Elemental goddess and melee monster honestly Amara is just insane at everything, Phasegrasp locks down entire crowds and then elemental damage melts health bars faster than you can process what's happening and her melee build can literally one-punch almost anything in the game, I've been playing Amara for hundreds of hours and every time I switch to another character I just miss the raw crowd control she brings, like you Phasegrasp one enemy and the entire room stops moving and everything is linked together and one shot from a Free Radical just evaporates the whole pack, it's the kind of power fantasy that keeps you coming back and honestly I think she might be the strongest overall character in BL4 right now and stuff like that, her three skill trees give you completely different playstyles from pure elemental god to melee punch machine to action skill nuker and I'm not 100% sure which is the best for endgame but honestly they're all viable which is kind of rare in this game
Skill Trees
Mystical Assault
Action skill damage and uptime, Phasecast becomes a boss-killing nuke, and Avatar lets you use your action skill twice before cooldown. Honestly this tree is where a lot of Amara's burst damage comes from and I slept on it for way too long when I first started playing her, like I was running pure Fist of the Elements for weeks before realizing Mystical Assault doubles your Phasegrasp charges and that changes everything about how the character plays, I mean you can literally Phasegrasp twice in a row which seems like a small thing on paper but in practice it's absolutely massive for mobbing.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do Harm | Kill skill: increased action skill damage per stack | 5 |
| 1 | Fast Hands | Increased reload speed, weapon swap, mode switch | 5 |
| 2 | Violent Tapestry | Applying status effects increases status effect chance | 5 |
| 2 | Alacrity | Increased reload speed per stack | 5 |
| 3 | Transcend | Increased crit damage and accuracy on action skill hit | 3 |
| 3 | Restless | Increased action skill cooldown rate | 5 |
| 4 | From Rest | Gun damage increased after not taking damage | 3 |
| 4 | Wrath | Action skill damage converts to gun damage buff | 3 |
| 5 | Remnant | Kill creates homing orb dealing overkill damage | 1 |
| 6 | Avatar | Action skill can be used once more before cooldown | 1 |
Fist of the Elements
Elemental damage mastery, status effects spread to nearby enemies, and Sustainment gives massive lifesteal on elemental damage. This is honestly Amara's best tree and where most of your points should go for any build that isn't pure melee, the lifesteal alone makes it worth rushing down to the capstone and I've survived so many situations that would've killed any other character just because elemental damage was constantly topping off my health bar, it's kind of broken tbh and I wouldn't be surprised if they nerf it at some point.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anima | Increased status effect damage and duration | 5 |
| 1 | Steady Hands | Increased weapon handling and accuracy | 3 |
| 2 | Infusion | Converts portion of weapon damage to action skill element | 5 |
| 2 | Illuminated Fist | Increased melee damage, melee converts to action skill element | 1 |
| 3 | Wildfire | Status effects spread to nearby enemies | 5 |
| 3 | Indiscriminate | Phasegrasped enemies reflect bullets to nearby enemies | 3 |
| 4 | Deep Well | Increased magazine size with elemental weapons | 1 |
| 4 | Catharsis | Enemy death triggers elemental nova matching status effect | 3 |
| 5 | Sustainment | Elemental damage returns life to Amara | 1 |
| 6 | Forceful Expression | Guns deal bonus elemental damage based on action skill element | 1 |
Brawl
Melee and survivability, Face-puncher scales with melee damage, Blitz is a melee dash, and Guardian Angel gives a free second life. You get the idea, this is the tree for punching things and not dying while doing it, and honestly the melee build is one of the most fun ways to play Amara even if it's not the strongest for optimal farming or whatever.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Personal Space | Increased gun damage at close range | 3 |
| 1 | Clarity | Constant health regen, stronger after action skill | 5 |
| 2 | Arms Deal | Increased splash damage, splash damage resistance | 5 |
| 2 | Root to Rise | Increased max health | 5 |
| 3 | Samsara | Action skill hit grants gun damage and health regen stacks | 5 |
| 3 | Helping Hand(s) | Action skill use gives damage reduction | 5 |
| 4 | Mindfulness | Taking damage increases movement speed, stacks | 3 |
| 4 | Find Your Center | Increased melee damage, melee range | 1 |
| 5 | One With Nature | Increased max health and elemental damage resistance | 3 |
| 6 | Guardian Angel | Fight For Your Life triggers immediate Second Wind | 1 |
Best Amara Builds
Ties That Bind Phasegrasp - Mobbing Queen
