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The Best Borderlands 3 Vault Hunter Builds In 2020
Disclaimer: this feature will be updated with more builds on a periodic basis.
It’s been a year, and Borderlands 3 is stronger and more packed than ever.
Gearbox announced recently that it will have less frequent hotfixes and updates for Borderlands 3, now that its seeming final DLC for the game’s first season is out and about. The game’s current arsenal and legendary weapons are all out in the open and the game’s level cap is set, at least for now.
With that said, we should share our favourite builds and weapons/mods/artifacts setup you should focus on and what Legendaries to farm. Here are our suggested builds to power through the endgame and make your farming and boss takedown bits a lot more manageable on the highest Mayhem level.
Do note that in order to get the most out of these OP builds, you will need ALL the DLC for this game. The game has been out for a year, so it should be discounted on your purchasing platform of choice by now.
This one is named after the My Hero Academia flavour text of the Plus Ultra shield, brand new from the Psycho Krieg DLC. Basically you have high survivability with Shields at full potential and your weapons deal a lot of direct and splash damage.
Important skills to note: Fire in the Skag Den, Phalanx Doctrine, Short Fuse. You want to cause as much damage and explosions as possible with this build.
Empowered Plus Ultra: Important for this build. Doubles health.
Bloodletter Class Mod: This will complement with the Ultra shield and the Phalanx Doctrine/Shield of Retribution skill tree. Basically your Shield goes up to the max and is your new lifebar. All skills in the skill points will make sure your Shield is always regenerating and staying on top, while your life is lower than 50% to activate the anoints on your weapons.
Flipper with U-Rad anointment: U-rad anointments are “while under 50% health, deal 150% bonus radiation damage”. When you have the top Shield of Retribution skill tree set up as such, your life will be below 50%, thus activating this anointment on this SMG automatically. You can easily farm the Flipper from the Minosaur in the Bounty of Blood DLC.
Plaguebearer with U-Rad anointment: same as above, but bigger burst damage and a tougher weapon to farm.
Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge: Consecutive hits give you a 1% increased damage per hit up to 15 times. When at max stack, adds an additional +90% damage.
Build credit: Moxsy
This Moze build is easy to comprehend: fire bullets until the enemies are dead. Whether it’s a Badass or a Boss, you’ll shred them in no time flat while also getting a temporary aggro-drawing assist from your Iron Bear.
We’ll let this video speak for itself. If you’re not a fan of reloading guns, this is the build for you.
Important skills to note: The Bottomless Mags tree & Forge, Fire in the Skag Den, Short Fuse, Auto Bear, Grizzled. Not only does your Iron Bear stay around a tad longer than the previous build, you can use it as cover as you unload bullets without any need to reload or worry about losing ammo fast.
Transformer – Still one of the best shields around. High capacity and makes you immune to shock damage. Try to get one that gives you 50% elemental damage on Action Skill End.
Sapper – Moze Class Mod that gives you lifesteal if you keep firing your gun. Make sure to get the one that gives you +5 to the Iron Bank skill, so it expands your magazine size exponentially.
Mine Sweeper – Moze Class Mod used for killing bosses. Dealing critical damage lets you drop a Micro Grenade that explodes; it’s a 25% chance, but this build lets you fire a gazillion bullets so your chances are very high. Find one that gives you extra points to Fire in the Skag Den and Redistribution.
Weapons that have decent magazines & high firing rate – Examples include the Flipper SMG, the Monarch and Dowsing Rod Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles like the Lyuda and Septimator Prime, and most Vladof guns. Heck, you can use Lucian and Rowan’s Call for this build as they have good firing rates. The skills from this build will amplify these guns and damage output.
Monarchs will take you a while to farm since they have a low drop rate from Killavolt. So if you’re impatient, just go for Dowsing Rods, Flippers, and Lyudas with good anoints like consecutive hits bonuses.
The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge – A must for most Vault Hunter builds, especially ones that boost your magazine size and increases fire rate.
Build credit: Ki11er Six
Lets you stay in Iron Bear longer than usual. It also deals double damage than usual, so if you like staying inside Iron Bear for a good amount of time, this is the Moze build for you. Be sure to equip Iron Bear with matching Hammerdown Protocol launchers for big burst damage with huge AoE.
Important skills to note: Stainless Steel Bear, Auto Bear, Deadlines, Security Bear, Desperate Measures, Dakka Bear. These will help buff up Iron Bear’s health to the millions.
Flare – The latest Moze Class Mod from the Psycho Krieg DLC. This adds more Iron Bear damage the longer you stay inside.
EXECUTE – A pistol that debuffs enemies when you chuck it to them.
Zheitsev’s Eruption – an Assault Rifle that debuffs enemies.
EM-P5 – An SMG that makes you move faster than usual. Switch to this weapon before you activate Iron Bear so that you can move fast.
