Like its predecessors, Borderlands 3 is a quirky First-Person Shooter that’s jam-packed with things to see and crazies to shoot at. Unlike most other FPS series that focus on being gritty, serious, and morbid, however, the Borderlands universe takes a more light-hearted approach, infusing everything from its world and characters with lots of colour and personality. It does this while offering up players a near-unlimited number of new guns to loot. Borderlands 3 serves up four new vault hunter classes to experience all this with – each boasting their own unique styles of play.
Here we’ll run through what makes all of them so unique, making it easier for players to know which new vault hunter to play as when Borderlands 3 officially releases on PS4 and Xbox One this 13th September. With that said, let’s dig in:
Zane The Operative – the tech expert of Borderlands 3
Boasting an extensive suite of gadgets sure to come in handy in any life-or-death situation, Zane serves as the Operative class in Borderlands 3 and is a great all-rounder. That’s because most of his unique Action Skills work in favour of shooting at enemies from a great distance. Zane is special in that he can use two of his available Action Skills simultaneously, though he’ll have to sacrifice access to his grenade in order to do so.
Zane’s three Action Skills are: Digi-Clone, SNTNL and Barrier. Two of those probably seem self-explanatory to any seasoned Borderlands player, but just in case you need anything clarifying we’re about to explain the benefits of each.
- Digi-Clone: Most useful when you want to distract enemies, Zane’s Digi-Clone Action Skill works much in the same way as Handsome Jack’s ‘Digi-Jack’ ability from 2014’s Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. At any time he can summon a series of digital replications of himself, having them draw fire so you as the main Zane can get the jump on enemies.
- SNTNL: SNTL is another great Action Skill that an come in handy from afar, seeing Zane summon an autonomous flying drone that will swoop in to attack enemies. Hitting your controller’s back bumpers will also let Zane guide it to whatever lies in his crosshairs.
- Barrier: Perhaps the most obvious Action Skill present in Zane’s arsenal, this works as a deployable barrier that can block any incoming projectiles. Zane can also shoot through the barrier to increase his gun damage, being an ideal method for those who’d prefer to stay on the defensive.
Fl4K The Beastmaster – the death dealing machine in Borderlands 3
Best described as a wandering robot with a vengeful grudge to resolve, Fl4K is Borderlands 3’s Beastmaster class. As such, his central gimmick is the ability to control three distinct pets – all of which are ready to unleash terror on any and all unsuspecting bad guys. Fl4K works great both up-close and from a distance, offering players a lot of variety in terms of how best to approach firefights and gun battles.
Fl4k’s three Action skills are all geared towards his pets: The Skag, Spiderant and flying stalker. Each can be powered up and upgraded in their own unique ways, letting the wandering robot perform such specials as Fade Away, Rakk Attack and Gamma Burst. Below we’ll get into how each operate.
- Fade Away: As the name suggests, Fade Away is an Action Skill that allows Fl4K to manoeuvre around cloaked and unseen. He’ll still be able to fire off three shots before the illusion fades, gaining increased movement speed and health regen for as long as it stays active.
- Rakk Attack: This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Rakk Attack is an easy get out solution for whenever Fl4K becomes overwhelmed, seeing him command two rakk creates towards enemies before dive-bombing them. It deals a lot of damage.
- Gamma Burst: Arguably the one Action Skill that leans the heaviest into Fl4K’s creatures, Gamma Burst lets him teleport one of the three through a rift into the direction of enemies. Once there, the pet in question will unleash a giant burst and radiate damage.
Moze The Gunner – The closest thing to a soldier class in Borderlands 3
While previous Borderlands games had a strict soldier class that worked well to slot in neatly into the standard FPS template, this long-awaited third entry is adamant on shaking things up and Moze The Gunner is the result. She’s small in stature but one of the most devasting vault hunter classes you can play as, being a master of gunplay while having access to a giant, mech-like robot known as The Iron Bear.
Moze’s Iron Bear comes primed with three Action Skill options, letting you attach your choice of either a Railgun, Minigun or V-35 Grenade Launcher. You can equip two at any one time, depending on the situation or affect on enemies you’d like to have, readily accessible whenever Moze summons the Iron Bear and jumps inside its cockpit. Let’s look at how Moze’s Action Skills work:
- Railgun: This little beauty fires high-velocity electrified rounds at enemies, being the best gun to use when wanting to deal vast amounts of shock damage. This means that it can stun any enemies standing in the firing line briefly for as long as they’re being shot at.
- Minigun: The Minigun is great for laying down any required suppressing fire, quickly unleashing rounds that don’t deal the most damage but expertly work to swarm. Just be sure to keep an eye on the heat gauge, because when pushed to its limit it’ll choke.
- Grenade Launcher: Moze’s Grenade Launcher will destroy anything her crosshairs ends up looking at it, firing grenades at rapid pace for the purposes of crowd control. Despite being powered by grenades, it won’t eat up your existing ones for the time it stays active.
Amara The Siren – bringing the beatdowns to Borderlands 3
The Siren is a class that’s appeared in every previous Borderlands game so far, proving extremely popular due to how ethereal and distance-based they play in comparison to other vault hunter types. Amara takes this role on for Borderlands 3, being one of only 6 in the entire universe. She brings with her a suite of cool abilities, all centred around letting her channel her unique siren ability.
Despite being magic-based, Amara offers players the unique ability to do battle and damage against enemies up-close, in addition to Borderlands 3’s usual bouts of gunplay. Her three Action Skills are Phasegrasp, Phasecast and Phaseslam, so let’s learn more about them:
- Phasegrasp: Phasegrasp sees Amara summon a series of giant fists that burst from the ground and then lock onto the nearest target. Said target then experiences a whole world of pain for a few seconds, letting you barrage enemies with bullets elsewhere.
- Phasecast: A simple but effective manoeuvre, the Phasecast action skill sees her send forward an astral projection of herself. This will then deal damage to everything in its path, being great for crowd control when the going gets tough.
- Phaseslam: Phaseslam will see Amara take a huge leap into the air, slamming down to the ground to deal damage to any and all nearby enemies. This will then also knock up enemies, letting you line them up in your crosshairs and fire away.
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