BORDERLANDS 3 MOZE BUILD
LEVEL 1 TO 72 MAYHEM 11
The Ultimate BUILD Guide
This Borderlands 3 Moze build guide will get you through Moze’s full progression from level 1 to 72, as well as a few tips on how you can comfortably play at a high Mayhem tier. We’ll be providing you with clear explanations on your skill choices, gear, and progression path.
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Normal Vault Hunter Mode – Level 1 to 35
Normal Vault Hunter Mode (NVHM) is the default difficulty mode in Borderlands 3, and this is where you complete the main story for the first time. After finishing the campaign, you’ll unlock Mayhem mode, which lets you increase the difficulty in exchange for better EXP and loot drops. Throughout this period, focus on finishing the story and familiarize yourself with Moze’s gameplay.
Before we get started, I highly recommend ignoring True Vault Hunter Mode (TVHM) after completing the main questline. For Borderlands 3, late game progress is mainly facilitated by the Mayhem mechanic, though TVHM can still be useful if you need high level mission rewards.
Recommended Skills
Action Skills 1 & 2: Railgun
Augment: Capacitive Armature (for both)
Level 3: 1 Point on Security Bear
Equips Iron Bear with a bubble shield and grants it increased damage reduction. The bubble shield is not weak to any element.
Level 4-7: 4 Points on Armored Infantry
While your shield is active, gain increased gun damage and damage resistance.
Level 8-12: 5 Points on Drowning in Brass
Killing enemies will stack gun damage for both you and Iron Bear or Iron Cub while also reducing your fire rate. This effect can stack up to 3 times.
Level 13-17: 5 Points on Fire in the Skag Den
Your area damage will now deal extra fire skill damage.
Level 18-22: 5 Points on Torgue Cross-Promotion
Increases both you and Iron Bear’s area damage. This also adds a small percentage to double your area damage radius.
Level 23-27: 5 Points on Stainless Steel Bear
Increases your skill damage, max fuel, and Iron Bear health. Your Iron Bear receives twice the skill damage boost.
Level 28: 1 Point on Auto Bear
Upon exiting Iron Bear, he will stay in place for a brief moment and continue attacking nearby enemies. It will self-destruct and deal damage once the duration ends.
Level 29: 1 Point on Pull the Holy Pin
Your grenades will now have a 10% chance to crit. This is unaffected by crit damage bonuses.
Level 30-32: 3 Points on Means of Destruction
Dealing area damage has a small chance of returning a grenade or adding ammo to your magazine.
Level 33-35: 3 Points on Deadlines
Iron Bear’s weapons will now drain less fuel. Killing enemies refuels Iron Bear.
Progression route
Goal: YThe goal for NVHM is to complete the main story as quickly as possible. You don’t need to do any of the side quests unless you’re struggling to keep up with your current level, as there’s a chance that you’ll be underleveled at certain parts of the game. As for gear, you’re very unlikely to struggle due to how generous the game can be with legendary items.
Your leveling path will go something like this:
Level 1 to 30: Main story completion
- Follow the main story quests as you normally would. By starting with the orange skill tree, you’ll have a pretty beefy Iron Bear and can deal a decent amount of damage overall.
- Focus on using Torgue weapons and rocket launchers. The blue skill tree gives you tons of bonuses for area damage, making these guns incredibly powerful even if they’re of low rarity.
- If you need a good shield that works well with this explosive build, consider farming The Unstoppable on Eden-6 for a bit to try and get the Big Boom Blaster. This will help you get more use out of your grenade skills and maintain Armored Infantry’s effect.
Level 30 to 35: Starting the DLCs
- Following the main story will usually bring you around the level 30 range. Regardless of what level you have at the end of the main questline, it’s generally recommended to start the DLCs by release order. This means getting started with Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, which will also unlock a powerleveling method that you will need later on.
- If you have a Big Boom Blaster and some decent Torgue guns, you could get away with Mayhem 1 or even 2. If it proves too tough and bullet-spongey, drop out of Mayhem for the time being and continue leveling to ramp up via skills.
- The goal here is to progress through the Moxxi DLC. You can start shooting through the levels later, so just take your time and continue until around the 35 mark. Your playstyle will become more versatile in higher levels, so you won’t be sticking with explosives forever.
Best gears
Slot 1: The best Torgue weapon you can find.
