The Action Skills and Skill Trees are character-defining elements in the Borderlands franchise. At first glance the Borderlands 3 Skill Trees may look similar to previous installments in the franchise, however, Gearbox Software actually implemented several upgrades to them that are game-changers. This is your Skill Tree starter guide where I explain every Skill Tree in Borderlands 3.
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How do the Borderlands 3 Skill Trees work?
The 4 new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 3 are Amara the Siren, Moze the Gunner, FL4K the Beastmaster, and Zane the Operative. They all have their own unique abilities and each Vault Hunter puts their own twist on the Borderlands 3 skill trees.
A Vault Hunter’s Skill Tree contains 3 branches (4 if you own The Designer’s Cut or the Ultimate Edition) and at the top of each branch, you will find an Action Skill. You will unlock your Vault Hunter’s Action Skill at level 2. Action Skills are powerful and unique character-defining abilities. You can freely swap your Action Skill at any time by going into your Echo Menu.
You will get your first Skill Point at Level 3 and with this, you can activate one of the Tier 1 passive skills in your Skill Tree. You can pick any skill from any Skill Tree branch and are not restricted by your Action Skill but you will find skills that will enhance that ability in the branch your Action Skill is associated with.
Passive Skills can be upgraded 1,3, or 5 times, depending on the skill. Each upgrade costs 1 Skill Point, which you will get every time you level up. The next set of skills unlocks after spending 5/10/15/20/25 Skill Points into a branch. Passive Skills can only be reset at a Quick Change Station.
Action Skill Augments are placed on the side of the Skill Tree branch and they unlock after reaching the associated skill tier. Augments change the way your Action Skill works. These game changers don’t consume a Skill Point but each Vault Hunter has specific restrictions and requirements before you can use them. Check the Vault Hunter-specific descriptions below for more details.
Vault Hunter Specific Skill Tree Deep Dive
Above you could read up on how the skill trees generally work, however, now let’s dive into the subtle nuances of character.
Amara “the Siren” Skill Tree explained
Amara’s unique Skill Tree twist is that she can mix and match her Action Skill with any of the augments found across her Skill Tree.
Amara has unique Actions Skills at the top of each Skill Tree branch. You can only select one of them as your special ability. The Action Skill icon has a Hexagon shape and will fill up the Hexagon Slot on the right side. The two other shaped slots next to it are assigned to two augment types. One will augment the Action Skill’s abilities and the other will augment the Action Skill’s damage type.
Amara’s Skill Tree Overview
Amara’s Skill Tree Branches are called; Brawl, Mystical Assault, Fist of Element, and Enlightened Force (DLC).
| Skill Tree | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brawl | Green | Amara’s Brawl Skill Tree is focused on that fast-paced close-up combat. You will find skills that boost your melee and movement speed. There are skills that cater to your survivability that will keep you in the fight. You can even pick up a get-out-of-jail-free card as it will instantly revive you if you go down into fight for your life mode. The capstone skill provides you with a melee override that will let you do short-dash attacks. |
| Mystical Assault | Blue | Amara’s Mystical Assault Skill Tree sets you up with a stacking mechanic. Getting ‘Rush’ stacks will provide you with various boosts to really increase your effectiveness. By killing enemies or using elemental weapons you can build up those stacks. Down the skill tree, you can double down on this mechanic. The capstone will also let you use your action skill a second time without having to wait on the cooldown. |
| Fist of Element | Red | Amara’s Fist of the Elements Skill Tree lets you double down on the elemental damage of your weapons and action skill. You can pick up skills that let you spread your elemental damage across the battlefield. |
| Enlightened Force (DLC) | Purple | Amara’s Fist of the Elements Skill Tree focuses on Melee and Cryo damage which synergizes with the new Action Skill. |
Check out Amara’s Skill Tree for a complete overview of all the Skills and Augments.
FL4K “the Beastmaster” Skill Tree explained
FL4K’s unique Skill Tree twist is that they have a companion next to an Action Skill. Each companion will help you in battle and offers a unique stat boost.
FL4K has 1 Action Skill and 1 Companion at the top of each Skill Tree branch. You can select 1 special ability and 1 pet from any Skill Tree you like and mix and match them up.
You can equip 2 Augments from the corresponding Skill Tree branch to enhance your Action Skill. This means that the Augments down each branch only work with the Action Skill from that specific skill tree.
You will also find new companions down each branch that provide a beefier version of that pet.
FL4K’s Skill Tree Overview
FL4K’s Skill Tree Branches are called; Stalker, Master, Hunter, and Trapper (DLC).
| Skill Tree | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Stalker | Green | You’ll find plenty of ways to up your survivability in the Stalker skill tree; maybe you’ll opt to simply increase FL4K’s maximum health, or choose a passive skill that shares FL4K’s health regeneration with allies and doubles the bonus for their Pet. Staying healthy is a major part of maximizing your effectiveness with the Stalker skill tree, which includes such life-saving skills. |
| Master | Blue | The Master skill tree offers plenty of ways to increase your Pet’s damage output, like a passive skill that causes their first melee attack against an enemy to be an automatic critical hit. Beyond providing cover fire, FL4K can directly aid their Pet through skills. |
| Hunter | Red | Critical hits are crucial to the Hunter skill tree, with plenty of passive skills that reward you for hitting your quarry’s weak points. You may get a chance to restore ammo to your magazine after a critical hit, or potentially reduce your Action Skill cooldown. Other options provide boosts to your Hunter Skills – a special type of skill found in all of FL4K’s skill trees. |
| Trapper (DLC) | Purple | The Trapper skill tree focuses on shields and survivability for both FL4K and their pet. |
Check out FL4K’s Skill Tree for a complete overview of all the Skills and Augments.
