Once players beat Borderlands 3's disappointing story and return to Sanctuary III, they will unlock a brand-new game mode: Mayhem Mode. This new feature allows players to ramp up the game's difficulty in exchange for more loot and better rewards. Players can see increases of up to 500% loot quality depending on the difficulty, which can also be combined with True Vault Hunter Mode to further increase the chance of great gear. While this new feature is a great addition to the game, certain elements of it detract from the benefits it brings.
How Does Mayhem Mode Work?
If players have had any experience with Diablo 3, then Mayhem Mode in Borderlands 3 will feel incredibly familiar. Mayhem Mode shares many similarities to Tormet in Diablo 3, where players choose to increase the difficulty of the game in exchange for better loot, money, and drop chance. There are several modifiers that can roll each time a player loads into a zone, like increased (or decreased) damage with specific gun types, elemental buffs and debuffs, and much more. There are three tiers of Mayhem Mode, and each tier comes with new modifiers and greater rewards. Anointed and Badass enemies spawn in greater numbers, making each fight much more challenging.
What Mayhem Mode Does Right
The idea behind Mayhem Mode is to give fans higher difficulty content to push for, allowing players to fine-tune builds and search for legendary and anointed gear in abundance. The tiered Mayhem system allows players to work their way up through the different tiers as players get better gear and fine-tune their builds. This adds an element of progression even into the Borderlands 3 endgame content.
Mayhem Mode can be applied during any activity, ranging from wild Borderlands 3 side-quests to boss-grinding. It acts as a world modifier which changes when players travel to different areas. The element of randomness forces players to change up playstyles on the fly, which makes for more engaging combat. An elemental build Amara will absolutely steamroll when the modifiers are in her favor, but face heavy resistance when they are against her.
The massive loot boost when playing on Mayhem 3 means legendary weapons drop frequently from high-tier enemies, even after the Mayhem Mode legendary drop rate nerf. Farming bosses and high-value targets means players are rewarded frequently for their fights, even if they are searching for specific gear. The massive boost to Eridium and Cash drop rates is also a major plus, though nothing compared to the never-ending hunt for legendaries.
Where Mayhem Mode Falls Flat
While having legendaries rain from the sky is incredibly satisfying, there are some elements of Mayhem Mode that really take some of the enjoyment out of the grind. One of the biggest complaints about Mayhem Mode is that the modifiers can often work against each other, or just flat out cancel each other out. While some modifiers, like increased health and shields, are static, there are a large number of them that are selected at random. These modifiers can even turn Borderlands 3's most powerful grenade into little more than a glorified paperweight.
Unfortunately there is nothing stopping the game from rolling "+50% assault rifle damage" at the same time as "-50% assault rifle damage" leading to a rather lackluster Mayhem run. Borderlands 3 fans are already upset with legendary drops in the game, so having that combined with a boring Mayhem mode is not helping the game's reputation. To add insult to injury for some players, if players start a New Vault Hunter Mode playthrough, Mayhem mode is not immediately unlocked, much to the disappointment of many players.
Another major complaint is that the modifiers themselves are uninteresting. Many fans want the modifiers to be more dynamic or unique. Instead of just adding "+50% melee damage", the game could instead combine that with an increased spawn of melee-oriented enemies so they too will get a buff. If a player is running a powerful Amara melee build, it would be great for them to face off against other powerful melee fighters. These changes would make Mayhem mode more dynamic and interesting. Having an elemental-focused Mayhem run would me much more insane if Nogs or Maliwan Heavies got an increased spawn rate during the run. Diablo 3 has themed rifts that players can run that revolve around certain enemies and modifiers, and while the Proving Grounds is a good start to this, combining this idea with Mayhem Mode could take the game to a whole new level.
Overall, Mayhem Mode is a great addition to the series and adds an element of randomness and difficulty to Borderlands 3's endgame content. However, the game mode could use some refinement and fine-tuning to make it a memorable and more enjoyable experience. Perhaps as Gearbox Software rolls out more Borderlands 3 DLC content, Mayhem Mode will get some updates in the process. There is certainly a good starting framework here, and hopefully Gearbox capitalizes on it to make sure Mayhem Mode helps keep Borderlands 3 alive for years to come.
Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.