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Borderlands 4 Action Skills

Every Vault Hunter equips one of three Action Skills at a time. Trees are built from 5-point rows, then Augments and Capstones socket onto the matching tree. You can fire an Action Skill that belongs to another tree, but you do not get that other tree's Augments or Capstones while you do. Traits sit under the skills and change the same three buttons: Phase Covenant, Overdrive, Forgeskill, Entanglement, Windfall, and RAM. This page lists all eighteen named skills with hunter, tree, and the official summary, then lets you filter by hunter and compare up to three skills.

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18 results

CompareHunterAction SkillsTreeSummary
VexDead RingerThe Fourth SealCharge skill that spawns a Specter (gun damage, immobile) or Reaper (taunt, melee) Phase Clone whose damage type matches current Attunement.
VexIncarnateVexcalationOfficial Action Skill on the Vexcalation tree; listed alongside Dead Ringer and Phase Phamiliar as one of Vex's three equippable skills.
VexPhase PhamiliarHere Comes TroubleOfficial Action Skill on the Here Comes Trouble tree; Vex can channel phase energy into a familiar minion rather than only self-buffs.
RafaAPOPHIS LancePeople PersonOffhand arm cannon that fires piercing Shock Ordnance Blasts; unused charges convert to cooldown. Version 1.10 news calls out a damage buff.
RafaPeacebreaker CannonsRemote AgentShoulder-mounted cannons that fire kinetic gun damage for a duration and can be ended early to refund cooldown.
RafaArc-KnivesThis Year's GimmickMelee energy blades that mark enemies so they take increased damage per mark.
AmonOnslaughterCalamityOverloads the Forgefist for shield regen, bonus incendiary gun damage, and rocket-punch melee dashes. Forgeskill: Molten Slam.
AmonScourgeVengeanceDefensive Action Skill whose Forgeskill deploys Firewall to absorb projectiles and convert damage into Vengeance.
AmonCrucibleCyberneticsAction Skill whose Forgeskill Double-Edge throws a twinned Forgeaxe dealing Cryo outbound and Incendiary on return.
HarloweCHROMA AcceleratorCreative BurstsFires an Unstable Energy Pocket of Cryo that can be detonated for heavy Radiation damage. Entangles enemies it hits.
HarloweZero-PointSeize the DayOfficial Action Skill that isolates a target in a Stasis bubble via the HALO Accelerator.
HarloweFlux GeneratorCosmic BrillianceArea generator that buffs allies and freezes enemies; listed as Harlowe's third Action Skill.
C4SHSleight of HandStory Pack 1Draws a card that casts a random destruction spell. Requires Story Pack 1.
C4SHCleromancyStory Pack 1Summons a Bone Totem whose effects depend on a dice roll.
C4SHCross-FireStory Pack 1Dual revolvers hail for a sure-shot burst when luck is not the plan.
LovelessPlague StarVirologyThrows a piercing Corrosive shuriken that inflicts Contagion; dead hosts spread remaining stacks. Functions and Executables modify the skill.
LovelessVisual Paradox NexusHacker treeCloaks Loveless and spawns a decoy for stealth misdirection.
LovelessMalignant ConstructHacker treeDigistructs the Wyrm companion to whip and breathe toxin as a physical virus body.
Borderlands 4 Steam screenshot 11
Skill-use combat still from the official Steam gallery.
Borderlands 4 Steam screenshot 17
Gun and part still used beside the Action Skill rules.
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Action Skill, Augment, and Capstone rules

  • Every hunter uses the same class model: three Action Skills, one equipped, trees built in 5-point rows. Augments and Capstones belong to a tree. Equipping a skill from a tree you have not invested in still gives the button, not that tree's sockets.
  • Spend the first five points on the tree that matches the Action Skill you actually press. A second tree is only worth opening if you want its skill button without sockets. Version 1.10's Rafa APOPHIS Lance damage increase is a reason to re-open People Person if you last specced at launch.
  • Traits are not a fourth Action Skill. Phase Covenant retargets Vex's skill and melee element to the current gun, so Dead Ringer clones inherit that Attunement. Overdrive starts when Rafa presses a skill and pauses while the skill stays active.
  • Forgeskill is a hold-cast that swaps with Onslaughter, Scourge, or Crucible. Entanglement is a damage-share tag on Harlowe's skills. Windfall is a Fortune spend on C4SH. RAM is a crit-and-status meter on Loveless that then empowers melee and guns.
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Vex and Rafa kits

  • Dead Ringer is the only Vex skill with a full spawn breakdown: charge it for a Specter that shoots and stays put, or a Reaper that taunts and melees, both matching current Attunement.
  • Incarnate is named on Vexcalation without a longer mechanical paragraph on the same official page. Phase Phamiliar is the Here Comes Trouble minion: phase energy into a familiar rather than only self-buffs. Together they are a clone kit, a self kit, and a pet kit under one Siren trait.
  • Rafa's People Person tree holds APOPHIS Lance, an offhand Shock cannon whose leftover charges become cooldown. Version 1.10 explicitly buffed that skill's damage.
  • Peacebreaker Cannons on Remote Agent are shoulder guns that deal kinetic gun damage for a duration and can be cancelled. Arc-Knives on This Year's Gimmick are melee blades that stack a mark for extra damage. Overdrive sits under all three, so the choice is a charge cannon, a duration shoulder pair, or a melee mark loop.
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Amon and Harlowe kits

  • Amon's Calamity tree is Onslaughter: Forgefist overload, shield regen, bonus incendiary guns, and rocket-punch dashes, with Molten Slam as the hold Forgeskill.
  • Vengeance holds Scourge, whose Firewall Forgeskill eats projectiles and turns that damage into Vengeance. Cybernetics holds Crucible; Double-Edge throws a twin Forgeaxe that is Cryo on the way out and Incendiary on the way home.
  • The trait is the hold-cast, so reading Amon as three unrelated buttons misses the Forgeskill swap that actually changes the class.
  • Harlowe's Creative Bursts tree is CHROMA Accelerator: a Cryo Unstable Energy Pocket that detonates for Radiation and Entangles whatever it hits. Seize the Day holds Zero-Point, a HALO Accelerator stasis bubble on one target. Cosmic Brilliance holds Flux Generator, an area tool that buffs allies and freezes enemies. Tagged enemies share a portion of gun and skill damage, so a pocket, a stasis lock, or a generator is also a multiplier for the rest of the squad.
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