Welcome to the Mayhem Berserker Build Guide! This build revolves around maintaining a permanently enraged state, maxing out Attack and Movement speed and dealing consistent big bursts of damage. No matter the situation Mayhem will be constantly dishing out massive damage.
Outside of that, this build provides great Stagger and Destruction to the party. The main things to watch out for are his lack of mobility and unique Health mechanic where he is permanently locked at 25%. This can be very disorientating for new players as you may always feel that you are at risk of a lethal blow.
- Non-positional gameplay
- Easy to learn
- Low APM
- Poor mobility
- Melee
Want a more burst focused playstyle? Check out our Berserker's Technique guide.
Builds
Raids
Chaos DungeonsNeed some tips for general content? Check out our Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides.
- Overdrive is our highest damage skill.
- Finish Strike is our second highest damage skill and has Destruction.
- Hell Blade and Sword Storm are bonus damage skills.
- Brave Slash and Tempest Slash are bonus damage skills with additional Destruction.
- Red Dust is your primary self-buff skill and Synergy from Damage Amplification.
- Chain Sword is a bonus minor self-buff with a Counter.
- Berserk Fury is your Awakening. It is preferred for it having decent damage, Stagger, and Destruction.
Alternative Skill, Tripod, and Rune Options
Chain Sword can be swapped for Mountain Crash, using Damage Amplification, Vital Point Hit, and Purify.
- This does roughly the same thing at the cost of more skill points, it is a great alternative if you do not like using Chain Sword as a Counter.
Brave Slash
- Quick Prep can be leveled by dropping Tempest Slash Quick Prep. This is functionally the same thing, however Brave Slash is already synced to your rotation without this making it mostly unnecessary.
Red Dust
- Red Wave can be leveled by dropping Tempest Slash Quick Prep. This is a very minor damage increase, however, it is generally not recommended since you can have the lower cooldown on a Destruction skill.
Check the Rune Guide for more details on Runes and how to obtain them.
This build is optimized and meant to be used only in Chaos Dungeons. For Ebony Cube please use a Raid build.
- Finish Strike, Hell Blade, and Overdrive are your best elite and boss killing skills.
- Whirlwind, Tempest Slash, Brave Slash, and Sword Storm are your best skills for dealing with mobs.
- Red Dust is your self-buff skill that increases overall damage.
- Chain of Vengeance is your Awakening. It provides amazing area of effect and one shots anything including bosses.
Recommended Engraving Setup
Acquiring additional engravings leads to a faster clear potential, but the build can perform quite well with the bare minimum.
Minimum requirements
- Preemptive Strike causes your attacks to deal immense amounts of damage to monsters that you haven't attacked yet, making it ideal for Chaos Dungeons.
- Mayhem is an amazing engraving to help speed up Chaos Dungeons.
Additional engravings
- Contender is a stacking Attack Power effect that increases in strength once you kill a monster, making it ideal for Chaos Dungeons.
- Raid Captain provides damage based on your Bonus Movement Speed, synergizing well with the Buff Nodes scattered throughout Chaos Dungeons.
Gameplay & Skill Rotation
This entire build revolves around being permanently in Burst Mode (Z) thanks to Mayhem.
Activating his identity grants you the following effects while in Burst Mode (Z).
- 16% Damage Increase
- 15% Attack and Movement Speed Increase
- 72% Damage Reduction
- Health is locked to 25% Maximum
- -60% Healing Received
- -75% Shielding Received
Berserker Identity
You are focused on a high uptime playstyle, always trying to unload your damage rotation at any moment you can. This build brings great Stagger and Destruction to the team and performs exceptionally well. It is important to always land your Red Dust to get the full buff and this is the main difficulty of the build, once landed you can enjoy a massive uninterrupted dump of damage and due to the high super armor of your skills.
There is one awkward downside of this build, Mayhem modifies your Health to be permanently locked at 25%. This makes it very disorientating to get used to and learn how to efficiently use potions and stay safe while doing damage.
Mayhem also modifies our identity skill transforming it to Dark Rush. Sadly this makes the skill relatively low damage so it is mostly filler but it provides great Stagger and Destruction.
Basic Rotations
Standard Damage Rotation
- Red Dust buffs our crit rate and damage for 8 seconds, this gives us a window to try to deal as much damage as possible. It is technically possible to fit all 6 damage skills in this window but is is extremely difficult in real raid scenarios.
- Instead you should aim for 5 skills, if you happen to not fit in 5 then use Chain Sword to rebuff and use any unused skills and Tempest Slash.
- You can Back Attack to get a minor damage increase, however it is never worth holding any skills as it will result in less total damage.
Stagger Check Rotation
- You can hold onto any of your main damage skills if the stagger window is short. Remember you can also use a Whirlwind Grenade if you have one equipped!
