Amara – the Siren

Amara is a playable Vault Hunter in Borderlands 3 and one of the few Sirens in the Borderlands Universe. She is a confident, capable brawler with the ability to summon ethereal fists. Amara uses her mystical Siren powers to smash her enemies.

Background

A hero born in the slums of Partali, Amara is most at home on the battlefield or in a brawl. Never content to stand idly by, she uses her Siren abilities to smash oppressors and dismantle her foes. While in her Phasetrance, she channels her Siren energy to form powerful arms that can shoot blasts of force or crush enemies in their grip. Brash, aggressive, and self-assured, Amara doesn’t let anything stand in her way.

Gifted with powerful Siren abilities, Amara is a renowned champion of the people and bonafide badass. Using her action skills she can Phaseslam the ground to damage nearby enemies and knock them into the air, Phasegrasp enemies in place with a giant ethereal fist, or even Phasecast an astral projection of herself that deals damage to everything in its path.

Action Skills

Amara’s Action Skills are Phaseslam, Phasegrasp, Phasecast, and Phaseflare. She can augment the attuned Elemental Damage and Interactions of her Action Skills in her Skill Trees.

Phaseslam

Phasecast

Phasegrasp

Phaseflare

Skill Trees

Amara’s Skill Trees have various augments, one for the Tree’s Action Skill itself, one that adds a unique interaction, and one for the elemental damage. You can mix and match augments from the various Skill Trees to create powerful synergies.

Green Skill Tree: Brawl

The Brawl Skill Tree is focused on that fast-paced, close-up combat.  You will find skills that boost your melee and movement speed. Some skills cater to your survivability that will keep you in the fight. You can even pick up a get out of jail free card as it will instantly revive you if you go down into fight for your life mode. The capstone skill provides you with a melee override that will let you do short dash attacks.

• Element: Converts Amara’s Action Skill to Corrosive Damage.
• Action Skill: Amara summons a handful of fists that erupt from the ground, dealing damage to enemies in front of Amara.
• Augment: Amara’s Action Skill now creates a Nova when it damages enemies, dealing damage to all nearby enemies. This Skill Receives Mayhem Scaling.
• Action Skill: Amara leaps into the air and shoots an Elemental Beam below her briefly, followed by a Slam.
• Augment: Enemies damaged by Amara’s action skill become confused and temporarily attack their allies. However, the Action Skill Cooldown is increased. If Amara targets an enemy with Phasegrasp, enemies near the Grasped target are confused as well.

Blue Skill Tree: Mystical Assault

The Mystical Assault skill tree sets you up with a stacking mechanic. Getting ‘Rush‘ stacks will provide you with various boosts to really increase your effectiveness.  By killing enemies or using elemental weapons, you can build up those stacks. Down the skill tree, you can double down on this mechanic. The capstone will also let you use your action skill a second time without having to wait for the cooldown.

• Augment: A portion of all damage dealt by Amara’s Action Skill is returned to her or a nearby ally as health.
• Action Skill: Amara sends forward an Astral Projection of herself, dealing damage to everything in its path. Astral Projection deals increased damage for every enemy it hits.
• Augment: Enemies damaged by Amara’s action skill become phaselocked until they are damaged or the duration ends. However, Action Skill Cooldown is increased. If Amara targets an enemy with Phasegrasp, enemies near the Grasped target are phaselocked.
• Action Skill: Amara sends forward an Astral Projection of herself, dealing damage to everything in its path. Whenever Amara’s Astral Projection hits an enemy, it releases homing Elemental Projectiles that trigger her Action Skill Elemental Effect on enemies.
• Action Skill: Amara sends forward an Astral Projection of herself. When it hits a target, it explodes, damaging all nearby enemies.

Red Skill Tree: Fist of the Elements

The Fist of the Elements skill tree lets you double down on the elemental damage of your weapons and action skill. You can pick up skills that let you spread your elemental damage across the battlefield.

