Today we are going to be taking a look at the best build for Moze in Borderlands 3.
With four (4) different Action Skill Trees to pick from – namely Bottomless Mags, Shields of Retribution, Demolition Woman, and Bear Mother – there are bound to be multitudes of unique in-game Moze builds that you are able to master throughout your journeys in Pandora.
Have trouble picking the right one that fits you?
Here’s our best pick from the whole bunch:
Table of Contents
Behold, The Damage Queen!
When it’s just too hard to decide on one particular choice, why not opt for all of them at once?
That is essentially what Moze’s Damage Queen Build is all about: maximizing Damage-per-Second (DPS) output NO MATTER which weapons you use in the game!
Shared by YouTube content creator, Kody McHugh, this specialized take on Moze offers a solution to all your dilemmas within the game.
Are you a fan of Shotguns to the face?
Not a problem with Moze anymore.
What about realizing Moze’s potential as a bomb-blasting menace?
Moze-approved!
The Damage Queen build seeks to dish out a TON of damage against all enemies and Bosses found throughout the game, irrespective of whichever weapon that you pick.
Granted, some weapons do benefit more than others from this build due to their different traits like cumulative Critical Hits or limitless Splash Damage.
Still, if you’re just looking to jump in on some mindless gun-trotting fun, opting for this build ensures that you can still enjoy playing as Moze every time you get tired of using the same weapons repeatedly during harder campaigns.
Damage Queen Moze Build
In terms of your Action Skill Trees, most of your Skill Points will be dumped into the Bottomless Mags and Demolition Woman categories.
The remaining points will then be distributed into certain Shield of Retribution skills afterward.
Here’s a peek at how the in-game Skill Trees should look like (Level 69):
Since the recent update in June 2021, the Level cap has now been increased to Level 72 which gives you 3 Skill Points to use.
You can follow Kody’s advice about using those free Skill Points on the Bear Mother Skill Tree, which can be seen here:
However, this is subjective as mentioned by him in his video, as you can easily slot in those extra points into other skills like Demolition Woman’s Vampyr (which was only set at 3/5 earlier) depending on how you’d like to play Moze.
This is one of the flexibilities that you enjoy by practicing this build, as some of the skills can be changed intermittently according to the enemies that you are expecting to face (mobs or Bosses).
Overall, if you’ve decked your cards right, here are the buffs that you are looking at in the game:
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BOTTOMLESS MAGS
- CLOUD OF LEAD, 5/5
- Bonus Incendiary Damage: +11.25%
- Every 4 shots do not consume ammo
- STOKE THE EMBERS, 3/3
- Incendiary Damage: +30%
- REDISTRIBUTION, 1/1
- Ammo Regeneration: +5% of Magazine
- Health Regeneration: up to 2.5% Missing Health / sec
- Redistribution Duration: 3 seconds
- SCRAPPY, 5/5
- Weapon Damage: +30.0%
- Handling: +37.5%
- Weapon Swap Speed: +48.7%
- Mode Switch Speed: +48.7%
- SCORCHING RPM’S, 5/5
- Fire Rate: +15.0%
- Critical Hit Damage: +20.0%
- Iron Bear Damage: +25%
- THE IRON BANK, 5/5
- Magazine Size: +35.0%
- SOME FOR THE ROAD, 1/1
- Some for the Road Duration: 5 seconds
- FORGE, 1/1
- Ammo Regeneration: +5.0% of magazine/sec
***
DEMOLITION WOMAN
- FIRE IN THE SKAG DEN, 5/5
- Bonus Incendiary Damage: +15%
- MEANS OF DESTRUCTION. 3/3
- Ammo Chance: +10.0%
- Grenade Chance: +6.0%
- TORGUE CROSS-PROMOTION, 5/5
- Splash Damage: +30%
- +15% chance to double Splash Damage Radius
- STAINLESS STEEL BEAR, 5/5
- Maximum Fuel: +20%
- Iron Bear Armor: +30%
- Iron Bear Damage: +20%
- PULL THE HOLY PIN, 3/3
- Critical Hit Chance: +30%
- VAMPYR, 3/5
