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Atlas HQ/Atlas HQ/Blue and Pink Power Troopers
    
    • The targets spawn at the west side of the east side of the semicircular area at the north side of the map. This will require players to reach a higher altitude, because the enemies will appear on the walkway that overlooks the rest of the area. In the worst case, this means players will have to travel to the west side of the semicircular area to find some stairs. Of course, Amara (and possibly also Zane) can just double jump from a bush (by using Phaseslam and then an emote) to reach the target area from below.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Boosts your sliding speed.
• Stop-Gap[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Eden-6/Jakob's Estate/Jakob's Estate/El Dragón Jr.
    
    • The target spawns near a waterfall left of the bottleneck passed shortly after heading right from the fast travel spawn point.
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
  • This shield can allow you to become invincible each time you use your action skill.
• (DLC2) The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • This item is awarded to players that complete the final quest of the DLC2 campaign.
• (DLC5) (Other Arms Race drops)
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)
    
  • Look for these:
    
    • Madwidth Power: Plasma Coil[www.lootlemon.com]
      
    • Dam, WTF: Boogeyman[www.lootlemon.com]
      
    • Dam, WTF: Kickcharger[www.lootlemon.com]
      
    • The Hunker Bunker: Tizzy[www.lootlemon.com] (but it's much more likely to drop from the True Tyrant of Instinct!)
      
    • Seepage & Creepage: Torrent[www.lootlemon.com]
      
    • Launch Command: Beskar[www.lootlemon.com]
  • Easily obtained gear that is very powerful. It is always available, as long as you have the Arms Race DLC and some Arms Race proficiency.
    
  • Moze can use Rushin' Offensive with a Bloodletter COM to make the Beskar much more effective.
• (DLC6) Super Soldier[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Vault Card/Fallen Heroes
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • ASS/BreakFill
  • A better version of the Stop-Gap.

• Masterwork Crossbow[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Promethea/Lectra City/Lectra City/Urist McEnforcer
    
    • A quest called "Kill Killavolt", available from the lower part of Promethea/Meridian Metroplex/Meridian Metroplex, near the center of the map, will lead you to Lectra City.
      
    • The target appears in the tunnel that is under the center of the map; he emerges from a door that is at the opposite side of the tunnel from the door that One Punch emerges from.
  • Best variant:
    
    • HHB
  • High burst damage.
• Monocle[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/The Droughts/The Droughts/Demoskaggons
    
    • There is a ramp that is to the north, from the fast travel station, that leads to a road that passes by a tower made out of stacked crates. The targets spawn in an isolated area that is to the west, and slightly to the north, from that tower.
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Best variant:
    
    • HHB
  • High burst damage, but players will deal much less damage if they are not using the weapon's scope.

• (Purple Homing grenade)
  
  • World drop
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • [Div/MIRV/Bouncy] Terror/Dmg%FireRate%
  • The fabled CMT (Cloning Maddening Tracker). It helps Moze regenerate ammo (and health or shields, if she uses certain skills/gear).
• Kaoson[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Precipice Anchor/Proving Grounds - Discipline/Arbalest of Discipline
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Discipline" sidequest from Promethea/Meridian Outskirts/Meridian Outskirts - Drop Pod. The quest can be obtained from the southwest corner of the map.
      
    • Turn "True" mode ON; the target will have the wrong drop pool otherwise!
      
    • Also available from Athenas/Athenas - Drop Pod/Captain Traunt. The target is a base campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • x2 Cryo URad
  • Decent source of splash damage. Good example of a high rate of fire weapon that is comfortable to use.
• (DLC5) Eternal Flame[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Pandora/Stormblind Complex/Stormblind Complex/Arms Race (Quest)/Dam, WTF
    
  • Best variant:
    
    • (Really Big Guns +5)
  • Moze can use this class mod to recover her action skill charge more quickly.

• Red Fang[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Wayward Tether/Proving Grounds - Instinct/Tyrant of Instinct
    
    • Acquire the "Discover the Trial of Instinct" sidequest from Eden-6/Floodmoor Basin/Floodmoor Basin - Knotty Peak. The quest can be obtained from an Eridian Lodestar that is to the northwest from the fast travel station.
      
    • Do NOT turn on "True" mode; it will change the target's drop pool!
      
    • You will likely find this elsewhere, because this is also a world drop.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • (Ferocity +5)
  • Prevent enemies from attacking FL4K by having their pet taunt your enemies.
• (DLC4) Faulty Star[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Krieg's Mind/Sapphire's Run/Sapphire's Run/Locomöbius
    
    • The target is a DLC4 campaign boss, so their name is a spoiler. Their location may also be a spoiler.
      
    • You may find this elsewhere, because it also drops from other DLC4 enemies and chests.
  • Recommended variant:
    
    • [Fleet/Fleet] [Matching element] TerrorAC/PetFire%
  • FL4K can give this shield to their pet so that their pet can automatically nuke enemies that attack it.

Once you've completed the campaign and acquired access to the Guardian Rank menu

(which will appear in your inventory menu, along with the inventory tab itself and your skill tree tab),

EXP that you acquire will increase your Guardian Rank.

It will still increase your character level if your character has not reached the maximum level, and the EXP does not appear to be split between these levels in any way (so it is essentially duplicated).

Unlike your character level, your Guardian Rank is shared between all of your characters.

The wiki[borderlands.fandom.com] says that the amount of EXP required for each Guardian Rank level never changes, but in my experience - because my Guardian Rank is over 800 - the requirement does seem to increase for each level. That said, you really only need to reach a Guardian Rank of 375, because of reasons detailed later in this post, and that doesn't take too long.

Each time you gain a Guardian Rank, you gain a Guardian Rank point to spend. These points can be redeemed to increase any of the bonuses from these 3 categories:

The 3 categories are important, because each point you invest raises your category level for the category that contains the bonus you've increased. When you reach certain levels for a category, you can unlock cosmetic rewards or perks. The Guardian Rank perks are some of the most powerful abilities in the game, so you should definitely unlock all of them.

The following table shows the rewards from each category, as well as which levels must be reached to unlock the associated rewards:
Now, you may have noticed that the UI does not show any of the category level 125 perks by default. This is because they are on the 2nd page. Yes, there is a 2nd page. No, you cannot see that page by using your mouse scroll wheel. I don't know why they never fixed that. If you are on PC, and you want to see the 2nd page of the Guardian Rank perks, you will need to use WASD or your arrow keys to navigate to one of the perks that is on the next page.

Once you have invested 125 points into each category (375 total), you will have every perk unlocked. The stat bonuses you gain will asymptotically approach 15%, so you will gain very little benefit from investing more points (though you should definitely continue to spend your points anyway).

I'm not going to clutter this post with details about the cosmetic rewards or the less powerful Guardian Rank perks, but here are

• Too Angry to Die (Survivor, 100)
  
  • This perk will cause damage that you deal during FFYL to refill your FFYL meter.
    
  • The amount of damage that you need to refill your meter is very low.
    
  • You can't refill your FFYL meter indefinitely with this perk; there is a limit to how much refilling you can do.
    
