Borderlands 3 FL4K build guide: Best Beastmaster builds

The top-tier Jabber, Skag, and Spiderant builds

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / 2K

FL4K the Beastmaster has always been one of the most versatile Borderlands 3 characters, with his ability to match his three powerful Action Skills with a unique and loyal companion creature.

In this Borderlands 3 FL4K build guide , we’ve laid out the top-tier builds that you can use in the base game to get the most out of this powerful Beastmaster: one for Jabber & Fade Away , one for Skag & Gamma Burst , and one for Spiderant & Rakk Attack .

On this page:

• Sniper build, Spiderant & Rakk Attack! build
• Pet build, Skag & Gamma Burst build
• High Damage build, Jabber & Fade Away build

Borderlands 3 FL4K build guide

Creating a FL4K build in Borderlands 3 is, at least in one respect, a more complex undertaking than with most Borderlands 3 builds, because it’s not just you that you’re upgrading but also your pet . And these pets can grow to become quite fantastically powerful by assigning your skill points into the following skill trees:

• Master is the skill tree to focus on for creating a FL4K build all about your pet strength . The associated pet of the Master tree is the Skag , a powerful beast that gives FL4K bonus damage potential as you upgrade it.
• Hunter focuses on drastically increasing your sharpshooting prowess with lots of powerful critical hit effects . The associated pet of Hunter is the Spiderant , which boosts FL4K’s health regeneration and can be ordered to charge at foes.
• Stalker gives your FL4K build a variety of ways to survive every encounter , from the fantastic Fade Away Action Skill to just plain old tankiness. The associated pet of this tree is the Jabber , which comes armed with a gun of its own, and bestows FL4K with extra movement speed.

Like other Borderlands 3 characters, FL4K has an extra skill tree that can be unlocked with the Ultimate Edition. But for the purpose of this guide we’re focusing on the best builds you can create utilising the skill trees found in the base game.

FL4K is often considered to be the go-to Vault Hunter for solo play because of their pet, but the truth is that the flexibility of these skill trees and pets means you can build FL4K however you want. You could choose to ignore upgrading the pet entirely if you wish, and focus on your Action Skills or your damage; or vice versa. The below three FL4K builds will focus on a specific skill tree and pet in order to create completely different (and equally powerful) playstyles.

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If you need a bit of a primer on the various Borderlands 3 characters and classes, look no further than our Borderlands 3 characters & skill trees guide. If not, let’s skip right ahead to the FL4K builds !

Sniper build, Spiderant & Rakk Attack! (Borderlands 3 FL4K build)

Borderlands 3 FL4K build -Spiderant/Rakk Attack! (Sniper build). Click to view at higher resolution!

• Primary Skill Tree: Hunter
• Build Focus: Long-Range/Sniper Prowess, High Action Skill Damage
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Two F4ng (Highly Recommended), Grim Harvest (Highly Recommended), Interplanetary Stalker, Ambush Predator, Overclocked

For all that FL4K was advertised as a sniper prior to the release of Borderlands 3, that’s not the way it goes for most people and most builds, probably just because the highly mobile and high-octane nature of combat means you often have no choice but to get right into the thick of it. If sniping is the way you want to play FL4K though, this build is for you. We’re diving deep into the Hunter skill tree, along with a couple of pickups from the other trees as well, in order to create a high-damage build that focuses on maintaining distance from the enemy while constantly critting and sending out powerful Rakk Attacks against anyone who gets too close.

I would first suggest investing in the three right-most skills in the first three tiers of the Stalker tree: Furious Attack and Overclocked will give you some pretty fantastic early damage, and Turn Tail And Run further increases your damage when standing still, while also making you more survivable while on the move - crucial for sharpshooters. After this you should head to the Hunter tree and start investing heavily, beelining from Interplanetary Stalker through Ambush Predator to Two F4ng - one of the best skills available to FL4K which is particularly strong with slow-firing high damage guns such as sniper rifles.

At this point I’d go back and put my three points into Persistence Hunter in the Master skill tree, just for the extra damage boost; and then it’s back to Hunter, because we want to work our way up to the capstone skill, Megavore , which gives you a chance to crit on any part of your target. Combined with crit-based skills such as Leave No Trace , Head Count , The Most Dangerous Game , and Galactic Shadow , you’re going to be dealing mega-damage with your snipes - especially if you find a good strong (probably Jakobs) sniper rifle to go with this build (perhaps one of the ultra-powerful Borderlands 3 Legendary weapons ?).

I’d also highly suggest you get a good Class Mod that overcharges your Grim Harvest skill, because it’ll both increase your gun damage and give your Rakk Attacks a much-needed boost in damage potential. And the duo augments of Flock ‘N Load and Rakkcelerate will ensure that any enemies not obliterated immediately by your sniping will last no time at all against the bombardment of your Rakks.

Pet build, Skag & Gamma Burst (Borderlands 3 FL4K build)

Borderlands 3 FL4K build -Skag/Gamma Burst (Pet build). Click to view at higher resolution!

• Primary Skill Tree(s): Master & Stalker
• Build Focus: Strong Solo Play, High Pet Damage & Survivability
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Ferocity, Frenzy, Pack Tactics, Eager To Impress, Hidden Machine

There’s more than one way to build a strong solo FL4K, but one of the most fun is to elevate your pet of choice to god-tier levels of damage and survivability. This you can do thanks to a very balanced combination of the Master and Stalker skill trees. Here we’re going to be using the Skag in tandem with a Gamma Burst that delivers extreme damage and benefits to both your pet and yourself whenever you use it (which will be constantly).

Persistence Hunter and Ferocity are the first skills you should look to upgrade, as they’ll give you a great early game by increasing both your damage and your pet’s damage quite considerably. Frenzy should definitely be your next pickup (more damage, yay!), followed by several points in Who Rescued Who? , which is - for the time being - your best bet to avoid your pet dying early on.

At this point we’re going to swap over to the Stalker skill tree, and go through Self-Repairing System (a larger health pool is always good) so that we can max out the essential Eager To Impress skill, which will allow us to basically spam our Gamma Burst at every opportunity. All My BFF’s and Turn Tail And Run are great additional pickups for survivability after this, and they’ll allow us to reach Hidden Machine , which increases your damage against enemies not targeting you. The idea is that most of them should be targeting your now very tanky and dangerous Skag, leaving you in the clear.

4 points into Rage and Recover will drastically increase both FL4K’s and Skag’s tankiness, and will allow you to reach the Stalker Capstone, The Power Inside , which will massively increase your damage potential every time you use Gamma Burst. This is compounded by our Action Skill Augments: Empathic Rage , which increases your damage while Gamma Burst is active; and Endurance , which increases your pet damage and your Gamma Burst duration for every kill that your Skag makes while Gamma Burst is in effect. It’s a fantastic synergy, and it means every time you use Gamma Burst, you can basically just sit back and keep firing from the sidelines while your Skag obliterates everyone in the vicinity. This is a seriously fun build that makes you feel like a true Beastmaster.

High Damage build, Jabber & Fade Away (Borderlands 3 FL4K build)

Borderlands 3 FL4K build -Jabber/Fade Away (High Damage). Click to view at higher resolution!

• Primary Skill Tree(s): Hunter & Stalker
• Build Focus: Extreme Gun Damage & Crit Damage
• Best Skills for Class Mods: Persistence Hunter (Highly Recommended), Head Count (Highly Recommended), Two F4ng, Big Game, Furious Attack, Overclocked

I’m not going to talk too much about this build, because it’s not actually mine. This build was designed by YouTuber NickTew , who has released a full 20-minute video (see below) explaining why this FL4K build is so goddamn fantastic. In a nutshell, the build focuses heavily on Gun and Crit damage at almost every conceivable turn, even foregoing the traditional method of investing enough points in a tree to unlock the powerful Capstone skill at the end.

I thought for quite a while about whether I could improve upon this build in any way, but honestly if extreme gun damage is what you’re after, it really doesn’t get much better than this. The combination of the Unblinking Eye and Guerillas In The Mist augments to give you the maximum possible benefit from Fade Away’s guaranteed crits, the points invested in skills such as Head Count , Two F4ng , Grim Harvest , Persistence Hunter , Overclocked , and The Fast and the Furryous to give you the most bonkers damage with pretty much any weapon you like. If you’re just after raw DPS potential, here it is.

Take a look at NickTew’s build video below.

Borderlands 3 - BEST FL4K Build For Leveling + End Game! INSANE Damage Guide Watch on YouTube

And with that, I think I’ll end this Borderlands 3 FL4K build guide for the time being. But be sure to bookmark this page and check back every so often in case some fantastic new build has been discovered that ensures you get the maximum possible benefit from this deadly Beastmaster.

If you need more help with Borderlands 3 we’ve got other guides you can turn to. Check out our Borderlands 3 Shift Codes page to get free Golden Keys, or head to our primers on the Borderlands 3 weapons and Legendary weapons to bring yourself up to speed. We’ve also got other build guides for Amara , Moze and Zane .

Borderlands 3

PS4 , Xbox One , PC

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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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