Borderlands 3 lets you play as one of four distinct Vault Hunters–Zane the operative, Moze the gunner, Amara the Siren, and FL4K the beastmaster. If sneaking around and teleporting throughout the battlefield as Zane is how you want to play, then read our guide below. It includes the pros and cons of the character’s three distinct skill trees so you can craft the ideal build.

Zane has the ability to sacrifice using grenades to equip two action skills at once. If you choose to do this, you’ll likely end up weaker in the early game. But don’t worry, Zane possesses plenty of excellent first and second tier abilities across all three of his trees, so you’ll have plenty to work with until you hit the mid-game and probably want to invest in two action skills and skill trees. We advise focusing a bit more on his Double Agent and Under Cover trees. Once you reach Eden-6, combat gets much harder and–without much in the way of survivability–Zane’s going to need those later tier skills, such as the self revive skill Old-U, to boost his defense and chances of surviving.

Doubled Agent

Zane’s Doubled Agent tree is tied to his Digi-Clone action skill, which summons a holographic decoy that distracts and shoots at enemies and can also switch places with Zane. If you’re going to play Borderlands 3 solo, this is one of the two trees you should invest in, as you can evolve Digi-Clone to take the brunt of most of the damage you take as well as rely on the second pair of hands for the bullet-sponge boss battles.

The first tier ability Synchronicity is a good early investment, increasing Zane’s gun damage for every action skill active. With one skill on, that’s pretty good. With two, it’s phenomenal. Once you hit second tier, nearly every skill in the Doubled Agent tree is worth investing in. Boom, Enhance is the one exception. Some notable standouts are Quick Breather (Zane’s shield immediately begins recharging when he swaps with his decoy), Old-U (Zane can get an instant second wind by swapping with his decoy), and Dopplebanger (the Digi-Clone can be recalled early in an explosion that deals massive splash damage).

The utility of the Digi-Clone ability cannot be undersold, as it’s probably Zane’s most useful action skill. You’ll want to equip Digi-Clone and invest heavily into Doubled Agent if you decide to play as Zane. Think Borderlands 2‘s Zer0, but less ninja and more secret agent.

Hitman

Though helpful early on in Borderlands 3’s campaign, Zane’s Hitman tree offers less worthwhile returns the further you invest in it. You shouldn’t focus on this tree alone, especially if you’re playing through the campaign solo. That said, the Hitman tree–which is tied to Zane’s drone-summoning SNTNL action skill–does have a few useful perks, so it’s worth putting a few points into it. Maybe just invest in this tree early and then leave its more advanced abilities for when you’re going into the endgame content.

In the first tier, put points into both the Violent Speed and Violent Momentum abilities. The first increases Zane’s movement speed after an action skill use, while the second increases gun damage the faster he’s moving. If you’re looking for more skills to put points into, then you can put some into second tier Cool Hand to increase reload speed whenever you kill an enemy. When paired with Violent Speed and Violent Momentum, it makes Zane a speed demon with a Jakobs revolver or bolt action rifle.

After that, however, the Hitman tree loses most of its luster. The remaining skills are tied to increasing the effectiveness of Zane’s SNTNL drone, but none of them are exceptionally good. They’re not nearly as good as the late-game skills found in the Doubled Agent tree and when you do hit the latter half of the campaign, you’re going to want the perks found in the Under Cover skill tree a lot more. Like, a lot more.

Under Cover

The Under Cover tree contains most of Zane’s defensive skills. None of them are terribly important early on but grow exponentially in effectiveness the further you progress the campaign. Remember how we said in the Doubled Agent section that there are two skill trees you want to invest in if you’re playing with Zane solo? Well, this is the other one. Under Cover is tied to Zane’s final action skill, Barrier, which erects a force field that can be picked up for additional defense while on the move or left on the ground to amplify all outgoing shots with increased attack power.

Early on, put points into Adrenaline to increase action skill cooldown so you can throw out your shield more often (as well as your Digi-Clone or SNTNL drone if you have those equipped). Hearty Stock increases Zane’s maximum shield capacity and Ready For Action ensures his shield recharges faster. The Under Cover tree doesn’t truly come into its own until the third tier though, when Nanites Or Some Shite provides health regeneration, increases reload speed, and supplies a faster shield recharge rate while near the Barrier. You also get All-Rounder, which changes the Barrier into a dome for protection from all sides.

