Borderlands 3 features four playable characters, offering a ton of diversity and choice to approach the game from the beginning to the end. The loot variety and dynamic builds are the heart and soul of the game. You can create a tank, glass cannon, or even a six-handed Amara melee build – the sky is the limit. However, when it comes to surviving, dealing the most serious damage, and remaining at a distance from the enemies, we think Moze is the only character that ticks all boxes. This playable class offers versatility to the table when she calls down her mech, iron bear – the two-legged robot changes the game completely. That is why we have curated Moze iron bear build guide for players who want to have Titan fall-esque experience in Borderlands 3.
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To make an iron bear-centric build, I’ve mentioned all the abilities you must invest skill points in to unlock the maximum potential of the mech. Out of four skill trees, here is the complete breakdown of the skills you will need to unlock and equip from each skill tree.
- Equip Railgun Action Skill in both slots located in Moze’s Shield of the Retribution skill tree, and Hell On Rails Action Skill Augment in both slots located in Moze’s Shield of the Retribution skill tree.
- Equip eight passive abilities from the Bear Mother skill tree, five from the Bottomless Mags, five from the Demolition Woman, and two passive abilities from the Shield of Retribution skill tree.
Moze Iron Bear Build Skill Tree Skills
Now that you know which skill tree gets a significant share of passive abilities while rocking this build, let us dive into the details.
Railgun – Action Skill
In order to make a mayhem-causing Moze iron bear build, I highly recommend going with the Railgun action skill located in the Shield of Retribution skill tree. The skill allows the character to fire high-impact and high-velocity electric projectiles dealing shock damage to the enemies. The most significant advantage of going with this Action Skill compared to the others is that you get to take down enemies by shooting from a distance. The greater the distance between you and the enemies, the safer the iron bear would be from the incoming attacks.
Moze has two Action Skill slots, allowing the mech to equip two weapons simultaneously. If you want to melt enemies in a matter of seconds, I highly recommend fitting Railgun to both slots of the mech.
Security Bear
An extra layer of protection will ensure iron bear lasts longer while fighting with the hordes of enemies. Equipping Security Bear passive ability will grant the mech a bubble shield which drastically reduces incoming damage, allowing you to continue using iron bear for a longer time. The cooldown of just five seconds is the best part of this ability. So, do not miss out on Security Bear.
Armored Infantry
This passive ability triggers whenever Moze’s shields remain active. During this time period, Armored Infantry’s ability will give Moze increased gun damage, and she will also take minor damage from the enemies. The ability is essential for the survival of Moze, so make sure you max it out and receive the highest ability perks, as mentioned here.
Hell On Rails – Action Skill Augment
This Skill Augment enables the iron maze to fire superheated rounds dealing incendiary damage. A slight downside of this ability is that it consumes a lot of fuel on every shot fired. However, applying the fire status effect is critical to this build; hence, I emphasize equipping this action Skill Augment. More on the importance of incendiary status effect later in the playstyle section.
Cloud of Lead
Keeping the focus on creating the best Moze iron bear build, the Cloud of Lead is another passive ability that favors the fire/incendiary status effect. This ability grants increased fire damage and, at times, does not consume iron bear’s ammo. The passive ability offers the highest perks if you max it out, so make sure you do that.
Matched Set
Weapons in Borderlands 3 drop with a signature from their manufacturers. Matched Set passive ability grants stacking bonus to magazine size and decreased heat generation per shot for Moze if she equips a gear from the same manufacturer. Once again, this passive ability, like Armor Infantry, favors Moze’s survivability and not the iron bear mech. It is why equipping this ability will allow you to keep Moze alive until the iron bear can be called back again after the cooldown.
Stoke the Embers
As stressed earlier about the importance of incendiary damage for the iron bear build, Stoke the Embers is another must-have passive ability. It allows Moze and the iron bear to deal extra fire damage to enemies. So, regardless you are using the mech or Moze while gunning down the enemies, equipping this passive ability will strengthen your fire damage. It is also the reason you should max out this ability for a higher perk bonus.
