Borderlands 3

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software
Release Date: Sept. 13, 2019

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'Borderlands 3' (ALL) Reveals Two New Skill Trees

by Rainier on Oct. 20, 2020 @ 1:52 p.m. PDT

Borderlands 3 is a story-driven, non-stop galactic thrill-ride, filled with colorful characters, epic enemies and boss fights, and literally billions of guns.

The original shooter-looter returns, packing bazillions of guns and an all-new mayhem-fueled adventure!

Blast through new worlds and enemies as one of four brand new Vault Hunters – the ultimate treasure-seeking badasses of the Borderlands, each with deep skill trees, abilities, and customization.

Play solo or join with friends to take on insane enemies, collect bazillions of guns and loads of loot, and save your home from the most ruthless cult leaders in the galaxy – the Calypso Twins.

Stop the fanatical Calypso Twins from uniting the bandit clans and claiming the galaxy’s ultimate power. Only you, a thrill-seeking Vault Hunter, have the arsenal and allies to take them down.

Become one of four extraordinary Vault Hunters, each with unique abilities, playstyles, deep skill trees, and tons of personalization options. All Vault Hunters are capable of awesome mayhem alone, but together they are unstoppable.

With bazillions of guns and gadgets, every fight is an opportunity to score new gear. Firearms with self-propelling bullet shields? Check. Rifles that spawn fire-spewing volcanoes? Obviously. Guns that grow legs and chase down enemies while hurling verbal insults? Yeah, got that too.

Discover new worlds beyond Pandora, each featuring unique environments to explore and enemies to destroy. Tear through hostile deserts, battle your way across war-torn cityscapes, navigate deadly bayous, and more!

Get ready to level up, Vault Hunters! Last week we reported on the new Designer’s Cut add-on is coming to Borderlands 3 on November 10, and today the Borderlands Creator Team revealed two major pieces of content that will be available as part of that add-on: the brand new Skill Trees for Vault Hunters Amara and FL4K.

Players looking for fresh and exciting new ways to experience Borderlands 3’s shooting and looting can wield the power of these additional Skill Trees to develop their own unique Vault Hunter builds. Each Skill Tree offers a fresh Action Skill, as well as novel new passive abilities that can be mixed with existing abilities to create new ways to play each bona fide badass.

Freeze enemies solid and fight alongside a loyal Loader Bot in the Designer's Cut DLC launching November 10 for Borderlands 3, available as part of Season Pass 2 or individual purchase. This new add-on gives you access to all kinds of fresh mayhem, including the new Arms Race mode and an additional skill tree for each Vault Hunter, with new Action Skills to wield and a world of possibilities for your next great build.

First up, we're taking a look at the Enlightened Force skill tree for Amara the Siren and the Trapper skill tree for FL4K the Beastmaster, which introduce new ways to play both of these bona fide badasses. Check out the breakdowns below, then peruse these new skill trees in full with the interactive skill tree character builders over on the Amara the Siren and FL4K the Beastmaster pages.

Amara's "Enlightened Force" skill tree

Action Skill: Phaseflare

When using Amara's Enlightened Force skill tree, the entire galaxy is your personal bowling alley and those opposing you are the soon-to-be-annihilated pins.

First, freeze anyone foolish enough to get in your way with Cryo elemental effects, which round out Amara's toolkit of natural elements she can affix to her Action Skills. Then knock their blocks off using the Phaseflare Action Skill, which creates an orb of pure elemental energy you can push around and  detonate using melee attacks. The orb constantly damages any enemies nearby, but its full potential comes from the damage it does colliding with targets like a lethal bowling ball.

"Up until now Amara had 'fire and forget' Action Skills, but with the new Phaseflare, she's capable of even more damage when properly managing the skill," says Graeme. "This also opens up a whole new set of Action Skill Active Anointments that previously hadn't synergized too well with her other skills."

Those who master Phaseflare and pair it with the right gear will be able to bounce around the battlefield like a Siren possessed, slaughtering enemies by slamming an energy orb to and fro.