Slot 2: A fast-firing backup weapon for when Torgue guns are too slow.
Shield: Big Boom Blaster
Grenade: Cloning Maddening Tracker, or any high damage grenade.
Class Mod: Anything that increases weapon DPS and/or splash damage.
Artifact: Anything that increases your DPS.
Tips for NVHM
- Don’t spend too much time farming specific items. If you can’t get what you need, like the Big Boom Blaster, then continue playing the story. You’ll be pivoting to a more versatile gear setup at higher levels.
- Crazy Earl can sell the base game’s quest rewards, but not the DLC ones.
MAYHEM MODE – Level 36 to 72
Upon completing the main story for the first time, you will unlock Mayhem mode for both your current and future characters. It’s a difficulty modifier that has up to 11 levels (technically 10). Level progression here is going to be a bit unusual and will depend a lot on your personal comfort, so there isn’t really a “rush” to reach the highest one.
Recommended Skills
Action Skills 1 & 2: Railgun
Augment: Capacitive Armature (for both)
Level 36: 1 Point on Vampyr
Grenade damage will now heal a small portion of your health. Iron Bear will also restore some of its health after dealing area damage.
Level 37: 1 Point on To the Last
You can now throw grenades while in FFYL mode. Getting a second wind this way will refund a grenade.
Level 38: 1 Point on Short Fuse
Gun damage will now have a small chance to trigger explosions, which will deal physical area damage.
Level 39-43: 5 Points on Cloud of Lead
Every 4th shot from both you and Iron Bear will not consume ammo. This also adds bonus fire damage to your shots.
Level 44-46: 3 Points on Stoke the Embers
Increases both you and Iron Bear’s fire damage.
Level 47: 1 Point on Redistribution
Critical hits will now grant health and ammo regeneration for a few seconds.
Level 48: 1 Point on Scrappy
Moving will increase your gun damage, handling, weapon swap speed, and mode switch speed.
Level 49-53: 5 Points on Scorching RPM’s
Increases your fire rate, critical damage, and skill damage. Iron Bear gets twice as much of these buffs.
Level 54: 1 Point on Specialist Bear
Equipping duplicate weapons on Iron Bear will increase their damage by 60%.
Level 55: 1 Point on Rushin’ Offensive
You can now sprint and shoot at the same time. You also have lifesteal while sprinting.
Level 56-58: 3 Points on Big Surplus
While your action skill is cooling down, you will deal extra fire skill damage on all damage dealt.
Level 59-60: 2 Points on Biofuel
Whenever an enemy is ignited by you or Iron Bear, both of you gain a few seconds of health regeneration.
Level 61-65: 5 Points on Harmonious Havoc
Increases your damage with elemental guns. Each item matching your primary element will increase this bonus.
Level 66: 1 Point on Fired Up
Whenever a status effect is applied by you or Iron Bear, you gain bonus fire rate and burst-fire delay. This stacks up to 5 times.
Level 67-69: 3 Points on Double Time
Both you and Iron Bear gain bonus movement speed while your action skill is active.
Level 70: 1 Point on Really Big Guns
Increases Iron Bear’s damage.
Level 71-72: 2 Points on Never Going to Give You Up
Whenever you or Iron Bear apply a status effect, Iron bear will gain extra fuel.
Progression route
Goal: With Mayhem unlocked, your way of leveling is mainly going to be the same as in NVHM. Continue playing through the DLCs until you are max level while periodically increasing the Mayhem levels whenever you feel comfortable doing so. Drops will scale based on the current Mayhem level, so you’re technically always a bit undergeared whenever you pump it up.
Nowadays, you can save time by briefly skipping straight to Mayhem 10 or 11 and doing the following to get powerful, albeit generic, gear:
- Get Mayhem 10/11 scaledgear by checking vendingmachines and using your goldkeys, if any.
- Tip Moxxi until she gives you a weapon scaled for Mayhem 10/11.
- The Eridian Fabricator that you get from the main story will spawn weapons scaled for Mayhem 10/11. This will cost 10 Eridium per use.
With a Mayhem 10/11 weapon, even a garbage one, or an Iron Bear with all the important skill nodes, you’ll steamroll enemies in lower tiers. If you followed my advice to progress through Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, you should have access to the Scraptrap Nest. You can repeatedly clear this for a ton of EXP, and with a relatively high Mayhem level turned on, you can quickly reach max level.
