Perhaps the greatest challenge players can face in Borderlands 3 is defeating The Circles of Slaughter on Mayhem 10. It’s the toughest challenge on the toughest difficulty, which means a successful completion shows mastery of the game — and it's a great way to farm legendaries.
But getting to this point is no small feat. This is the toughest scenario the game can throw at players and it isn’t for the faint of heart. There are some tips players can use to make this more manageable, but it’ll be a tough slog regardless.
10 Legendaries With % Damage Increase On Action
A useful modifier to have on weapons is one that raises damage when using action skills. Having a single item with a 100% damage increase modifier for using x action is immensely helpful, and having multiple items stacked makes DPS absurd.
There’s no special trick for obtaining these items, so it’ll require a bit of farming to find a legendary with this specific modifier. Rerolling certainly helps, but the player will need to be patient. It’s definitely worth the significant damage boost.
9 Go Anoint Hunting
In addition to having the right modifier on a particular legendary item, you'll want to find one that’s also anointed. An anointed legendary is by far the most powerful version of any given item and it can come with powerful perks to aid in combat.
Obviously, it's not required to have anointed legendaries to beat Mayhem 10, but if the player finds they’re struggling this could be a viable solution. The farming requirement is no small feat, but in Mayhem 10 every point towards DPS or boost to skills and stats can pay dividends.
8 Mayhem Gear
Adding to the already absurd farming requirement is that it should be done on multiple Mayhem levels. A gun found on Mayhem 7 is significantly stronger than one found on Mayhem 6 and it’ll definitely be outclassed by the same gun on Mayhem 8.
If the player finds themselves breezing through a lower Mayhem level they can skip ahead a bit and minimize the overall grind to 10. But for The Circles of Slaughter in Mayhem 10, it’s highly recommended to have a loadout of Mayhem 10 gear.
7 Mind The Modifiers
A difficult quirk with Mayhem 10 is that the enemies (and even the environments themselves) can have modifiers altering how they function. For instance, there is a modifier that will cause the floor to be lava. This causes the player to receive damage if they stay still for too long, necessitating constant movement.
Learning these various modifiers, how they work, and the best strategy for dealing with them is necessary for beating the Circles. It will take some research and a lot of trial and error, but knowing what to expect when certain modifiers appear can go a long way toward making things more manageable.
6 Regroup Before Slaughtering The Stragglers
When the player successfully slaughters a wave there is a brief delay before the next wave is sent out. On lower levels, this brief respite is enough to prepare, but on Mayhem 10 it isn’t nearly enough time.
One way to obtain more breathing room is to intentionally leave some weaker enemies alive. While dodging around them the player can let their shields recharge, collect ammo, swap weapons around, and so on. When ready they simply need to take out the stragglers and wait for the next wave.
5 Sell Stuff To Prevent Frame Drops
On Mayhem 10 in the Circles of Slaughter the player will notice that enemies will often become piñatas holding legendary items. Between the horde of enemies and the mass of glowing legendary items, the frame rate can often dip to sluggish levels.
To avoid crashing the game or getting killed between frames it's important to clean house between rounds. It will take a while, but making sure to pick up and sell every item in the Circles will prevent frame dips from happening as often or as severely.
4 Be Patient
The enemies that appear in the Circles at Mayhem 10 will be monsters. Some of the Badasses and Anointed varieties can have health pools that number in the millions. Chipping those hit points down to zero is going to take a while.
Having a phenomenal build with strong weapons and ridiculous DPS can make things go by faster. But even with a perfect setup it still takes time. Being patient and staying focused are crucial factors in completing this war of attrition.
3 Ammo Management
Because enemies are wandering around with millions of hit points it takes a shocking number of bullets to bring them down. The player could have the perfect build and the best weapons in the game, but neither do any good if they run out of ammo halfway through the fight against these boss-like foes.
It becomes a balancing act to find ways to manage ammo without sacrificing DPS too much. Infinite ammo Mozy builds are useful and a Cutpurse artifact never hurts, but they can be a liability if the DPS isn’t high enough to keep the wave under control. Having a balance of weapon types, collecting ammo drops during combat, and restocking ammo between rounds are bare minimum requirements. Afterward, it's a matter of balancing ammo regeneration/recouping with DPS.
2 Strong Teammates
Some fans theorize that it’s possible to beat Circles of Slaughter on Mayhem 10 as a solo player, but it’s safe to say most players will want to take friends if they want to win. Having the extra firepower or at the very least a distraction can go a long way to make beating this challenge feasible.
It’s not necessary to have a team built to support each other. But having a team set up that way can also be an incredible boon to defeating the Circles faster. Four players at the same level with equivalent gear and builds will do the trick if nothing else works.
1 Master Building
More important than the right gear with the right modifiers and the right teammates is having an effective build. Synergizing skills with gear and knowing when to trigger action skills are vitally important to succeeding in Mayhem 10, let alone in the Circles of Slaughter.
Most players will start to discover around Mayhem 3 that their build isn’t working. Odds are most builds will not work on Mayhem 10 and specific builds need to be utilized. The bottom line is that tweaking, experimenting, and researching various builds will be key to taking down the final round of the Circles.