Builds

Borderlands 2 gives every Vault Hunter one action skill and three trees to bend it with, and the difference between a character that falls over in True Vault Hunter Mode and one that solos a raid boss is almost entirely where those points went. This guide lays out all six characters, then goes through the builds our pages recommend for each of the five we cover in detail, with the gear each one assumes you are carrying.

The six Vault Hunters

Axton is the one character without a dedicated build page here; his three trees are broken down skill by skill in our skill trees guide, and his role in a raid group turns up in our bosses guide, where he is one of only two characters our pages consider capable of soloing Terramorphous.

Maya, the Siren

Our Maya guide splits her into three roles rather than one optimal spread: a support build, a solo damage build and a multiplayer build. The distinction that matters is what Phaselock is for. In a group it is a crowd-control and revive tool, which pushes points into Harmony; alone it is a damage window, which pushes them into Cataclysm.

One rule carries into raid content. Kill-triggered skills are dead weight against a boss with a single enormous health bar, because nothing dies to trigger them, so a Maya built for Terramorphous stays in Harmony, keeps the party upright and saves Phaselock for whoever drops into Fight for Your Life.

Salvador, the Gunzerker

Our Salvador guide covers co-op and solo loadouts across Gunlust, Rampage and Brawn. Brawn is the tank tree and the obvious pick for a first playthrough, but the raid build our bosses page cites goes the other way: barely any Brawn at all, everything into making Gunzerking hit harder, on the assumption that your class mods and weapons are already absurd.

There is also a skill the guide tells you to skip. Bus That Can't Slow Down gives movement speed while Gunzerking and nothing else, and against a raid boss you need damage or survivability, not travel time.

Zer0, the Assassin

Our Zer0 guide builds him around co-op play across Sniping, Cunning and Bloodshed. He is the most build-sensitive character in the game because most of his power comes from stacking and from kill skills, which makes him excellent at clearing rooms and awkward against single targets.

Against a raid boss the answer is Deathmark and the skills around it, played from further back than anyone else in the party, with the best sniper rifle you own. If you would rather use him up close, the melee route has an achievement attached to it: our Unseen Predator guide builds a Deception melee spread specifically to unlock it.

Gaige, the Mechromancer

Our Gaige guide works through Best Friends Forever, Little Big Trouble and Ordered Chaos. Deathtrap is her action skill and her whole identity in the first two trees, which buff what the robot does and how long it stays out. Ordered Chaos is the other Gaige entirely: Anarchy stacks trade accuracy for damage, which turns her into a shotgun character who cannot miss because she is not aiming.

Krieg, the Psycho

Krieg was the sixth Vault Hunter added to the game and the hardest to spec, so our Krieg guide gives five complete 50-point builds instead of general advice, each with the gear it wants.

The gear notes matter as much as the trees: the Rough Rider shield for stacking and health, a Longbow Pandemic purely as a Bloodlust engine, Blood of the Ancients for health and ammo, and a Conference Call for the flying enemies a melee build cannot reach.

The gear every build assumes

No skill spread carries a character on its own. Our items guide covers the class mods that add points to skills you have already invested in, the shield types that decide whether you can stand in the open, and the ten legendary weapons worth farming for. Points are the cheap half of a build; the gun is the expensive half.

Frequently asked questions

Which Vault Hunter is best for a first playthrough?

Salvador and Axton are the most forgiving, because Gunzerking and the Sabre Turret both cover mistakes. Zer0 and Krieg reward players who already know the game.

Should I spread points across all three trees?

Not early. Every one of our build pages commits to one tree far enough to reach its capstone before spending elsewhere, because the capstones are what change how a character plays.

Do kill skills work on raid bosses?

No, and that is the single biggest reason a good levelling build performs badly against Terramorphous. Nothing dies during the fight, so anything that triggers on a kill never fires.