Summary
Borderlands 3’s Vault Hunters will be hard to top, but futureBorderlandsfranchise games can still pull this off if they play their cards right. One way to do this is to recreate some of the best character classes and archetypes that theBorderlandsfranchise has seen so far.
Between fan favoriteVault Hunters from theBorderlandsfranchisethat deserve to return or popular character archetypes among RPGs in general, the sky is the limit forBorderlands 4. At the same time, expectations for the franchise are also sky-high, so it might be best forBorderlands 4to recreate some of the most fun power fantasies for its playable characters.
Vault Hunter Classes That Borderlands 4 Should Feature
Mech
Moze fromBorderlands 3was the ultimate mech power fantasy, even proving to be stronger than most vehicles in theBorderlandsfranchise. Not to mention, players could also turn Moze’s rideable mech into an autonomous, mobile companion, so this character effectively replaced the older sentry-gun classes with a more useful and powerful action skill. While Moze set a high bar to compete with, futureBorderlandsgames still deserve to have Vault Hunters who can control their own walking tank.
Melee
Brick was an insanely powerful hybrid of unarmed melee and heavy explosive weapons specialist, but there still technically hasn’t been a true melee character in theBorderlandsfranchise. There have even been off-meta melee builds for some of the recent characters inBorderlands 3, but the lack of proper melee weapons in the franchise is due for a change. Especially afterTiny Tina’s Wonderlandsfeatured melee weapons, it’s time that the mainlineBorderlandsfranchise added melee weapons, which is a great opportunity to also add a designated melee-based Vault Hunter outside of Vault Hunters with melee abilities like Krieg and Amara.
Medic
Traditionally,Borderlands’ Siren charactershave always served as the resident support/medic character classes, so this archetype is bound to return, and rightfully so. Very few Vault Hunters in theBorderlandsgames encourage cooperative multiplayer quite like the Siren characters, given their potent support capabilities. Whether the Siren class in futureBorderlandsgames continues the tradition of being the designated medic class or becomes its own distinct thing, this character archetype shouldn’t be forgotten.
Playable Enemy-Character
Kreig fromBorderlands 2and Handsome Jack’s Doppelganger fromBorderlands the Pre-Sequelare a sweet treat for franchise veterans to get to play, especially considering how powerful these Vault Hunters are. Playing as enemy characters is almost always a fun trope, no matter what their kit turns out to be, so futureBorderlandsgames should make this a recurring tradition.
Randomizer
Claptrap fromBorderlands the Pre-Sequelis arguably both the strongest and the weakest Vault Hunter in theBorderlandsfranchise, because of how unpredictable this character’s action skills can be. Activating Claptrap’s action skill will randomly trigger one of many effects, either being extremely helpful or self-deprecating, which provides a surprisingly fresh experience for each playthrough. This character is one of many prime candidates when it comes toreturning Vault Hunters in theBorderlandsfranchisethat deserve to be playable in multiple games.
Summoner
The Necromancer class from theDiablofranchise is among the strongest examples of a summoner archetype, soBorderlandsshould consider taking notes onwhat makesDiablo’s Necromancer class so powerful. Fl4k fromBorderlands 3scratched the surface of this kind of character class, but their limited amount of minions was quite low in hindsight, and as a consequence, builds that focus on Fl4k’s minions often get overshadowed by this character’s critical-hit builds. What could truly make this archetype more of a distinguished class in futureBorderlandsgames is branching out into necromancer territory to be able to convert fallen enemies into temporary allies.