Flipper – Your main damage dealer when you’re out of Iron Bear. Still does reasonable damage on its own. Be sure you get one with the U-rad anointment to get the damage bonus since Moze’s health will be low.
Plus Ultra – More health and bullet absorption = good for Moze.
Unforgiven – Best to equip when you’re on the Dakka Bear turret. The +300% critical applies to the turret.
Build credit: Joltzdude139
Thanks to the Designer’s Cut DLC/DLC 5, we now have new legendaries to farm in Arms Race. You’ll need certain weapons like the Vladof Boogeyman Sniper Rifle to make this Moze build work.
Funny story: the early skill Big Surplus on the 4th purple skill tree acts as a complement to Fire in the Skag Den skill. This equals to mucho damage for this build.
Boogeyman – You’ll have to farm Arms Race to get this rapid-fire sniper rifle.
Critical Prompt – A nice explosive pistol to have for Moze.
Plasma Coil – Fast-firing burst-laden SMG with multiple element types and splash damage.
Trevonator – This shotgun has a buff in Season 2 now. Make use of its burst fire.
Plaguebearer – A nice game-changer. Make sure its element matches the rest of your weapons, shield, and grenade to take advantage of Harmonious Havoc.
Old God – Still a great shield to have.
Blast Master – The class mod to have. This build will make sure your magazine never goes empty, making you exploit the Splash Damage buff you’ll get with this class mod.
Want to go all Star Platinum on your enemies? This is the build you want. The only gun you’ll be firing is the Facepuncher, which uses melee damage values instead of gun damage. Your Action Skill of choice is Reverberation, a Phasecast skill that increases damage if you hit multiple enemies in a line. Coupled with the homing orbs that pop up after every melee kill you pull off (filled with Overkill damage FYI), and you have a whole lot of digital blood on your hands.
Be sure to turn on the Groundbreaker Guardian Rank perk to turn up the melee after-effects to eleven.
Important skills to note: Remnant, Illuminated Fist, Find Your Center, the majority of the Brawl and Mystical Assault tree. Buff up that melee damage like no tomorrow.
Muse – This new Siren Class Mod makes melee builds viable. It basically triggers a homing energy orb as long as you’re dealing melee damage. This boosts the Illuminated Fists by 3, which basically amplifies melee damage further. Thanks to the melee scaling that occurs and its interaction with this build’s artifact, you’ll be doing insane damage with it all the way through.
Knife Drain Static Charge – Speaking of artifact, this is the one you need to make the entire build viable. The lifedrain ability will also make sure you’re healing and sustaining yourself while you’re dealing damage.
Knife Drain White Elephant – Switch to this when you’re fighting bosses 1v1, especially if they don’t summon mobs.
Stinger – This Shield Mod buffs up your melee damage to 50%.
It’s Piss/Fish Slap – If you have the Fish Slap Grenade Mod from the Revenge of the Cartel mini-DLC, use it since it deals melee damage. Otherwise, the debuffing P-nade is a good substitute.
Facepuncher – The cherry-maker that puts them on top of this build sundae. Once you spec just right, this is the only weapon you need, apart from your actual melee attacks.
Build credit: Joltzdude139
Amara’s special Ties That Bind Phasegrasp skill kills mobs real well. This build makes sure to get the most out of that bonus and just wreak havoc. Switch to Phasecast when you’re fighting bosses though, unless they summon mobs in the fight itself.
Important skills to note: Laid Bare, Remnant, Indiscriminate, most of the Fist of the Elements skill tree. The biggest priority here is the red and blue skills to maximize damage when pulling off Phasegrasp.
Hellwalker – The best incendiary shotgun for Amara and this build.
Light Show – The best close-ranged pistol for killing enemies fast. The Consecutive Hits anoint is needed to maximize the damage from this gun while Phasegrasping.
Enhanced Old God – This shield mod from Amach (via the Guns Love Tentacle DLC) will boost your damage output further. Try to farm as many elemental resistance versions as you can (Corrosive, Incendiary, etc.) so that you have many flavours to choose from.
Plaguebearer – A great rocket launcher to get out of FFYL.
Blood-Starved Beast – While this SMG is good, it takes eons to farm from Evil Lilith since its drop rate is criminally low.
Mitosis Hunter Seeker – Homing grenades for this splash-focused Amara build are always a plus. Aiming is overrated, anyway.
Purified Spectral Phasezerker – The perfect Siren Class Mod to go for this stacks-dependant build. Be sure to do “fake Phasegrasps” before a fight to build up your stacks so that you enter the battlefield powered-up.
The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge – A must for most Vault Hunter builds, especially ones that boost your magazine size and increases fire rate.
Build credit: Moxsy
Turn invisible, let your pet draw aggro, fire your gun, get crits. Any questions? Action skill-wise, use Fade Away with the Not My Circus enhancement to draw aggro while you’re in hiding.
