Best Borderlands 4 Vex builds

The best builds for the Phase Phamiliar, Incarnate, and Dead Ringer skill trees

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

Looking for the best Borderlands 4 Vex builds? Vex is the latest Siren poster child in Borderlands, and aside from being a cool Goth witch with plenty of sass, she boasts a tonne of versatility with her playstyle. Want to summon minions, rip apart mobs with a spectral cat, or focus purely on elemental damage that can incinerate all opponents? Vex is your girl.

In this guide, we’ll delve into three of the best Borderlands 4 Vex builds in the game’s current meta, telling you everything you need to know to decimate bosses with Vex’s Siren power.

Best Vex builds in Borderlands 4

The following three builds are our favourites for Vex, and each one emphasises one of her three different skill trees - Phase Phamiliar, Incarnate, or Dead Ringer.

• Phase Phamiliar Trouble build
• Incarnate Blood Shot build
• Dead Ringer Minion build

We’ll delve into the details behind each build below, listing equipment recommendations, essential skills to prioritise, and Specializations. Keep in mind that there’s room to be flexible with the rest of your kit, especially with regards to adding on Firmware to amplify factors like fire rate.

Phase Phamiliar Trouble build

Let’s get ’em, kitty friend! Fans of beastmaster-style classes are sure to enjoy this build. |Image credit:2K

Vex’s big cat companion, Trouble, really fulfills the role of a loyal pet, and maximising this glowing feline’s potential is what our Phase Phamiliar build is intent on. With the loadout described below, you can sit back and watch Trouble draw aggro and serve as a reliable tank - though you will need to command your furry ally from afar, which can be chaotic in certain boss fights or during large encounters against multiple enemies. If Trouble ever wanders too far away, the situation can also grow hairy.

Nevertheless, this build works great for leveling up. If the grind of gunning for bigger and better loot ever gets tedious, might as well get Trouble to do most of the heavy lifting for you!

Equipment

Equip any weapon that deals Shock damage to make the most of this build, and be sure to give yourself as many layers of protection as you can. Since you’ll be so reliant on Trouble, it’s helpful to have an insurance policy in place when you find yourself taking fire - for instance, the Onion for your Shield, which has the Shallow Shell legendary effect, giving you temporary immunity to damage upon breaking. The Risky Boots Firmware, which reduces damage by 30% when your health is less than 35%, is another solid pick.

Skills

• Grave Sustenance : You want to keep Trouble on the field as much as possible, so pour points into Grave Sustenance, which lets you restore a percentage of your remaining Action Skill duration.
• Grave Command : A good Kill Skill that restores Trouble’s Command Skill and Respawn cooldowns, Grave Command’s another handy pick to keep your furry friend on the battlefield.
• Yowl and Bay : Trouble gets an increased health capacity of up to 40% with a maxed-out Yowl and Bay, and Vex’s gun damage also increases after she issues Trouble a command.
• Vorpal Fiends : Useful for giving both Vex and Trouble increased critical hit damage.
• Shocking Attunement : We’ve gone with Shock Attunement to provide Vex with additional movement speed and gun damage while moving, as she’ll need it to keep up with Trouble.
• Infusion : A nice perk to go alongside Shocking Attunement when Vex uses a Repkit - she and Trouble will both gain bonus Shock damage.
• Guns and Needles : Take Guns and Needles to ensure survivability, as you don’t want to be waiting to use a Repkit if Trouble’s ever far from you.
• Grave Sights : Why not give Vex Lifesteal while we’re at it? Once again, it’s all about survivability.
• Fiendish Invigoration : Whenever Vex uses a Repkit, she and Trouble will get a nice boost of movement speed and fire rate.
• Channeling : Once again, it’s all about keeping Trouble around and alive for as long as possible, and we might as well bump up that Shock Attunement while we’re at it. Max out Channeling to increase both Action Skill and Attunement duration.
• Target Prescience : This one’s nice to take for a general boost to Vex’s gun damage, so she can pick off mobs while Trouble’s digging into them up close.

Your best Augment picks in the early game are Blink Strike and Hexus Nexus , which will help Trouble’s ability to kill low health enemies and general tankiness. Eventually, you should switch to either Beast Mode to give Trouble temporary immunity, or Unsealed to allow Trouble to mark enemies for Vex to finish off with amplified gun damage from afar.

Specializations

Bullet Train under the Runner category is a handy Specialization to grab, as it’ll allow Vex to keep pace with Trouble and gain even more gun damage. For additional DPS, try taking Riddle You This .

Incarnate Blood Shot build

Expect to see a regular supply of critical hits flash across your screen if you rely on this build! |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

The Blood Shot build focuses on the Skill of the same name, which normally only kicks in when a Repkit is used, and converts any damage on Vex’s next shot into Kinetic Damage and also deals bonus damage based on her current health. Thanks to a few key pieces of gear, we can remove this Repkit requirement, creating a build that constantly procs Blood Shot and unleashes a stream of pain without you having to do very much at all.

This build is for players who aren’t too keen on Vex’s minions and instead prefer an aggressive playstyle, with a focus on getting critical hits and stacking your health before a fight, since more HP equals greater damage via Blood Shot.

Equipment

Equipment plays a vital role in this build, starting with the Bod shotgun, which is a drop after defeating Axemaul , an oversized Mangler in The Toil of Spoiling Vis. The Bod is extremely potent, and it’s the only gun in Borderlands 4 that deals all types of damage. In this case, we want it to deal Sniper damage.

Why Sniper? Well, the Undead Eye Class Mod is the other most important piece for this build, as it makes killing an enemy with a Sniper Rifle trigger Blood Shot. Critical hits with a Sniper Rifle also have a 33% chance to activate Blood Shot. You can get the Undead Eye after defeating Vile Lictor, the final boss of the “His Vile Sanctum” main mission.