Best gears
Slot 1: Free Radical
Slot 2: Plasma Coil
Slot 3: Flipper
Slot 4: Beacon
Shield: Old God
Grenade: It’s Piss
Class Mod: Raging Bear or Flare
Artifact: Victory Rush
Once you’ve left the “explosive” phase, you’re going to find that the suggestions here allow for a more versatile playstyle. With the gear and skills listed above, Moze will be an unstoppable force in mobbing and bossing both in and out of Iron Bear. The point of this setup is mainly to have varied weapon options as you grind in higher Mayhem levels, with It’s Piss making bosses melt even faster.
The only thing of note is the choice of two different class mods. Flare is often the more consistent option when it comes to pure damage dealing, especially when you can somewhat maintain high fuel reserves with skills like Deadlines. Raging Bear, on the other hand, is the “safer” option that trades damage for more reliable refueling.
Tips for MAYHEM
- Gear scaled for Mayhem 10 is usable on lower Mayhem levels. If you’re power leveling lower tiers, grab even just a common Mayhem 10 gun before dropping the difficulty to speed up your grind.
- You can reroll anointments at Crazy Earl’s Reroll Machine for 250 Eridium per try.
- The Eridian Fabricator scales with the current Mayhem level. You do not need to reacquire it.
- If you’ve already completed the campaign, you can skip straight to the Mayhem grind with a new character.
MORE MOZE BUILDS
MOZERKER
Level 50
No DLC* • Infinite ammo
PLAYSTYLE
If you’re looking for an overpowered build that makes every boss fight and combat encounter trivial, then this level 50 build is for you. This build focuses on weapons with larger magazine sizes because Moze builds up damage stacks.
Your game plan is simple. Against normal enemies, you rarely have to call in the Iron Bear, because your rifle and shotgun will take care of most mobs. You can start off bosses with Iron Bear, and switch to her rocket launcher to quickly end the fight in seconds at times. Finally, this build is also built around using infinite ammo: by investing in skills that regenerates your ammo you won’t have to buy ammo anymore!
SOLO
This is a very strong solo build for Moze, and you won’t get more damage at level 50 other than this. Moze’s gun damage is increased tremendously, and clearing mobs is a joke. Even when going up against bosses, Moze’s unmatched damage puts them down in a matter of seconds. Her fire rate, reload speed, magazine size, and every other major gun damage stat has been substantially boosted.
COOP
Moze is one of the best additions to a team regardless of the build. With this build though, she can carry the team in most cases thanks to her ridiculous gun damage. She doesn’t need any healing support either, and her gun damage is further boosted while her health is down thanks to Desperate Measures. Killing an enemy grants her, the team, and Iron Bear a gun damage stack, which means higher overall damage output.
GEARS
Slot 1: Engulfing Shredifier
Slot 2: Arctic Tamed Night Hawkin
Slot 3: Abundant Compressing Trevonator
Slot 4: Pent-Up Quickie
Grenade: Rain Firestorm
Shield: The Transformer
MOD: Desperate Entrenched Bloodletter
Artifact: Deathless
SKILLS
High ammo is a big part of this build because we want Moze to quickly empty her magazines, and deal tons of damage while doing so.
Forge allows her to regenerate regular and launcher ammo. Some for the Road is probably the most important skill of the build because it gives Moze unlimited ammo for over 5 seconds after her action skill ends. Redistribution is another great skill that regenerates Moze’s health when she scores critical hits.
Action Skill 1: Minigun
Augment 1: Let Off Some Steam
Action Skill 2: Minigun
Augment 2: Let Off Some Steam
MOTHER MOZE
Level 50
DLC* • Iron Cub
PLAYSTYLE
Borderland 3’s DLCs add a new skill tree for each character, making Moze even more versatile than everyone else. She already has practically everything one could ask for in her toolkit, but this new tree allows her to use Iron Bear as her buddy, as the Gods of the Wasteland intended. If you like firepower and want to see Iron Bear in action alongside you, this is the build for you.
Your playstyle isn’t that complicated. Start by shooting up a few enemies, and midway through the fight, bring out Iron Cub, formerly known as Iron Bear. Now all you have to do is stay alive, and Moze’s incredible gun damage does a great job with that. Just keep an eye on your buddy and provide it support when you can.
