Borderlands 4 offers four distinct classes to choose from when you first begin a playthrough. There’s Rafa the Exo-Soldier, Vex the Siren, Harlowe the Gravitar, and Amon the Forgeknight. These are all new characters and classes in the Borderlands, aside from the Siren, who we’ve seen in different capacities over the years. Before you pick one of these classes for your Borderlands 4 playthrough, you can see a description of them, their elemental affinities, all of their abilities, and the unique traits each character brings to the table.

While you can head in blind when choosing a class, you might also want some guidance on which class to choose. We won’t try to make that decision for you, but we have put together a class tier list that gives you a little more information on which classes are the best overall in Borderlands 4. Below, you can see the tier list and why we placed each class in a certain tier.

Borderlands 4 Class Tier List

As there are only four classes to pick from in Borderlands 4, our tier list won’t consist of many tiers. It should also be noted that there’s no “bad” class in the game; each class brings a unique playstyle, and all of the characters’ abilities can be used effectively regardless of what difficulty level you play on. However, as always, some classes offer a wider range of usability and more versatility.

Below, we have put each of the four classes into a distinct tier based on how their abilities and traits perform in Borderlands 4. We’ve also taken into account the different skill trees for each class and how the trees interact with the abilities and traits.

• S Tier: Rafa, Vex
• A Tier: Harlowe
• B Tier: Amon

As you can see, the lowest tier we’ve gone with is “B,” as no class in Borderlands 4 deserves a tier lower than that. We also have two classes in S-tier, as both Rafa and Vex are fantastic characters that have a ton of versatility in their playstyles. You can read more about each tier and why a class has been placed there below.

S Tier – the best Borderlands 4 classes

As we just mentioned, Rafa and Vex are the two best classes in Borderlands 4. Both can be used by a solo player or someone playing in a party without any trouble from enemies, even on the hardest difficulty level.

Starting with Rafa, all of his abilities deal damage in some shape or fashion. In particular, his Peacebreaker Cannons are especially powerful, as they target any enemy you’re facing with constant shots from two cannons on your back. You can upgrade these cannons to deal incendiary damage and have a higher fire rate as well, making most fights trivial at best.

Rafa uses all of his abilities in conjunction with the Overdrive Trait. When active, Overdrive gives Rafa increased damage and movement speed, but you can upgrade the Trait to give Rafa bullet and shield regeneration during Overdrive as well. All in all, Rafa is a high-flying, damage-dealing machine that also has some incredible Spanish and English dialogue throughout Borderlands 4’s story.

Moving on to Vex, she’s the latest Siren in the Borderlands franchise. Vex has access to every single elemental type, and she can attune to the elemental type of your current weapon. So, if you have a boss with a massive shield, use a shock weapon, and Vex will convert all of her damage from her abilities to that element, allowing you to decimate the shield in seconds.

Vex’s main abilities consist of summoning spirits that deal damage for you throughout a combat encounter. There are a couple of these abilities, but Vex can also use an ability that restores your health, which is particularly useful for solo players.

Rafa and Vex are perfect for solo players looking to breeze through Borderlands 4, but they’re also immensely fun in a party.

A Tier

Our lone class in A-tier is Harlowe, who is more of a defensive-minded character that makes use of both cryo and radiation elements. Harlowe’s Vault Hunter Trait is Entanglement, which allows her to use her abilities to entangle enemies. This deals a significant amount of shared damage to enemies in close proximity, making it terrific for crowd control when there are too many enemies for you to handle at once.

As for her abilities, most of them revolve around throwing some kind of large energy force at or around enemies. One of the abilities, Zero-Point, allows Harlowe to place an enemy in stasis, which means they can’t move until the ability is over. You can then press the ability button again to slam the enemy into the ground. The other two abilities are meant for larger crowds of enemies, as both deal area-of-effect damage.

If you’re looking for unique abilities and different ways to go about combat, then Harlowe might be the character for you in Borderlands 4. She’s going to play more defensively by default, but with the right skills, you can turn her into an offensive entangler who flusters any enemy on Kairos.

B Tier

Finally, we have Amon, the “tank” class in Borderlands 4. There’s always a tanky class in Borderlands, and Amon as the Forgeknight certainly fits that bill. You’ll find that Amon can survive much longer than the other three classes, but you also move slower with him, so it’s a decent trade-off.

Amon focuses on incendiary and cryo elemental damage, both of which come into play with his Forgeskill Trait. This Trait allows Amon to use a different Forgeskill depending on which ability you activate. Each Forgeskill gels with its partnered ability, as the two are meant to be used in concert with one another.

All of Amon’s abilities are designed to deal damage to enemies, but they also aim to keep you alive and fortify your defenses. One of Amon’s abilities, Scourge, gives you a shield that is used to reduce incoming damage by absorbing it as “Vengeance.” You can then release that Vengeance from the shield in the form of a wave, which deals major damage to all enemies in its path.

If you’re okay with abilities that require you to put in some legwork to see the results, then Amon might be the class for you. He’s a tanky character that won’t die easily in Borderlands 4, making him an attractive choice for a party that needs a front-liner. However, he can also appeal to solo players who might be newer to the Borderlands franchise or first-person shooters.

There’s a lot more to explore in Gearbox’s latest colorful looter-shooter, so use our Borderlands 4 guides hub to get a lot more help, from Borderlands 4 tips to current Shift Codes, and guides like how to find all Borderlands 4 safehouse locations.