That’s most of what you need out of the tree. From there, start focusing points on the Doubled Agent tree and increasing the effectiveness of the Digi-Clone with it’s more advanced perks. Together, the Digi-Clone and Barrier ability allow Zane to keep teleporting around the battlefield and dealing damage from all sides, relying on his force field to recover and increase his combat prowess. If you find yourself with excessive skill points, then go ahead and work towards a few of the late-game Under Cover abilities. Deterrence Field causes Zane’s Barrier to shock enemies and Distributed Denial applies Zane’s shield effects to the Barrier. If you have a nova or spike shield, then Distributed Denial can be paired with Deterrence Field to turn Zane’s Barrier into an offensive tool. And remember, you can pick up said offensive tool and run at the enemies if they don’t come to you.

Borderlands 3 is finally here, allowing you to play as one of four Vault Hunters–Moze the gunner, Amara the Siren, FL4K the beastmaster, and Zane the operative. If you’re interested in Moze, then keep reading. Below, we detail her three distinct skill trees and go into their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Moze’s skill trees are built a little bit differently in comparison to her fellow Vault Hunters. When Moze uses her action skill, she summons her massive Iron Bear mech–regardless of which skill trees you invest points into. However, each skill tree contains several different weapons for you to unlock, allowing you to customize how Iron Bear fights. Moze’s skill trees do possess a few perks geared towards her own growth as well, however–much like Borderlands 2‘s Gaige–Moze is all about working towards summoning her giant mechanical companion. Iron Bear is the star of the show.

Demolition Woman

The Demolition Woman skill tree is all about explosions, amplifying the amount of splash damage that both Moze and Iron Bear can do. This tree automatically allows Iron Bear to equip a V-35 semi-automatic grenade launcher to one of its two arms, but investing points into the tree allows you to also unlock a Vanquisher Rocket Pod, homing missiles, and a nuke. Yup, you can just pop off a nuke whenever you summon Iron Bear if you put points into Demolition Woman. It’s awesome.

The tree is also geared towards keeping Iron Bear active for longer periods of time, so if you just want to use the mech more often and for longer periods, then throw a few points into the first few tiers of abilities. Deadlines, for example, allows Iron Bear to use less fuel when firing its weapons and Stainless Steel Bear increases Iron Bear’s armor and maximum fuel storage.

There are some fun mid- to late-game perks too. While not necessary for building the perfect Moze loadout, you might want to invest in them just because they’re cool. Auto-Bear, a third tier skill, keeps Iron Bear on the battlefield after Moze has exited, allowing you to fight side by side and fulfill your Titanfall fantasies. If you loved playing as Krieg in Borderlands 2, then you’ll probably also enjoy one of the final skills unlocked in the Demolition Woman tree: To The Last. With this fifth tier skill unlocked, Moze is able to throw grenades while in fight for your life–giving you an explosive option for nabbing a second wind.

Shield Of Retribution

If you want to increase Iron Bear’s defensive potential, then Shield of Retribution is the skill tree you want to put points into. Right from the get-go, this tree allows you to equip a Railgun that deals precision shock damage. The tree also includes the option for equipping a Bubble Shield to Iron Bear though, as well as the Bear Fist attachment–giving Iron Bear a powerful melee attack.

The Bubble Shield is in the first tier of abilities and probably the first skill you want to unlock. Honestly, you probably want to unlock this skill first regardless of which tree you want to focus on. Despite being a giant mech, Iron Bear can’t really take much of a beating so investing in a means of better defense is crucial for combat after finishing the campaign’s early chapters.

Unfortunately, there aren’t that many decent skills in the Shield of Retribution tree’s second and third tiers. This isn’t a very good tree, and you’ll struggle to do enough damage to defeat foes if this is the tree you focus on. You definitely don’t want to spec into it if you’re playing solo, as then you’ll really struggle against the bullet-sponge bosses. At the fourth tier, you do unlock the useful Close The Distance evolution for the Bear Claw that transforms the melee attack into a grappling hook, making it easier to bust through an enemy at point-blank range with one of Iron Bear’s many weapons. However, without putting points into the other trees, you won’t have the necessary attack power to really put this skill to use. You’re probably best off just nabbing Bubble Shield and moving on to one of the two other trees.

Bottomless Mags

Bottomless Mags is a fun skill tree to invest in and probably the one best suited for solo play with Moze. It’s all about dealing as much damage as quickly as possible, starting off with a Minigun attachment for one of Iron Bear’s arms. This tree also provides the option of unlocking a Dakka Bear manned turret for Iron Bear (which lets teammates catch a ride on your back and fire away), a flamethrower, a corrosive launcher, an ice cannon, and a mine cannon. That last one should please Titanfall 2 fans, as it basically transforms Iron Bear into a Scorch Titan.