Scorching RPM’S
Abilities such as Scorching RPM’s brings out the best in Moze iron bear build. It is because we want players to have an indestructible feel while playing as the mech and at least survive the enemies’ assault if the iron bear is on cooldown. Luckily, Scorching RPM’s gives us the perks that are the best of both worlds. Having equipped this passive ability gives Moze an increased rate of fire, critical hit damage, and the iron bear receives additional hardpoint damage.
Specialist Bear
As pointed out in the Railgun skill section, if you equip two of the same weapons, the Specialist Bear ability will trigger, giving the mech an overall damage buff of 25%. Passive skills such as Specialist Bear take advantage of two similar weapons, so I recommended equipping the Railgun in both slots earlier.
Biofuel
Surviving the mayhem is all you do in Borderlands 3, and ability such as Biofuel should never be kept as an option; it must be made compulsory. This passive ability allows Moze or iron bear to recover health whenever they set enemies on fire. The health regeneration is not massive, but if you invest three out of max five points in it, health regenerates up to 2.1% per sec and armor up to 1.5% per sec. Furthermore, keeping fire damage as the sole focus of Moze iron bear build, setting enemies ablaze, and receiving health at the same time should be a satisfactory sight.
Big Surplus
Big Surplus ability grants extra incendiary damage whenever the iron bear is on cooldown and players control Moze to gun down enemies. The additional damage is not much, but if you upgrade the skill to the max level, you should get 15% incendiary damage based on overall gun damage. Like other fire-based passive abilities mentioned above, Big Surplus is another excellent ability you should not skip while rocking this iron bear build.
Really Big Guns
To top off the existing raw damage of Railguns, Really Big Guns is a fantastic passive ability that grants bonus damage to the base damage of iron bear. Investing five skill points into this ability will give 20% more damage to iron bear, allowing the mech to wreak havoc by using its high-velocity rounds on the enemies. I highly recommend maxing out this ability; otherwise, you will miss out on the extra raw damage.
Explosive Fury
This passive ability synergizes well with Moze as well as iron bear. Both of them get bonus status effect damage. Explosive Fury also enhances the chance to trigger a status effect on enemies, such as fire damage. Once again, this is another crucial ability that shines Moze iron bear build. It is because not only the ability offers high-status effect damage, but it also increases its occurrence frequency while combating enemies.
Fired Up
This passive ability favors the rate of fire whenever Moze or iron bear lights up an enemy with fire status effect. Fired Up may seem like a common passive ability, but the truth is having a high rate of fire significantly increases damage per second. For a build that focuses on killing enemies in a matter of seconds, this ability is quite an essential one. So, make sure you reserve a skill point for this one.
Never Going to Give You Up
Fuel is the power source of iron bear, and if it runs out, the mech is practically useless, except for the melee attacks. Never Going to Give You Up is a fantastic passive ability that gives back some amount of fuel to iron maze if the mech or Moze set enemies ablaze. Since the ability has diminishing returns, I highly recommend investing five skill points in it for a higher percentage of fuel recovery.
Superior Firepower
This passive ability works in tandem with abilities such as Explosive Fury, Never Going to Give You Up, and others. Basically, Superior Firepower’s passive ability allows Moze or iron bear to inflict a high amount of status effect damage whenever both of them inflict status effect on an enemy. Since our Moze iron bear build is already fire-centric, inflicting status effect should never be a problem.
Feature Creep
Iron bear is already a tank, and pretty much can absorb a large amount of incoming damage. However, Feature Creep grants an additional 45% of damage resistance. Since survivability is the core objective while fighting through the mayhem and enemy assault, an extra damage resistance will never hurt. So, make sure you unlock and equip this passive ability.
Fire in the Skag Den
Dealing splash damage is quite an easy task when Moze is inside the iron bear and the mech punches on the ground, landing splash damage to the surrounding enemies. However, that is not the case if Moze is out of the iron bear. It is why Fire in the Skag Den passive ability favors the splash damage of Moze, as whenever she deals splash damage, she also applies a bonus incendiary damage as well.
