TL;DR: Pick Rafa if you want to just shoot things and have a good time. Pick Vex if you're playing solo and want to stay alive easily. Don't hoard gear — swap constantly. Always match your element to the enemy. Use your Action Skill. Seriously, use your Action Skill.
Borderlands 4 is a lot.
New planet. New Vault Hunters. New movement system. A loot pool so deep it should have a lifeguard. If you've never played a Borderlands game before, the first hour can feel like someone handed you a manual written in a different language.
Even if you've played the older games, things have changed enough that some of your old habits will get you killed.
This guide covers what you actually need to know to get started.
First Thing — Pick the Right Vault Hunter
This is the most important decision you make at the start of the game. Not because there's a wrong answer, but because the wrong pick for your playstyle will make the first few hours feel worse than they need to.
Here's the honest breakdown.
Rafa — Best for Beginners
If you don't know what you want yet, pick Rafa.
He's the Exo-Soldier — basically the run-and-gun character. Every time you use your Action Skill, Overdrive activates automatically, boosting your damage and movement speed without you having to think about it. He also passively regenerates ammo, which means you can spray bullets freely instead of carefully managing resources.
Rafa works with almost any weapon you pick up. No complicated synergies to figure out early on. Just shoot things and he does his job.
Think of him as the character that teaches you the game while you're having fun.
Vex — Best for Solo Players
Vex is the Siren this time around, and she's built for people playing alone.
Her passive trait attunes her elemental damage to whatever gun she's currently holding — so swapping weapons automatically adjusts her whole kit. No manual setup needed.
The real reason to pick her solo is lifesteal. She heals herself through dealing damage, which means mistakes are less punishing. She also gets a cat companion called Trouble who taunts enemies and tanks hits for her.
Less dying. More killing. Good combination.
Harlowe — Best for Co-op
If you're jumping in with friends immediately, Harlowe is the play.
Her passive Entanglement debuffs enemies hit by her Action Skills, making them share damage with each other. One ability hits, suddenly all the nearby enemies are taking the same hit. The crowd control scaling in a group is genuinely broken in a fun way.
She's also the only one with a shield ability that actively protects allies. In a squad, she's the difference between a smooth run and a chaotic one.
Amon — Best When You Know What You're Doing
Amon is the Forgeknight — big melee energy, tank stats, and a kit that rewards aggression.
He's not the ideal first pick because getting the most out of him requires understanding how to stay in enemies' faces without dying. Once that clicks, he's one of the most satisfying characters in the game. His Onslaughter tree basically turns the game into Doom — rocket punching enemies across rooms while keeping your damage loop going.
But learn the basics on someone else first.
The Movement Is Different Now
Previous Borderlands games had decent movement. Borderlands 4 has genuinely good movement.
Double jump. Grappling hook. Slides.
You can swim for the first time in the series. The whole game is built around being in motion — verticality matters, positioning matters, and standing still in a firefight is a much faster way to die than it used to be.
Early on, practice the grapple. It's not just for traversal — using it mid-combat to reposition during a tough fight can save your run.
The open world of Kairos is seamless too — no loading screens between areas. Which means you'll wander into zones you're underleveled for without any warning. Pay attention to enemy level indicators.
Loot — Don't Get Attached
The single biggest mistake new Borderlands players make is hoarding gear.
In Borderlands 4, loot is designed to flow fast. You're meant to pick something up, use it for a while, then replace it when something better drops. A gun that felt amazing at level 10 will feel useless at level 18.
A few things worth knowing early:
Check your gear every few levels.
If your gun's level is more than 3-4 below your current level, replace it. Stat difference matters more than rarity early on.
Legendaries aren't always the answer.
A purple-rarity gun at your level will often outperform a legendary that's four levels old. Don't let the orange text blind you.
Sell or dismantle everything you're not using.
Inventory space is limited and currency is useful. Don't sit on guns just in case.
Elemental Damage — This Is Not Optional
Borderlands 4 has a real elemental system and ignoring it will make the game harder than it needs to be.
Every enemy type has weaknesses. Armored enemies take extra damage from corrosive. Shielded enemies melt against shock. Flesh takes increased fire damage.
The trick in the early game is keeping a diverse loadout — at least one shock weapon for shields, one corrosive for armor, and one fire or kinetic for general use. You don't need a perfect setup immediately. Just don't run four of the same element and wonder why some enemies feel tanky.
Vex has it easiest here because her passive auto-adapts to her weapon. Everyone else needs to manually manage this.
Use Your Action Skill. Always.
This sounds obvious. It isn't.
New players consistently underuse their Action Skills — either forgetting to use them or saving them for "the right moment" that never comes. The right moment is now. Every fight.
Action Skills in Borderlands 4 have relatively short cooldowns. They deal serious damage. They trigger passive bonuses. Rafa's Overdrive literally doesn't activate unless you use yours.
The game is balanced around you using your Action Skill regularly. Playing without it is playing with one hand behind your back.
Skill Trees — Don't Spread Too Thin
When you start unlocking skill points, the temptation is to try everything.
Don't.
Pick one skill tree and go deep into it first. Borderlands 4's skill trees are the deepest in the franchise — the best abilities and Capstone skills are at the bottom, and you only get there by committing. A build spread across three trees at level 20 will feel weak compared to someone who committed to one.
Once you've hit the Capstone skill in your main tree, then start branching out into a secondary. Not before.
You can easily plan out your skill tree builds using Borderlands 4 Skill Tree Calculator.
Side Quests Are Worth Doing Early
Kairos is an open world and it's full of side content. Most of it is worth your time early on, not because of loot — though the loot is often decent — but because of XP and level scaling.
Getting ahead of the main story's level curve makes encounters less frustrating. Finding a boss fight suddenly manageable because you're slightly overleveled feels way better than hitting a wall you weren't expecting.
Also, some side quests are just genuinely good. Borderlands 4 fixed the BL3 problem of side content feeling like filler. A lot of it actually has good writing and rewards that aren't just vendor trash.
Co-op Tips If You're Playing With Friends
A few things that make co-op run smoother:
Loot is instanced by default — you each see your own drops. No scrambling for the same item. This is a good setting to keep on early game.
Difficulty scales with player count, so don't expect a friend joining to make things easier automatically. It adjusts for more players.
Reviving teammates is fast — prioritize it. Getting someone up in the middle of a fight keeps your momentum going way better than trying to solo the rest of the room.
And one more thing — Harlowe's Flux Generator shield protects the whole team. If one of your squad picks Harlowe, ask them to actually use that ability during tough fights. It's a team asset.
FAQ
What's the best Vault Hunter in Borderlands 4?
For pure performance, Rafa and Vex are the strongest overall. Rafa for ease of use, Vex for solo survivability. Harlowe is the best co-op pick. Amon has the highest ceiling but the steepest learning curve.
Do I need to play the other Borderlands games first?
No. Borderlands 4 takes place after Borderlands 3 and references past events, but the story follows entirely new characters on a new planet. You'll miss some lore context but nothing that stops you from following what's happening.
Is Borderlands 4 good solo?
Yes. Vex in particular is built for solo play with her lifesteal and companion. The game scales for solo players and the open world structure means you can always find content at your level.
How long is Borderlands 4?
The main story takes roughly 20-30 hours. Completionists going after side quests, bosses, and collectibles can easily push 60-80 hours. The endgame adds significant replayability on top of that.
What platforms is Borderlands 4 on?
PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Released September 12, 2025. Nintendo Switch 2 version is currently paused with no confirmed release date.
Is there crossplay in Borderlands 4?
Yes — full crossplay between PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC is supported.