Obviously avoid the Dakka Bear manned turret in the first tier if you’re playing solo, but consider unlocking it if you know you’re regularly going to play with others. Cloud of Lead is one of Moze’s best skills, and it’s found in the first tier of this tree–giving both Moze and Iron Bear a chance to deal incendiary damage with every attack and fire their guns without consuming ammo. You can continue the flame pain with the second tier Stoke the Embers ability, which increases Moze and Iron Bear’s incendiary damage. This may go without saying, but if you decide to put a flamethrower or the fire-based mine cannon on Iron Bear, Stoke the Embers allows the mech to do tremendous amounts of damage to a group of enemies very quickly.

Consider investing in both Rushin’ Offensive and Fuel Economy as well. The former allows Moze to sprint and shoot at the same time and the latter allows Iron Bear to run and consume less fuel while moving. With both, you can more easily make your way through a group of enemies more quickly. Once you’re in the late game, grab Exploding, Bullets so that Iron Bear’s minigun can fire explosive rounds (and be sure to put some points into the Demolition Woman skill tree so you do even more damage).

Then you can focus on Moze. Try to find a Vladof assault rifle or pistol with an additional gun barrel attachment that transforms the firearm into a minigun. This is perfectly paired with Some For The Road, where exiting Iron Bear will briefly give Moze infinite ammo. To continue the pain when the effect stops, unlocking Click, Click makes Moze more powerful when her gun’s clip is almost empty.

As is tradition, Borderlands 3 introduces four brand-new Vault Hunters to play–Amara the Siren, FL4K the beastmaster, Moze the gunner, and Zane the operative. If Amara sounds like the one for you, then you’ve come to the right place. Below, we detail her three distinct skill trees and go into their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Amara is the elemental damage dealer amongst the Vault Hunters, which isn’t new for the Siren class. However, unlike her more support-focused Siren sisters Lilith and Maya, Amara is a close-quarter bruiser. Much like Borderlands‘ Brick and Borderlands 2‘s Krieg, Amara’s skill trees are designed to get her into the middle of a fight where she can bring the hurt to as many people as possible. Your choice of skill tree basically determines how you want to get there.

Fist Of The Elements

The Fist of the Elements tree is built around Amara’s Phasegrasp action skill, which allows her to grab an enemy and hold them in place. It’s a great tree to invest in first–and the one you probably want to focus on if you’re still new to first-person shooters. Early on, skills like Steady Hands–which increases weapon handling and accuracy–pair well with Phasegrasp to make it easier to shoot enemies.

If nothing else, you’ll want to invest at least five skill points in Fist of the Elements to unlock its second tier–netting you the perk to switch Amara’s action skill from shock to incendiary damage. Borderlands 3 begins on Pandora where there are a lot of fleshy bandits, so securing a way to deal out incendiary damage–no matter your character–should be your first priority in the campaign.

In its second tier, Fist of the Elements also gives you two excellent skills for Borderlands 3’s early game: Tempest (increases elemental damage) and Illuminated Fist (increases elemental melee damage and applies action skill element to melee attacks). After that, most of Fist of the Elements skills are fairly straightforward, with most increasing the elemental damage Amara’s firearms can do or helping her slow down the hordes of enemies that regularly populate the world. If you’re struggling with the shooting part of Borderlands 3, then this tree will help you out in that regard.

Brawl

Though not as flashy as Fist of the Elements and Mystical Assault, Brawl is probably Amara’s best skill tree. It’s certainly the one you want to heavily put points into if you know you’ll mostly be playing through Borderlands 3 solo–as this is the tree that includes all of Amara’s best defensive abilities.

Like Fist of the Elements, you want to put at least five points into this tree to unlock an additional element for Amara’s action skill. In this case, it’s corrosion–not super important early on but you’ll be thankful for the option when armored enemies start regularly showing up about halfway through the story. Brawl’s skills are tied to Amara’s action skill Phaseslam, which sees her jump into the air and then careen back into the earth in an elemental ground pound. Brawl’s got some great first tier skills. Root to Rise increases Amara’s max health, Personal Space increases Amara’s weapon damage at close range, and Clarity gives Amara health regeneration. That last one is especially good to invest in, as removing the need to purchase health packs just saves you a bunch of money early on–which is better spent on gun ammo.