  • Since the amount of time you have to Second Wind is shorter each time you go down (when you are going down too often; it should reset after a while), you may not even have time to use this perk if you are not careful.
    
  • It seems that this perk becomes less effective if your FFYL meter is more empty, so be sure to make use of this perk immediately, each time you go down, by shooting whatever is near you, even if it is not the target that you plan to use for your Second Wind. I recommend that you ping the target that you do intend to use for your Second Wind regularly, even before you go down, so that you can track them easily.
• Lead or Alive (Hunter, 125)
  
  • Few things are as frustrating during FFYL as realizing that you need to reload. This perk prevents that issue.
• Resilient (Survivor, 15)
  
  • The last thing you want to do after getting a Second Wind is enter the FFYL state again. This perk will significantly reduce your chances of going down after a Second Wind.
• Groundbreaker (Enforcer, 125)
  
  • The perk's description says that it deals 25% of all damage you have dealt within the past 5 seconds to the next enemy that you hit with a source of melee damage, but the damage you deal can actually be much higher, because various things boost the damage of Groundbreaker hits.
    
    • This includes bonuses that boost non-elemental damage; some examples: V1 bonuses, some of which come from certain FL4K skills, HHB, Ice Breaker, debuffs (the ones used for the Debuff kata), and the bonus from Amara's Burn Both Ends skill (thanks, u/bucketsofwoe).
      
    • Because Groundbreaker is affected by damage bonuses, the best way to deliver Groundbreaker damage is via a Fish Slap grenade while holding a Guardian 4N631 shotgun (with an HHB anoint, when appropriate).
      
    • Actually, the base damage is supposedly only 10% of damage dealt. (Some versions of the game actually say 10%, and I've even seen someone claim that their Groundbreaker description says 5%. Mine says 25%.)
      
    • Groundbreaker triggers some instances of bonus damage, such as bonus damage from Moze's Big Surplus skill. Groundbreaker also records some types of bonus damage (presumably not the same types that it can trigger, because that would lead to an infinite damage loop, but recording types of bonus damage that apply to Groundbreaker with something like Ties That Bind can allow Groundbreaker to record that damage source, creating an infinite loop that deals infinite damage).
  • This perk does work with the slams your characters can perform when you crouch while in the air. Damage does not appear to be reduced when you apply Groundbreaker damage with a slam, so you can effectively multiply your damage by the number of enemies you've hit (TODO: is that true?).
    
  • This perk can also be triggered by other sources of melee damage, including:
    
    • Regular melee attacks
      
    • Face-puncher shots
      
    • Blade Fury shots
      
    • Fish Slap grenade hits
      
    • Stinger shield hits
  • Since you can overkill enemies that are easy to damage to prepare a strong instance of Groundbreaker damage, you can actually defeat some enemies instantly - including raid bosses - by overkilling a more vulnerable target, and then using this perk to redirect your massive damage into a less vulnerable target.
    
    • The Face-puncher is the best tool for this if you need to snipe something (such as a far away boss, or a flying enemy)
      
    • Your character's ground slam is the best tool for this if you need to hit many enemies at once (and stacking movement speed bonuses will help you reach your targets before your 5 second window ends)
  • Hollow Point is a very good source of overkill damage...just saying. Usually, Amara's Remnant skill is the best source of overkill damage, but that skill can trigger Hollow Point, so Hollow Point is still technically the strongest source of overkill damage.
• Topped Off (Hunter, 50)
  
  • The action skill cooldown bonus from this perk is x3 or +200% (TODO: which?), so it is a big bonus. You should definitely invest into movement speed bonuses so that you can avoid incoming damage sources and keep this perk active.
• Dead Man's Hand (Survivor, 25)
  
  • Second Winds are much easier to achieve when you can actually hit your target. If you need critical hits to achieve your Second Winds, you will definitely want this perk.
• C'mon and Slam (Enforcer, 100)
  
  • This perk lets you use your character's slam everywhere, instead of just certain places, which can help you use Groundbreaker more effectively.
• Hollow Point (Enforcer, 75)
  
  • When you kill an enemy with a critical hit, the excess damage that you dealt beyond the enemy's remaining HP becomes the base damage of the explosion spawned by this perk.
    
  • Explosions from this perk get some of your damage bonuses applied to them, and they also seem to have Mayhem scaling applied to them (TODO: do they?), so you can actually nuke raid bosses by overkilling weaker enemies that are near them with critical hits.
    
  • Explosions from this perk...revive allies! Is it a fragile solution to the problem the perk had in the past, when it could kill allies? Is it a reference to Aurelia's Pre-Sequel skill "Magic Bullet"? Who knows!
• Shield Reboot (Survivor, 50)
  
  • If you are having trouble maintaining Topped Off, and your build is strong enough to quickly eliminate weaker enemies (it should be, if you're using this guide!), then you can use this perk to cancel your shield's recharge delay...if you have no DOT applied to your character.
    
  • If you do have DOT applied to your character, you can remove it by having them hit themselves with a low level It's Piss grenade (or one with a higher level, if you think your character can survive the damage).
• Dead Man Walking (Survivor, 125)
  
  • If you have Dead Man's Hand active, you may not need to approach your targets while you are in FFYL, so you can stay still and take advantage of this perk's boost to your FFYL duration instead. Most of the time, you won't fail your current quest if you don't die, so anything that helps you Second Wind reliably is extremely valuable.
• Overkill (Enforcer, 25)
  
  • This perk boosts the damage of your next shot by scaling it by the amount of excess damage that you dealt beyond your last target's remaining HP.
    
  • Unlike Hollow Point, there is a limit to the damage bonus, so this perk is only useful for fancy boss kills or mobbing situations. It is not helpful for most boss fights, and it is certainly not very helpful for enemies that have had their HP modded to be much higher.
    
  • If you want to read more about this perk's damage bonus formula, and the limits applied to it, you can read about them at the wiki page[borderlands.fandom.com].

If you want to learn about the other perks, I recommend that you check another source, such as the wiki[borderlands.fandom.com].

While you are in the Guardian Rank menu, you should see some parts of the UI that explain which button will enable or disable your Guardian Rank, and which button will enable or disable a selected perk. If you unlock a perk with a character, and then switch to a character that did not have access to that perk when you last used them, the character you switch to will probably have your newly unlocked perk disabled. If this happens, you will have to manually navigate to your new perk (PC players can use WASD or their arrow keys, though they should also be able to place their mouse over a perk's icon if the perk's icon is visible), and then enable it by pressing the appropriate button.

After you've completed the campaign, you will have access to Mayhem mode.

While you have Mayhem mode enabled, you will have to deal with Mayhem modifiers, unless you choose to play with a Mayhem level of 11.

At some point during the game's development, the Mayhem 10 definitions - the data that the game uses to configure Mayhem 10 - were reused for Mayhem 11, and no Mayhem 11 definitions were ever created. The Mayhem menu will tell you otherwise, suggesting that your drop rate bonus, EXP bonus, and money bonus will be halved if you choose Mayhem level 11 instead of Mayhem level 10, but this is likely not the case.

If you ask whether Mayhem 11's bonuses still match those of Mayhem 10, most people will tell you that they do. I have no reason to believe that they don't.

