Borderlands 4 Playable Characters: Your Comprehensive Guide

What to know

• Four Vault Hunters: Vex (Siren), Rafa (Exo-Soldier), Harlowe (Gravitar), and Amon (Forgeknight) are the playable characters at launch.
• Unique traits: Each character has a passive trait influencing all skills, plus three action skills with distinct skill trees.
• Playstyle variety: From summoning minions to tanking damage or dealing massive firepower, there’s a character for every approach.
• Campaign lock: You can’t switch characters mid-campaign, but you can skip the campaign for alternate characters.

Borderlands 4 introduces four distinct Vault Hunters, each with unique abilities, skill trees, and playstyles. Whether you’re a solo player or teaming up, picking the right character is key to maximizing your looting and shooting experience. This guide breaks down each Vault Hunter, their skills, and how to choose the best one for you.

#1 - Vex: The spooky siren

Vex, the Siren, is a mystical powerhouse who blends elemental damage with summoning abilities. Her passive trait, Phase Covenant, aligns her action skill and melee damage with her equipped gun’s element, making her versatile for elemental builds. She’s ideal if you enjoy commanding minions or unleashing direct, explosive power.

Vex’s action skills and skill trees

• Dead Ringer (Fourth Seal): Summon up to three clones—Spectors (stationary shooters) or Reapers (mobile melee attackers). Augments enhance minions, like giving Spectors your gun or spawning a Grim Reaper. The capstone, Dark Pact, grants two augment slots and buffs minions, perfect for a commander-style playstyle.

• Incarnate (Vexcalation): Focuses power on Vex herself, triggering a Phase Explosion for area damage and personal buffs. This tree suits players who prefer direct combat over managing summons.

• Spectral Aegis: Summons a saber-tooth tiger, Trouble, which adapts to your gun’s element. Ideal for pet-based builds, with augments boosting Trouble’s damage or utility, like healing allies.

Why choose Vex?

Vex shines in versatility. If you love switching between elemental chaos, summoning ghostly allies, or diving into the fray with explosive power, she’s your pick. Her Dead Ringer tree feels like a lite RTS, while Incarnate offers a more self-focused, aggressive approach.

#2 - Rafa: The agile exo-soldier

Rafa, the Exo-Soldier, is a former Tediore soldier wielding an experimental exo-suit. His trait, Overdrive, boosts stats during and briefly after action skill use, making him a fast, aggressive fighter. If you enjoy rogue-like agility or heavy firepower, Rafa’s your guy.

Rafa’s action skills and skill trees

• Peacebreaker Cannons: Shoulder-mounted turrets auto-fire at enemies. Augments can make them deal critical hits with fire damage or support allies by refilling ammo. Great for fire-and-forget damage or team support.

• APOPHIS Lance: An off-hand weapon firing Shock projectiles by default. Augments allow switching to a taser, laser, or Corrosive globs, offering flexibility for range or status effects.

• Arc Knives: Melee-focused, dealing massive damage with elemental augments (Corrosive, Shock, or Incendiary). High-risk, high-reward, but less effective against flying enemies early on.

Why choose Rafa?

Rafa excels in fast-paced, versatile combat. His Peacebreaker Cannons and APOPHIS Lance are beginner-friendly, while Arc Knives suit melee enthusiasts with the right gear. His ability to buff gun damage makes him a top pick for DPS-focused players.

#3 - Harlowe: The gravity-defying gravitar

Harlowe, the Gravitar, is a Maliwan combat scientist with a knack for manipulating gravity and dealing area damage. Her sunny disposition and tech-heavy kit make her a crowd-control specialist, perfect for players who love chaotic, explosive battles.

Harlowe’s action skills and skill trees

• Creative Burst (CHROMA Accelerator): Fires an unstable energy pocket dealing Cryo damage, which explodes for Radiation damage when reactivated. Ideal for clearing groups with high area damage.

• Seize The Day (HALO Accelerator): Places an enemy in stasis, or damages immune enemies. Reactivating slams the enemy down, causing a small explosion. Great for controlling single targets.

