Borderlands 4 Class Tier List – Best Classes Ranked

Last updated: December 19, 2025 (Post-November 20 Patch)

Best Classes in Borderlands 4 - Introduction

Choosing the right class in Borderlands 4 can have a massive impact on your overall gameplay experience, especially when it comes to damage output, survivability, build flexibility, and how well a character performs across different types of content. This Borderlands 4 class tier list ranks all available classes based on their general, all-around performance, rather than niche strengths tied to a specific role or activity.

Unlike role-focused rankings that evaluate classes only for bossing, mob clearing, support, or defense, this tier list is designed to answer a simpler and more practical question: which Borderlands 4 classes perform best overall? The rankings take into account how well each class handles a wide variety of situations, including solo play, co-op, early leveling, endgame scaling, and general combat effectiveness.

Factors such as consistent damage output, survivability, ease of use, build diversity, and synergy with gear and skills all play a role in determining a class’s position in the tier list. Classes that excel only in very specific scenarios may rank lower than more versatile options that perform reliably across most content.

Whether you’re looking for the best class to start with, comparing different Vault Hunters, or simply checking how the current Borderlands 4 class meta looks, this tier list provides a clear and up-to-date overview to help you make an informed decision before committing time and gear to a specific character.

S TIER
A TIER
B TIER
C TIER

Borderlands 4 Tier List - Analysis

It’s worth noting that the performance gap between some classes across different tiers can be very thin. In Borderlands 4, overall strength often depends heavily on your current gear, preferred playstyle, and how many supporting points you invest into secondary skill trees, which is something most endgame builds naturally do. As a result, some setups ranked lower can still perform extremely well in the right circumstances, while top-tier builds usually stand out due to their consistency and scaling potential.

S Tier – Top-Tier Overall Performance

Classes in S Tier combine excellent damage, survivability, and scaling, making them reliable in nearly all content.

• Vex (Green) stands out thanks to its amazing sustain, with Bloodshot being one of the strongest survival and recovery tools available. This setup performs exceptionally well in prolonged fights and high-pressure scenarios.
• Rafa (Red) is widely regarded as the best overall class. With the right setup, Peacebreaker Cannons can be maintained almost permanently, delivering top-tier damage while remaining very effective during leveling.
• Harlowe (Green) earns its place largely due to Confirmative Reality, often considered one of the strongest single nodes in the game. The ability to enable near-infinite crit chains makes this build devastating, especially in coordinated group play.

A Tier – Extremely Strong but Slightly Conditional

A Tier classes are powerful and competitive but may require specific setups or cross-tree investment to reach their full potential.

• Harlowe (Red) is borderline S Tier, offering incredible damage through Neutron Capture and Demon Core. However, it typically needs support from the green tree to fully shine.
• Vex (Blue) focuses on minion-based gameplay, which provides solid damage and utility. With Dark Pact included, this setup becomes much more consistent.
• Amon (Blue) is generally considered the best Amon setup, excelling in ordnance damage, strong self-sustain, and potent cryo DoT effects, making it both safe and effective.

B Tier – Viable but Outperformed

B Tier classes are functional and enjoyable but tend to fall behind in either damage output or scaling compared to higher tiers.

• Vex (Red) is a strong solo-oriented setup, offering good survivability, but its damage output lags noticeably behind other Vex trees in endgame scenarios.
• Rafa (Blue) performs adequately but lacks the raw power and flexibility of Rafa’s red tree.
• Amon (Red) is well-known for its berserker playstyle and heavy incinerate damage, scaling well with status effects. However, its melee-focused aspects are generally considered underwhelming.

C Tier – Underperforming Overall

C Tier classes tend to struggle due to low damage efficiency or weak scaling, even though they may still work in niche or casual setups.

• Harlowe (Blue) is often viewed as the weakest Harlowe variant, lacking standout mechanics compared to the other trees.
• Rafa (Green) has a few interesting nodes, but its melee-centric playstyle is currently underperforming and difficult to justify over ranged alternatives.
• Amon (Green) falls behind due to limited synergy and weaker overall impact compared to Amon’s other trees.

Final Words

This tier list will be regularly updated as Borderlands 4 evolves, with balance changes, new builds, and fresh community discoveries shaping the meta. Be sure to check back often, as we’ll continue expanding our Borderlands 4 content with more guides, tier lists, and in-depth analyses.

If you’re looking to speed up your progression or fine-tune your builds, you can also visit the Borderlands 4 marketplace on Odealo, where players can safely buy, sell, and trade Borderlands 4 items with other players through trusted offers and secure transactions.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Gearbox Software