So, to be clear:

I am not telling you to use Mayhem level 10 instead of Mayhem level 11 because I believe that it gives better boosts to drop rates, EXP, and money...I am telling you to use Mayhem level 10 because it is easier.

Yeah, I said it. Mayhem 10 is easier than Mayhem 11. Sometimes...perhaps even most of the time, it's easier than all of the other Mayhem levels, too. There are 3 reasons for this:

1. Choosing the right Mayhem modifiers (by rerolling them until you get a good combination; read this section for more info about that) will give you advantages that are much stronger than any of the disadvantages that will come from your other modifiers.
   
2. The negative modifiers that you choose won't necessarily impact your gameplay, but if they do, they will impact it minimally.
   
3. Mayhem 10 and Mayhem 11 give your skills and gear the strongest Mayhem scaling boosts, and you can frequently combine those boosts so that you are stronger vs. Mayhem 10 enemies than you are vs. Mayhem 0 enemies...well, unless you're using FL4K, maybe. They, uh...they lack skills for exponentiating their damage bonuses, even though the other characters have skills for that...

Now, with those clarifications, let's go over

• (Hard) Laser Fare
  
  • You may be surprised to find that a Mayhem modifier classified as "Hard" is, in fact, the reason that Mayhem 10 is easier than Mayhem 11. Truthfully, the traps spawned by this modifier can range from "annoying" to "the reason you're in FFYL to begin with", so I recommend you practice dealing with them early.
    
  • Laser Fare traps can't be spawned rapidly; there seems to be a cooldown that must elapse before another trap can spawn.
    
  • Using this modifier to spawn traps only requires you to damage an enemy - any enemy - and then you will spawn a trap soon, if not immediately.
    
  • The traps from this modifier have very little HP relative to most enemies. If you have a decent weapon, you will achieve a Second Wind by spawning one of these traps.
    
  • If you have the Too Angry to Die Guardian Rank perk, you can use the traps from this modifier to achieve Second Winds much more reliably.
    
  • With this perk, you can achieve Second Winds even when the only enemy near you is a full HP raid boss. Yeah, enjoy that.
• (Easy) Speed Demon
  
  • The speed from this modifier lets you take shortcuts that you couldn't take otherwise, and simplifies the process of taking the shortcuts you could already use.
    
  • The speed from this modifier simplifies the process of avoiding incoming damage as well, which synergizes wonderfully with the Topped Off Guardian Rank perk.
• (Easy) Galaxy Brain
  
  • I don't recall large heads ever causing any issues; this modifier should only benefit you...unless you think the large heads look too silly.
• (Easy) Lootsplosion
  
  • It's free real estate. If you're new to the endgame of BL3, I recommend that you use this modifier so that you can complete your collection of important world drops quickly.
• (Easy) More Than Okay Boomer
  
  • The grenade damage and ammo will only help you. The grenades that enemies can drop on death should not give you any issues.
• (Easy) Slayer
  
  • This modifier essentially dooms enemies that aren't bosses once they only have 15% of their HP remaining, so it will only help you...
    
  • ...unless you needed to melee an enemy to 1 HP so that you can deal more damage with Amara's Remnant skill later, or so that you can maximize damage from the Overkill Guardian Rank perk. (Note that you will probably need to do either of those things a grand total of 0 times.)
    
  • You will probably not have enemies alive while they are blue (from being within the 15% threshold) for very long, and you may find that you kill enemies more slowly when you focus on using this modifier.
• (Hard) Drone Ranger
  
  • The little drones can be used for Second Winds, and they are mostly negligible otherwise.

and now, let's go over

• (Medium) Freeze Tag
  
  • The little cryo balls spawned by this modifier are actually quite annoying, and they can also go through walls.
    
  • However, the penalty they inflict is offset by the Speed Demon modifier,
    
  • the orbs do not have much health,
    
  • and you can destroy them for Second Winds. Having the last enemy of a room leave behind a Freeze Tag orb may save you in some otherwise hopeless situation. For the average build, this is the best "Medium" modifier.
• (Very Hard) Post Mortem
  
  • It may seem strange that a modifier that can kill you instantly would be rated so highly, but this really is the best "Very Hard" modifier for every build that needs critical hits.
    
  • The Second Winds you get from Laser Fare will be worth the occasional Post Mortem skull.
    
  • The skulls do not have much health, and they are often destroyed by whatever caused them to spawn.
    
  • Unless a skull spawns from the last enemy of a room, they are not actually very dangerous. Just avoid being near enemies when they die if there are not many enemies near you.
• (Medium) Pain Tolerance
  
  • This modifier is honestly kind of incredible. All of the strongest kata one shot things, so you will only notice that this modifier is even active if you are goofing around with fully automatic weapons.
    
  • If you do want to use fully automatic weapons (and you probably do - not judging; I get it), then you will probably want to avoid this modifier, but it's definitely the best choice for Amara.
• (Very Hard) Not the Face
  
  • Most of the the strongest kata do not even allow you to achieve critical hits, so a penalty to critical hit damage is negligible. An Amara player may not even notice that this modifier is active!
    
  • However, a Zane player that is using Eraser should definitely avoid this modifier.
• (Easy) Big Kick Energy
  
  • This is not a free boost to your gun damage. The recoil and spread penalties that come with this modifier may actually cause you trouble.
• (Medium) Totally Radical
  
  • If you're not using the URad anoint, you may not be concerned about this Mayhem modifier...
    
  • ...unless you're planning to fight an enemy like Killavolt, who is only vulnerable to radiation damage while he still has his shield.
    
  • If you are using URad, then avoid this modifier.
• (Hard) Ticked Off
  
  • You may prefer to avoid this modifier because of how powerful the Unleash the Dragon artifact is.
    
  • However, DOT damage is used for the EMC anoint's damage formula before this modifier is applied, so this modifier is a relatively minor penalty to the damage you will deal by using the Unleash the Dragon artifact...
    
  • ...unless you are relying on the Guardian 4N631 shotgun...
    
  • ...or if you're not using the EMC anoint.
    
  • Moze players can probably choose this modifier without regretting their choice.
• (Very Hard) Buddy System
  
  • The drones from this modifier have very little HP, so they are usually not much of a nuisance.
    
  • The drones can be used for Second Winds.
    
  • Unfortunately, the drones can get stuck in places where they will be protected from all damage, and that means the enemies they are attached to will remain invincible.
    
  • Having enemies ever be invincible at all, even for a brief moment, can disrupt spawn kill tactics and ruin the flow of combat, and those disruptions can develop into feedback loops of other disruptions that may complicate time sensitive tasks.
• (Hard) Boundary Issues
  
  • This modifier is very similar to Chain Gang, but you can't avoid the damage from the links if you are near any enemies.
    
  • As with Chain Gang, the real danger of this modifier is that it can cause the game to crash.
    
  • However, Moze can use this modifier to trigger the special effect of the Faulty Star shield, so this modifier can actually be helpful and fun...sometimes.
• (Hard) Chain Gang
  
  • This modifier can be a bit dangerous, but the real danger of this modifier is that it can cause the game to crash.
    
