Borderlands 3 Amara build guide: Best Siren builds

The best builds for Phasegrasp, Phasecast, and Phaseslam

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / 2K

Amara the Siren is the only playable Siren in Borderlands 3 , and with her trio of explosive and spectacular powers, she certainly lives up to the Sirens’ fearsome reputation.

In this Borderlands 3 Amara build guide , we’ve laid out the top-tier builds that you can use in the base game to get the most out of this no-nonsense powerhouse: one for Phasecast , one for Phaseslam , and one for Phasegrasp .

On this page:

• Phasecast & Gun Damage Amara build
• Phaseslam & Melee Damage/Close Range Amara build
• Phasegrasp & Crowd Control Amara build

Borderlands 3 Amara build guide

With an Amara build , as with the other Borderlands 3 characters, there’s a lot of scope for customisation. With each of her three main skill trees you can push for different things.

An extra skill tree is also available in the Ultimate Edition, but for this guide we’ll focus on creating the best Amara builds utilising the following skill trees found in the base game:

• Mystical Assault focuses on maintaining consistent high damage throughout a fight. Amara builds that use this tree often rely on building stacks of Rush to further augment her Action Skill and Gun damage.
• Fist of the Elements is all about status effects and elemental damage . Amara builds focusing on FotE will have great crowd-control and elemental strength.
• Brawl is for punching things really hard. Close-range prowess and very high melee damage are the benefits of upgrading the Brawl skill tree.

The below builds each focus on a single skill tree and Action Skill ( Phasecast, Phasegrasp, or Phaseslam ) - and therefore a different playstyle. As well as providing a detailed walkthrough of each build, I’ve also included a cheat sheet of the skill trees and skills acquired, as well as stars to indicate which skills would be particularly good to augment with Class Mods.

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If you need a bit of a primer on the Borderlands 3 characters, how classes work, that sort of thing - look no further than our Borderlands 3 characters & skill trees guide. If not, let’s skip right ahead to the Amara builds !

Borderlands 3 Amara build -Phasecast & Gun Damage. Click to view at higher resolution!

Phasecast & Gun Damage (Borderlands 3 Amara build)

• Primary Skill Tree: Mystical Assault
• Build Focus: High Gun Damage & Action Skill Damage; Versatile Playstyle
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Wrath (Highly Recommended), Restless, From Rest, Laid Bare

This Phasecast/Mystical Assault-centric Amara build is designed to strike a balance between Gun, Elemental, and Action Skill damage. Many Amara players will gravitate towards a very strong focus on melee and close range prowess (and we’ll cover that with our next build), but this build provides a level of versatility that allows you to play at whatever range you want, with whatever guns you want.

You can start your journey by investing in the Brawl skill Personal Space , just to give you some damage potential early on - but then you’ll want to go hard on building up your blue skills. Tier 4 of Mystical Assault is the icing on the cake, because all three skills (particularly Wrath ) are sublime for upping your damage potential (even more so if you overcharge them with a good class mod!).

After completing Tier 4 of Mystical Assault (and picking up the absolutely fantastic Reverberation Action Skill), you should head back to Fist of the Elements and build that up with Infusion and Tempest , until you unlock Allure . Then head back and finish off the Mystical Assault tree by unlocking Avatar .

Hopefully now you can see the synergy we’re putting together. An extremely powerful Phasecast which increases in damage the more enemies you hit; it creates a singularity which pulls enemies closer; and once you have Avatar, the blue skill tree capstone, you can use your Phasecast twice in quick succession to absolutely obliterate everyone caught in the singularity. And then you’ve got some absolutely diabolical gun damage with which to finish off those who somehow weren’t disintegrated by your Sirenly powers.

Borderlands 3 Amara build -Phaseslam & Melee/Close Range. Click to view at higher resolution!

Phaseslam & Melee Damage (Borderlands 3 Amara build)

• Primary Skill Tree: Brawl
• Build Focus: Extreme Close Range/Melee Damage; High Survivability
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Personal Space (Highly Recommended), Jab Cross (Highly Recommended), Samsara, Tempest

Okay, okay, I hear ya. It’s Amara. Amara likes to punch things. And so do you. Well then, this build is most certainly for you.

