Mayhem Mode

Pre-Mayhem 2.0 UI

“

"Any paradoxes, or reality-leaks should either resolve themselves, or we will all be obliterated before we can feel too much pain. Sounds fun, doesn't it? I call it "Mayhem Mode"." — Tannis introducing the Vault Hunter to Mayhem Mode.

”

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.

Overview

The Mayhem Mode menu, displaying information, and customization options

Once enabled by either of the two aforementioned methods, although do note that if playing on multiplayer, only the lobby host can toggle the Mayhem Mode configuration, Mayhem Mode will offer ten difficulty levels, with each having a number of modifiers.

Semi-random modifiers determine each level's particulars, subject to limited control by the "reroll" command. Rerolling one level will reroll the entire pool across all levels. Changing levels, joining another player's Mayhem Mode lobby, or logging off the game will not reroll the modifiers. Rerolling modifiers or changing Mayhem levels requires a reload of the area if not aboard Sanctuary III.

These modifiers are separate for each level and can be rerolled at any time via the Mayhem menu tab. Modifiers will remain permanent for each character's save file until they are changed.

Effects

As the Vault Hunter goes higher up the ladder, each level increases the difficulty of the modifiers (from Easy to Very Hard), and total selection amount of modifiers (from 1 up to 4).

All opponents receive:

• Increased body durability (SP, AP, and HP).
• Increased vehicle durability (applies to Vault Hunter's vehicles as well)
• Mayhem-exclusive buff/nerf modifiers.

While enemies receive increased durability, enemies' damage to players is not increased, barring any applicable modifiers. This can lead to some disparity between player-to-enemy damage ratios, most noticeably with Anointed enemies.

Rewards and Gameplay

In exchange, Vault Hunters receive:

• Increased combat experience and currency.
• Increased damage stats.
  • Melee, vehicle, slide, and slam damage scaling based on the Mayhem level.
  • Skills and pet damage scaling based on the Mayhem level.
• Increased drop rate of higher rarity items.
• Increased drop rate of Anointed items.
• Mayhem Gear.

Mayhem Gear

Mayhem Mode, together with the aforementioned rewards and buffs, will now offer a unique stats for equipment obtained while playing in Mayhem Mode, known generally as "Mayhem Gear".

Mayhem Gear does not add unique new effects as the Anointed item bonuses, but instead a passive buff that increases the proficiency of items. E.g. firearms will have increased damage, and class mods will also have increased damage.

This is not limited to stats, however. Mayhem Mode does introduce unique new items that will only spawn on higher Mayhem Mode levels. E.g. the Kaoson, a submachine gun dropped exclusively by Captain Traunt in Mayhem 6 or higher.

In a summary, Vault Hunters gain the following rewards:

• Enemies will now drop Mayhem Mode exclusive items on Mayhem 4 and Mayhem 6, or higher.
• Weapons will now drop with Mayhem Gear buffs; the higher the Mayhem level is that the item was obtained from, the higher its buffed stats.

Mayhem 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
• Medium
• Hard
• Very Hard

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%. This also enlarges the heads of Vault Hunters and allied NPCs.
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 25, 2020

• Added Mayhem Level damage scaling to melee, slide and slam.
• Added Mayhem Level skill damage scaling.
• Added Mayhem Level pet damage scaling.
• Added Mayhem Level vehicle damage scaling.
• Added Mayhem Levels to Grenade Mods.
• Updated several passive skills to properly respect Mayhem Level damage.
• Added skill damage as a rollable stat on Class Mods.
• Enabled all sources of loot to spawn Mayhem Gear.
• Changed damage source for Remnant, Short Fuze, Indiscriminate, Do unto Others, and Ties that Bind to address that they "double dip" and scale inappropriately at higher Mayhem levels.
  • As a result of this change, players will notice that Ties that Bind will not scale properly with Action Skill damage. This is a temporary fix that will be addressed in a future update.
• Vehicles now scale damage uniformly instead of just against non-vehicles.
• Addressed a reported concern where splitscreen players could sometimes not scroll through the Mayhem 2.0 modifier list.
• Addressed a reported concern where Mayhem Modifier Drone Ranger Healing Drones sometimes did not replicate position smoothly for clients.
• Addressed a reported concern where the tether from the Boundary Issues Mayhem modifier would sometimes persist after enemies died.
• Addressed a reported concern where the Mayhem vehicle damage scalars sometimes did not apply when players were in gunner seats.
• Addressed a reported concern where the Laser Fare Mayhem modifier would sometimes generate new laser beams when it took damage.
• Added the ability for Digi-Clone and Iron Bear to support damage scaling.

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.

Tips

• The higher the difficulty, the more encouraged it is for the character to always carry an ammo-on-melee resupply artifact due to the nature of damage sponges.
• Character health and shield capacity do not scale in the same way that weapon damage does with the mayhem level. This is a double-edged sword: it becomes much easier to be Crippled from self-inflicted damage, but damage-based healing effects such as life steal become much more effective.
• Be cautious around Anointed enemies; due to the massive increases of durability stacking of Mayhem with the already spongy Anointed enemies, it can lead to some tedious, long-lasting conflicts.
• Some modifiers are not recommended to ever use, and to simply reroll for a better listing:
  • Freeze Tag deploys a high shield points entity that constantly chases the character and triggers cryo novas. This can easily interfere and bring doom to any Vault Hunter that wasn't able to sprint away from danger.
  • Floor is Lava punishes players for playing it slow and safe, which is what players will need in order to have control of a fight, or even trying to regenerate health and shields.
  • Pain Tolerance punishes for up to 60% damage reduction on damage-per-second weapons, giving a serious punch to automatic weaponry items.
  • Rogue Lite removes the chance of getting a Second Wind, restarting all progress for boss fights.
  • Holy Crit heavily increases the durability of enemies, at the cost of a minimal critical damage boost. While it may sound efficient, some enemies are hard to get a critical hit on, thus making them unnecessarily tougher.

Notes

• The Slayer 'glory kill' effect may trigger at around 15% to 50% HP remaining.
  • As the Face-Puncher does melee damage, it can be used to trigger Slayer's effect.
• All Mayhem-spawned enemies, such as Healy Avenger, Laser Fare, or even Post Mortem, will see their durability increased as well.
• Chilling Them Softly and Dazed and Infused enemies with the cryogenic effect are not immune to being frozen using Zane's Brain Freeze.
• Laser Fare turrets' lasers can go through walls, but not Zane's Barrier.
• 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.
  • Rogue Lite is a reference to the roguelike genre of RPG games, which typically feature high difficulty and permanent character death.
  • 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.