  • That said, an enemy that sneaks behind you may link to another enemy near you, and you could go down quickly to the link.
• (Medium) Mob Mentality
  
  • The extra damage and fire rate that this modifier grants to enemies can make some enemies quite dangerous, but any enemies that become dangerous because of this modifier (and not because they were already dangerous) will only really appear in places that are not so dangerous to begin with.
    
  • The real danger of this modifier is that it can cause the game to crash, but that won't cost you much progress unless you are using this modifier during a takedown.

and finally, be sure to watch out for

• (Very Hard) Rogue Lite
  
  • This shortens your FFYL time so much that you might not even be able to use the Too Angry to Die Guardian Rank perk to save yourself. It is the worst modifier by far.
• (Medium) Floor Is Lava
  
  • This is a great Mayhem modifier to choose if you ever want to just get obliterated. The algorithm for spawning the lava is very erratic, and it favors cooking players' characters over giving them respite...often doing so while those characters are mobile.
• (Very Hard) Dazed and Infused, (Medium) Charred Mode, (Medium) High Voltage, (Medium) Acid Reign, (Medium) Chilling Them Softly
  
  • These elemental resistances can be very problematic. You don't want enemies to resist damage from an element that would normally be their vulnerability.
    
  • Chilling Them Softly is less concerning, because cryo is not an element that you ever need to use for damage, but, sometimes, not being able to freeze an enemy could cost you even more damage than elemental resistances would.
• (Hard) Pool Party
  
  • You do not need the extra damage that the pools from this modifier will deal to enemies. If you are using this guide, you will be OP enough already.
    
  • Because of that, the pools from this modifier are just dangerous for no good reason, and dealing with them can often feel like a slightly less terrible Floor Is Lava experience.
    
  • Curiously, the analogous modifier in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is actually quite helpful, and will often wipe out armies of enemies for you by itself...
• (Very Hard) Holy Crit
  
  • Remember how I said that it's a good idea to consider choosing the Not the Face modifier, because most of the strongest kata don't rely on critical hits? Well, this modifier forces you to rely on critical hits, so...yeah, enjoy doing no damage.
    
  • What, you were already relying on critical hits? No you weren't. The final hit of a Hustleraser chain is, by definition, not a critical hit. The same applies to the final hit of a Mind Sweeper chain. Yeah, you are relying on hard point damage. Don't pretend like you weren't. Even if you're insanely accurate, this modifier is absolutely awful.
• (Medium) Healy Avenger
  
  • Normally, this is not a very challenging modifier. It's very easy to destroy BL3 enemies instantly, so having them healed by this modifier is not usually a concern, if it even happens.
    
  • If you wanted a bit of a challenge, however, and you were to mod enemy HP to be higher, well...

• Banish
  
• Radsplosion Chaining
  
• Dunking
  
• Debuff
  
• Fish Slap Nonsense
  
• Pestilence Nova Spam
  
• Stampede
  
• Companion Inheritance (DLC only)

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • Use your character's strongest kata for burst DPS
    
    • Use the Overview of Character Power to determine your best option
      
    • For Amara, this will usually involve Remnant
      
    • For Moze, this will usually involve a Mind Sweeper micro grenade chain
      
    • For FL4K, this will usually involve burn DOTs from the Unleash the Dragon artifact
      
    • For Zane, this will usually involve an Eraser chain
  • Use a melee weapon, melee grenade, or melee attack to deliver some of the damage you've just dealt to a different target (via Groundbreaker, so make sure you have that Guardian Rank perk unlocked!)
    
    • Holding a Guardian 4N631 shotgun while using a Fish Slap to deliver Groundbreaker damage works best, because the Guardian 4N631 bonus applies to Groundbreaker (and many other bonuses do, too).
• Notes:
  
  • This is the general case of Amara's Slingshot kata.
    
  • A hasty review of this information may inspire you to believe that this kata is "just use Groundbreaker". This is somewhat true, but the thing I want you to take away from this post is that you should be using Groundbreaker to destroy flying enemies and bosses first, before you run out of "fodder".
    
    • The other important lesson here is that Groundbreaker is boosted by certain damage bonuses, so you may actually deal more damage to the target you hit with Groundbreaker than you did to the target that you used for building Groundbreaker damage. Groundbreaker also triggers certain sources of bonus damage, and the resulting extra damage instances are then boosted by appropriate damage bonuses as well...look, it's just insanely powerful, alright?
  • You can see me using this kata to (try to) defeat the top half of Wotan in some of the clips found at the threads linked to from the beginning of this guide (the threads about playing through both True Takedowns with enemy HP modded to be +100,000,000%, instead of the usual +10,000%).
    
  • I named this kata after the Banish Arrow ability from Phantasy Star Online 2, because of their similarities.

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • Group enemies together as necessary (within the radius of a radsplosion, the explosion that irradiated enemies automatically release upon death)
    
  • Consistently use your action skill as you fight so that your ASE/Rad% anoint remains active as often as possible
    
  • Defeat enemies by any means, so that one of them becomes a source of a radsplosion, which can cause another radsplosion if it defeats an enemy as well
    
    • Enemies defeated by radsplosions can radsplode when they die, which can cause this effect to chain until an entire group of enemies is erased the moment the 1st enemy of the group is defeated
• Notes:
  
  • Radsplosion damage is based on the power of radiation DOT effects applied to a target at the time of its death.
    
  • Radsplosions apply radiation DOT.
    
  • The ASE/Rad% anoint causes many damage sources to irradiate enemies when they otherwise wouldn't, thus improving radsplosion damage.
    
  • Radplosion damage from the death of an enemy that was hit by a radsplosion can (and most likely will) be stronger than the damage of the radsplosion that hit that enemy. This applies even if that enemy dies because of a radsplosion.
    
  • All of these things together cause radsplosions to function like Krieg's "Bloodsplosion" skill, from Borderlands 2. Similarly, the damage of radsplosions grows without bound, and will only be limited by the number of enemies simultaneously killed within a chain.
    
    • Even if you're already using a radiation elemental damage source, implementing the ASE/Rad% anoint is still important, because it makes successive radsplosions much more powerful.
      
    • This interaction is so powerful that I used it to set a 46.8 septillion damage record, as seen here. The build and tactics used for that video were later confirmed to be capable of dealing infinite damage when another player tested the gear and skill combo that I had been using while viewing damage output with a damage logger mod. That discovery, of Amara's infinite damage exploit, was a direct result of us building around radsplosion chains.
      
    • There, now you know why this guide recommends the ASE/Rad% anoint so much.

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • If your target is a flying enemy, use your action skill to trigger the shield you've chosen for freezing enemies while your target is over a pit, or moving toward one
    
    • They should fall into the pit while they're frozen and unable to escape
  • If your target can be pulled a significant distance by Quasar grenades, then throw a series of Quasars toward a pit so that your target is carried into that pit
    
    • Use walls and other surfaces to create more effective lines of Quasar grenades as necessary
      
    • Some enemies may be flung the wrong direction if only 1 grenade is used; for those enemies, try putting the 1st grenade on the opposite side of them from where the pit you're going to use is instead
  • If your target can't be pulled into the pit, you're probably not going to be able to dunk them into the pit unless you're playing as Amara
    
    • If you are, then you can use a Phasegrasp variant on your target, or use an action skill of your choice (such as Phasecast) to apply Stillness of Mind to your target, and their movement will be halted. If you halt your target's movement while they are jumping at you, you can do so while they are over a pit to dunk them off of the current map. Lure your target into jumping at you while a pit is between the 2 of you and then commence dunking.
• Notes:
  
  • Use this kata to defeat enemies that have become invulnerable due to a glitch.
    