Tripods and Gems
Tripod Levelling
Increasing the level of Tripods greatly enhances their effectiveness. You may only increase the level of 18 tripods at a time. Some of them cannot be leveled at all, or are left at level 1 - these tripods are omitted from the table, even if they are used. Here are the main tripods you should look out for in order to maximize this build's potential.
| Skill | 1st Tripod | 2nd Tripod | 3rd Tripod |
| Overdrive | Weak Point Detection | Deadly Blow | Ruthless |
| Finish Strike | Enhanced Strike | Weak Point Detection | Lights Out |
| Hell Blade | Deadly Blow | Bloody Eruption | |
| Brave Slash | Weak Point Detection | Rage | |
| Sword Storm | Quick Prep | Weak Point Detection | Flame Storm |
| Tempest Slash | Quick Prep | Weak Point Detection | Driving Hit |
| Red Dust | Vital Point Hit | ||
| Chain Sword | Vital Point Hit |
Tripods written in bold text are your highest priority, make sure to level them first!
For more information on where to obtain Tripod Amulets and how to use them, check out our Skill Tree System Guide.
Gems
Gems are another significant aspect of your build, as they directly impact the damage and cooldowns of your skills. You can equip up to 11 gems at a time. Here are the ones you should focus on in order to maximize this build's potential, listed according to their priority.
Damage Gems
- Overdrive
- Finish Strike
- Hell Blade
- Brave Slash
- Sword Storm
- Tempest Slash
Cooldown Gems
- Hell Blade
- Finish Strike
- Overdrive
- Red Dust
- Sword Storm
For more information on where to obtain gems and how to use them, check out our Gem System Guide.
Stat Priority
This build utilizes Crit and Swiftness.
- Crit is the primary stat. It increases our crit rate which is the highest damage increase of any other stat.
- Swiftness is a secondary stat. It helps us reach the maximum Attack and Movement speed thresholds of 140% and gives us some additional cooldown reduction. Early game with lower stats a Swiftness earring is a bit more efficient but the difference is minor.
Standard Setup
- Crit + Swiftness
- Crit
- Crit
- Crit
- Swiftness
- Crit + Swiftness
Gear Set
Nightmare Set
Due to our high natural crit rate, movement and attack speed self-buff, and severe mana issues, this becomes the only reasonable set to take.
The name of your set will change every time you acquire a higher tier of gear, but the set effect will remain the same. Look for your set's keyword when recrafting it to find it more easily (e.g Entropy, Hallucination etc).
Check out the Gear Progression Guide for step by step instructions and early game gearing.
If you are interested in Sidereal Weapons, click here for more details.
Engravings
Engravings are a core part of your build. Typically, most engravings will be used at level 3, but some can be used at level 1 or 2 in addition to the others, after reaching item level 1540 and unlocking Ancient Accessories.
Relic Gearing Build (5x3)
- Mayhem
- Grudge
- Master's Tenacity
- Keen Blunt Weapon
- Raid Captain
Ancient Gearing Build (5x3+1)
- Mayhem
- Grudge
- Master's Tenacity
- Keen Blunt Weapon
- Raid Captain
- Ether Predator Lv. 1
Engraving Explanations
Core Engravings
- Mayhem this is our Class Engraving, it has similar damage scaling to other engravings
- Grudge increases damage done while also increasing damage received. The engraving is a highly effective damage increase without needing specific positioning, making it worthwhile even with the penalty.
- Master's Tenacity because we are permanently at the health threshold for this engraving it is a very consistent and cheap damage upgrade.
- Keen Blunt Weapon due to our high Crit and crit rate self-buff in our build this engraving becomes a very efficient damage upgrade.
Add-on Engravings (Pick 1)
- Raid Captain due to our Mayhem we gain 15% Movement Speed, then an additional 12% from a Support's Set, meaning we only require 13% from our stats to reach the Movement Speed threshold of 140% which is reached at 757 Swiftness. Since this has no penalty it should be your default option.
- Cursed Doll is a significant Attack Power increase at the cost of 25% healing. The healing penalty can be punishing for inexperienced players who are not familiar with boss mechanics, but it becomes easy to overcome with time.
Level 1 and 2 Engravings
- Ether Predator this is our highest damage increase of a level one engraving, however stacking this engraving can be tedious so there are alternate viable options.
- Cursed Doll, Master's Tenacity, or Mayhem can also be ran at level one as they all do roughly the same damage.
Check out the Engraving Guide for more details.
Bracelet
Bracelets provide beneficial effects to yourself or to your party members depending on the rolls they have.
The primary goal is to get the main stats used by this build Crit and Swiftness. After that you should be aiming for Special Rolls to get more damage. Please note that this system is heavily reliant on RNG, and you should not expect to get much more beyond your main stats early on.
Optimal Bonus Rolls
Crit
Swiftness
Circulate
Hammer
Wedge
Cool-Headed
Alternative Bonus Rolls
Precise
Assail
Superiority
Weapon Power
Strength
Check out the Bracelet Guide for more details.
Elixir
The recommended Elixir Set for this build is Critical.
Check out the Elixir Guide for more details and general stat recommendations.
Card Sets
Cards are an endgame system that helps maximize your character's damage. Here are the recommended card sets for this build.
- Deep Dive is used early on as it is fairly easy to obtain.
- Light of Salvation is the standard endgame option, but it can take a long time to acquire 30-piece Awakening.
- Kazeros's Legion Commanders is used as an alternative to Light of Salvation, in content where enemies have a weakness to Dark Damage.
Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain cards and interact with them.
Early Game Damage Card Set
End Game Damage Card Set
Credits
Written by Civo
Reviewed by Starlast