Of all Amara’s trees, Brawl has the best late-game perks. Regardless of which tree you focus on, putting points into Brawl should be a part of your strategy. Helping Hand(s) allows Amara to summon her elemental arms to deflect grenades and block bullets, Do Unto Others sends powerful elemental orbs at enemies who dare attack you, Blitz transforms Amara’s melee into a nearly one-hit kill dash attack, and Guardian Angel allows Amara to self-revive herself. You really can’t go wrong with this tree.

Mystical Assault

Mystical Assault is built around Amara’s third action skill, Phasecast, which fires a ghostly elemental projection of Amara at enemies. Phasecast is probably Amara’s coolest-looking skill, and it can evolve into some pretty badass secondary abilities. Unfortunately, overall, the skills in this tree don’t have nearly as much utility as the ones found in the other two.

This tree encourages Amara to use her action skill more often, as it includes perks that increase the damage the skill can do while decreasing the time it takes to use the action skill again. However, all of Amara’s action skills already do tremendous amounts of damage and none of them take all that long to recharge. If anything, Mystical Assault is a good tree to invest in once you’ve finished Borderlands 3’s campaign and have started doing the endgame content–especially Proving Grounds which grades your performance based on how fast you kill enemies. Until that point, however, you probably don’t need to pay attention to this tree.

Once you do think you need to speed up your action skill usage because your guns and fists just aren’t cutting it anymore, there are a few skills in Mystical Assault you should pay attention to. Remnant causes Amara to send homing missiles of elemental energy at enemies after Amara kills someone–allowing the Siren to mow through foes a lot more quickly. Avatar is another good one, occasionally giving Amara the ability to use her action skill while it’s still cooling down.

It’s also supposed to make some games look prettier on older graphics cards.

Like its predecessors, Borderlands 3 contains a bunch of side missions to do. Three of those missions are extended collectible-focused quests that will see you travel to every planet in the game and search out specific items. In comparison to the search for Eridian symbols, which can be completed for extra lore, and the hunt for Claptrap parts, which is good for some more cringy Claptrap jokes, the quest for Typhon de Leon’s audio recordings doesn’t seem all that important. But they are.

As Tannis explains, Typhon de Leon is the very first Vault Hunter. It’s his adventures and prestige that initially inspired the likes of Borderlands‘ Roland, Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai. Though a few of Typhon’s major exploits are well-known, the vast majority of what he did has never been told. Borderlands 3 provides the first opportunity to learn about the man’s adventures.

At first, Typhon’s quest is presented as a way to learn a bit more about the adventures of the first Vault Hunter and gain some extra loot in the process. When all of the Typhon de Leon recordings in a certain location are found, Tannis will point you towards a T-marked chest that contains some of the gear that Typhon de Leon talks about in his adventures. You’ll want to look for these recordings. Not for the loot–though some of it is pretty good–but for the recordings themselves.

Why? Well, as it turns out, some of the information learned in the quest’s recordings do relate to a fairly big story reveal in Borderlands 3’s campaign. As a result, I wish I’d found more of them early on. You should do as much of this side quest as you can before visiting the fifth planet that becomes available in Borderlands 3. If you want to know why and don’t care about spoilers, then keep reading.

If you’re still on the fence about picking up Borderlands 3, consider reading our roundup of reviews on the game. In GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review, I wrote, ” Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it.”

Full warning: The remainder of this article goes into one of the biggest story spoilers in Borderlands 3’s campaign. If you don’t want to be spoiled, this is your chance to click away.

Eventually, the campaign will take you to the planet of Nekrotafeyo–which in it of itself is a massive reveal for the franchise–and here you’ll discover Typhon de Leon. As surprising as it is to see him alive, though, that’s not the big reveal.

The big reveal is what you learn next: that Typhon is the father of Tyreen and Troy Calypso, the twin antagonists of Borderlands 3. Apparently their repeated declarations that the vaults are their god-given right isn’t all bluster. A lot of information about Typhon, his wife, and their kids is loaded into the few hours of story that follow, and much of it makes a bit more sense and hits with greater emotional impact with the added context provided from Typhon’s audio recordings.

In a first for the franchise, Borderlands 3 leaves Pandora’s solar system and takes you to never-before-seen planets. Fairly early in the game’s campaign, you and the rest of the Crimson Raiders board the spaceship Sanctuary III and begin a treasure hunt for vaults scattered throughout the universe. Overall, you’ll visit five planets in Borderlands 3’s campaign–though you can travel to a few other interstellar locations that aren’t tied to planets, like a Maliwan station and Torgue’s Circle of Slaughter.