  • This kata is especially useful for deleting annoying enemies while enemy HP mods that greatly increase enemy health are active.
    
  • Example: (video @ 3:07 to 3:24)
    
    • This is a terrible example. The grenades should have been spaced farther apart than that. You should ideally pull enemies toward a wall at the same time that you pull them toward a pit so that you can throw some grenades onto the wall at locations beyond the surface you're standing on, so that enemies aren't as likely to be pulled back onto the map.
  • This kata isn't just useful for instantly killing enemies near pits, it's also useful for bringing certain flying enemies down to ground level. This applies to the top half of Wotan, as shown in this video.

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • Overheat your Zheitsev's Eruption before you use this kata, if it hasn't already been overheated
    
  • Reduce the amount of ammo in your S3RV as much as possible before each use of this kata, without accidentally emptying the magazine entirely
    
  • Perform your kata of choice for DPS, with the remaining motions of this kata interwoven with those of your DPS option
    
  • After using buffs that last longer than 12 seconds, but before using buffs that last longer than 6 seconds, fire the S3RV-80S-EXECUTE until it is automatically reloaded and thrown
    
    • The weapon must be emptied naturally; reloading it manually does not work
      
    • The weapon needs to collide with your target after it is thrown, or else it won't apply the debuff
  • After applying any other buffs you plan to use that will last longer than 6 seconds, throw an It's Piss grenade while launching the homing yellow projectiles from your Zheitsev's Eruption
    
    • As before, your projectiles (the grenade, and those from the Zheitsev's eruption) need to actually hit a target for any debuffs to be applied to it
      
    • If you rapidly open and close your inventory menu at least once or twice (aim for twice!) as you swap to your Zheitsev's Eruption, your weapon will be able to fire its projectiles each time you close your inventory menu again. This will work whether you switch to the Zheitsev's Eruption by pressing the button to swap to it, or by moving it into the slot of your currently held weapon while you are in your inventory menu. Once it is able to release projectiles, you can open and close your inventory slightly slower, after each release, to launch more projectiles.
      
    • PC players can release Zheitsev's Eruption projectiles more quickly by moving while using emotes, so no other cancels (like opening and closing the inventory menu) are necessary.
  • Complete your DPS kata as usual, reapplying this kata when possible before each instance of damage is incurred (Fish Slap hits, hits from slow weapon projectiles, EMC anoint activations, Groundbreaker, etc.)
• Notes:
  
  • Open your inventory menu and change your loadout as necessary while you perform this kata, so that you have more time to use each debuff! Each debuff lasts for a very short time, so every movement you make while performing this kata is more time critical than it would usually be. Even motions as simple as swapping to a different weapon slot are too slow, and should be sped up by using inventory menu loadout changes to change which weapon is currently in your hand.
    
  • The It's Piss debuff is +20% damage taken for 6s
    
  • The Zheitsev's debuff is +20% damage taken per stack, up to +200%, for 6s, but each reload only launches 8 projectiles (up to +160%)
    
    • Reloads can be spammed via cancels (emote, inventory open/close, grenade throw, possibly also weapon swapping), but the +200% bonus can most easily be achieved by PC players using emote cancels; console players may need to rely on inventory menu cancels or grenade throw cancels
  • The S3RV debuff is +50% damage taken per stack for 12s, but applying more than 1 stack in a timely manner is not really feasible
    
  • The damage bonuses from these debuffs are (supposedly) additive, so the full Zheitsev's Eruption bonus, the It's Piss bonus, and 1 stack of the S3RV-80S-EXECUTE bonus should multiply damage by 3.7x (+270%)
    
    • All other damage bonuses in the game should be multiplicative with these debuff bonuses, and these debuff bonuses seem to apply to every damage formula in the game, so they are incredibly powerful (albeit painfully short lived)
  • In co-op, a dedicated group of saboteurs can easily maintain debuffs, but this isn't a guide for co-op. Keeping debuffs applied in the most optimal way is more complicated for a player that's alone. The debuffs applied by this kata don't really last very long, and spending time on applying them comes at the cost of time that could have been spent on maintaining buffs...or actually dealing damage.
    
    • Because of how tedious maintaining these debuffs is, the damage you will deal as a consequence of these debuffs will vary wildly. This will be due to a combination of factors both in and out of your control. The Version 0.m shield provides a short lived 6s buff that provides +50% bonus damage, and the process of using it is subject to the same issues, which is why this guide usually does not account for the debuffs or the 0.m shield's buff.

• Tested:[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • FL4K: 35.75 trillion damage with EMC, 21.70 trillion average damage because their EMC activations are always consistent; Groundbreaker multiplied damage by 2.87x to 4.55x (about 3.59x on average)
• Tested:[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Moze: 44.56 trillion damage with EMC, 11.82 trillion average damage without consistent EMC (or melee vs. frozen); Groundbreaker multiplied damage by 1.54x to 3.64x (about 2.32x on average)
• Tested:[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Zane: 8.63 trillion damage with EMC, 5.15 trillion average damage without consistent EMC (but Hustler COM helps); Groundbreaker multiplied damage by 1.93x to 3.53x (about 2.94x on average)
• Tested:[www.lootlemon.com]
  
  • Amara: 13.41 trillion damage with EMC, 3.20 trillion average damage without consistent EMC; Groundbreaker multiplied damage by 1.18x to 2.34x (about 1.87x on average)
• Missing:
  
  • The numbers already fluctuate because of random enemy movements, inconsistent Hunter-Seeker grenade behavior, and RNG dependencies (Megavore, Hustler). You should understand that the numbers given are only vaguely accurate. This also makes gear and skill choices difficult to compare, unless they cause a significant DPS change.
    
  • COM choices also may not be optimal, but some of them will at least be close to optimal (Amara relies on boosts to Anima, Zane sometimes relies on the Hustler COM's effect for the EMC anoint).
    
    • Moze should deal more DPS by using a Flare COM than with a Mind Sweeper COM. Only a Mind Sweeper COM was used for testing. (TODO: how much better is the Flare COM?)
  • The debuff from Zane's No Way Out augment was not tested
    
  • The tree I actually used for Moze was slightly different, but it should not be different in any way that would significantly skew the numbers, with the exception of Superior Firepower not being included (that skill is a source of +100% cryo damage, which can cause cryo Fish Slaps to become optimal). Moze clearly gets the best damage potential from this kata.
    
