Borderlands 4 has various characters, but which one offers the best class for beginners? We took a look.
In Borderlands 4, you can use four different vault hunters to face the malevolent Time Warden:
- Rafa
- Vex
- Amon
- Harlowe
But before tackling the Time Warden, there are plenty of other challenges to master, enemies to defeat, weapons to collect, and skills to upgrade.
Borderlands is known for its fast-paced gameplay, various combat approaches, as well as hordes of enemies and sometimes tough bosses. This can be quite overwhelming for players who are not familiar with the Borderlands or shooter universe in general.
And even when playing co-op with people who may not play much, it can be helpful to start with an easier character.
That’s why we looked into: Which vault hunters are particularly suitable for beginners?
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The best class for beginners in Borderlands 4: Rafa and his turrets
The Exo-Soldier Rafa is our first recommendation for getting into the game easily. His skill “Overdrive” is fairly straightforward: It increases your movement speed and your damage with all weapons once you activate an action skill.
For action skills, Rafa offers the “APOPHIS” spear, the melee-oriented “Arc Blades,” or the “Peacekeeper Cannons.”
In particular, the cannons are suitable for beginners: The shoulder cannons deal critical hits and, depending on skill points, continuously regenerate. You regenerate ammunition, fire bombs, later deal elemental damage, shoot with ricochets, or can even use self-triggering, seeking lasers.
Rafa is simple, quite easy to understand and enhance, and he works very well as a solo vault hunter. Overall, a good choice to get into the game.
The second-best class for beginners: Vex and her helpers
The Siren Vex brings the ability “Phase Pact” and can apply the elemental damage of her weapon to action skills and melee damage. This is quite useful, as it allows you to deal a lot of targeted damage. An overview, of which elements are particularly effective where can be found here.
As for action skills: Vex has various abilities suitable for the start of the game.
The “Harbinger” skill spawns a phase clone – Phantom or Reaper. These deal elemental damage based on your Phase Pact. The Reaper draws enemies to it and binds them in melee – great if you want to take a little breather. The Phantom, on the other hand, stays stationary but continuously shoots at your enemies.
The other option is the skill “Phase Phertraut” from the skill tree “Trouble Comes.” Here you summon the phase tiger “Rabatzi,” a large wildcat that crushes your opponents and also keeps enemies off your back.
You can further improve these companion skills and gain plenty of bonuses. Quite ideal if you’re playing alone and not yet deeply into the Borderlands gameplay.
By the way: Vex also offers currently the strongest build in Borderlands 4. However, that’s more for later stages of the game when you have the right equipment, like a deadly throwing knife. If you want to switch to this once you get used to the game, you can respec your character.
Harlowe in 3rd place – Cool especially in co-op
Harlowe is a vault hunter who relies on a variety of technical gadgets. Her “Entrapment” ability is designed to take out large numbers of enemies at once. She can “entrap” enemies, causing them to share damage.
Harlowe has abilities like the Chroma Accelerator, which is quite straightforward, firing an “unstable energy pouch” that deals damage. But the really exciting part are the buffs that this skill can trigger alongside – and that gets a bit more complicated and is not necessarily beginner-friendly. You can find the build for it here.
The other abilities: “Null Point” freezes enemies in stasis, “Flux Generator” entraps multiple enemies, inflicts cryo damage, and activates overshields for allies. These are abilities that work particularly well in cooperation with other vault hunters. That’s cool, when playing co-op and also a good option if, as a beginner, you want to play more as support in a duo. Overall, we find Harlowe to be more complex than Vex and Rafa.
Amon: Not so easy, but exciting
In an interview, character designer Nick Thurston said Amon is his favorite vault hunter. This is also because some good ideas remained at the end of the development cycle that couldn’t be integrated anywhere – but then flowed into the realization of Amon.
You can tell this from the barbarian, who has a whole range of skills requiring you to do multiple things at once. The Scourge skill, for example, equips you with a shield that absorbs damage and then, by pressing L1, you can bounce back damage as a “Smith Waves” whip. At the same time, you can set up another “shield,” the “Fire Wall,” which also absorbs damage while giving buffs to allied projectiles. And if you shoot a Smith Wave through the shield, it is also amplified.
With Scourge, you can consistently freeze your enemies, but you’re also constantly under fire, looking for protection or caught in the fray to attack. The simpler Amon build relies on the “Melting Pot,” the ability to work with elemental axes. Our editor Dariusz played through Borderlands 4 with it, and he attested it good playability and fun, but also certain weaknesses.
The “Rusher” skill focuses on melee fights, which can also get quite stressful. Overall, you are always in the fray with Amon – that’s fun, but not necessarily easy if you are a beginner.
The best vault hunter depends on your personal playstyle. Amon, Vex, Rafa, or Harlowe – which vault hunter are you currently playing in Borderlands 4? Let us know in the comments! Also: It all depends on the right loot. Collecting is one of the most important elements of the game. In a early boss in Borderlands 4, you can actually gather loot very well.
