Borderlands 3: All Playable Characters, Ranked

Borderlands 3 has four different Vault Hunters to choose from, with Gearbox not planning to add new ones anytime soon. Each of the existing Vault Hunters has its own dynamic playstyles, which is a big part of what makes the game so replayable. Each Vault Hunter is great in their own way depending on how players want to use them, so there really isn’t necessarily a “bad” playable character in the game.

Ranking the Vault Hunters is difficult because it really depends on the player and the gear that they can acquire. As stated above, each Vault Hunter has their strengths and weaknesses and so players owe it to themselves to use them all to find out which works best for them. Given the right gear, they can all be unstoppable, though certain Borderlands 3 characters can utilize that gear much better than others.

Updated August 19, 2024, by Juliet Childers: The Borderlands movie finally launched in 2024, sparking a resurgence in players for Borderlands 3. The success of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands also rekindled fans’ love for the series with its ode to Bunkers and Badasses (and Roland); however, the Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3, as with other entries in the series except The Pre-Sequel, are all new and unique to that sequel. For those who are just starting and are still unsure of which of the Borderlands 3 characters is right for them, this guide should help to make things a little clearer.

5 How Borderlands 3 Skill Trees Work

Don’t Be Intimidated By The Amount Of Boxes

Each playable character in Borderlands 3 has tons of different skills and ways to augment those skills. That’s why players can create such unique and distinctive builds that play totally differently. Here’s a breakdown of the core aspects of Borderlands 3 characters and their skill trees.

1. Action Skills – every character has 3 different action skills to choose from, but can only use 1 at a time (except Zane…). These skills can provide defense or offense but likely provide a healthy combination.
2. Passive Skills – these make up the majority of skill trees and provide passive benefits to a character like faster reload speed or better damage. These abilities can typically be maxed out with multiple points to increase their effects.
3. Augments – after players put a certain number of points into a specific skill tree, they can unlock Augments that provide powerful bonuses for their Action Skills.
4. Capstones – these are the last perk in any skill tree and require 25 points in a tree to unlock.

4 Zane The Operative

A Great Option For First-Timers

• Strengths: he can become quite tanky, which is good for new players with lots of build flexibility, and he can technically use two Action Skills
• Weaknesses: Zane’s power potential is hard-capped compared to the other playable characters of Borderlands 3 and his skills can require a more tactical approach to combat, making it hard to effectively use his skill trees easily
• Bottom Line: best for more experienced players to extract the most value out of his versatile kit

When used correctly, Zane can be extremely powerful and is great for both dealing and dealing with damage. The only issue is that he’s by far the least accessible of all the Borderlands 3 characters. Most of his skills require a more tactical approach to combat than his peers, meaning players will need to spend a fair amount of time familiarizing themselves with when and where to use them. He can summon a clone of himself, a drone, or an impenetrable shield, each of which can be invaluable in certain situations.

Most players typically speed into his Hitman skill tree due to the capstone skill, Seein’ Red. This allows Zane to automatically activate every Kill Skill immediately after using his Action Skill. Zane’s Kill Skills buff just about every stat imaginable, including Fire Rate, Damage, and Movement Speed, but they require work to stack up. He also swaps using two Action Skills for being able to toss grenades. It makes him a jack-of-all-trades character that isn’t as flashy as the other three. Zane should be given a chance, but he’ll probably be best suited to the more experienced Borderlands players.

3 Moze The Gunner

Just As Obsessed With Explosions As Mr. Torgue… Probably

• Strengths: Moze offers players fantastic survivability, flexible build potential, and updates that make Iron Bear more powerful
• Weaknesses: She isn’t known for DPS and Iron Bear moves slowly and has a huge hitbox. Without Iron Bear, Moze can be exceptionally squishy and gear-dependent
• Bottom Line: best for new players who want a one-trick pony and easy-to-understand-kit or veteran players who can min/max Mayhem Mode Iron Bear

For players who just want to blow everything up, then Moze the Gunner is the perfect option. She’s also just incredibly fun to play. Who doesn’t love jumping into a mech? Speaking of Iron Bear, this mech is both a defensive and offensive tool to use in combat. If players are close to death, they can easily hop into Iron Bear and avoid it completely. Of course, Iron Bear is clunky, slow, and easy to hit; it also has a 110-second cooldown. Additionally, Moze wasn’t as powerful since her Iron Bear mech didn’t scale well in Mayhem Mode at the initial release. Thanks to recent updates, Iron Bear’s weapon damage is insane, being able to melt bosses in Mayhem 4 easily.

