Thoughtlock makes killing enemies like Flinter (from the Splinter Group side quest) and the Assassins ridiculously easy, as they won’t even attack you and there’s nothing quite like turning rabid skags and stalkers against their friends. It’s a very different play style but as someone that’s given it a try with a new Maya, it’s definitely worth it…@kgk4569- I’d go with Derch’s suggestion for your wife but I would take one of the points from Inertia and put it into KR but only because I have several Blurred and Mirrored Trickster mods that have either +5 or +6 to CR and KR…
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All quite valid, but if you look at the OP, he’s looking at a solid build for a new player. With that in mind, Thoughtlock, Kinetic Reflection, and some of the more exotic builds (including Derch’s tank Maya builds) would not be recommended. I realize Blurred/Mirror Trickster builds are not the craziest out there, but at the same time, for newer players, the more “standard” builds around the Leg Siren, Cat, and Binder COMS are easier to operate imho having played a lot all three of those setups. Early game, I don’t see much point in spec’ing into KR when you need both Ruin and Converge and those extra points in Suspension give you a longer chance to have Wreck active (and just simply things in the air longer if you’re newer and not killing things as efficiently).
Do you need suspension early game? I agree going to get converge since that really makes her work but early on things die pretty easy and KR’s damage just gets worse with scaling so early on the damage is really good.
I think so. Her aiming really sucks, so it will help in order to get down to Converge. This way I won’t have to come in for the rescue to kill it and activate Sweet Release.
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Fair enough
I would hate to argue with one of the Maya experts 
I’m a solid player with the Siren on the PS3 but I’m not making any claims beyond that…
I see your point about killing things easy early game and KR damage is good early on, but I think especially for a new player, having stuff in the air longer makes it easier whereas KR is a kill skill and therefore less likely to be active when you’re not as efficient in the game. That could be my bias to have “always on” skills that I know will be working over kill skills that I have to activate. Suspension also allows you to activate Wreck longer, and thereby the technique of phaselocking something weaker and then hammering away at something stronger with the higher damage output, or just phaselocking large BA enemies for longer to drop them easier.
I don’t think you “need” either skill, but you do want to get to converge and I rate Suspension over Accelerate and Ward. That’s just opinion though, and I can’t give numbers or gameplay vids to back it up, so I can’t take that argument much further than that. We are sort of splitting hairs here I think too, as early game stuff dies easy and late game you’re building around COMS.
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Good point, I never thought of that as a strategy. It makes sense because some of the bigger enemies you can’t Phaselock, but there are little minions running about (or at least some way to make minions). That way you get the maximum effect of Wreck.
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Please do, I didn’t become a “expert” (not comfortable calling myself that) by being right, I got there by being wrong.
Just to clarify I wasn’t making a statement but more so asking the question. And I loved the responses, as long as there is thought behind it I love it. This game has a lot of right answers and sometimes opposite sides are both right.
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I feel like the build I use is very beginner friendly, it has plenty of healing and good damage output. Only thing is it doesn’t go past the middle of the motion(left) tree. As for keeping your wifi interested in the game while leveling, I’d say definitely go down to ruin first.
FYI my initial reasoning behind KR was “Bullet Deflection=Damage Reduction?! F*** YEAH!” but after the comments I was reminded that so much of the game has non-bullet damage sources.
I agree, That is why I start off with this:
Sweet Release x5
Accelerate x5
Foresight x5
RESPEC
Sweet Release x5
Foresight x5
Helios x4
Flicker x1
Cloud Kill x1
The first chunk should maximize her damage, then once I’d have enough points for Cloud Kill, I respec her. BOOM! she has Helios AND Cloud Kill to play with. Then I build to Converge, then Chain Reaction, then Wreck. Then I spam down the Cataclysm tree. After that I work on building Phaselock into a death machine. Finally I burn points with Restoration, Res, and Elated.
Perfect. Cloud kill asap will help her a lot if she’s new or has bad aim.
If I may suggest something.
I haven’t read the whole thread but I got that it’s for a new player with …perfectible aim (like me)
I’m playing at OP0-2 with a build centered around Helios.
It’s not the greatest, but it works great…so i’m pretty sure that in Normal and TVHM, it would wreck faces.
Looks like this is about where you are right now as of this discussion
Here are the headlines:
Fox COM with boosts to Helios and Reaper
Either fire relic or Cooldown relic depending on what you find
No suspension (as you want your phaselock back ASAP since Helios only sparks when you start it)
Slag and fire guns
10/5 Helios everything to death
Cloudkill takes care of armored targets
With leftover points, get Converge, then respec to get ruin once it’s possible, then converge again when you have enough points to get both.
I don’t know if you’ve played early game Maya post the last hot fix/patch, but Cloud Kill owns normal mode now regardless of the type of enemy. If you have a slag gun it’s even nastier as the corrosive DOT is magnified… I did a play through of it recently as I had heard this and, yeah, it rules… You can build around Helios early game, but I prefer to boost immolate (solo player usually so no one to revive me) and Suspension for the reasons I give above, your plan is totally viable though in which case you wouldn’t want suspension. I do put a point or two into Helios in my OP8 build because of my Binder/Subsequence setup, but otherwise I would leave it late game. In my first play through I used Helios more and it’s a brutal finisher early, but so is a lot of stuff 
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We are level 16 now, so 5 away from the switch.
She now has a Green Hell Binder mod that gives her +2 to Helios. So useless right now, but in 5 she will be EPIC (in her mind).
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I agree- it’s just that having recently started a Thoughtlock build and having run a Twisted Pimp build for so long I tend to forget about what difficulties new players might have, especially if they are new to this game/genre…
The really good skills in Cataclysm tree are very OP in NVHM (Chain reaction, Reaper, Ruin EDIT: and ofc Cloud Kill). Helios is very effective, but it’s basically a one-shot effect, that may or may not kill the present enemies around you. Personally, I always start off with 2 points in Sweet release, and then I go for Ward, KR and Converge. Then it’s back to Harmony for 5/5 SR and 5/5 Wreck. Then… I start the Cataclysm tree.
This is a very reliable way to start off, because it gives you some early healing and shield skills. Shields suck in early game, and health vials are pretty rare.
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Yeah…I do want to get her the shield skills, as she is always getting hurt (does not pay attention to the HUD), But Sweet Release has been CRAZY beneficial, especially since I gave her the Fastball.
The only reason I am going for Helios is to get to Cloud Kill, I figure it will be more beneficial than nothing.
Yeah, I obviously forgot to put Cloud Kill in the list of OP skills… 
My bad! The only time I ever miss the big skills in Cataclysm, while doing NVHM, is during the Talon of God. There are one or two situations that always make me consider a respec before I do it, but I always stick to my standard build. Simply because It suits me better in the long run.
Yeah. I’m Gaige so my Skills should work at least.