Phasegrasp links enemies together so damage to one is shared to all, you clear entire rooms with a single Phasegrasp plus a shot and it's the most satisfying thing in the game I'm not even kidding, I've cleared entire Slaughter Shaft rounds with like three Phasegrasps and my teammates just standing there like what just happened, the damage multiplication gets genuinely stupid at high Mayhem levels because Ties That Bind shares basically all of the damage to every linked enemy and when you combine that with Indiscriminate bullet ricochet the math just breaks and everything dies in one pull and it's honestly hilarious to watch
For this build you want Fist of the Elements as primary to get Sustainment and Forceful Expression, then Mystical Assault secondary for Avatar which gives you double Phasegrasp use which is honestly mandatory for uptime, action skill is Phasegrasp with Ties That Bind and Stillness of Mind augments, class mod Phasezerker massively boosts action skill damage and cooldown, shield Re-Volter with ASS anoint or Old God, artifact Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge, and weapons you want Free Radical Plasma Coil Reflux Flipper, basically anything with chain damage or splash because Ties That Bind spreads it to everything linked and it's just chaos in the best way and stuff
Melee Blade Witch
Face-puncher shotgun scales with melee damage so you stack melee bonuses to literally one-shot everything, and Guardian Angel gives infinite Second Winds which is kind of hilarious for survivability, I remember the first time I one-punched a badass at Mayhem 10 and just staring at the screen in disbelief like did that really just happen, I'm still not entirely sure how the math works but it works and that's what matters
Primary tree is Brawl to get Guardian Angel and Find Your Center, secondary Fist of the Elements for Illuminated Fist which converts melee to element, action skill Phaseslam with Fracture, class mod Muse or Stone, shield Stinger for melee novas or Brawler Ward for +300% melee on break, artifact Unleash the Dragon for incendiary melee DOT or Static Charge, weapons you want Face-puncher which scales with melee damage and that's honestly the most important interaction to understand for this build, Psycho Stabber for +340% melee, and Guardian 4N631
Elemental Ricochet
Indiscriminate combined with Ties That Bind means bullets chain between Phasegrasped enemies and it's beautiful chaos, Reflux SMG chains lightning on crit and with this setup you're just watching lightning bounce around the entire screen and everything is dying and you don't even have to aim, maybe it's not the highest theoretical DPS but it's definitely the most visually satisfying build in the game imo
Primary Fist of the Elements with Indiscriminate Sustainment and Forceful Expression, secondary Mystical Assault for Avatar, action skill Phasegrasp with Ties That Bind, class mod Spiritual Driver where speed equals gun damage which is perfect for this elemental build, shield Old God matching element or Re-Volter, weapons Maliwan for double element coverage Torgue for splash and Reflux for the chain lightning goodness and stuff like that
Best Weapons for Amara
| Weapon | Type | Synergy | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face-puncher | Shotgun | Scales with melee damage, 14 pellets of melee | Hyperion |
| Free Radical | Pistol | Shock splash, melts shields, TTB spreads damage | Maliwan |
| Reflux | SMG | Corrosive, crit chains, Indiscriminate + TTB synergy | Hyperion |
| Flipper | SMG | 9 projectiles, splash, triggers Sustainment life steal | Maliwan |
| Plasma Coil | SMG | Highest DPS SMG, shock/radiation | Maliwan |
| Unkempt Harold | Shotgun | 7 splash projectiles, Ties That Bind spreads splash | Torgue |
Amara Leveling Guide
Okay so starting out you want Fist of the Elements with Anima and Infusion for early elemental damage, this gives you a damage type advantage immediately and makes the early game way smoother and honestly the first ten levels fly by with this setup. Then around the mid-levels go into Mystical Assault for Fast Hands and Restless so your action skill uptime improves, you'll notice Phasegrasp coming back faster which is huge for survivability and the cooldown reduction is way more noticeable than it looks on paper tbh. After that rush Fist of the Elements capstone Forceful Expression or at least reach Indiscriminate because that's when the build really starts to pop off and you'll feel the power spike immediately and probably start laughing at how fast things die. In the later levels you can either go Brawl for melee or Mystical Assault for Avatar double-action-skill and both work great just depends on your preferred playstyle or whatever, I kind of lean toward Avatar because double Phasegrasp is just too good to give up. And for Mayhem levels Ties That Bind Phasegrasp is the strongest mobbing build in the game not even an exaggeration, you'll see streamers running this setup for a reason and once you try it you'll understand why everyone recommends it, I've experimented with so many builds across all four characters and nothing clears rooms faster than a properly geared Amara with Ties That Bind it's honestly not even close and I've probably spent way too many hours confirming that but here we are