Borderlands 4 Has “More Skills Per Character” Than The Last Two Main Games Combined

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It looks like buildcrafting is going to be a major feature in Borderlands 4, as Gearbox claims that the game has more skills per character than the previous two main games put together. At Borderlands Fan Fest, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and chief creative officer Randy Varnell were on stage to reveal more details about the game, following the debut of a new story trailer that put the spotlight on the sinister Timekeeper.

“You’ll find more skills per character than in Borderlands 3 and 2 added together, it’s a lot of complexity and depth per character,” Pitchford said. “We’re working late on Fridays for you,” he added.

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Now Playing: Borderlands 4 – Official Story Trailer

According to Varnell, the skill trees are so varied that players could take the same character and action skill into a fight and still be able to fulfill different roles in a firefight. This is a big departure from Borderlands 3, where action skills were generally tied to certain playstyles and didn’t offer much room for improvisation.

As for the overall numbers, players could be looking at a very in-depth system for all the skills they can play around with. For example, Borderlands 2 had up to 10 skills per skill tree for each character, while Borderlands 3 offered four skill trees and up to 20 skills for each one across various tiers. A lot of these skills focused on buffing characters when certain actions were performed, with reduced ability cooldowns, rapid healing, and action-skill enhancements being offered for the right build.

Borderlands 4 launches on September 12 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with the standard version of the game priced at $70. A Switch 2 version is also coming at a later date.

“This feels like a Borderlands game through and through where enough has changed for me to feel like this is an improvement over Borderlands 3, but it’s not so different that I can expect huge and sweeping changes,” Jordan Ramée said in GameSpot’s Borderlands 4 preview.

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