    • None of the trees used were optimized for this kata; they were optimized for for general gameplay against enemies modded to have 10,000x their usual M10 HP.
  • Tests were done against the Kraken, within the Maliwan Takedown, instead of against a flesh target. This makes the data incompatible with other data in this guide for comparison purposes, but it does show that this kata is extremely effective even against targets that resist fire damage.
• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • DOT yourself to keep your shield empty, then swap to your freezing shield of choice
    
  • Place Auto Bear if you are using it
    
  • Fire 1-2 Face-puncher shots into an enemy to apply Terror to yourself
    
  • Fire the S3RV-80S-EXECUTE until it is automatically reloaded and thrown; you may need to skip this debuff if Moze's Some for the Road skill is active
    
  • Throw an It's Piss grenade while launching the homing yellow projectiles from your Zheitsev's Eruption
    
  • Swap to a Sellout and apply a burn DOT to your character (use the fire elemental mode)
    
  • If your action skill is available (i.e. if you are not using Auto Bear), activate it so that your shield freezes your target
    
    • You can cancel your Barrier throw (as explained in the post about the Bubble Stab kata) if you are Zane and don't have the MNTIS cannon.
  • Throw a Hunter-Seeker grenade at about a 45 to 90 degree angle to the side of where you would be aiming if you were aiming at your target, and aim up by about 45 degrees while you're throwing as well
    
    • Throwing the Hunter-Seeker straight up may also be effective (you want it to critically hit your target shortly after you set your target on fire)
  • Swap to the HHB Guardian 4N631 (or the Psycho Stabber, if you have no DLC) and the Ward
    
    • Amara players should swap to their melee damage COM (Breaker or Muse) at this time if they don't plan to refresh the debuffs
      
    • Amara players should use a Slam/Melee% Ward instead of an ASE/Melee% Ward if they are using Fracture instead of Phasecast for Laid Bare
  • Throw a Fish Slap at target so that the Roid bonus of the Ward will be active when the Fish Slap hits the target
    
  • Activate your action skill before the Fish Slap hits your target so that any ASE anoints you are using are active for the collision
    
  • Swap to the EMC Guardian 4N631 (or the Infinity, if you have no DLC) and your Elemental Projector artifact
    
    • If you're playing as Amara, refresh the Zheitsev and It's Piss debuffs, and maybe also throw another Hunter-Seeker, before you change which weapon you are holding (but change your artifact right away so that you don't waste your Elemental Projector opportunity)
  • Try to hit the target's critical hit location with your Infinity if you are using that, or with your EMC Guardian 4N631 (if you're playing as Amara and have at least 1 point in Infusion) to trigger the EMC anoint (in case your Hunter-Seeker doesn't)
    
    • If you're playing as Amara and using 10/5 Anima, you might have time for another EMC + Groundbreaker combo, and Guardian 4N631 shots will likely place a shock DOT that interferes with burn + EMC activations, so you'll need to exclusively rely on Hunter-Seeker grenades for EMC
  • Once you've confirmed that the EMC anoint has been activated, throw more Fish Slaps at your target until Groundbreaker is no longer significantly boosting their damage

• Notes:
  
  • Some of the damage tests are demonstrated here, and a preliminary report about the results is included.
    
  • The damage numbers provided give insight into why the myth that "Amara is weak" is so popular. However, this kata is only superior to other options in extremely rare circumstances, and in practice, enemy movements often interfere with this kata significantly. This kata can entirely stop being useful if too many enemies are near your target, because their presence will disrupt the homing effects of the Zheitsev's Eruption projectiles and Hunter-Seeker grenades (read more about what impedes use of the debuffs and the Version 0.m shield here).
    
  • This kata is an extension of Amara's Burnima kata and FL4K's Burn kata, it is far more powerful, and it is usually the best DPS option for any Borderlands 3 character that finds themselves in a pure 1v1 situation with their foe (if the lone foe can be burned, and it allows the EMC anoint to be activated reliably, then this kata will outperform other options).
    
    • The Hunter-Seeker grenade makes the combination of the EMC anoint, burn DOTs from the Unleash the Dragon artifact, and the Guardian 4N631's bonus available to every character. I actually did not know about this use of the Hunter-Seeker until u/HarmonySV suggested it.
      
    • The EMC anoint is actually what makes this kata so useful for Moze and Zane, because Amara and FL4K seem to do more total burn damage when the EMC anoint and Groundbreaker are not considered. FL4K and Zane can trigger EMC in situations that would prohibit Amara or Moze from doing so: Megavore and the Hustler COM's effect allow damage to hard points to critically hit, and those crits can trigger the EMC anoint. Unfortunately, this only seems to help Zane for about 10% of his DPS cycles, but FL4K will almost always trigger the EMC anoint via Megavore, if not from a real crit.
      
    • Groundbreaker is doing a lot of work for this kata. It actually benefits from many damage bonuses, including debuffs from things like Zheitsev's Eruption. Using a Face-puncher to apply Groundbreaker seems to be far less effective; Fish Slaps consistently deal enough Groundbreaker damage to nearly double total damage dealt, and characters that aren't Amara can use Groundbreaker to multiply their total damage by much more.
  • Some steps from the procedure for the Debuff kata are shown within the procedure details of this kata for demonstration purposes. You may notice that I have not done this for any other kata documented in this guide. Doing this for the other kata would be extremely repetitive, and accurately representing the optimal way of interleaving the motions may require some test results that aren't worth pursuing.
    
    • As is always the case when debuffs are involved, you will not have enough time to perform each step quickly enough for maximum DPS if you do not abuse the inventory menu by using it to quickly change which weapon is in your hand. Try to avoid changing which weapon is in your hand by swapping to a different slot the usual way, and focus on remembering to change which weapon is in your hand before you close your inventory menu. You should open your inventory menu any time you need to change which weapon is in your hand for every step that follows the S3RV-80S-EXECUTE reload.
  • The class mods I tested with may not have been optimal, but they should be relatively close to optimal.
    
  • Moze is not able to use the ASE/Melee% anoint, the HHB anoint, and a freezing shield simultaneously, like the other characters can, unless she breaks her shield manually (instead of relying on the ASS/BreakFill anoint). This kata is significantly more difficult for Moze.
    
    • Moze massively depends on Big Surplus for this kata. Her damage seems to be approximately doubled by Big Surplus in other cases, as well as when she is performing this kata. This further complicates execution of this kata for Moze.
      
    • Moze does have 1 advantage (other than her incredibly high damage bonuses for EMC and Groundbreaker): Torgue Cross Promotion seems to increase the likelihood of a stray Fish Slap triggering Groundbreaker at an excellent moment, while debuffs are still active, which yields a lot of extra damage.
  • This kata is extremely dangerous to use for any character that isn't Amara. The other characters are not naturally healed by multiple steps of the kata's procedure the way Amara is (via Sustainment). Other characters would need to mix other actions into their procedures to account for any healing they need while performing this kata. I recommend a Knife Drain artifact for the Terror buff acquisition step.
    
  • FL4K has the best cycle times. Amara, Moze, and Zane will have long cooldowns to deal with due to self DOTs interfering with Topped Off. Moze can remedy her cooldown issues by using an Eternal Flame COM. Zane can remedy his cooldown issues by canceling Barrier throws.
    