Deadlines
Deadlines passively reduce the amount of fuel the iron bear consumes while fighting the enemies. Additionally, the ability returns back the consumed fuel if iron bear kills an enemy. Since the skill has diminishing effects, you should invest three points and max it out to get the highest percentage of fuel returns and less fuel consumption.
Means of Destruction
Our Moze iron bear build is made to play with an iron mech for a more incredible amount of time and significantly less with Moze. So, regardless of how good Means of Destruction is, I highly recommend just using one skill point in it and saving points of other necessary abilities.
Torgue Cross-Promotion
The splash damage of Moze and iron bear will have increased damage if you equip Torgue Cross-Promotion. However, if you are going with our build, I recommend not to spend too many points on this ability. Because this build does not focus on splash damage and melee attacks, investing more points in this segment will prove inefficient. It is why I suggest you use at least one skill point, two at best, and three and above will be a waste.
Stainless Steel Bear
This passive ability reinforces overall armor, strengthens the base damage, and increases the fuel capacity of the iron bear. You must invest five skill points in Stainless Steel Bear as the ability significantly increases the mech’s survivability. Moze does not get any advantage whatsoever from this passive ability.
Auto Bear
The best tactical advantage Auto Bear passive ability gives to Moze is that after exiting the iron bear, it remains deployed for a short time and targets enemies on its own. Additionally, when the duration of the mech expires, it charges at an enemy and self-destructs to inflict greater damage.
The Loadout
All the weapons, artifacts, class mods, and grenades suggested for this build offer strategic advantage while playing as Moze and not as the iron bear. Since staying alive as Moze is critical to making this build successful, the loadout I suggested here focuses mainly on incendiary and splash damage. It is because most of the passive abilities mentioned above favor these two elements.
Burning Flakker
This close-combat, high-impact, and fire-power-rich shotgun is the perfect combination to go with our Moze iron bear build. Burning Flakker also comes with a decent magazine size, so expect to reload after taking down a couple of enemies. In addition to the burn damage, if you get the weapon drop with splash damage, then consider it a god roll since I already mentioned above to equip passive abilities that grant extra splash damage. So, if Moze has a weapon and a few abilities dealing bonus splash damage, surviving a couple of brutes before the iron bear ability cools down should never be a problem.
Stark SF Force
If you do not like the slow pump-action of the Burning Flakker, the Stark SF Force weapon is also a great alternative to go with this build. We are not sure if this legendary gun drops with a fire status effect, but if it does, then consider that a god roll weapon loot drop. Other than that, Stark SF Force should give you enough firepower to gun down enemies while you wait for the cooldown of the iron bear to go down, and you can call it back for more action.
Artifact
Regardless of your weapon choice, The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge artifact is your best bet to output the maximum amount of damage while playing as Moze. It increases the magazine size and grants an additional rate of fire – at least it drops with these two perks for eight out of ten times. Other than that, this legendary artifact shines the best because of the stack damage perk bonus. So, if you are using the Stark SF Force SMG, you must equip The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge artifact to get the greatest damage per second.
Class Mod
I have mentioned two Class Mod items that synergize very well with the Moze iron bear build. So, if you get a loot drop containing one out of these two Class Mods, consider yourself one more step closer to making this build.
01. Investing Ruinous Flare: This legendary class mod is excellent for bonus splash damage, extra magazine size, reduces iron bear’s fuel, and gives 100% more damage to the mech.
02.Efficient Reinforced Raging Bear: This class mod is another great addition to the build. It does not return the fuel of iron bear, but it reduces consumption. Moreover, the most incredible perk is that it offers an action skill cooldown – consider it a god roll for this build if the weapon drops with this perk.
Grenade
If you decide to go with the Burning Flakker, then always equip Mitosis Hunter-Seeker (if you have it in inventory). This anointed legendary grenade inflicts fire status effect on exploding, making it a must-have grenade to go with Moze iron bear build.