• Element: Converts Amara’s Action Skill to Fire Damage.
• Action Skill: Amara summons a giant first that bursts from the ground and locks the targeted enemy in place for a few seconds. Whenever the Grasped enemy is killed, up to 3 new targets can be sought out and Grasped.
• Augment: Amara’s Action Skill creates singularities that pull in enemies.
• Action Skill: Amara summons a giant fist that bursts from the ground and locks the targeted enemy in place for a few seconds. Enemies near the Grasped target are linked, and any damage dealt to a linked target is shared between all other linked targets.
• Action Skill: Amara summons a giant fist that bursts from the ground and locks the targeted enemy in place for a few seconds. After grasping the targeted enemy, large fists appear and constantly smash the area, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

Purple Skill Tree: Enlightened Force

Amara’s Fist of the Elements Skill Tree lets you double down on the elemental damage of your weapons and action skills. You can pick up skills that let you spread your elemental damage across the battlefield.

• Action Skill: Instead of dealing Splash Damage to enemies, Amara’s Orb grants nearby allies Health Regeneration. Amara can also melee the Orb to send it to a downed ally, granting them a Second Wind.
• Element: Converts Amara’s Action Skill to Cryo Damage.
• Action Skill: Amara summons an Orb of Elemental Energy that deals constant elemental damage to nearby enemies. When you melee the Orb, it will fly forward towards an enemy and damage them, which also increases the amount of Overall Damage the Orb deals to enemies. Additionally, the Elemental Orb continually fires Elemental Projectiles at the last enemy Amara damaged. Pressing the Action Skill Button again causes the Orb to return to Amara.
• Augment: Whenever Amara kills an enemy with her Action Skill, she gains increased Action Skill Cooldown Rate until she activates her Action Skill again.
• Action Skill: Amara summons an Orb of Elemental Energy that deals constant elemental damage to nearby enemies. Whenever Amara damages an enemy, the Elemental Orb automatically travels to that enemy. Whenever Amara kills an enemy, the Elemental Orb gains Increased Damage. Pressing the Action Skill Button causes the Orb to return to Amara.

Note: The Enlightened Force Skill Tree is part of the Designer’s Cut DLC

Check out Amara’s full skill trees for a deep dive on all her skills.

Notes

• Passive Bonuses: Amara can benefit from Gun Damage and Action Skill cooldown bonuses.
• Shield: Amara has a lot of survivability with her “Sustainment” and “Mindfulness” Skills. Look for shield components that add to your play style.

Trivia

• Voice Actor: Zehra Fazal
• Character Artist: Amanda Christensen
• Character VFX: Joseph Joyal
• “Looks like a butterfly, stings like a bee. That’s Amara,” – says Creative Director Paul Sage at E3 2019
• Amara’s abilities and traits are influenced by South Asian culture.
  • Amara’s Siren arms perform Mudras (symbolic gestures) when active.
  • Amara mentions that she is fond of the color gold, which is also the symbol of the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi and is considered highly auspicious, during “Going Rogue” quest.
  • Amara responds with the phrase “nay bhae (নাই ভাই)” during the “Raiders of the Lost Rock” quest, which translates to “no brother” in the Bengali language.
• Amara ironically notes that her name means Deathless on 37 worlds and is a hair conditioner brand on 8 worlds.
• Amara has been referenced as “the Tiger of Partali” or “the Tiger” by other characters.
• Amara’s arms and tattoos will match the elemental damage type of her action skill.
• Amara mentions that her favorite thing about Tyreen Calypso is her tattoos, which she thinks are “kinda hot”, during the “Pandora’s Next Top Mouthpiece” quest.
• Amara mentions she has siblings during the “Sisterly Love” mission.
• Multiple articles state that:
  • Amara is in her late twenties.
  • She is loyal to other Sirens and greets them well.
  • She was married at one point, but chasing fame was her real love, however, she is keeping her romantic options open.
  • She likes people who want her autograph (and dislikes those who don’t), defending the poor and underserved, confrontations, and punching things.
  • She dislikes people who say no to her and has no time for politics or nation-building.

Additional Resouces

• My first hands-on impression of Amara during the reveal event.
• Amara’s Cosplay Guide
• Amara’s Echo Log From Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary