Borderlands 4 class tier list — who to pick and why

Borderlands 4 launches with four distinct Vault Hunters and a dozen skill trees, and early testing across campaign and endgame content has produced a clear pecking order. There’s no “wrong” pick—the game is beatable with any class—but if you want a strong start or a smooth climb into endgame, some kits are consistently easier to optimize.

Borderlands 4 class tier list (overall)

• S tier: Vex (Siren), Rafa (Exo‑Soldier)

• A tier: Harlowe (Gravitar)

• B tier: Amon (Forgeknight)

That ranking reflects broad performance and versatility with commonly used builds. You can push Amon higher with specific gear and routing, and some solo‑focused lists drop Harlowe a notch, but the consensus puts Vex and Rafa on top right now.

Why Vex is S tier

Vex brings both safety and damage without a steep learning curve. Her action skills cover different roles:

• Dead Ringer (blue tree, The Fourth Seal): summons Phase Clone minions—Specters (gun damage) or Reapers (melee). They pressure mobs, draw aggro, and scale well with crit and kinetic bonuses.
• Incarnate (green tree): delivers close‑range burst with built‑in sustain; popular builds stack Bleed, lifesteal, and kinetic damage to melt bosses.
• Phase Phamiliar (red tree): permanent pet “Trouble” for a safer, companion‑style loop.

Her class trait lets action skills attune to your current weapon’s element, so you can swap to shock for shields, corrosive for armor, and keep rolling without rebuilding. In practice, two archetypes are doing the heavy lifting:

• Bleed/Incarnate focus: Lean into the green tree’s Bleed synergies (e.g., “Blood Letter” in The Fourth Seal enabling bleed on crit chains) plus lifesteal to erase single targets while staying topped up.
• Clone pressure (Dead Ringer): Specters/Reapers amplify lane control and free up your gunplay; they’re fragile if misplayed but snowball quickly with crit and status scaling.

For new or solo players, Vex’s mix of crowd management, on‑demand healing, and element swapping makes encounters forgiving without sacrificing speed.

Why Rafa is S tier

Rafa is the straightforward damage pick that feels great immediately and scales into endgame. His standout kit is the red tree:

• Peacebreaker Cannons (red tree): shoulder cannons that continuously target enemies. The current meta build converts them into high‑DPS beams and ricochet lasers that scale off gun bonuses, so conventional weapon upgrades push cannon output too.

Key synergies called out by players include a ricochet setup, a capstone that supercharges the cannons for fast mob clears, and node choices that keep bosses melting at close range. Rafa’s class trait, Overdrive, spikes damage and movement speed, and can be built to regenerate bullets and shields during uptime—perfect for aggressive play.

His other trees are viable but less efficient at present:

• APOPHIS Lance (blue tree): an off‑hand arm cannon that deals shock ordnance damage; fun, but generally outpaced for bossing and survivability.
• Arc‑Knives (green tree): an enjoyable melee‑forward route that trades raw output for style; workable with investment but not the fastest path through endgame content.

If you play Borderlands like a conventional FPS—constant movement, close‑to‑mid‑range gunfights—Rafa’s red tree is the lowest‑friction way to blast through the campaign and beyond.

Harlowe is A tier: elite crowd control with big nukes

Harlowe is the control specialist. She leans on cryo and radiation, with a trait that entangles enemies and spreads damage across clustered targets. Two action skills define her best use cases:

• CHROMA Accelerator (red tree): an easy‑to‑use nuke that spikes radiation damage. With the right augments and damage stacking, it can delete priority targets quickly, but you’re timing detonations and managing cooldowns.
• Flux Generator (green tree): throws an energy field that freezes, entangles, and grants overshields—excellent for stabilizing fights in co‑op and corralling mobs in solo.

Harlowe is potent in coordinated teams and still strong solo when built around cooldown reduction and elemental stacking. The trade‑off versus Vex/Rafa is flexibility: outside of her strongest trees she can feel more specialized, and she benefits from encounter geometry and grouping.

Why Amon lands in B tier (and how to push him higher)

Amon is the tank. He survives what others can’t, and he returns damage in big bursts when set up properly. His action skills each shift his role:

• Scourge (blue tree): deploys a frontal shield that absorbs incoming damage as Vengeance, then releases a powerful cryo Forgewave. Great for stabilizing and controlling lanes; cooldowns and positioning matter.
• Onslaughter (red tree): a melee‑centric mode with shield regen and speed; it’s fun and clears trash well, but melee has obvious downsides against mobile and flying bosses without perfect gear.
• Crucible (green tree): elemental effects, thrown forge‑axes, and optional forgedrones; more of a status/ordnance hybrid that becomes interesting with investment.

The catch: his primary elements (cryo and incendiary) are weak into shields, so you’ll want a shock‑capable gun on hand to avoid damage dips. Players pushing Amon higher typically do one of two things:

• Ordnance + cryo focus (Scourge/Vengeance + Calamity picks): stack status chance/damage and ordnance uptime to freeze and delete packs while cycling your shield whip.
• Pyroclast Onslaught (melee sprint): string kills to sustain a fiery onslaught that procs rockets—flashy and fast in the right rooms, gear‑dependent to carry bosses.

With tailored gear sets and crisp routing, Amon can approach A‑tier performance. Out of the box, he’s simply less versatile than Vex or Rafa.

Best early builds to target (short list)

• Rafa: Peacebreaker Cannons ricochet/beam setup on the red tree. Prioritize nodes that convert cannon fire into high‑damage beams, increase crit chances, and let your gun bonuses feed cannon output. Overdrive uptime is your tempo lever.
• Vex: Bleed‑centric Incarnate build (green with key picks in The Fourth Seal) that stacks kinetic, crit, and lifesteal; or a Dead Ringer clone build (blue) that turns Specters/Reapers into lane bullies while you play off crit chains.
• Harlowe: CHROMA Accelerator (red) with damage stacking and cooldown reduction; or Flux Generator (green) for overshields and crowd control, especially in co‑op.
• Amon: Scourge ordnance/cryo hybrid (blue with Calamity support) for consistent clears; Onslaughter melee (red) if you have the gear and room layouts to keep kill chains alive.

Who to pick for your playstyle

• Beginners: Vex is the easiest all‑rounder thanks to healing, minions, and element matching. She smooths out early difficulty spikes.
• Returning players: Harlowe or Rafa if you prefer gun‑forward, active kits with clear power spikes and minimal micromanagement.
• Solo players: Vex for sustain and control; Amon if you want high durability and a measured pace.

Notes on the meta (and why it may change)

• Skill tree variance matters: Tiering here reflects overall kits. Within classes, trees can swing power dramatically. For example, Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons are a tier above his APOPHIS Lance path; Harlowe’s CHROMA plays differently than Flux Generator.
• Gear nudges rankings: Certain firmware sets and legendaries can elevate otherwise middling trees—melee Amon is the classic case when the right pieces line up.
• Patches and new characters: Balance updates and the planned addition of another Vault Hunter will move these rankings. Expect pet AI, melee viability, and ordnance uptime to be common tuning targets.

Bottom line: if you want the most frictionless climb through Borderlands 4 right now, start with Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons or Vex’s Bleed/clone builds. Harlowe rewards players who like to set the stage and detonate at the right moment, and Amon is a steady, tanky alternative that pays off as your gear pool deepens. All four can finish the fight; S‑tier just gets there with fewer compromises.