- Restores +12% of missing health per enemy hit
- EXPLOSIVE PUNCTUATION, 5/5
- Action Skill Cooldown Rate: +25.0%
- SHORT FUSE, 1/1
- Secondary Explosion Chance: 20%
- Secondary Explosion Damage: 75% of Gun Damage
***
SHIELD OF RETRIBUTION
- ARMORED INFANTRY, 5/5
- Gun Damage: +15.0%
- Damage Reduction: +13.0%
- DROWNING IN BRASS, 5/5
- Gun Damage: +20.0% per stack
- Moze Fire Rate: -2.5% per stack
- Max Drowning In Brass Stacks: 3
- Drowning In Brass Duration: 15 seconds
- EXPERIMENTAL MUNITIONS, 1/1
- Bonus Incendiary Damage: +10% of Damage Dealt
***
BEAR MOTHER
- BIG SURPLUS, 3/3
- Bonus Damage: 15% of Gun Damage
***
Bear in mind (pun intended) that each of the passive abilities may hold more definition than what is mentioned here, for example:
- SOME FOR THE ROAD, 1/1
- Some for the Road Duration: 5 seconds
- Moze gains infinite amounts of ammo throughout the 5-second duration after exiting Iron Bear.
- Some for the Road Duration: 5 seconds
Hence, you will still need to identify what each of the abilities mean by checking them out yourself in the game.
Still, if you’re just looking to dive straight into the action, simply slot in those Skill Points as shown above and you’re good to go!
On a final note, here’s Kody’s Queen Damage Moze’s save file if you ever need it (PC).
The Queen’s Arsenal
When it comes to pairing your chosen passive skills with the right loadout, this Damage Queen Moze build is very easily modified depending on the circumstances and situations.
Still, these chosen items are mostly considered based on their specific intended needs for the build (may even change Action Skills if necessary, for better combo potency):
***
ANOINTMENTS
Weapon Anointments play huge roles in any character build, and those that benefit Moze the most are:
- Consecutive hits increase weapon damage
- Bonus elemental damage (after executing an Action Skill)
- Bonus Incendiary Damage (exclusively for Moze while Demolition Woman’s Auto Bear skill is active)
Preferably, equip the first two (2) Anointments because the Incendiary Damage buff is only used for a build that utilizes 1 of the 3 extra Skill Points (after the recent update to Level 72) on Demolition Woman’s Auto-Bear skill instead of Bear Mother’s Big Surplus skill.
***
WEAPONS
For this build, ANY weapon is viable to be used, albeit making just a few tweaks here and there to min-max your Moze’s potential.
Still, some favorites do come to mind:
- Unkempt Harold (Legendary)
- Exceptional for mobs.
- The basic triple projectile damage coupled with the pistol’s insane Splash Damage Radius makes this an easy pick to devastate mobs/ waves of enemies.
- Comes in various Elemental Damage versions too.
- Prompt Critical (Legendary)
- Mob-killer.
- Prompt Critical produces sticky gyrojets which increase Weapon Damage and Splash Damage Radius on the attached enemies.
- However, the mag size is typically limited, but the pistol does come in Elemental forms too.
- Kickcharger (Legendary)
- Strictly for dealing with Bosses.
- Possessing insane Weapon Damage, this Rocket Launcher usually benefits from EVEN MORE passive Weapon Damage buffs too.
- Kickcharger’s ability to pierce enemies is also lethal, while its charging requirement is conveniently supplemented by sliding too (instantly charges).
- Ion Cannon (Legendary)
- Used for wiping out Bosses.
- Offers tons of raw Weapon Damage while also being exceptionally accurate!
- Plasma Coil (Legendary)
- Universally loved for almost any engagement.
- Lightweight to handle and highly accurate, its massive mag count becomes even more ridiculous when you combine it with Moze’s abundant passive ammo skills.
***
SHIELDS
Defensive reliability is also vital to keep you in fights for longer.
Moze has the helping hand of her Iron Bear to help out during clutch moments, but that doesn’t make her any more invulnerable at all.