• Cosmic Brilliance (Flux Generator): Throws a generator that projects a Cryo-damage energy field, entangling enemies and granting allies overshields. Reactivating lets you reposition it, enhancing tactical play.

Why choose Harlowe?

Harlowe’s gravity-based skills make her a mob-clearing machine. If you enjoy manipulating the battlefield with stasis, explosions, or protective fields, her tech-heavy playstyle is a blast. She’s less tanky but shines against groups.

#4 - Amon: The tanky forgeknight

Amon, the Forgeknight, is a melee-focused warrior raised in a Vault-monster cult. His skills revolve around elemental weaponry and tanking damage, making him ideal for players who want to charge in and absorb punishment.

Amon’s action skills and skill trees

• Calamity (Forgefist): Overloads Amon’s fist for constant shield regeneration, bonus Incendiary gun damage, and a rocket punch melee attack. Boosts movement speed for aggressive play.
• Vengeance (Forgeshield): Equips a shield absorbing frontal damage. When the vengeance meter fills, it provides damage reduction. Activating launches a Cryo-damage Forgewave, perfect for crowd control.

• Crucible: Throws a flame or frost axe that primes enemies for detonation on death or further forge-skill hits. Retrievable for cooldown refund, encouraging active melee engagement.

Why choose Amon?

Amon is the go-to for tanky, melee-heavy builds. His shield and axe skills let you soak damage while dishing out elemental chaos, ideal for players who love being in the thick of battle.

Comparing the vault hunters

How to pick your vault hunter

Choosing the right Vault Hunter depends on your preferred playstyle. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you decide:

1. Assess your playstyle: Do you prefer ranged combat, melee, or crowd control? Vex and Rafa offer flexibility, Harlowe excels in mob control, and Amon is best for tanking.
2. Consider solo vs. co-op: Solo players might lean toward Vex or Amon for their versatility and durability. In co-op, Rafa’s support augments or Harlowe’s shields shine.
3. Experiment with skills: You can swap action skills outside combat, so try different trees early on. Respeccing refunds skill points for new builds.
4. Match with weapons: Vex benefits from elemental guns, Rafa from high-fire-rate weapons, Harlowe from area-damage gear, and Amon from melee or explosive weapons.

Which Vault Hunter should you play first

• Flashy combat with versatility → Vex
• Brutal melee power → Amon
• Precise ranged combat → Rafa
• Tactical control and AoE → Harlowe

What’s coming after launch

• Gearbox has confirmed at least one new Vault Hunter arriving in the first story pack, “Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned”, due in early 2026.
• Skill trees are still being fine-tuned, so some details may shift before or shortly after launch.

Tips for mastering your vault hunter

• Build synergy: Focus skill points on augments and passives that enhance your chosen action skill. For example, Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons pair well with critical-hit buffs.
• Gear matters: Equip weapons and mods that complement your character’s trait, like elemental guns for Vex or shields for Amon.
• Leveling up: Follow leveling guides for early skill point allocation. For instance, Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons or Amon’s Crucible are strong starter choices.
• Try all characters: Borderlands 4 lets you skip the campaign on alternate characters, making it easy to test all Vault Hunters.

Tips for choosing based on your playstyle

1. Melee or ranged?
   • Choose Amon if you want close-quarters combat.
   • Pick Rafa or Vex for ranged versatility.
2. Damage or utility?
   • Amon and Rafa lean more toward direct damage.
   • Harlowe and Vex excel at utility and team support.
3. Like pets or companions?
   • Vex brings summoned allies into battle.
4. Solo vs team play?
   • Amon and Rafa are very self-sufficient.
   • Vex and Harlowe shine in co-op with support and control abilities.

Wrapping up your vault hunter choice

Each Borderlands 4 Vault Hunter offers a unique way to tackle the chaos of Kairos. Vex’s elemental versatility, Rafa’s agile firepower, Harlowe’s gravity tricks, or Amon’s tanky brawling ensure there’s a fit for every player. Experiment with their skills, match them to your playstyle, and dive into the loot-filled adventure. With the ability to skip campaigns on new characters, you can try them all without replaying the story. Pick your Vault Hunter and start blasting!