Your journey begins on Pandora, the planet that’s been the setting of Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and much of Tales of the Borderlands. You’ll next go to Promethea, the capital planet of Atlus. Unlike Pandora, Promethea does have civilization, with sprawling cities full of towering skyscrapers. Your main contact on Pandora is Tales from the Borderlands’ Vaughn, who’s now become a bandit leader, while your go-to person on Promethea is the coffee-addicted Lorelei.

You’ll also get to finally visit Athenas–which is first mentioned in Borderlands 2. Athenas is home to the pacifist monastic organization known as the Order of the Impending Storm, which used a young Maya’s reputation as a Siren to scare the rest of the planet into obeying them for years. Maya eventually killed the Order’s leader and traveled to Pandora to be a Vault Hunter in order to learn about the origin of the Sirens. In Borderlands 3, the Crimson Raiders turn to Maya to provide you with the information you need to know to make your way around Athenas.

Eden-6 is also on your itinerary, a lush jungle planet that acts as the planetary base for the Jakobs weapon manufacturer. Like Pandora, no actual civilization has been able to gain traction on Eden-6. This is largely thanks to the planet’s ecosystem–the most dangerous wildlife in Borderlands 3 is found on Eden-6, ranging from the semi-sentient monkey-like Jabbers to the fire-breathing dinosaur-like Saurians. Though many of your missions on Eden-6 come from Wainwright Jakobs, you’ll also turn to his boyfriend, Sir Hammerlock, and the mercenary-turned-rebel leader Clay for getting the lay of the land.

The final planet in Borderlands 3 is a bit of a spoiler, so click away now if you want to keep it a surprise. Again, minor story spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.

The fifth planet you visit in Borderlands 3 is Nekrotafeyo, the former home of the long-dead race that created the Vaults, the Eridians. A planet that’s long believed to be a myth, Nekrotafeyo now contains the secrets of the Great Vault, a place that supposedly contains an immense power. The Great Vault can only be opened by acquiring the unique totems of four different vaults. You begin Borderlands 3 with one already in your possession–the map found in the vault at the end of Borderlands 2–so you’ll need to race to find three more before the Calypso twins can get their hands on the power found in the Great Vault.

In GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review, I wrote, “Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it.”

Given the series traditional love for referencing pop culture, and given how prevalent battle royale games have become in the years since the release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, it’s of little surprise that the sub-genre would appear in Borderlands 3. In Borderlands 3, you can participate in a battle royale side quest that’s given to you by Moxxi. It’s called Kill Killavolt.

In Kill Killavolt, Moxxi tasks you with killing one of her ex-lovers, Killavolt. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to get to him as he’s taken to wearing a near-indestructible suit that channels massive amounts of electricity. Moxxi believes the only time he’s vulnerable is when he’s having sex, and thus tasks you with entering the battle royale competition in which the sole victor wins the opportunity to spend the night alone with Killavolt. Moxxi then gifts you with a means of shorting out Killavolt’s suit, which will allow you to hold your own against him once he’s let his guard down around you.

Despite taking place within a battle royale, several of the standard rules for a battle royale do not apply to the mission. You can afford to die without losing all of your progress, for example, and the battlefield you’re thrown into does not shrink as time goes on. Like a battle royale, however, you do have to kill all of your competition. And this mission lasts a very long time, so you’ll need to regularly stop to loot for ammo and health or you’ll risk finding yourself in a firefight without any means of defending yourself. So yeah, Borderlands 3 kind of has a battle royale, if only in the loosest sense of the term.

When we say this mission is long, we mean it takes up an entire area of Borderlands 3 and can last up to 40 minutes. It goes on for such a long time that there are additional side missions you can find to do in the midst of participating in the battle royale–one of which even gives you a grenade launcher that shoots explosive poop that’s very helpful for fighting against Killavolt. You’ll know which side mission gives you the poop gun, trust us–it’s very difficult to miss. You can see the gun in action in the video embedded above.

Killavolt is one of the earliest bullet-sponge bosses in Borderlands 3, as he’s (obviously) resistant to shock damage but he also wears shields–which are strong against everything except shock damage. So make sure you just have a big damage dealer firearm before taking Killavolt on. You’ll need it.

In GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review, I wrote, “Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor. The game’s character-driven narrative acts as a satisfying finale for the loot-shooter franchise, and the new mechanics and features–especially the reworked skill trees and weapon manufacturer effects–give you plenty of agency in how you want to play through it.”

Some effective skill combos to grind towards.

What you can get with Borderlands 3’s Shift codes and Golden Keys, and what you’ll unlock with VIP codes.

Mock, console, and applaud your co-op pals with this guide.