SOLO
This is a great build for solo play, especially because it can get a little lonely in the wasteland. No, the NPCs in the comms are not substitutes for a buddy on the field. With tons of gun damage, enhanced movement speed, and fire damage for both Moze and Iron Cub, this is the perfect build to wreak havoc at level 50. Being on the move is encouraged and Rushin’ Offensive ensures you can shoot and sprint simultaneously.
COOP
Similarly, Moze is always one of the best characters to bring while you’re playing a co-op campaign. This additional tree essentially adds another unit to the team, and you can enjoy seeing a cute robot buddy set psychos on fire while Moze clears out all manner of threats. Moze’s abilities allow her to boost gun damage for the entire team, while also providing shield recharge bonuses. She doesn’t really need direct support from the team, but keeping her and Iron Cub alive should be a priority either way.
GEARS
Slot 1: Shredifier
Slot 2: Night Hawkin
Slot 3: Trevonator
Slot 4: Quickie
Grenade: Rain Firestorm
Shield: The Transformer
MOD: Desperate Entrenched Bloodletter
Artifact: Deathless
SKILLS
Redistribution grants Moze health and ammo regeneration when she lands critical hits, while Rushin’ Offensive allows her to lifesteal by 8% while she’s sprinting.
Double Time increases Moze and Iron Cub’s movement speed by over 4%, while Scrappy boosts multiple stats including Gun Damage, handling speed, and mode switch speed. Armored Infantry boosts Moze’s gun damage by over 15% while her shield is active, while also reducing damage received by 15%.
BEAR FOOT
Level 72
No DLC* • Balanced
PLAYSTYLE
Moze is an extremely powerful character, and this build focuses on balancing her utilities. So, if you like to call in your mech to destroy everything in your path, and if you just want to shoot bad guys on your own and set them on fire, this is the perfect build for you.
Her game plan is pretty straightforward. While on foot, you want to throw her grenades as much as you can while using your weapons to deal tons of damage. When Iron Bear is ready, just bring him out, and start using your action skills to practically melt health bars. This build shines no matter what you’re doing and you’ll be deleting bosses from existence without breaking a sweat.
SOLO
This is a great build for solo play, particularly because of the high damage potential both in mech and on foot. The grenade synergy is through the roof, and if you maintain a healthy amount of distance while you’re not inside the mech, there’s really no major boss or enemy that stands a chance against you. Try to score critical hits, as those activate a ton of skills, and provide a healthy amount of damage bonuses to Moze and Iron Bear.
COOP
Moze is always one of the best characters to be in a team, particularly because of Iron Bear, who servers as an additional unit altogether thanks to our investment in the Auto Bear skill. Additionally, Full Can of Whoop-Ass recharges Moze and the entire team’s shields at a +25% rate immediately as she calls Iron Bear. Moze doesn’t really need any direct support from her teammates and she’s essentially the tank.
GEARS
Slot 1: Flipper
Slot 2: Rebound
Slot 3: Convergence
Slot 4: Tigg’s Boom
Grenade: Cloning Maddening Tracker
Shield: Re-Volter
MOD: Mind Sweeper
Artifact: Re-Charger
SKILLS
Auto Bear is a great skill because it allows Moze to exit out of her Mech, and it remains on the battlefield for 15 seconds, while ultimately charging towards an enemy and self-destructing.
To the Last allows Moze to throw a grenade during Fight for Your Life, and refunds the thrown grenade when she comes back.
Redistribution and Vampyr restore her life, while Specialist Bear increases Iron Bear’s gun damage by over 60% if both weapons are identical.
Action Skill 1: Ties that Bind
Augment 1: Soul Sap
Action Skill 2: Ties that Bind
Augment 2: Soul Sap
BOOM QUEEN
Level 72
DLC* • Grenades
PLAYSTYLE
Are you tired of reading about builds that aren’t focused around grenades? Do you want the Iron Bear to be your buddy and not a machine to get into? Do you like grenades? If you answered yes to all three, then this build celebrates the concept of grenades and the beautiful destruction they cause. Moze isn’t a stranger to throwing a grenade or six, and Iron Bear isn’t afraid to take out his V-35.
