Mayhem Mode

Mayhem Mode is a game mode introduced in Borderlands 3. Mayhem Mode can be activated upon the completion of the main story of the game.

Characters are taken to a mysterious terminal aboard Sanctuary III that can enable four difficulty levels, from one through four. Taking on one of these Mayhem Modes ups the ante on risks and rewards across all worlds: Enemies get increased health, shields, and armor, in exchange for bonus cash, Eridium, experience points, and chances for better loot.

Mayhem Mode applies Mayhem Mods to any planet visited and can require new playstyles to be adapted in response to a random selection of modifiers. Modifiers for the current map may be viewed through the map screen.

Announced on April 21, 2020, and officially released to clients on April 23, 2020, Mayhem Mode received an overhaul, known as Mayhem 2.0. This update changed several gameplay mechanisms when playing with Mayhem Mode enabled, and replacing the entire old existing system.

Mayhem Modifications post-Mayhem 2.0 are determined when a character enters a new area for the first time. Traveling back to an area you have left does not change the mods applied to that area. One can change the Mayhem Level at any point via menu, but doing so will start an area refresh.

Mayhem 2.0 Levels

The Mayhem Mode menu, displaying information, and customization options

The Mayhem 2.0 update allows for an easier method of customization, an improved data display for the Vault Hunter to read and process the information instead of the original text menu, and to choose between 10 different levels. If not satisfied with the selected modifiers, one can simply "Reroll" and be subjected to a new random number generator for which modifiers are selected (see right-side image for reference).

Each of the Mayhem Levels will select one, none, or more of the following 4 difficulty tiers: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Very Hard.
In addition, each level will increase the durability of enemies (shields, armor, and health), while in exchange increasing the total amount of rewards given (experience, currency, and loot).

• 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
EXP	+120%	$ / E	+120%	Loot	+1,300%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 7
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 5,000% increased Health for all enemy entities 5,000% increased Shield for all enemy entities 5,000% 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. 2 Hard Modifiers are selected and applied. No Very Hard Modifiers are selected.
EXP	+140%	$ / E	+140%	Loot	+1,600%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 8
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 7,500% increased Health for all enemy entities 7,500% increased Shield for all enemy entities 7,500% 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. No Hard Modifiers are selected. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied.
EXP	+160%	$ / E	+160%	Loot	+1,900%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 9
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. No Hard Modifiers are selected. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied.
EXP	+180%	$ / E	+180%	Loot	+2,200%

Mayhem Mode					LEVEL 10
Enemy Stats These buffs will apply regardless of the selected Random Modifiers. 12,500% increased Health for all enemy entities 12,500% increased Shield for all enemy entities 12,500% 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. 1 Very Hard Modifier is selected and applied.
EXP	+200%	$ / E	+200%	Loot	+2,500%

Mayhem Modifiers

The intensity of each modifier is dependent on which Mayhem Level is selected.

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 entities.
Slayer	When an 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 harmed by weapons and killed. If the power-up is destroyed before reaching an enemy, Vault Hunters will receive bonuses.
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, their stats are increased. 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	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 shot at and eventually defeated, though it takes significant damage to do so.
Boundary Issues	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	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.
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. Amara's Guardian Angel does not function. 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%.

Trivia

• Several of the Mayhem 2.0 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 that rose in popularity in 2017.
    • Its modifier, the comical big head, is based off "Big Head Mode", a common completion reward in early 3D games.
  • Lootsplosion references one of the DLCs from Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, specifically speaking, Tiny Tina's Lootsplosion Slot Machine.
  • Speed Demon is a reference to Michael Jackson's 1989 single, Speed Demon.
  • More Than Okay Boomer references "OK Boomer", a catchphrase that gained popularity in late 2019 used to mock the stereotypes attributed to the baby boomer, or "Boomers", generation.
  • Slayer is a reference to the protagonist from the DOOM franchise, known as "The Doom Slayer".
    • Its modifier, the drop loot on melee kill, is a specific reference to DOOM (2016) and Doom Eternal's gameplay mechanic, Glory Kills.