It’s Gamescom 2019 and Gearbox Software is in full swing with Borderlands 3. Their announcements circle around the Borderlands 3 endgame content and if you’ve played Borderlands before you know that there’ll be a lot. Heck, I’m still trying to get through True Vault Hunter Mode. This time they’ve announced something called The Proving Grounds. A kind of time challenge where you kill waves of enemies sounds fun! Before Borderlands 3 comes out next month do you know which Vault Hunter you’re going to be playing?
Amara: Siren
Amara is one of the six badass Siren chicks in the Borderlands universe. Born in the slums of Partali, Amara is the giant fist of justice. She’s never one to stand idly by when injustice is afoot. Like all her siren sisters their powers differ a little from each other. Amara’s abilities range from Phasegrasp, Phasecast, Phaseslam and Phasetrance. We get it there’s a lot of phasing. Choose from three distinct skill trees.
- Fist of the Elements: Phasegrasp functions similarly to Borderlands 2‘s Maya’s Phaselock. She can summon a giant fist to burst from the ground, locking the targeted enemy in place for a few seconds.
- Mystical Assault: Phasecast sends an Astral projection of Amara forward to deal damage to everything in its path.
- Brawl: Phaseslam is Amara leaping into the air and slamming the ground, dealing damage to all nearby enemies and knocking them into the air. She’s a bit of a bruiser this one.
- Ultimate: Phasetrance gives Amara multiple powerful arms that can shoot blasts of force or crush enemies in their grip.
As you can tell Amara is a pretty fast-paced in your face character. Check out her full skill tree here.
Zane Flynt: Operative
First of, am I the only one who finds his voice sexy? Zane Flynt if that last name sounds familiar it’s because we’ve already beaten up Captain and Baron Flynt more than a few times on Pandora. Turns out Zane’s the much more attractive brother of the Flynt family. Much like that Jonas brother no one talks about. Over the years, he’s worked for, against, and along with every major corporation conducting espionage and assassination for the highest bidder.
Now Zane is a semi-retired corporate hitman and our resident tech expert who always has a gadget up his sleeve. Whether it’s whipping out a drone or a clone he’s always got something at the ready. Zane is the only character that can equip two action skills at once (although you replace it with your grenade). Here are his skill trees.
- Doubled Agent: Digi-Clone much like Handsome Jack’s clones from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, this action creates a clone of Zane to help distract and deal damage to enemies. Not only that but Zane can swap places with it, cause it to blow up or just have it deal a bunch of damage.
- Hitman: The SNTNL action skill sends out a hovering drone equipped with a machine gun. The fun part about this tree is that every kill you get amps up your bonuses, making your killing easier, giving you more bonuses. You get it.
- Under Cover: Barrier deploys a shield that blocks all enemy fire and gives you and your allies increased gun damage whenever you shoot through it. You can even pick up an active Barrier to turn Zane into a mobile bulwark, though this decreases its size and damage bonuses.
Zane plays like the Assassin class of Borderlands but he’s not a really wait in the shadows and retreat kinda guy. Check out his full skill tree here.
Moze: Gunner
Who needs a squad when you have a 15-ton bipedal mech that’s packing some heavy artillery. A battle-hardened veteran she was an original soldier of the Vladorf army but left to become a mercenary when her squad was wiped out during a suicide mission. Now it’s just her and her Iron Bear hunting for Vaults. Instead of picking different action skills, you choose which weapons you equip on your Mech. Moze also has a co-op focused skill tree which will allow a buddy to climb on the titan and control its mounted turret. Let’s check out the skill trees.
- Shield of Retribution: Railgun and Bear Fist. This is an unbreakable skill tree that does well long distance as well. The Railgun is a great weapon for sharpshooters, as Iron Bear fires off electrified, high-velocity projectiles. Use this with the additional shield points to turn yourself into a walking tank.
- Demolition Woman: V-35 Grenade Launcher and Vanquisher Rocket Pod. Like the name suggests you’re looking at a skill tree with a ton of splash damage. Whether you’re firing off grenades with Iron Bear or throwing them by hand, the Demolition Woman skill tree helps you get the most destructive force possible packed into every explosion.
- Bottomless Mags: Minigun and Salamander. Have no fear without ammo near. This is the bottomless mag skill tree and you’re rarely going to run dry of bullets here. Instead, spew out a steady stream of hot lead with the minigun or mix it up with a gigantic flamethrower. What can I say this is a pretty straightforward skill tree.
Moze brings the best of Borderlands 2 Gunzerker build as well as the Soldier with its sentry build. It looks like a great class to play solo as well as in a team. Check out her full skill tree here.
FL4K: Beastmaster
An AI that isn’t the annoying Claptrap? Could it be? An emergent AI driven in an ongoing quest for self-discovery, FL4K wanders from world to world accompanied by beasts. While he feels a connection with the primal wisdom of animals, the social construct of humans is strange to them. On their endless hunt, FL4K’s loyal Skag, Spiderant, and Jabber helps him track and claim their quarry. FL4K is a Beastmaster and his skill trees are split up by his companions. Check it out.
- Hunter: The Spiderant and the Rakk. When FL4K deploys the Rakk, it will soar into the air and swoop down to divebomb nearby enemies. While your Rakk is doing work, sic your Spiderant Pet onto their prey. He attacks with globs of acidic goo, spinning charge attacks, and strikes from their pincer and prosthetic drill arm.
- Master: The Skag. There’s a good boy alert over here. You have a cutie Skag that you can send to different locations, hit with a burst of radiation and of course use to send projectile vomit everywhere.
- Stalker: The Jabber. Evasion and resilience are the names of the game here. The Fade Away skill is pretty handy, instantly cloaking FL4K giving him increased movement speed and health regeneration. Jabber is there as well with his little gun speeding you up and dispensing hot lead.
A little more finicky than the other characters to start with I can see FL4K become a great solo character to play. With the Jabber being able to heal revive you while you’re down who needs friends? Check out his full skill tree here.