The playstyle, as you can expect, revolves around throwing grenades at every opportunity you can find. We have specifically selected the MIRV-Tacular Hex grenade mod because it causes each grenade to split into 6 parts on impact. We don’t want just one explosion, we want all the explosions. Calling Iron Bear now means that it will work independently, and throw tons of grenades as well. So don’t think too much, and when in doubt, throw another grenade, and see everything crumble before your eyes.
SOLO
This is a fantastic solo build because it essentially adds another character to assist Moze. Iron Bear now works independently after you summon it, and both of you are basically lobbing grenades at things and watching them turn to dust. You want to keep a distance of course, because your weapon of choice, the Guardian Angel does more damage the farther you are from your target, which is also an ideal position to be in while lobbing grenades.
COOP
Similarly, this is a great build for co-op play as well. Moze can hang back a little, and keep throwing grenades at enemies while the rest of the team finishes enemies off. She will also summon Iron Bear from time to time, which means there’s another member of the team who’s actively shooting grenades directly at enemies, clearing the path for you and your teammates.
GEARS
Slot 1: Guardian Angel
Slot 2: Face-Puncher
Slot 3: Convergence
Slot 4: Tigg’s Boom
Grenade: MIRV-Tacular Hex
Shield: Old God
MOD: Blast Master
Artifact: Snowdrift
SKILLS
We have focused on a lot of skills that boost grenade damage, availability, and utility.
Why Can’t I Carry All These Grenades? gives you three extra grenades, Vampyr restores health when your grenades do damage, To the Last allows you to throw a grenade when you’re in Fight For Your Life, and Pull the Holy Pin allows grenades to score critical damage bonuses.
Double Time boosts Moze’s and Iron Bear’s overall movement speed, while Redistribution heals Moze for each critical hit.
Action Skill 1: Iron Cub
Augment 1: Baby Nukes
Action Skill 2: V-35 Grenade Launcher
Augment 2: Lock and Speedload
MOZE HEART
Level 72
DLC* • Versatile
PLAYSTYLE
Moze has a lot of utility available to her. She has excellent gun damage, a tree almost entirely dedicated to grenade damage, and a literal mech to assist her in battle. If you like everything about her, then this is the build for you. This build combines the best of all worlds and allows players to adapt to any playstyle.
Whether you like want to go head first with your gun, summon Iron Bear, or lob a grenade, it’s all up to you. The build makes use of skills from every single tree, which makes it super versatile. It’s recommended to experiment around and find a sweet spot for yourself, but overall, doing everything is an option, and the best one in my opinion.
SOLO
This is one of the most fun builds for solo play because you can literally make use of all of Moze’s abilities. Whether you want to hang back a bit, and burn everything in sight, or take the fight to the enemies, slide around, and deal tons of weapon and grenade damage, it’s all up to your preference. While in the Iron Bear, Moze can take out hordes of enemies without breaking a sweat.
COOP
Similarly, this is a great build to use in co-op. Moze doesn’t need any particular support from her teammates, and Auto Bear means she can keep Iron Bear active for over 15 seconds if she leaves the mech before the timer runs out. Drowning in Brass gives the entire team stacks of weapon damage, and thanks to Redistribution, Moze gets constant heals for scoring critical hits. She’s always an asset to the team, and given her damage potential, she’s essentially the tank.
GEARS
Slot 1: Free Radical
Slot 2: Plasma Coil
Slot 3: Flipper
Slot 4: Beacon
Grenade: Cloning Maddening Tracker
Shield: Old God
MOD: Flare
Artifact: Victory Rush
SKILLS
Auto Bear is one of Moze’s best skills because it allows Iron Bear to remain active independently for over 15 seconds, after which it chases an enemy and self-destructs into them.
Double Time boosts Moze and Iron Bear’s movement speed by over 12% while her action skill is active, while Short Fuse adds a 20% chance for a shot to do explosive damage.
Security Bear gives Iron Bear a shield that reduces incoming damage towards Iron Bear.
Action Skill 1: Railgun
Augment 1: Capacitive Armature
Action Skill 2: Railgun
Augment 2: Capacitive Armature
Other Borderlands 3 Character Builds
If you enjoy experimenting with different characters, you may also want to try these other Borderlands 3 builds:
Zane Operative Build
adget specialist using drones, shields, and clones to outmaneuver enemies.
Amara Siren Build
Elemental Siren powers combined with powerful melee and crowd control abilities.
FL4K Beastmaster Build
Critical-hit focused hunter fighting alongside loyal beasts.