You have more freedom with the rest of your gear, but I recommend Timekeeper’s New Shield , a possible drop after defeating the Timekeeper during “The Timekeeper’s Order”, the second to last of the campaign’s main missions. When equipped, it increases maximum health, health regeneration, and damage reduction. Since Blood Shot deals a flat bonus based on Vex’s current health, Timekeeper’s New Shield is great for keeping her HP nice and high.

Skills

• Leeching Attunement : This Skill gives Vex Lifesteal and increased Reload Speed whenever she’s attuned to Kinetic damage. A must-have, since this build relies so heavily on a Skill that deals Kinetic Damage.
• Grave Implements : A stackable Kill Skill that gives Vex and all of her minions increased Gun Damage for a brief duration, this temporary boost can make all the difference when it comes to shredding a boss in half.
• Grave Power : This one goes hand-in-hand with Grave Implements, ensuring that Vex’s Kill Skills gain increased stacks.
• Drink Full : Whenever Vex deals gun Damage, she’ll get a stack of Drink Full, which ups her fire rate and is a very nice addition to this build’s arsenal.
• Mortal Terror : This gives Vex a chance to activate her Kill Skills whenever she critically hits enemies. Perfect synergy with Grave Implements and Grave Power!
• Blood Shot : Obvious choice - after all, we’ve named the build after this.
• Ars Arcana : It’s either this or Grave Vitality. However, as Vex gains increased Skill Damage with this Skill, and Blood Shot actually scales off of Skill Damage, Ars Arcana is the better choice to maximise damage output. Besides, with the Timekeeper’s New Shield equipped, Vex will have all the HP she needs.
• Essence Leech : Why not give Vex Lifesteal while we’re at it? This effect will be doubled whenever an Action Skill is active.
• Blood Is Power : An excellent complement to Essence Leech, Blood Is Power gives Vex bonus Kinetic Damage based on her current Lifesteal whenever her HP is full.

Take the Witchy Trigger Finger Augment to complement all of the skills above - this lets Vex reload and gain a stack whenever she deals damage with Eldritch Blast or Phase Explosion. Each stack increases her gun damage for 15 seconds.

Specializations

When it comes to Specializations, put the majority of your points into Survivor and Sharpshooter for max HP and shield increases. The most vital Specializations to take are The Best Defense , Riddle You This , In The Zone , and One Shot, One Kill .

Dead Ringer Minion build

Attack of the clones, innit? |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/2K

This Dead Ringer build is geared around Vex’s Reaper and Specter minions, buffing them as much as possible to supplement Vex’s firepower. Our goal here is to flood the battlefield with a huge array of helpers that can deal tonnes of damage and apply a mass array of status effects while we focus on bosses and more vital foes, laying on heavy gun and crit damage.

If you’re just beginning to experiment with Vex, this Dead Ringer build is a fairly easy-to-learn choice suitable for newbies - not to mention all others who like to sit back and watch a small army of clones do the dirty wetwork!

Equipment

This is a flexible build that can utilise many different pieces of gear, though something like the Vladof AR or Vladof SMG will serve nicely as your primary firearm, especially when combined with the Vladof Underdog enhancement, which grants +50% underbarrel damage. Get the Burning Attunement for proper synergy with the skills we’ve outlined below.

For your Firmware, it’s in your best interests to max out critical damage, so equipping as many Deadeye pieces as possible is best. Trickshot , which increases both gun reload speed and critical hit damage, is also beneficial.

Skills

• Sanguine Fiends : A great Kill Skill that lets Vex and her minions restore +20% of their health, this is a no-brainer.
• Portents of Suffering : This one gives Vex and her minions increased status effect damage. Max this one out for ultimate damage output.
• Blood Sacrifice : This activates Kill Skills whenever Vex’s minions die. The goal here is to use Blood Sacrifice to ensure that Grave Quickening’s always working and Sanguine Fiends always heals any remaining minions on the field, even when some of them are taken out by mobs.
• Grave Quickening : Another Kill Skill that gives Vex an increased Action Skill cooldown rate. This stacks up to three times and once again ensures that whenever Vex’s minions are dying, she’s only getting faster - and can spawn even more minions.
• Prismatic Ichor : This lets you stack status effects over and over again, and works well with Burning Attunement below.
• Burning Attunement : An Attune Skill - when Vex is attuned to Incendiary, she and her minions gain increased critical hit damage and the chance to apply more status effects.
• Prismatic Weaponry : Necessary to give Vex and her Specters bonus damage with gun critical hits.
• Obedient Fiends : Vex and her minions all get increased damage. What’s the point of having fiends if they can’t be obedient, after all?
• Bloodletter : Max out this green skill to ensure that your crits apply Bleed.
• Guns and Needles : A good passive that ensures that Vex’s Repkit cooldown goes down. Pour more points into this to reach a max cooldown of +21%.

Take Ghast Blaster , Coven , Wither , Hellish Harvest and Dark Pact as your Augments. Each of these Augments affects the health and skillset of minions, granting everything from health regeneration to better melee damage.

Specializations

Prioritise getting points into Brute and Sharpshooter; any extra points can go into Runner. Your goal here should be to get Contamination , which grants an increase in the likelihood for status effects to be applied with every critical hit. Riddle You This , I Am A Gun , and Now With Caffeine are also excellent picks.

And now you know all of our picks for the best Vex builds in Borderlands 4. For more valuable info on building the best possible build to slaughter bosses and nab good gear, check out our Legendary Weapons list. We’ve also got guides on how to find all Vault Key Fragments and how to unlock all Primordial Vaults .

Borderlands 4

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Nintendo Switch 2

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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