Explosive Abilities, Chaos Styles, and a Whole Lot of Firepower
The Borderlands 4 Vault Hunters are here, and they’re a wild mix of chaos-casters, brute brawlers, techno-blade runners, and spectral summoners. Game Informer’s new preview breaks down each of their kits, and every single one feels built to break the rules of previous Borderlands builds. Here’s a clean look at what each Vault Hunter brings to the table—skills, traits, and style.
Amon – The Forgeknight
Style: Elemental Juggernaut with Tank-Mage Energy
Is Amon just Overwatch’s Reinhardt with a gun? Yes. Is that cool? Yes. Borderlands 4’s hulking brute, charging into fights with a war-forged blend of melee violence and elemental wizardry. He’s slower than the others, but compensates with durability, area control, and devastating AoE.
Action Skills:
- Crucible throws ice and fire axes (which can presumably be customised by element.
- Secondary: Dual element throw.
- Onslaughter is a fiery melee punch.
- Secondary: Hammer slam with fire AoE.
- Scourge summons a shield that absorbs damage and lashes out with a whip.
- Creates a fire wall for cover and denial.
Trait – Dual Casting:
Each Action Skill has a secondary pairing, allowing layered attacks and combos.
Notable Strengths:
- Highest elemental focus in the game
- Toughest Vault Hunter with melee leanings
- Coop-friendly shielding and AoE denial
Harlowe – The Gravitar
Style: Telekinetic Crowd Control Specialist
Harlowe plays like a Siren with a physics degree. She controls space itself with Entanglement, spreading damage across groups and controlling enemy positioning with style.
Action Skills:
- Zero-Point lifts enemies midair and slam them into others or the environment.
- Chroma Accelerator fires an unstable energy blast with a huge Entangle radius.
- Flux Generator deploys a pulse mine that Entangles all enemies in a wide zone.
Trait – Entanglement:
Damage dealt to one Entangled enemy spreads to all others affected, turning every fight into a splash zone.
Notable Strengths:
- God-tier crowd control
- Huge synergy in co-op play
- Slam-kills and power explosions feel viscerally good
Rafa – The Exo-Soldier
Style: Run-and-Gun Digistruct DPS
Rafa is the fast, flashy soldier archetype—but with a twist. His digistruct abilities let him conjure weapons and gear on the fly, making him one of the most versatile characters ever seen in the franchise.
Action Skills:
- Apophis Lance deploys an arm cannon that fires piercing energy.
- Peacebreaker Cannons uses Rafa’s auto-aiming shoulder turrets.
- Arc-Knives deplyos dual blades for fast melee strikes.
Trait – Overdrive:
Movement speed and damage are boosted during Action Skill use.
Notable Strengths:
- Rapid-fire energy attacks
- Great elemental scaling, especially corrosive
- Extremely approachable for solo or new players
Vex – The Dark Siren
Style: Summoner with Elemental Customization
Vex flips the Siren archetype by focusing less on direct elemental damage and more on commanding a legion of spectral allies. But don’t worry—she’s still got that signature Siren flair.
Action Skills:
- Dead Ringer summons up to three melee Reapers or turret Specters.
- Phase Phamiliar summons a beast called Trouble that teleports and does AoE damage.
- Incarnate creates an explosion that damages enemies and buffs Vex.
Trait – Phase Covenant:
Her minions take on the elemental type of her currently equipped gun.
Notable Strengths:
- Permanent pet and minion playstyle
- Mid-fight elemental switching
- Ideal for creative build crafters and solo crowd control
Final Verdict?
There’s no obvious “best” vault hunter this time—like Moze in BL3—each Vault Hunter feels built for experimentation, synergy, and full-throttle fun. Whether you’re into slamming enemies with gravity powers, raining axes as a fire knight, slicing through crowds with digitized blades, or commanding spectral armies of chaos, Borderlands 4 has you covered.
Just don’t expect to pick only one. You’ll be respeccing—and re-maining—faster than you can say “legendary loot.”