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Borderlands 3 characters & skill trees guideSpoiler: all the Borderlands 3 characters are tremendously OP
Spoiler: all the Borderlands 3 characters are tremendously OP
Image credit:Gearbox Software
Image credit:Gearbox Software
The above quartet ofBorderlands 3 charactersare pretty much everything Borderlands players could have asked for. They’re colourful, they’re varied, and they’re larger-than-life gun-toting terminators with oodles of customisation options thanks to their intricateSkill TreesandAction Skills. With Amara the Siren, FL4K the Beastmaster, Moze the Gunner, and Zane the Operative, you’ll have your hands full from the very start of the game just deciding who to pick and how to play them.
OurBorderlands 3 characters & skill trees guidewill walk you through each Vault Hunter’s skills, stats, strengths, weaknesses, backstories, and much more. There are no wrong choices with these characters, but we’ll make sure you have the best possible experience during your time with whoever you pick.
Borderlands 3 characters & skill trees overview
Before we get stuck into the variousBorderlands 3 characters and skill treeson offer, let’s take a moment to go over exactly how skills work inBorderlands 3- because even if you’re a veteran of the series, there are one or two ways that Borderlands 3 shakes up the formula of the previous games.
Now I know you’re itching to get stuck into the characters and skill trees, so I’ll just briefly go over a couple of useful bits of terminology you should know going in:
Borderlands 3 weapons guide
Borderlands 3 weapons guide- We’ve packed tonnes of detailed explanations and tips on all the guns in Borderlands 3 into one cheat sheet - take a look!
Alright, now let’s talk about the Borderlands 3 characters themselves. Click on any of the links just below to skip ahead to a particular Vault Hunter.
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Borderlands 3 characters - Amara skill tree, builds, tips
Amara skill tree & action skills explained
Let’s take a look first at Amara’s three Action Skills, and then the associated skill trees you can use to level her up:
Amara playstyles - strengths & weaknesses
Amara is a powerhouse no matter how she’s played, but she excels at messy close-quarters conflicts, particularly if you gravitate more towards her Phaseslam skill than the others (and I wouldn’t blame you, because it’s pretty fantastic).
Her downside, if there is any, is that you need to have decent aim with her abilities. If you miss with her Phaseslam or Phasecast then you’ve got quite a wait ahead of you before you can use them again.
Amara builds - skill tree planner & builds tool
We’ve got a fully-fledgedBorderlands 3 Amara build guideup and running for you to peruse, with in-depth looks at three top-tier builds for the Siren herself - one for each Action Skill at her disposal. Take a look!
And if you want to get started planning your own Amara builds, then check out theofficial Borderlands 3 Amara build planner. You can use this tool to easily plan out your path through Amara’s skill trees, assigning points wherever you see fit to turn her into your favourite kind of destruction-wielding death-bringing Siren.
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Borderlands 3 characters - FL4K skill tree, builds, tips
Next up isFL4K the Beastmaster, who already looks like they might end up the most popular choice of the four Borderlands 3 characters. Not only are they a crack shot with any weapon, but they also have the unswerving loyalty of their three pets, one of whom can be brought into battle at a time in order to lend some much needed support, aggression, and companionship.
FL4K skill tree & action skills explained
Now it’s time to look more into FL4K’s three action skills and pets to choose between with each fight:
Pets:
Action Skills:
FL4K playstyles - strengths & weaknesses
FL4K is the obvious choice for solo play thanks to their trio of faithful and fearsome pets, but they’re also capable of slotting into any team with ease. The focus with FL4K is very much on big, big gun damage - not to mention critical hits galore if you upgrade them right. FL4K can make any weapon - particularly Jakobs weapons - absolutely sing death and destruction in their hands.
FL4K builds - skill tree planner & builds tool
If you want to get started building up FL4K in the best possible ways for insane damage, sniping potential, pet and action skill damage, whatever: your best bet is ourBorderlands 3 FL4K build guide, which will walk you through three top-tier builds, one for each pet and action skill at your disposal.
But if you’re now itching to plan out your own route to take through FL4K’s bestial skill trees, look no further than theofficial Borderlands 3 FL4K build planner, where you can spend time assigning skill points wherever you see fit to make the most of FL4K’s armoury (not to mention their bestiary).
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Borderlands 3 characters - Moze skill tree, builds, tips
Moze the Gunner, is always capable of making a grand entrance, clad in 15 tonnes of super-gun-toting Iron Bear mech. A soldier through and through, Moze can always be relied upon to bring more firepower to any encounter than the other three characters put together.
Moze skill tree & action skills explained
Let’s take a look at the three Action Skills (read: enormous guns) available to Moze and her Iron Bear mech:
Moze playstyles - strengths & weaknesses
Why should you pick Moze and her Iron Bear mech as your Vault Hunter of choice? She’s probably got the highest potential for sustained DPS (Damage Per Second) of all the characters - but she also has excellent survivability as long as she’s safe and snug inside her mech. There’s a lot of flexibility in how you want to upgrade her, too so that you can go a decent way towards making up for her drawbacks.
What are those drawbacks? She’s big and slow when inside her mech, so if you want mobility you’ll need to be outside the Iron Bear. And without her mech, Moze is very squishy - and the Iron Bear is on a high cooldown, so you’ll need to act fast and play it safe during those times if you want to make it out alive. She’s quite dependant on the gear you find, too, which means you may not realise her full potential until later on in the game.
Moze builds - skill tree planner & builds tool
Moze may seem like a bit of a one-trick (mecha-) pony, but there’s an awful lot of different paths to take through her three different skill trees. We’ve broken down four of our favourites in ourBorderlands 3 Moze build guide, each focusing on different skill trees and paths of immensely enjoyable destruction.
And if you want to start planning a build of your own, check out theofficial Borderlands 3 Moze build plannerfor a tool which will allow you to plan out your entire build from start to finish, all from the comfort of your own 15-tonne Tritanium home.
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Borderlands 3 characters - Zane skill tree, builds, tips
Zane skill tree & action skills explained
Zane’s Action Skills are particularly diverse and the ability to combine them gives you a great many possibilities. Let’s take a look at each Skill in turn:
Zane playstyles - strengths & weaknesses
The only real downside to Zane is the traditional counterbalance to any particularly versatile character in games: when it comes to builds that are very focused on one specific thing (gun damage, for example), Zane is rarely capable of matching the potential of the other characters. He can still grow to feel utterly OP, just like the others; he’s just unlikely to be the very best in one area.
Zane builds - skill tree planner & builds tool
Each of the Borderlands 3 characters are enormously flexible when it comes to their builds, but Zane puts them all to shame thanks to his “two skills at once” rule. Take a look at ourBorderlands 3 Zane build guidefor three of the strongest builds for maximising the Operative considerable potential.
And if you want to create your own zaney Zane build, you’ll definitely want to spend some time with theofficial Borderlands 3 Zane build planner.
And that’s all we’ve got to give you for now on the Borderlands 3 characters and skill trees; but hopefully the above has been enough to give you an idea of how each one excels, and how versatile and OP you can become no matter your choice of Vault Hunter.