It’s pretty easy to see which skill tree you’ll want to invest in for a close-range Amara build: Brawl covers everything from extra gun damage based on your proximity to an enemy to just straight up doubling your melee damage. Your first port of call is most definitely Personal Space , which you should level up to max before you move onto anything else. After that you can start to pick from the skills to either side ( Root To Rise and Clarity ) to improve your tankiness, because you’ll need it if you’re always dashing straight towards the enemy.

Keep upgrading through Brawl, and pick up the Revelation Action Skill Effect/Augment once you’ve unlocked it, because that’ll give your Phaseslam a nice damage boost thanks to its Nova effect. Vigor we’re not so worried about, but upgrade pretty much everything else in the tree to maximum until you reach the Blitz capstone, which is where you really start to become overpowered (pfft, as if you weren’t already).

Once you’re satisfied with your Brawl tree, it’s time to round off your build with a few pickups from the orange tree: Anima and Tempest will give you greater power with elemental damage and status effects, while Illuminated Fist will up your melee damage even higher and convert it to your Action Skill element. Punchy punchy.

This is an extraordinarily powerful Amara build for getting up close and personal, and eviscerating enemies with your bare hands. It’s a good build whichever element you’re using, but Shock is particularly effective thanks to the extra buff given to it by Tempest.

Borderlands 3 Amara build -Phasegrasp & Crowd Control. Click to view at higher resolution!

Phasegrasp & Crowd Control (Borderlands 3 Amara build)

• Primary Skill Tree: Fist of the Elements
• Build Focus: Huge CC potential; Phasegrasp spam; fantastic team build
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Indiscriminate (Highly Recommended), Wrath (Highly Recommended), Tempest, Conflux, Transcend

Phasegrasp is probably the lesser used of Amara’s three Action Skills. Phaseslam and Phasecast are much flashier and their immediate and high damage potential makes them a little more enticing. But with this CC-centric Amara build, you’re likely to have more fun with Phasegrasp than any of them.

This time we’re putting absolutely nothing into Brawl, because we want to get fairly far down both the other skill trees. Start along Fist of the Elements with Infusion and Tempest (and the Soulfire perk to boot), which will give you a very nice damage boost for the early game. After this you’ll want to beeline straight to the fourth row of Fist of the Elements, where you’ll pick up both Indiscriminate and the Ties That Bind Action Skill.

This is central to our plan with this Amara build. The idea is that you target the biggest and most dangerous enemy in a group, and Phasegrasp them, before blitzing them with your gun(s) until both they and everyone around them is nothing but a collective pile of vaguely sorrowful ash and bones. Because with these two pickups of Indiscriminate and Ties That Bind , you’ll be dealing a tonne of damage to everyone else while you’re peppering the enemy held in your grasp.

After this core is established, you basically just want to up your damage potential (both elemental and straight up gun damage), with pickups such as Conflux and Anima in the orange tree, and Transcend and Wrath in the blue tree. By upgrading the Mystical Assault tree you can also unlock the Stillness of Mind augment, which will add further crowd-control magnificence to the build by phaselocking all those near the enemy you Phasegrasp.

This is a flashy and enormously enjoyable Amara build that allows you to feel truly godlike as you eviscerate whole groups of enemies at once. You’ll need to back it up with some decent weaponry (particularly fast-firing weapons such as SMGs and Assault Rifles), but if you’re looking for a playstyle for Amara that’s a little more methodical and tactical than “leap in and punch everything”, or a great build to use for team play with your friends, then it doesn’t get much better than this.

And with that, we’ll conclude our Borderlands 3 Amara build guide. Hopefully one of the above builds suits your playstyle down to a T - and if not, you’ll at least have gained a better idea of how to go about creating your own unique build for Amara the Siren.

If you need more help with Gearbox’s looter shooter, then we’ve got you covered. Check out our pages on the Borderlands 3 Shift Codes , the game’s Legendary weapons and our weapons guide . We’ve also got other build guides for FL4K , Moze and Zane .

Borderlands 3

PS4 , Xbox One , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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