If you’re playing Borderlands 3, whether you’ve beaten the game and are preparing to choose a second character or you’re stuck on the character creation screen for your first playthrough, you’re going to want to know which characters are the best and why.
Borderlands 3 is a pretty decently balanced game which is continually receiving balanced updates, so oftentimes it’s better to pick the character based on your preference for their playstyle and character design since their endgame power is likely to change in the future, but they certainly do have their own strengths and weaknesses. All that said, currently there is sort of an agreed upon consensus for the current strength of each character in Borderlands 3, so this is not going to be very controversial if you’re aware of the current meta.
Here I’ll be counting down the characters in Borderlands 3 from best to worst and giving you a brief rundown on what makes each character stand out, whether for the right reasons or the wrong reasons.
4. Moze
Moze is certainly a competent character capable of completing the game and making it through most of the endgame content on her own. However, she’s highly reliant on her action skill, the Iron Bear. In the endgame she also faces survivability issues, since her endgame builds are very reliant on shields and she lacks lifesteal abilities which makes her unable to survive the chaotic damage onslaught that a lot of the endgame content throws your way.
That said, her survivability issues could be remedied through a class mod or another piece of gear introduced in later DLCs and it only becomes noticeable at the highest levels of post-game content.
3. Fl4k – Borderlands 3 Best Character
Fl4k was easily the best character when the game first launched, but he’s since been nerfed and, many would argue, over-nerfed. Like Moze, he lacks survivability in the form of any lifesteal skills, and to make matters worse he has skills which require him to be stationary to receive their effects which, if you’ve ever played a Borderlands game, you’d realize is not a very desirable requirement. His playstyle is super interesting in that he has 3 different pets and invisibility which guarantees crits while active and while he is lacking in some survivability options, he’s capable of pumping out just absolutely bonkers damage in a short period of time.
2. Zane – Borderlands 3 Best Character
Zane is sort of the opposite scenario as Fl4k in that when the game released he was just in terrible shape overall. Currently, however, Zane is in a great place. His survivability is off the charts and he’s capable of dishing out extreme damage with the added benefit of spreading cryo effects all over the battlefield to any enemies who aren’t immune. Playstyle-wise he has 3 action skills and can equip 2 at any given time. Most endgame players tend to go with the barrier and the drone, but during leveling you might find it convenient to go drone/clone in order to more quickly clear trash mobs.
The key downside to Zane is that, while he’s perfectly fine without it (probably in between Moze and Fl4k), a lot of his viability is reliant on a class mod found in the Moxxi DLC called Seein’ Dead. The reason this thing is so important is that Zane is very reliant on kill skills, and the Seein’ Dead class mod activates them when any damage is inflicted, meaning he’s running in Super Saiyan God-mode basically at all times.
1. Amara
Most people are in agreement that Amara is just generally super strong. She gets a lot of bonuses to elemental damage and a lot of nice survivability options, especially via the Sustainment lifesteal skill. And that’s just her core kit. The main thing that makes Amara insane is that she can cast Phasegrasp on the ground to activate any skills or anointments that activate on action skill end and get all the benefit of those skills without sacrificing her action skill cooldown. In addition to that, she has a legendary class mod that’s almost as insane as Zane’s called Spiritual Driver, and it’s not locked behind a DLC. Spiritual Driver gives her bonus elemental damage whenever she activates her action skill, as well as increased weapon damage while moving.
Anyway, that about does it for the best character rankings for Borderlands 3. Be sure to check out the Games Section for more content like this and also check out the Borderlands 3 Section for game guides for Borderlands including builds, tips, best guns, character reviews and more.
