UVHM+OP8 Siren Build/Guide - Lady Luciano, the true mob boss

This is a guide showing how viable Maya can be in OP8 with no legendary items, no bee, and no moxxi weapons. This build can clear any content in the game short of raids with ease. For raiding, I suggest using a build that is not centered around kill skills and phaselocking enemies, as you won't have the opportunity to do this effectively. This however, is easily one of the fastest full clearing builds outside of raids for any character in the game.

Overview

Heya guys, i thought i'd share the personal build i've been working on in attempts to help combat all of the questions and hate towards UVHM on steam since the steam sale. It combines a few conventional play styles with a less conventional routes through the skill trees, and doesn't rely on any moxxi items, the bee, or any specific dropped items besides the trickster mod itself, to successfully clear op8 content.

Here's a video showing exactly how destructive this build is against clusters of OP8 mobs with no bee shield.

Build & Items

NOTE - This build is mainly for mobbing, and when raiding i recommend using a build that does not rely on kill skills or being able to phaselock an enemy.

Skill Breakdown

http://www.bl2skills.com/siren.html#054501040055055000200554500511

Motion

5/5 Accelerate
4/5 Suspension
5/5 Kinetic Reflection
1/1 Converge
4/5 Quicken

Harmony

5/5 Mind's Eye
5/5 Sweet Release
5/5 Wreck
5/5 Elated
2/5 Lifetap

Cataclysm

5/5 Foresight
5/5 Immolate
4/5 Helios
5/5 Chain Reaction
5/5 Reaper
1/5 Blight Phoenix
1/1 Ruin

Items

(* = the build mainly relies on this item in one way or another)

*Barking Pimpernel[borderlands.wikia.com] - Fire/Corrosive versions, slag not needed (ruin does this for you)
*Quasar[borderlands.wikia.com] OR Chain Lightning[borderlands.wikia.com] - quasar to bunch mobs up to help chain procs, lightning for the grenade regen & lifesteal options with lifetap. you can alternatively use a singularity in place of the quasar, but it will have a smaller pull radius.
*Blurred Trickster[borderlands.wikia.com] - +5 Chain Reaction +4 Kinetic Reflection +4 Lifetap (Purple Mod) OR +6 Chain Reaction +5 Kinetic Reflection (Blue Mod)

Shield - I mainly use a shock resistant purple turtle shield[borderlands.wikia.com] that reduces my hp to about 30k, this helps lifetap fill us faster allowing us to easily gate without the use of any moxxi weapons. Alternatively, with Moxxi items, an Evolution[borderlands.wikia.com] is great with this build. If you choose to go the +5 Kinetic Reflection route, consider using The Bee[borderlands.wikia.com] as the uptime on your 100% reduction will be very high, meaning your bee will provide amp even while being shot.

Relics - The most frequent relics i use are - Bone of the Ancients[borderlands.wikia.com] (Fire or Corrosive), Sniper + Grenade Stockpile[borderlands.wikia.com], or Maliwan Allegiance[borderlands.wikia.com].

Anything to help with FFYL - most people will recommend a Norfleet[borderlands.wikia.com], Nukem[borderlands.wikia.com], etc. i usually just roll with a Harold[borderlands.wikia.com] in one slot in case i need to get up, between the Harold and Pimpernel i don't find myself often going into FFYL let alone bleeding out while playing solo.

Tips & Tricks

The main way i try to play this build is FAST. Move through areas fast, take advantage of kinetic reflection and lifetap having almost permanent uptime. I achieve this by phaselocking the largest HP pool possible and focusing all of my fire into this mob, once the mob dies, kinetic reflection, sweet release and lifetap will proc allowing you to heal up and avoid any subsequent damage. Quasar is your insurance against melee, as well as a helpful tool to gather mobs up for better chain reaction results, it provides very helpful interrupt for both melee and weapon using mobs

With 4 points in Quicken, Kinetic Reflection holds its uptime until another phaselock is available, meaning between the enormous amounts of crowd control Quasar and Converge give us, there is very little time remaining to actually take damage, any of which is immediately healed with the help of lifetap.

The first thing you should do if you aren't already experienced with it, is take a pimpernel to the test dummies in sanctuary. shoot the dummy to get the feel of where the orbs converge. my version of this build includes accelerate, but you may prefer dropping those points and putting them into ward or somewhere else entirely as accelerate will change the height in which the pimpernel secondary pellets converge, its completely up to you. see the FAQ for more info

FAQ

is the pimpernel really required?
no, but the damage it can produce without amp is unparalleled, especially when combined with chain reaction

why helios?
simple, utility. instant damage vs a chance to cause damage over time. while the dot is great, i prefer having my phaselocks heal me to full, ruin aids with this, and the combination of the 2 can easily handle gating for a hp pool under 1mil with a grog nozzle. when i finish killing my phaselocked mobs, most of the other mobs are dead.. meaning there would be no dot ticking. make sense? it's personal preference, you can take what you'd like because neither make a big enough difference in the long run.

okay, but why accelerate?
i did some testing with accelerate and chain reaction, and from what i observed, post-chain projectiles inherit the bulletspeed of the pre-chained shot, meaning your shots will travel faster after the ricochet and therefore have a lower chance of missing the mob completely. this is just a theory and is nearly impossible to test, so again, its a preferential thing. some say it's harder to hit crit spots with accelerate, which is somewhat true. take ward if you don't feel this skill is useful to you

no inertia though?
good question. i like it, but find when i'm not using a bee, the benefits it provides are pretty minimal. take it if you want, but i prefer the points where they are in the tree

what other items would you recommend?
it doesn't really matter, once you start learning how to use a pimpernel you won't really want to use anything else. However, there are many other items that work well with maya and chain reaction. head over to derch's threads on gearbox or Man of Low Moral Fiber's youtube in the resources section to get some more ideas.

Lastly, if you find kinetic reflection is getting more mileage than the healing done by lifetap, try using the blue trickster with +6 CR and +5 Kinetic. i swap between the two depending on the area i'm in

more videos to come, once i solve my framerate issues in certain areas when recording. if i can get an OP8 DP run using this build with no moxxi where i don't fall asleep during saturn i'll be sure to upload it asap!

Resources (Links, Other guides)

Derch and his chain reaction megathread[forums.gearboxsoftware.com]
Derch's Top Gear for Maya thread[forums.gearboxsoftware.com]
Maya is a mob god.
Man of Low Moral Fiber's Youtube Channel
ThatOneGuy23's siren resource thread[forums.gearboxsoftware.com]
Bahroo's guide to BL2 mechanics[forums.gearboxsoftware.com]

[󠀡󠀡]

This sucks....cause you don't even show of the skill build.

[teek]

i haven't played with the changes yet but you could probably move the point from blight phoenix into cloud kill if it is doing decent damage

[dekit(SRB.)]

can i put in to cloud kill now(cuz it is buffed)

[sib]

You can also use Lightning Bolt, which is a dumbed down version of Chain lightning, but the same concecpt. Plus Magic Missile works too. Decent for slagging.

[teek]

use any singularity in place of quasar

[sib]

You said 'No legendaries' but the first grenades are both legendaries.

gg

[Phillip | duskrp.net]

Anal Sex That is all

[*-Volck-*]

wow

[Derch]

I would still use inertia for the dps increase and dot defense. But overall solid build.

[jaehyun]

Great guide! A+! helped me a lot.