Mayhem Mode

Pre-Mayhem 2.0 UI

Mayhem Mode is a Borderlands 3 option providing configurable game-play alterations increasing both risk and reward. Availability is triggered by main story completion, and continues throughout True Vault Hunter mode.

Activation and configuration are performed using either the "Mayhem" section of the character menu, or a mysterious Eridian terminal aboard Sanctuary III.

Mayhem mode offers ten levels of overall difficulty and reward. Semi-random modifiers determine each level's particulars, subject to limited control by the "reroll" command. Opponents are always promoted to the player's skill level (give or take a level), improving their health, shields, armor, loot drops, and experience point awards.

On April 23, 2020, Mayhem mode was overhauled to "Mayhem 2.0", significantly changing modifier selection, and drastically increasing difficulty.

Mayhem Levels

Mayhem 2.0 Mode menu, displaying information, and customization options

Once enabled, Mayhem Mode determines a random selection of modifiers for each Mayhem level. With each level, the difficulty of the modifiers increases (from Easy to Very Hard), and the amount of selected modifiers increases (from 1 to 4).

These modifiers are separate for each level and can be rerolled at any time via the Mayhem menu tab. Rerolling one level will reroll the entire pool across all levels. Modifiers will remain permanent for each character's save file until they are changed. Changing levels will not reroll the modifiers. Rerolling or changing levels requires reloading of the area if not aboard Sanctuary III.

As with the original Mayhem mode, each increasing level will see enemies' health, shields, and armor increase accordingly. Enemies' damage to players is not increased, barring any applicable modifiers. This can lead to some disparity between player-to-enemy damage ratios, which makes certain effects (such as damage reflection) deal negligible amounts of damage at higher levels.

• Level 1
• Level 2
• Level 3
• Level 4
• Level 5
• Level 6
• Level 7
• Level 8
• Level 9
• Level 10

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 1
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 200% increased Health for all enemy entities 200% increased Shield for all enemy entities 200% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. No Medium Modifiers are selected. No Hard Modifiers are selected. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. No additional rewards.
EXP	+20%	$ / E	+20%	Loot	+100%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 2
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 400% increased Health for all enemy entities 400% increased Shield for all enemy entities 400% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Medium Modifier is selected and applied. No Hard Modifiers are selected. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. No additional rewards.
EXP	+40%	$ / E	+40%	Loot	+300%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 3
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 600% increased Health for all enemy entities 600% increased Shield for all enemy entities 600% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 2 Medium Modifiers are selected and applied. No Hard Modifiers are selected. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. No additional rewards.
EXP	+60%	$ / E	+60%	Loot	+500%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 4
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 800% increased Health for all enemy entities 800% increased Shield for all enemy entities 800% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. No Medium Modifiers are selected. 1 Hard Modifier is selected and applied. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+80%	$ / E	+80%	Loot	+750%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 5
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 1,500% increased Health for all enemy entities 1,500% increased Shield for all enemy entities 1,500% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Medium Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Hard Modifier is selected and applied. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+100%	$ / E	+100%	Loot	+1,000%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 6
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 3,000% increased Health for all enemy entities 3,000% increased Shield for all enemy entities 3,000% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 2 Medium Modifiers are selected and applied. 1 Hard Modifiers is selected and applied. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies. Mayhem 6 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+120%	$ / E	+120%	Loot	+1,300%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 7
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 4,500% increased Health for all enemy entities 4,500% increased Shield for all enemy entities 4,500% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. No Medium Modifiers are selected. 2 Hard Modifiers are selected and applied. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies. Mayhem 6 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+140%	$ / E	+140%	Loot	+1,600%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 8
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 6,000% increased Health for all enemy entities 6,000% increased Shield for all enemy entities 6,000% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. No Medium Modifiers are selected. No Hard Modifiers are selected. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies. Mayhem 6 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+160%	$ / E	+160%	Loot	+1,900%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 9
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 8,000% increased Health for all enemy entities 8,000% increased Shield for all enemy entities 8,000% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Medium Modifier is selected and applied. No Hard Modifiers are selected. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies. Mayhem 6 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+180%	$ / E	+180%	Loot	+2,200%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 10
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 10,000% increased Health for all enemy entities 10,000% increased Shield for all enemy entities 10,000% increased Armor for all enemy entities Modifiers Effects are completely arbitrary, although one can reroll the random number generator and get a new listing. 1 Easy Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Medium Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Hard Modifier is selected and applied. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied. Miscellaneous Additional gameplay changes. Mayhem 4 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies. Mayhem 6 exclusive items will now drop from certain enemies.
EXP	+200%	$ / E	+200%	Loot	+2,500%

Mayhem Modifiers

For the sake of keeping information clear and understandable to the reader, some effects had their description rearranged, such as removing flavor text, or grammatical structure checks. Their name, however, is kept untouched.

