Borderlands 4, like its predecessors, lets you choose from four Vault Hunters at the start of the campaign. Each character brings a unique skill set and additional perks help you fine-tune their capabilities to your liking. Our Borderlands 4 class guide details just about everything you need to know about Amon the Forgeknight, Harlowe the Gravitar, Rafa the Exo-Soldier, and Vex the Siren—and which choice is best for you. Below, we talk about each character's main skills and alternate actions, as well as a few Augment and Capstone perks that should be beneficial in battle.

 

Amon the Forgeknight

Amon is a melee specialist who primarily relies on Incendiary and Cryo damage. This beefy tank can take and dish out tremendous punishment. Moreover, his Vault Hunter Trait, Forgeskill, changes depending on the Action Skill that you’ve equipped. These characteristics make the Forgeknight the best Borderlands 4 class for players who want to survive longer in the thick of the fray.

Cybernetics

• Action Skill – Crucible: Throw Flame Axes or Frost Axes, damaging enemies and priming them for detonation. Forgeaxes that you pick back up refund cooldowns.
• Forgeskill – Double-Edge: Throw a Twinned Forgeaxe that deals Cryo damage when passing through enemies and Incendiary damage when returning to Amon.

This particular Forgeknight skill tree allows Amon to throw Forgeaxes—and later, Forgehammers and Forgeswords—with different elemental properties. What makes these projectiles amazing is that they also prime enemies for detonation, which leads to additional effects such as reduced cooldowns and even bigger explosions. Note that some perks, such as Tempered Ice and Tempered Lightning, also spawn a Forgedrone ally that zips toward hostiles to inflict elemental attacks.

Calamity

• Action Skill – Onslaughter: Overload your Forgefist to gain constant shield regeneration, increased movement speed, and bonus Incendiary damage with guns. You may also do a Rocket Punch to dash toward foes and stagger them. Just beware of bosses, because they can’t be staggered at all.
• Forgeskill – Molten Slam: Slam a Molten Forgehammer into the ground, dealing Incendiary damage in a wide area.

Onslaughter is your go-to build if you want to rush toward enemies and beat them down mercilessly. The constant shield regeneration should improve your survivability even if you’re surrounded by hordes of mobs.

Vengeance

• Action Skill – Scourge: Equip a Forgeshield that absorbs all frontal damage as a resource called Vengeance. Once Vengeance is full, the Forgeshield grants damage reduction. Alternatively, you can launch a Forgewave that deals Cryo damage and consumes the Vengeance you’ve amassed.
• Forgeskill – Firewall: Deploy a Firewall that absorbs projectiles, converting them into Vengeance if Scourge is active. Friendlies that shoot through the Firewall gain bonus damage and increased projectile speed, and enemies near the Firewall take Incendiary damage over time.

The Vengeance archetype is viable whether you’re playing solo or with friends. Your role might be more defensive-oriented, but you can still cast your Forgewave to deal damage to opponents from a distance. Still, the archetype really shines in multiplayer, thanks to the buff that Firewall grants to teammates.

 

Harlowe the Gravitar

Harlowe, who’s quite decent with the Cryo and Radiation elements, uses all sorts of engineered devices to aid her in combat. Her Vault Trait, Entanglement, causes enemies to share damage with all other entangled cohorts. This makes the Gravitar the best class in Borderlands 4 for those who want to bolster the team with linked damage, crowd control, and support utility.

Cosmic Brilliance

• Action Skill – Flux Generator: Create an energy field that deals Cryo damage to enemies while granting an overshield to allies.

Harlowe’s Flux Generator is perfect for teams that want to stay on a point and defend it from packs of rabid hostiles. Augments such as Coronal Mass Injection and Nuclear Winter strengthen squads by increasing status effect chance and bonus Cryo/Radiation damage, respectively. One Capstone, Group Study, even creates HALO Sidekicks that hover over allies, buffing damage, fire rate, reload speed, and cooldown reduction.