The passive abilities in the Enlightened Force skill tree also help you maximize your elemental damage and slow enemies so they have no hope of outrunning your Phaseflare.

Here are some highlights:

  • Trust in Yourself is a huge boon when Amara wants to fight up close and personal. Whenever an enemy breaks Amara's shield, she gains increased Reload Speed, Charge Speed, and Weapon Speed, with doubled bonuses if her shield was broken by a melee attack.
  • Combo Breaker makes it so that killing an enemy with melee damages reduces Amara's remaining Action Skill cooldown by half. When combined with the boosted melee damage effects from other passives, you can chain together skills almost nonstop.
  • Clear the Mind is a must-have Kill Skill for tougher enemies you need to freeze, burn, electrocute, or poison in a hurry. After killing an enemy, Amara's attacks ignore all elemental resistances for a short time (this doesn’t override elemental immunities, however).

Further down the Enlightened Force skill tree, you can gain access to more Action Skills that put a new spin on Phaseflare's signature orb. For instance, heal your allies with the Glow Up Action Skill that can grant an instant Second Wind if you smack it into a downed teammate.

For all you Siren pugilists who love to punch anything that moves, the Enlightened Force skill tree lets you crack skulls like never before.

FL4K's "Trapper" skill tree

Action Skill: Gravity Snare

"To FL4K, something doesn't need to be warm, fuzzy, and poop out their mouths to be a pet," says Tommy. "To FL4K, anything can be a pet, including a Hyperion Loader Bot."

Using their new Trapper skill tree,  FL4K can control the battlefield from near and far. With the new Loader Bot pet variations and area-of-effect Gravity Snare Action Skill, FL4K lovers can enjoy a new ways to play.

"The ION Loader comes with a powerful sniper rifle to keep it and FL4K safe from a distance, while the BUL Loader comes with a shotgun and a bulldozer to get right up in enemies' stupid faces," Tommy explains. "Or just go with the WAR Loader and burn everything to the ground with its radiation missiles. Whatever floats your boat. FL4K's new Trapper skill tree isn't all about robot rampages, though—it also provides FL4K and their pets with powerful shield bonuses."

To help you and your trusty pets get the perfect positioning during a skirmish, FL4K can drop a Gravity Snare for some reliable crowd-control. This long-lasting Action Skill periodically tosses any nearby enemies into the air, interrupting their attacks before painfully slamming them back into the ground. While they’re tied up, you and your animal/metal companion can go to town on your helpless prey or focus on high-value targets.

The passive abilities in the Trapper skill tree give FL4K and their pets huge survivability increases via shield bonuses or added damage through increased critical hit effects.

Check out these choice picks:

  • Take This! gives FL4K's pet a copy of their shield, which can turn your companion into a nigh-unkillable tank.
  • Monkey Do gives FL4K's pet increased critical hit damage, but the real power comes from its other passive effect. Whenever FL4K scores a critical hit on enemies, their pet's next attack is a guaranteed critical hit—and best of all, this passive has a short cooldown.
  • Capacitance is FL4K's failsafe survival skill: when activated, FL4K gains greatly increased Shield Capacity for a short time and immediately begins recharging shields. With its short cooldown, proper use of Capacitance can make you practically immortal.

"I can't wait to see what kind of interesting shield-focused builds are made possible by the Trapper skill tree," says Graeme. "The Loader Bots also contribute to a sense of cooperative play that really makes FL4K feel like a pack leader."

If you love luring enemies to their doom and withstanding damage that would make lesser robots crumble, FL4K's Trapper skill tree has what you need.

Developed from the ground up with AMD, Borderlands 3 will take full advantage of the most powerful PC hardware available, and is optimized for top performance and incredible gaming experiences on AMD Radeon graphics cards and Ryzen CPUs.

Currently available on PS4, Xbox One and PC, Borderlands 3 is also coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X in the near future.


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