Important skills to note: Lick The Wounds (for reviving since Fl4k is squishy as hell), Galactic Shadow and Megavore (for crits), Big Game (boosts Hunter Skills).
Action Skills & Pets: Fade Away with Not My Circus augment, Great Horned Skag
Hellwalker – Thanks to the recent buff on this weapon, this Jakobs shotgun is your go-to damage dealer when you’re in Fade Away. Get the U-Rad version if possible.
Skullmasher – For long-ranged combat, especially if your targets are far away and can one-shot you. Farm for the U-rad version to take advantage of the Front Loader perk.
Dastardly Maggie – A good pistol that works well with this build. This, alongside Hellwalker and Skullmasher, will take advantage of Head Count. Again, find the U-Rad version.
Bullet Buffet Front Loader – A shield mod that takes 60% of your health and uses it as additional shield energy. Since Fl4k’s ammo usage can get out of hand, farm for the version that absorbs bullets.
Cosmic Stalker – The Beastmaster Class Mod you need for killing mobs since it gives you +25% for all your Hunter Skills. Roll for the ones that boosts Interplanetary Stalker and Big Game. If you can get one that also gives you Shotgun and Jakobs critical damage bonus, all the better.
Bullet Buffet Front Loader – You need to have your Max Health reduced with this Shield Mod to take advantage of the U-Rad setups here. Also, the bullet absorption from this Shield Mod roll helps with your ammo count.
Mitosis Hunter-Seeker – Homing grenades that splits into 3 in flight are always nice.
The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge – A must for most Vault Hunter builds, especially ones that boost your magazine size and increases fire rate.
This build’s purpose is to summon your pet at a location all gamma’ed up, and then kill mobs & bosses while their backs are turned. Your gamma’ed pet is unkillable, so feel free to dish out the damage.
Important skills to note: Lick The Wounds, most of the Master and Hunter skill tree. You want your pet to survive all onslaughts when you use Gamma Burst.
Action Skill & augments: Gamma Burst, Empathic Rage, Atomic Aroma.
Red Fang: This build will not work without this Fl4k Class Mod. It allows your pet to draw aggro when Gamma Burst is activated, which means you won’t be targeted at all when dealing damage.
Hellwalker, Light Show, Monarch, and Reflux with u-Rad anoints: We’re stacking up radiation damage in this build to complement Gamma Burst, so these top-tier weapons will help shred mobs and bosses faster.
Bulwark Front Loader with radiation resistance: To activate the u-Rad bonuses, you need the Front Loader’s ability to take out 60% of your health to use as shield capacity.
The Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge – A must for most Vault Hunter builds, especially ones that boost your magazine size and increases fire rate.
Build credit: Moxsy
The ultimate in Operative combat & toolsets. This build gives Zane a speed & damage boost when he has both his SNTNL Drone and Clone out. The Double Barrel skill will give your Clone the weapon you had equipped when summoning it, meaning you have an auto turret of sorts with perfect aim and an OP weapon. Don’t act too shocked if everything around you dies fast.
Important skills to note: Brain Freeze, Death Follows Close, Seein’ Red, Double Barrel, Supersonic Man, Donnybrook. These and the rest of the skills above are paramount in making Zane move fast and dealing a lot of damage while in motion, as well as keep his enemies grounded and outpaced.
Action skill augments: Clone – Doppelbanger and Which One’s Real?. SNTNL – Bad Dose and Static Field.
Seein’ Dead – Honestly, this is the only Zane Class Mod you need because every other mod is just complementary or only for specific situations. As an all-purpose mobbing and bossing mod, Seein’ Dead is just too good since it keeps your Action Skills & Kill Skills active for every hit you dish out. The 25% kill skill effect bonus helps too.
Transformer with SNTNL movement speed anoint – Protects you from Shock and has high capacity.
Light Show with 100% damage buff via SNTNL – The best Vladof pistol for Zane since he can catch up to enemies and run away.
Sand Hawk – While we’re not fans of this Sniper Rifle’s handling and firing, it’s a beast on your Clone. You can just equip it first, summon your clone, then switch to your primary weapon like the Light Show. Anything that’s hit by the Clone’s Sandhawk shot will die super-quick.
Blood-Starved Beast – This SMG replaces Redistributor, which was the go-to for Zane and his Clone/SNTNL/speed meta. It’ll take a while to farm, but it’s worth it.
Backburner – This Rocket Launcher still destroys anything in the game. Another weapon your Clone can use since it has pinpoint accuracy. Make sure to get the Shock element version when you have the Transformer on because its AoE will down you.
It’s Piss – A grenade mod that debuffs enemy defenses.
Ice Breaker Victory Rush – This artifact synergizes well with Brain Freeze and all other skills that add Freeze onto your enemies.
Build credit – Joltzdude139
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