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Each of her skill trees is worth using. That being said, most players love to spec in both her Bottomless Mags and Demolition Woman trees. Bottomless Mags gives Moze so much ammo regeneration and Demolition Woman is just splash damage galore. Those who like the idea of their grenades doing critical hits will want to invest in Moze’s Pull The Holy Pin skill, which gives grenades a 30% chance of landing a critical. If players have a weapon that spams multiple grenades, then each of those also has a chance, leading to some satisfying and explosive results.

Overall, Moze is probably the best among the four Borderlands 3 characters for beginners since she excels at trashing weak mobs and bosses. She’s just an absolute blast (pun intended) to play as — especially for newcomers to the franchise. Her skills don’t require as much preparation and strategy compared to the others. However, she can be gear-dependent for maximum damage and/or tankiness, pushing her to the third spot on the list.

2 FL4K The Beastmaster

Their Kit Comes With Friends

• Strengths: Has pets to back them up in combat and is capable of dealing tons of critical damage
• Weaknesses: “Fade Away FL4K” is often the only way to maximize damage with the character, making them feel limited
• Bottom Line: best for solo players who want to deal massive gun damage and score tons of critical hits

FL4K is the Beastmaster class who always has a pet companion by their side. Each of their Skill Trees has a specific Action Skill and Pet attached to it. Fun fact: the game lets players name FL4K’s pets! As far as pets go, the Skag is the most practical, since it increases FL4K’s damage as long as players have it with them. FL4K is best reserved for boss melting thanks to Fade Away. If players are taking down Wotan, it’s best to have an FL4K in their group as they can easily chew down the health bar in a short few seconds.

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The biggest problem with FL4K, however, is that Fade Away trumps all other Action Skills in Mayhem Mode. Fade Away allows FL4K to turn invisible for a few seconds with the next three shots being guaranteed critical hits. Once players have unlocked FL4K’s Guerillas In The Mist Augment (which gives FL4K unlimited critical hits for a short few seconds at the cost of less critical damage), they’re really not going to want to use any other Action Skill. With less build variety, some players may view FL4K’s kit as limited. In contrast, others feel like FL4K is the best Vault Hunter in the game, which is understandable considering Fade Away can be super overpowered.

1 Amara The Siren

This Siren Is All About Getting Up Close

• Strengths: Amara is a total powerhouse who does well in close-quarters combat with her gravity-defying AoE abilities
• Weaknesses: players must aim at least a little to maximize her ability effectiveness and her cooldowns can be long
• Bottom Line: best for fans of in-your-face combat that isn’t necessarily gun-related, Sirens, and dealing AoE damage

Amara is the Siren for Borderlands 3 and she is essentially a combination of Lilith and Maya from the previous games with some melee thrown in for funsies. Amara’s skill trees let players choose one Action Skill, an element, and an Action Skill Augment. They get to choose from either Fire, Shock, or Corrosion for the elements. The great thing is that all the Augments work for each of her Action Skills, which isn’t the case with the other Borderlands 3 characters. As such, Amara is a great character for crowd control.

She has a ton of abilities that allow her to take full control of the battlefield. For example, her Ties That Bind Action Skill is the same as her Phasegrasp, except this time, nearby enemies are linked and they all share a portion of the damage dealt. When doing the Maliwan Takedown, it’s great to have an Amara and bring down the number of enemies in quick succession. She also has a melee build option, but this still needs a few buffs to be worth taking on Mayhem 4. Since she’s the Siren class, she’s best utilized for her massive elemental damage output.

Her most overpowered (and overlooked) skill is Remnant. This shoots out a tracking elemental orb after killing an enemy. The orb’s damage is based on any overkill damage from the previous enemy, resulting in a ton of kills that can chain together without even trying. Amara is best used if players want a ton of DPS without having to shoot as much.