Here are a couple of suggested Shields recommended for this build:
- Super Soldier (Legendary)
- Gives Moze that extra initial layers of defense before her life is affected, this tremendous piece of equipment also complements the Damage Queen build through its Fire Rate, Ammo Regeneration, and Movement Speed buffs (extremely valuable!).
- Old God (Legendary)
- Another mean one, is you receive not only extra Elemental Damage but also a slight chance to dish out damage to melee attackers as well!
- Great to combine with an elemental Damage Queen setup.
- Ironclad Infernal Wish (Legendary)
- A high-risk-high reward item, Infernal Wish is the epitome of passive-aggressive play.
- Infernal Wish allows your weapon to shoot 1 additional projectile for each bullet/ shot used which is phenomenal for weapons like Assault Rifles and Sub-Machine Guns, but this can also cause YOU to burn as well (killing you if not careful).
- The Ironclad variant offers respectable shielding capabilities (+40% Capacity, -10% Max Health) which include a great Recharge Rate though.
- As mentioned earlier; high-risk, high-reward (great for Boss fights!).
GRENADE
For Boss encounters, any grenade type is acceptable for this build.
When it comes to waves of enemies and crazy Health Regen though, this particular grenade comes in handy:
- Cloning Maddening Tracker
- This grenade is capable of multiplying itself while also bouncing around enemies, detonating, and inflicting Splash Damage (damage stacks from your Skills too!).
- Another crucial benefit is its ability to hone in on nearby enemies too, increasing chances of hitting targets.
- If you’ve opted for Demolition Woman’s Vampyr skill earlier, enjoy continuous Health Regen by chucking grenades everywhere!
ARTIFACTS
Certain in-game Artifacts yield tons of potential for your Damage Queen Moze build too, with some even upping your overall Damage-per-Second (DPS) output as well.
Summarily, these are the Artifacts that you should definitely look for:
- The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge (Legendary)
- This one is destined to cause chaos, as it increases Weapon Damage after successful consecutive shots which stack at a maximum of +90% Weapon Damage (supreme for SMG users)!
- Toboggan (Legendary)
- The Toboggan item generates a protective bubble after you slide, increasing your Weapon Damage by amplifying the first shot that you make afterward.
- Victory Rush (Legendary)
- As more Badass enemy types start to hog end-game content, here is where Victory Rush shines most by providing you with increased Movement Speed and Damage after you successfully kill one.
- With their numbers becoming more frequent, you will be provided with more than enough headcounts to continue the streak indefinitely!
CLASS MODS
Exclusively for the Gunner class (Moze, obviously), these Class Mods are surely the ones that will help carry your Damage Queen build throughout most of the game later on:
- Flare (Legendary)
- For spammers of Iron Bear (good thing), this one gives up to +100% Weapon Damage while Iron Bear is on the field.
- Eternal Flame (Legendary)
- Moze has a small chance to reset her Action Skill cooldown when her enemies are ignited, which makes it easier if you are using high fire-rate weapons.
- Blast Master (Legendary)
- Unbelievable for clearing out mobs, this one promotes you to shoot sparingly because the longer Moze is not reloading her weapon, the stronger her Splash Damage becomes (up to +100%).
- However, this can work extraordinarily for you if you are using a combination of weapons and skills which help Moze possess loads of ammo in her clip, while also regenerating them consistently too (to avoid reloading).
- This ensures that the buff stays for an extended period of time, even forever!
- Mind Sweeper (Legendary)
- With this, your Critical Hits have a chance of implanting a Micro Grenade which explodes soon afterward.
- Works tremendously when you are using Assault Rifles and SMGs!
- This helps in massacring both mobs and Bosses alike with ease.
These are just some of the items which are thoroughly recommended for this particular Moze build, but you are still able to replace them with others that you might deem to be much better according to your playing methods and expectations.
The Damage Queen Moze Build is mostly a primary foundation that already works wonders by itself but offers outstanding potential to create other working strategies as well.
That’s it for our best build for Moze in Borderlands 3 guide! Hope this helped and enjoy the game!