Seize the Day

• Action Skill – Zero Point: Place a target in stasis to incapacitate them. You can slam them into the ground to trigger an explosion.

Zero Point is Harlowe’s calling card, as it’s an effective means of crowd control. Assuming your target isn’t immune, you can lock them down for the duration, negating their threat and allowing allies to rip them apart with gunshots.

Creative Bursts

• Action Skill – Chroma Accelerator: Fire a Cryo orb that passes through enemies. This can be detonated to trigger a Radiation-based explosion.

This Harlowe archetype is preferable for those who want a more action-oriented role. That said, it also offers a bit of utility. For instance, an Augment called Special Purpose Magnets pulls enemies closer to the orb, allowing for an even more devastating explosion while ensuring that more opponents get entangled.

 

Rafa the Exo-Soldier

The Exo-Soldier is the best Borderlands 4 class for players who like versatility. That’s because Rafa, who specializes in the Shock and Corrosive elements, is more of a hybrid character who excels at both melee and ranged combat. His Vault Hunter Trait, Overdrive, provides increased damage and movement speed for the duration of his Action Skill.

People Person

• Action Skill – Apophis Lance: Quickly shoot or charge up a Shock-based piercing ordnance blast.

The Apophis Lance is great for taking out targets from a distance, especially if it’s fully charged up and you manage to get a direct hit. What makes it even more powerful are late-game Capstone perks—Project Raiju, Basilisk, and Gorgon—that change the element and projectile type.

Remote Agent

• Action skill – Peacebreaker Cannons: Spawn shoulder-mounted cannons that deal Kinetic damage to those in front of you.

Remote Agent is more of a no-nonsense archetype. Simply cast the action skill to shred everyone in a frontal arc with ballistics. Certain Augments (Bullet-Buddy Deluxe) and Capstones (Beam Team) also alter the elemental properties of the ability.

This Year’s Gimmick

• Action skill – Arc-Knives: Use dual blades to swipe at and mark enemies. Marked enemies take increased damage.

The Arc-Knives skill is exceptional when used at the opportune time. If your teammates are shooting from afar, then perhaps Rafa can swoop in to waylay his rivals. This ability even lets you dash straight toward enemies, as well as unleash your Blade Fury to deal Shock damage to everyone who’s been marked.

 

Vex the Siren

The Siren is the best class in Borderlands 4 for solo players. This is due to Vex’s ability to summon entities from the Phase. Your minions can do everything from dealing damage to causing distractions and taking hits. Moreover, Vex's Vault Hunter Trait, Phase Covenant, converts her skill and melee damage type to the element of the gun that's equipped, making her the most flexible among all classes.

Here Comes Trouble

• Action skill – Phase Phamiliar: Call on a wildcat, Trouble, who can teleport and turn into a larger, “Badass” version of himself.

Trouble might be the best summoned creature out there, as he has a ton of health and he can dish out a lot of damage, too. He has melee attacks, ranged projectiles, a taunt to draw the enemy’s attention, a teleport, and even an instant heal.

The Fourth Seal

• Action skill – Dead Ringer: Spawn either a Reaper that taunts enemies and does melee attacks, or a Specter who shoots projectiles but cannot move.

Your Reapers and Specters are very reliable when in a pinch, most notably because Augments like Coven grant survivability and damage boosts. There’s also a Capstone called Heirloom that’s quite a surprise, as it causes Specters to have a copy of your equipped gun. This is a powerful perk once you’ve acquired high-level legendary gear.

Vexcalation

• Action skill – Incarnate: Create a Phase Explosion to deal damage and restore your health. You can also shoot Eldritch Blast projectiles.

While you’re not summoning minions proactively with the Vexcalation archetype, it still has some functionality for health restoration and status effect application. Plus, Vex turning into an eldritch nightmare is a sight to behold.

That does it for our Borderlands 4 best class guide. We hope these tips help you choose the right character. Want more advice? Check out our Borderlands 4 beginner’s guide and Ultimate Vault Hunter guide.

Borderlands 4 is available now on the Epic Games Store.