Moze “the Gunner” Skill Tree explained
Moze’s unique Skill Tree twist is that she can customize the loadout of her Mech and how those weapons behave.
Moze only has 1 Action Skill called Iron Bear. This mech comes equipped with 2 weapon slots called Hardpoints. Different weapons can be found at the top and inside each Skill Tree branch and can be assigned to a single or both Hardpoints.
New weapons and corresponding weapon Augments can be found down each Skill Tree branch. You can only equip 1 augment per Hardpoint and it needs to be from the corresponding weapon. Augments for the main weapon are found on the left, and Augments for the additional weapon are found on the right.
Update: The Designer’s Cut (DLC) added a new Action called Iron Cub to Moze. This mini-mech is slotted into the first Hardpoint while the other slot is used to dual-wield a weapon.
Moze’s Skill Tree Overview
Moze’s Skill Tree Branches are called; Bottomless Mags, Demolition Woman, Shield of Retribution, and Mother Bear (DLC).
| Skill Tree | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bottomless Mags | Green | Moze’s Bottomless Mags skill tree focuses on shooting and keep shooting. There are a lot of ways to extend the size of your clip and refilling it. |
| Demolition Woman | Blue | Moze’s Demolition Woman skill tree focuses on doing splash damage by increasing the size and damage output of explosions for both Moze and Iron Bear. There are skills that increase the longevity that Moze can stay alive–prolonging the time she has in Fight For Your Life and increasing the fuel capacity for Iron Bear. A noteworthy perk is that there is a skill that allows Iron Bear to act on its own as a sentry turret. |
| Shield of Retribution | Red | Moze’s Shield of Retribution skill tree is a risk and reward tree. There are a lot of skills that keep you in the fight, however, the closer you are to dying the more damage you can do. So do you like living on the edge? |
| Mother Bear (DLC) | Purple | The Bear Mother skill tree really wants you to double down on using incendiary weapons as igniting enemies will trigger multiple skills. While some skills trigger when applying a status effect there are a few that trigger when using incendiary weapons. The Capstone skill will cause your Iron Cub not to consume fuel, this will result in it being longer on the battlefield. This has great synergy with an augment that gives you increased damage for every second Iron Cub stays in action. Having multiple weapons will the same element can also stack damage. |
Moze’s Action can feel like a panic button because Iron Bear has its own health bar but check out Moze Skill Tree for a complete overview of all the Skills and Augments to optimize your build.
Zane “the Operative” Skill Tree explained
Zane’s unique Skill Tree twist is that he’s the only one who can use 2 Action Skills at the same time, however, this powerful ability comes at the expense of being able to throw grenades.
Sacrificing the ability to throw grenades is a choice but when done, doesn’t mean grenades are useless because Zane has other options to utilize them. Your Drone and Digi-Clone are able to use your Grenade Mod.
The Augments for an Action Skill can only be found down the corresponding Skill Tree branch. Zane can equip 2 Augments per Action Skill to add new abilities to his gadgets.
Zane’s Skill Tree Overview
Zane’s Skill Tree Branches are called; Under Cover, Hitman, Double Agent, and The Professional (DLC).
| Skill Tree | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Under Cover | Green | The undercover skill tree is focused on Zane’s barrier action skill, survivability, and the Cryo element. You will also find some crowd control and co-op skills in this tree. The Capstone allows your barrier action skill to get the same special effects as your equipped shield mod. There are legendary shields that do interesting stuff, therefore, this perk can be cool for you and your team. |
| Hitman | Blue | The hitman skill tree is focused on Zane’s drone action skill and kill skills. A cool thing is that there is a skill that allows you to trigger all your kill skills by activating the Sentinal drone. This is an awesome augment because this will allow you to be badass when you jump into a fight rather than struggling to get a kill before all your buffs trigger. The capstone really increases all the kill skill boosts and there are plenty in this tree. If you sacrificed your grenade to pick up the second action skill you can use your drone to drop frags as it will drop a corresponding grenade based on your grenade mod. |
| Double Agent | Red | The double agent skill tree is focused on Zane’s ‘Digiclone’ action skill. Interesting is that you can pick up the ability to sacrifice your clone to get a second win. Generate and use grenades to boost your stats. Use the Digi-clone to trigger shield regeneration. Capstone skill allows you to give your Digi-clone the same gun as you. So if you are rocking an epic legendary it can become mayhem. |
| The Professional (DLC) | Purple | The Professional skill tree is focused on critical hit damage and reducing your action skill cooldown. So you can create a sniper build or spam your action skill. |
Zane is a very versatile character and the most min/max hero in Borderlands 3. Check out Zane’s Skill Tree for a complete overview of all the Skills and Augments.
Which Skill do I need to unlock?
You need to unlock the skills that fit your play style. Yes, we all want to kill the enemies fast and skills that increase your power will help with that but if you are constantly going down, you want to invest some Skill Points into survivability skills.
The Skill Trees don’t force you to go all the way down one branch to be effective. It’s more rewarding to branch out in Borderlands 3 compared to previous installments in the franchise.
Check out these powerful Borderlands 3 Builds if you need help with combining the best skills and gear.