    • Cycle times are about 60 seconds for each character...with menu time included. This guide doesn't usually include menu time in cycle time measurements, so I have no useful DPS data for comparison purposes.
  • I used an HHB Guardian 4N631 instead of an ASE/Splash version during testing. ASE/Splash% should be better, however, because it should also apply to the EMC explosion, and HHB stops helping once enemies lose too much HP.
    
    • The Version 0.m should also be better than a freezing shield, but the freezing shield's effect only needs to last until the target is ignited, while the 0.m's effect needs to last until the EMC explosion occurs (and, ideally, until the Groundbreaker hit(s)). Also, standing still for a long time (in a 0.m circle, for example) is usually not very wise...
  • ASE/Rad% is a good Ward anoint choice for FL4K, because this kata is actually their best source of mobbing DPS. Sacrificing single target debuffs (S3RV, It's Piss) and only focusing on AoE debuffs (Zheitsev's, to some extent, and melee vs. frozen from a freezing shield) allows FL4K to set a dense cluster of enemies on fire with 1 grenade (it can hit them all, if they're packed tightly enough!), destroy at least one of them with the resulting Groundbreaker damage, and then have a radsplosion chain destroy the pile.
    
    • This requires many Fish Slaps to be thrown in a row, so DPS cycle times will need to include time spent on regenerating grenades.

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • Overheat your pestilence
    
  • Cancel the reload animation repeatedly as you move toward enemies
    
    • PC players can move while spamming an emote action to do this quickly; console players will probably want to mash their melee key
  • Don't let your character repair the Pestilence
    
  • Consider using an action skill now and then, so that you trigger your ASE/Rad% anoint
• Notes:
  
  • The nova that comes out of the Pestilence when it is overheated does way too much damage, and it will steamroll Mayhem 10 enemies
    
    • I'm not kidding about "too much damage". It's so dumb that even speedrunners use it.
  • The nova released by the Pestilence can also damage the character using the weapon (a lot, actually), but the Red Suit will protect your character

• Loadout:

• Procedure:
  
  • If you'd like to freeze your target for the melee vs. frozen bonus, DOT yourself to empty your Ward, switch to your freezing shield of choice, use an action skill to freeze your target, and then equip your Ward again.
    
    • Iron Bear won't let you out in time to take advantage of the bonus, so you'll have to use Iron Cub (or a different character) instead.
      
    • You can cancel your Barrier throw (as explained in the post about the Bubble Stab kata) if you are Zane and don't have the MNTIS cannon.
  • Fire your Face-puncher into a critical hit location of a low HP target. You can do this about 4 times before any White Elephant stickies you've applied start to explode, so consider firing more than 1 shot if you think it won't hurt your HHB bonus.
    
    • Sometimes your HHB bonus can be used twice (once for the sticky application hit, then again by the stickies themselves) if you don't fire too many shots, so there are definitely times when firing fewer shots is stronger. This was especially true before the HHB anoint and White Elephant artifact nerfs. Look, they really nerfed this kata hard. It was letting Amara and FL4K effortlessly wipe out 2 piles of M11 TGT guardians with 1 shot and 1 slam. However, against weaker enemies, or with enough of a boost to your damage, this kata should still work.
  • Switch to your damage boosting weapon (the Unforgiven or the Guardian 4N631) before the White Elephant stickies explode, and continue to hold it as they do.
    
  • If the White Elephant stickies are on a critical hit location, and the target is killed by the explosion, it will trigger Hollow Point. If Hollow Point hits nearby enemies, you will also have a large amount of damage stored in Groundbreaker. From there, you can fire a Face-puncher shot into a flying enemy, slam a group of nearby enemies, or make use of any other thing that qualifies as a "melee attack" to perform a weak variation of the Banish kata.
• Notes:
  
  • The name of this kata was chosen because it makes even a single White Elephant sticky applied to 1 enemy into a small nuke that can be used to wipe out many enemies. You're getting more elephants per elephant.
    
  • Anything that drastically improves your base hit damage is ideal, as it also improves the damage of the stickies themselves. This includes things like Zane's Violent Momentum skill bonus, and Amara's Spiritual Driver COM bonus. Gotta go fast.
    
    • I mentioned earlier that this kata was extremely nerfed, but that it still works. There's an example of the boost from Amara's Spiritual Driver COM enabling this kata to defeat a high HP TGT enemy at the end of this clip (video @ 3:31 to 3:41). For comparison, here is this same kata obliterating Graveward (video @ 0:30 to 0:38 - WARNING: base campaign spoiler) when the level cap was still 65.
      
    • You should still be able to use this kata to produce Hollow Points that defeat bosses like Killavolt instantly (video @ 0:00 to 0:07), or wipe out chunks of Anathema's health (video @ 3:19 to 3:26).
  • If you're close to the enemy, you can punch them in their critical hit location while holding a Psycho Stabber to apply a White Elephant sticky, but the chance of application is quite low. This is also true when applying stickies with a Stinger nova or Fish Slap, and those may not even apply stickies to critical hit locations, but they also do enough damage to be useful regardless. In contrast, it may not ever be worth using the Psycho Stabber to apply Whelephant stickies outside of when you're just goofing around (which you should definitely be doing sometimes, because games are supposed to be fun, but yeah, applying stickies this way is not super helpful).
    
  • The Blade Fury won't work for Hollow Point because it applies White Elephant stickies to the center of targets, rather than where the blades collide. The Stinger and Fish Slap will probably also not work for Hollow Point either, but they hit so hard that they may still be useful for applying White Elephant stickies to lone targets.
    
  • If you are using the Guardian 4N631 instead of the Unforgiven, you don't need to apply your White Elephant stickies to critical hit locations, but you should definitely try to do so anyway.
    
  • If you use an Unleash the Dragon artifact in place of the White Elephant, you're essentially performing the beginning of the Burn kata. You can read about it to learn how to boost damage further in that case. The entry for that kata also mentions the appeal of using a Static Charge, which is commonly combined with a Fish Slap for speedruns.
    
    • This kata can be useful for getting a Second Wind if you stick to using the Face-puncher, Ward, and White Elephant together. If you use the Blade Fury instead, the Unleash the Dragon is the better artifact choice, so you should become familiar with the Burn kata (or the Burnima kata, if you're playing as Amara). The Blade Fury method is more effective (which is, I guess, what you should expect from using overpowered DLC).

• Missing:
  
  • TODO: Does the Hot Drop work?
    
  • TODO: Does Pool Party work?
    
  • TODO: Does EMC work?
    
  • This kata is a recent discovery, and it utilizes companion damage, so the set of boosts that apply to the interaction this kata uses are obscure - there may still be some boosts missing.
• Procedure:
  
  • Moze:
    
    • Puddle Merging (DLC only)
  • FL4K:
    
    • Puddle Merging (DLC only)
  • Zane:
    
    • Puddle Merging (DLC only)
• Notes:
  
  • Certain damage sources created by players can be inherited by companions (Moze's mech, one of FL4K's pets, Zane's clone), which causes those damage sources to receive bonuses that normally only affect companion damage. Once those damage sources become owned by a companion, they will also stop receiving certain bonuses that would affect the damage of a player's chosen character.
    