Easy Modifiers
Name	Special Effect
Big Kick Energy	Gun damage is increased by 25%. Recoil is increased by 100%. Weapon spread is increased by 100%.
Galaxy Brain	Enemy head size, and its hitbox, is increased by 100%.
Lootsplosion	Killed enemies have a 10% chance of a large loot drop. Critical kills guarantee this effect.
Speed Demon	On kill, movement speed is increased by 50% for 10 seconds. Can stack up to 3 times, for a total of up to 150% increased movement speed.
More Than Okay Boomer	Grenade damage is increased by 25%. Enemies drop grenade ammo on death. Chance of dropping a live grenade, injuring nearby enemies.
Slayer	When a non-boss enemy is at 15% or below on shield, armor, or health, they will glow blue. Effect fades away if any of the three is regenerated. On melee hit on a blue glowing enemy, said enemy will be dealt a gargantuan amount of damage (~32million) and are instantly defeated, dropping shield and health boosters.
Medium Modifiers
Name	Special Effect
Healy Avenger	On enemy death, a heart will spawn on top of its corpse, slowly starting to move towards an enemy. If the power-up reaches an enemy, the receiver will be healed back to 100%. The powerup can be damaged and destroyed by any weapon.
Charred Mode	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with elemental Incendiary. Affected enemies give off a red pulsing effect. If spawn as so, entity is immune to Incendiary damage and effects. On kill, a nova of said element is created.
High Voltage	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with elemental Shock. Affected enemies give off a blue pulsing effect. If spawn as so, entity is immune to Shock elemental damage and effects. On kill, a nova of said element is created.
Acid Reign	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with elemental Corrosive. Affected enemies give off a green pulsing effect. If spawn as so, entity is immune to Corrosive elemental damage and effects. On kill, a nova of said element is created.
Chilling Them Softly	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with elemental Cryo. Affected enemies give off a white pulsing effect. If spawn as so, entity is immune to Cryo elemental damage and effects. On kill, a nova of said element is created.
Totally Radical	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with elemental Radiation. Affected enemies give off a yellow pulsing effect. If spawn as so, entity is immune to Radiation elemental damage and effects. On kill, a nova of said element is created.
Mob Mentality	If an enemy is near another enemy or several, they receive the following boosts: 30% increased damage. 30% increased fire rate.
Freeze Tag	On kill, there is a chance a Cryo Orb will be spawned where the enemy died. Cryo Orbs constantly release Cryo Novas, but can be slowed down if damaged and eventually defeated, though it takes significant damage to do so. Cryo Orbs self-destruct after some time. This effect can damage both enemies and Vault Hunters.
Floor is Lava	If a Vault Hunter stands still in combat, an Incendiary elemental damage pool is created beneath their feet. What counts as "in combat" is very inconsistent, as pools may still be created for some time after clearing an area.
Pain Tolerance	On enemy hit, the injured enemy gains a 3% damage reduction against the type of damage received for 3 seconds. Can stack up to 20 times, for a total of up to 60% damage reduction.
Hard Modifiers
Name	Special Effect
Chain Gang	If an enemy is near another enemy, a damaging elemental beam is linked between them. Effect can link between several enemies.
Drone Ranger	Temporarily removed from the selection pool as per Hotfix April 30 Passive chance that enemies may spawn with a Healing Drone. The drone will support them through the course of the combat. The drones can be shot at and eventually defeated. If the original carrier is killed, it'll switch from healing target. Multiple drones can heal an individual enemy.
Pool Party	On shield, armor, and/or health depletion, enemies will fling arcing projectiles around themselves that generate damaging elemental pools. When depleted of shield, a Shock elemental pool is spawned. When depleted of armor, a Corrosive elemental pool is spawned. When depleted of health, an Incendiary elemental pool is spawned.
Laser Fare	On enemy hit, the enemy has a chance to spawn a Spinner trap. Spinner traps emit elemental damage laser beans. These can be jumped over. The Spinners can be destroyed but will take significant damage.
Boundary Issues	Temporarily removed from the selection pool as per Hotfix April 30 At close range, enemies will immediately attach a damaging elemental beam to the player, constantly damaging them. Beams will generate from defeated Anointed enemies until they are smashed.
Ticked Off	Elemental Status Effect damage against enemies is reduced by 90%.
Very Hard Modifiers
Name	Special Effect
Buddy System	Passive chance that enemies may spawn with an Invulnerability Drone, making them immune to damage until the drone is destroyed. The drone may spawn inside level geometry, making it and the enemy it is guarding unkillable.
Post Mortem	On kill, there is a chance that Death, a floating black skull entity, will spawn on the enemy's corpse. Death will slowly chase the Vault Hunter until it makes contact. On contact, the Vault Hunter is immediately incapacitated and enters Fight For Your Life mode. Death can be destroyed, although these entities are somewhat study and may prove annoying to take down in close range scenarios.
Dazed and Infused	Passive chance that enemies will spawn infused with a random elemental type. If infused, the enemy will be immune to said elemental damage type. On kill, a nova will be created of the same elemental damage type.
Rogue Lite	Fight For Your Life is disabled; Insta-death. On kill, enemies will always drop health pickups.
Not the Face	Critical Hit damage is reduced by 75%.
Holy Crit	Critical Hit damage is increased by 25%. Non-Critical Hit damage is reduced by 50%.