Iron Bear Build PlayStyle
Let us get down to the brass tacks regarding the playstyle of the iron bear build. By now, you must have some idea that the build is centered on the iron bear and not Moze. However, her survivability is equally essential in making this build a success. Hence, we equipped some abilities and weapon loadout to give players an edge to live longer while playing as Moze before the iron bear can be called again for the action.
Say you are in the mech, your priority should be to conserve fuel and not waste it on minions. One way to achieve this is using melee attacks on small-sized enemies. It is because melee attacks do not drain fuel at all. However, if you think many enemies are about to surround you, by all means, use the big guns and burn them all.
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Secondly, before wiping out all enemies in a particular area and transitioning to the next, make sure you exit the iron bear and let the mech run on its own. The Auto Bear passive ability will allow the mech to remain mobilized for a while and target enemies on its own before the duration expires and it self-explodes. It is an excellent strategy because your mech remains on cooldown when you wipe an area and move to another one. Once you reach the next stage and start fighting enemies, it won’t take long before you can call iron bear again.
Thirdly, always aim for the headshots. The dual railguns are some of the biggest guns in the game, granting unbelievably high damage. Slow-moving enemies will never be a problem while aiming for the head; however, if you control the reticle, fast-moving enemies will also be like shooting sitting ducks to you.
Fourth, keep an eye on the fuel bar and take advantage of passive abilities that offer fuel returns upon completing the requirements. The longer Moze stays inside the iron bear, the higher your chances of survival.
Is the Moze Iron Bear Build Worth It?
Equipping all the skills and the loadout, I suggested above does not guarantee that you will become unbeatable. The question of survivability and whether or not the build is worth it comes down to how you play. So, take note of the tips mentioned above in the Playstyle section. Other than that, the Moze iron bear build is definitely worth it. Here is our take on different situations while playing with the said build.
Crowd-Control
Beating enemies to death and dealing splash damage to the crowd is the best thing iron bear offers to the table. The melee ability, railgun, and the Burning Flakker combined with the grenade wreak havoc on the enemies. Regardless of the playable character, iron bear or Moze, the abilities we mentioned above and the loadout combined offer great crowd-control.
Boss Fights
Since our primary focus is on the dual railguns that practically can gun down enemies from a great distance, taking the fight head-on with the bosses is never a problem anymore. Furthermore, if you want to melt bosses, aim the railguns at the head, fire the high velocity, and impact big guns. Overall, the Moze iron bear build is solid and does exceptionally well in boss fights regardless of which boss you face.
Overall Survivability
Since most of the skills mentioned above grant Moze and iron bear extra incendiary damage and resistance to incoming damage, surviving the enemy onslaught will never be a problem after rocking this build. Moreover, regardless of the game difficulty, the build destroys most minions and brutes quite quickly – all the more reasons to sit inside the mech and increase the chances of survivability.
Final Analysis
Like every build that offers certain great things while fighting the enemies and at the same time comes with a few flaws that do not make the entire build useless but still weighs it down. The same is the case with the Moze iron bear build, and for the most part, I can confidently say that you can expect many good things and replay value from it.
Pros
- Most skills favor iron bear, which increases its usability more than Moze.
- The Railguns and incendiary damage are excellent for taking down slow-moving bosses and brutes.
- The build favors burn and splash damage, so make the most of it while rocking the build.
- One of the most robust builds in Borderlands 3 that has high survivability chance.
- Most of the build’s efficiency depends on the passive abilities; hence mastering the iron bear should come naturally with time and experience.
Cons
- Reduced reliability and chances of survival while playing with Moze.
- The slow movement of the iron bear sometimes breaks the momentum of fighting with enemies.
- The diminishing return perk on most passive abilities sometimes destroys the fun the build offers.
That is pretty much everything you need to know about Borderlands 3 Moze iron bear build. Did you find the guide helpful? Did you get a chance to make the build as suggested here? Let us know more about your thoughts in the comments section below.
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