    • The popular (and, possibly, the only) example of companion inheritance is puddle merging, which is a technique that at least 3 of the 4 vault hunters can use. However, I am referring to this group of interactions as "Companion Inheritance" in case it is later discovered that other damage sources can be inherited by companions (other than elemental puddles), and that having companions inherit them leads to a significant DPS boost.
      
    • Companion inheritance is probably a glitch - similar to the damage transfer glitch (but with damage bonuses being applied incorrectly instead of base damage values being applied incorrectly) in Borderlands 2, as seen with "Pimperhabing" and "Flakkerhabing", among other examples - but it's probably not ever going to be patched out. (It's also pretty neat, and not too powerful, so I hope it sticks around.)

• Ingredients:
  
  • Messy Breakup[www.lootlemon.com] shield with the ASS/BreakFill anoint
    
  • Any action skill that can be reused quickly
    
    • (Amara) Any of the Phasegrasp variants, if you are using the Topped Off Guardian Rank perk and avoid taking damage
      
    • (FL4K) Rakk Attack!
      
    • (Zane) Barrier, if you cancel it with your inventory menu
      
    • (Zane) (DLC5) MNTIS
• Optional ingredients:
  
  • (DLC6) Guardian 4N631[www.lootlemon.com] shotgun
• Instructions:
  
  • Spawn drones by spamming your action skill
    
  • Hold the Guardian 4N631 while your drones attack (if you have one)

• Ingredients:
  
  • (DLC4) Faulty Star[www.lootlemon.com] shield
    
  • Bloodletter[www.lootlemon.com] COM
    
  • The Rushin' Offensive skill
    
  • The Boundary Issues Mayhem modifier
• Optional ingredients:
  
  • The Fire in the Skag Den skill
    
  • The URad anoint
• Instructions:
  
  • Literally just run around near enemies.
    
  • The Boundary Issues beams will damage Moze, triggering her shield.
    
  • Since Moze is running, the damage caused by her shield will cause the game to attempt to refill her health,
    
  • but the Bloodletter COM will make that healing restore her shield instead.
• Demonstration:
  
  • Video by Moxsy

• Ingredients:
  
  • (DLC5) Beskar[www.lootlemon.com] shield
    
  • Bloodletter[www.lootlemon.com] COM
    
  • The Rushin' Offensive skill
• Instructions:
  
  • Literally just run toward an enemy that is shooting at you.
    
  • Your shield may be damaged while it is reflecting enemy projectiles,
    
  • but the reflected projectiles will cause the game to attempt to refill Moze's health because of the Rushin' Offensive skill,
    
  • and the Bloodletter COM will make that healing restore her shield instead.
    
  • This is effective against Wotan's upper half.

• Ingredients:
  
  • Nova Berner[www.lootlemon.com] shield with the ASS/BreakFill anoint and as many Nova augments as possible
    
  • Infiltrator[www.lootlemon.com] COM (optional: with Splash Radius)
• Optional ingredients:
  
  • (DLC6) Guardian 4N631[www.lootlemon.com] shotgun (also optional: one of the ASA/NovaSpam, URad, or ASE/Splash% anointments)
    
  • Low level Sellout[www.lootlemon.com] pistol
    
  • Any Elemental Projector artifact; preferably, one with "AreaDamage"
    
  • (DLC4) Hustler[www.lootlemon.com] COM (also optional: with Splash Radius)
    
  • (DLC2) Conductor[www.lootlemon.com] COM (also optional: with Splash Radius)
• Instructions:
  
  • After loading (into the game, and possibly also any time you load into a new area after that), switch to a shield that does not have the ASS/BreakFill anoint, or unequip your shield; supposedly, this keeps the anointment and the Infiltrator COM effect from synchronizing so that you'll have more nova activations
    
  • Shoot yourself with fire shots from the low level Sellout to activate Elemental Projector (if you are using it)
    
  • Hold the Guardian 4N631 so that it's in your hands when you explode (if you are using it)
    
  • Your action skill should trigger the Nova Berner twice by triggering your anointment, your COM should activate it twice, and your anointment and your COM should also trigger a nova once each if your shield has a Nova augment
    
  • The COM Splash Radius and artifact "AreaDamage" combo should make any nova you produce reach very far
    
  • If you're willing to give up the helpful effects of Zane's COMs, you could use the Nova Berner effectively with FL4K, and possibly also with Amara (Moze would struggle to use the shield effectively, however)
• Demonstration:
  
  • Video by Pugly
• Detailed explanation:
  
  • Video and post by Serifaz

• Ingredients:
  
  • Infiltrator[www.lootlemon.com] COM or Antifreeze[www.lootlemon.com] COM with at least 1 point in Supersonic Man
• Instructions:
  
  • Equip a COM that adds at least 1 point to Supersonic Man (otherwise this glitch won't work!)
    
  • Equip MNTIS
    
  • Spend a skill point (I just use the top left purple tree skill)
    
  • Move your mouse cursor to the left side of the screen (this prevents respec menu issues)
    
  • Exit the menu and wait for MNTIS to go away (it doesn't let you shoot it while it's already out, and it appears automatically once you equip it after a respec)
    
  • Mash the action skill key about 5 times to gain Supersonic Man stacks
    
  • Interact (with the respec machine) -> up arrow -> spam confirm, before your Supersonic Man stacks decay
    
  • Repeat until ~speed~
    
  • Stacks may decay (TODO: is it because of map transitions?), but they will last much longer

• Ingredients:
  
  • Pestilence[www.lootlemon.com] pistol
    
  • Red Suit[www.lootlemon.com] shield
    
  • No points invested into skills that could cause the Pestilence DOT to bypass protection from the Red Suit shield
    
    • Common culprits are Forced Expression (Amara) and Trick of the Light (Zane); there may be others (Fire in the Skag Den (Moze), perhaps?)
• Optional ingredients:
  
  • Low level Ruby's Wrath[www.lootlemon.com] heavy
    
  • Low level (DLC3) Plumage[www.lootlemon.com] heavy
    
  • Some form of damage reduction
• Instructions:
  
  • Stick your character in a corner, facing out from it
    
  • Lower your FPS as much as possible (sorry, console players)
    
  • Overheat the Pestilence, but do not let your character finish repairing it
    
  • Mash your emote keys (your arrow keys should be your emote keys)
    
    • The emotes cancel your character's attempt to repair the Pestilence (so you should start this step as soon as you've overheated the Pestilence), and this causes it to reapply its DOT and reactivate its explosion
      
    • Moving cancels emotes, but the Pestilence effect will already be making your character move unless your character is positioned under certain things (if that happens, just hold one of your WASD keys to move yourself into the corner as you mash your emote keys)
  • Switch to another weapon (one of the heavy weapons, if you are going to use one of them)
    
  • Optional: fire your heavy weapon at your feet
    
    • Since your FPS is set to 15, your explosion queue will be filled too quickly by the Pestilence explosions for the game to finish processing the explosions before you are done firing your rockets, so all of the rocket explosions will be delayed as a consequence of them being enqueued into a long queue
  • Move out of your corner and into an open space
    
  • Jump, then open your graphics settings menu just after you leave the ground
    
  • Set your FPS as high as possible (to 300) and leave the menus
    
  • bye~
• Demonstration:
  
  • Video by Garwood