Changelog

June 11, 2020

• Tweaked armor, shield, and health percentages on Mayhem 7 and above.
  • Decreased Mayhem 7 from 5,000% to 4,500%.
  • Decreased Mayhem 8 from 7,500% to 6,000%.
  • Decreased Mayhem 9 from 10,000% to 8,000%.
  • Decreased Mayhem 10 from 12,500% to 10,000%.
• Added support to show Mayhem Levels on Item Cards.
• Addressed a reported concern of a crash that could sometimes occur when engaging with enemies with the Wedding Invitation with the Galaxy Brain Mayhem modifier active.

May 21, 2020

• Addressed a reported concern that dedicated drops for Wotan were not dropping in Mayhem 4

May 14, 2020

• Addressed a reported concern where Mayhem would occasionally not award cash, Eridium, or XP after death.

May 7, 2020

• Addressed a reported concern that the Mayhem modifier Galaxy Brain could sometimes cause Graveward’s loot to drop in a location the player could not access
• Addressed a bug with Mayhem Mode that led to lower than intended drop rates for all Mayhem levels.

April 30, 2020

• Adjusted the drop rate for Legendary items in Mayhem Mode.
• Adjusted the drop rates for Anointed gear in Mayhem Mode.

April 23, 2020

• Permanently updated Mayhem Mode to Mayhem 2.0.
• Addressed a reported concern that Mayhem level was not displaying correctly for clients.
• Addressed a reported concern that Mayhem Mode would remain active after resetting mission progress in TVHM.
• Addressed a reported concern that exploding enemies would sometimes not die when self-destructing with the Buddy System Mayhem Modifier.

February 20, 2020

• Addressed a reported concern that Oversphere enemies occasionally would not shoot with their optic lasers in True Vault Hunter Mode or Mayhem Mode.
• Adjusted the balance for Tony Bordel and Petunia in Mayhem Mode.

December 12, 2019

• Added numbered icons to the Mayhem Mode icon on the HUD.
• Addressed an issue where Mayhem Mode icons on the HUD would sometimes become inconsistent when adjusting difficulty.

November 21, 2019

• Mayhem 4 introduced.
• New Legendary weapons and class mods exclusive to drop on Mayhem 4.
• Tweaked Mayhem station.
  • Players will activate Mayhem through the center pillar and increase or decrease Mayhem levels by using the pillars on each side.

October 31, 2019

• The chance of receiving a weapon penalty as a Mayhem modifier will continue to be reduced at the same rate as the Mayhem on Twitch Week.
• The drop rate for Anointed gear has been increased.

October 24, 2019

• [Consoles Only] Mayhem mode is now available in True Vault Hunter Mode on Consoles.
• Added ability to specify Mayhem Mode while matchmaking.
• Fixed a reported UI issue where the Mayhem Modifier menu would sometimes not appear for certain players.

September 19, 2019

• Scaled down the amount of loot drops in Mayhem Mode.

September 13, 2019

• Release.

Notes

• Anointed gear is more likely to appear the higher the Mayhem level is.
  • On Mayhem 10, there is a 100% chance for anointed gear to spawn.

Trivia

• Several of the Mayhem modifiers are pop culture references.
  • Big Kick Energy is a play of words from "Big Dick Energy", a phrase used for doing something with full confidence.
  • Galaxy Brain is a reference to the Galaxy Brain/Expanding Brain meme.
    • Its modifier, the comical big head, is based off "Big Head Mode", a common completion reward in early 3D games.
  • Speed Demon is a reference to the 1989 single Speed Demon by the pop singer Michael Jackson.
  • More Than Okay Boomer references "OK Boomer", a catchphrase used to mock the stereotypes attributed to the baby boomer, or "Boomers", generation.
  • Slayer's name and effect are a reference to the protagonist of DOOM (2016) and its gameplay mechanic, Glory Kills.
  • Chilling Them Softly is a reference to the 1996 album song Killing Me Softly by the hip hop group Fugees.
  • Chain Gang may be a reference to the 1960 single Chain Gang by the R&B singer Sam Cooke. Otherwise, based on its literal definition.
  • Dazed and Infused may be a reference to the 1967 single Dazed and Confused by American writer Jake Holmes, although popularized by the English rock band Led Zeppelin released in 1969.
    • Otherwise, could be a reference to the 1993 comedy film of the same name, Dazed and Confused.