Best Vex skills and build

The best Siren skills for Vex depend largely on your personal preference, although there are some combinations that are hugely overpowered especially in the mid-game areas. Vex can use her Phase Covenant powers to summon minions, including a very adorable pet called Trouble. Vex’s ability to summon minions makes her a great choice if you’re playing the game solo, as they can dispatch enemies around you and prove a distraction to bosses. We’re going to focus on each of the three skill trees and provide a strong build for Vex to use. Don’t forget that you can respec at each area’s main hub for a relatively small cash cost, so don’t be afraid to experiment to find what works best for you.

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Here Comes Trouble

Here Comes Trouble skill tree build¶

Vex has several action skills, but the Here Comes Trouble one is Phase Phamiliar as it summons Trouble, her large feline companion. Trouble can respawn after a short cooldown when he’s killed, and while he’s on the field you can teleport him to specific areas. He can also turn into Big Trouble, a large and more deadly version of himself. When turning into Big Trouble, his health is fully restored and he deals increased damage. Trouble’s elemental damage will also adjust to the same element of Vex’s equipped weapon, making him very versatile.

Best Vex Here Comes Trouble skills¶

You’ll want to focus on the Here Comes Trouble skill tree as a priority as it offers skills specifically to buff Trouble. This build will see Vex almost permanently with an overshield, and the skills selected will increase the uptime and additional passive benefits associated with having an overshield. Alongside this, Vex and Trouble’s ordnance damage will take care of a large quantity of enemies. Ordnance is the shared name for grenade mods and heavy weapons in Borderlands 4, since they share the same equipment slot.

Here are the skill points you should assign to each skill in the Vex build for Here Comes Trouble:

• Grave Sustenance(5/5): Kill Skill: Restore a percentage of missing action skill duration.
• Violent Outburst (Augment): Command Skill: Command Trouble to explode himself, dealing ordnance damage to all nearby enemies and restoring health to Vex. While Phase Phamiliar is active, sacrifice 33% of his maximum health capacity instead.
• Grave Command (3/3): Kill Skill: Restore a percentage of Trouble’s Command Skill cooldown and respawn cooldown.
• Overprotective (3/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her minions gain overshield.
• Yowl and Bay (5/5): Vex’s minions gain increased maximum health capacity. Vex gains increased gun damage for a duration after commanding Trouble.
• Mourning (5/5): Vex’s Kill Skills gain increased effectiveness.
• Claw and Bang(5/5): Vex and her minions gain increased melee damage and ordnance damage.
• Icy Attunement(5/5): Attune Kill Skill: While Vex is attuned to cryo, killing an enemy restores ammo and ordnance cooldown. Effects persist for a duration after atunement is switched.
• Blast Rites (2/5): On ordnance activation, Vex gains overshield and increased fire rate for a duration.
• Blasted Fiends (5/5): Vex gains increased ordnance damage. A percentage of Vex’s ordnance damage increases minion damage.
• Overspirited (5/5): Kill Skill: Killing an enemy with ordnance damage or an action skill will spawn an explosive remnant that deals cryo ordnance damage to nearby enemies. Explosive remnant gains increased damage based on overkill damage.
• Corporeal (2/3): Vex and her minions gain increased maximum overshield capacity and duration. While Vex has overshield, she and her minions gain increased damage dealt.
• Trouble Bubble(Capstone): Trouble now gains overshield whenever he deals damage. While Phase Phamiliar is active, Trouble gains an elemental aura, dealing ordnance damage over time to nearby enemies.
• Shiver (5/5): Vex gains increased cryo damage and cryo status effect damage.
• Infernal Sum (5/5): Vex and her Minions deal increased Critical Hit damage to enemies below 66.6 HP.
• Sacrificial Essence (5/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her Minions gain increased damage dealt, but Vex gains increased damage taken for a duration.
• Tail Whip (1): Trouble gains the ability to tail whip, dealing damage in an area over two hits.

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Vexcalation

Vexcalation skill tree build¶

Vex’s build using the Vexcalation skill tree will focus on bleed damage, meaning enemies will take damage over time and free up Vex to dispatch other foes. We’ve also leaned into increasing the chance of a critical hit, which in turn increases the chance to trigger Kill Skills. Vex’s Incarnate action skill causes a Phase explosion, dealing damage to nearby enemies and restoring her health fully. While active, Vex can cast Eldritch Blast and gains increased movement speed. You can also hold the action skill button to end Incarnate early and refund cooldown time. Vex’s Eldritch Blast causes her to fire from her offhand, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Dealing gun damage at the same time will reduce Eldritch Blast’s cooldown.

Best Vexcalation skills¶

The Vexcalation skill tree allows Vex to increase her critical hit chance and kinetic weapon damage, but the real power play here is the use of her Kill Skills. Grave Sights and Grave Implements will significantly buff her damage output, while Drink Full ramps up her rate of fire. The Witchy Trigger Finger augment stacks to increase weapon damage even further, and reloads your equipped weapon whenever damage is done with Eldritch Blast or Phase Explosion.

Here are the skills and points you should assign to each in the Vex build for Vexcalation:

• Leeching Attunement (4/5): Attune Skill: While Vex is attuned to kinetic, she gains increased lifesteal and reload speed. The effect persists for a duration after attunement is switched.
• Grave Sights (3/5): Kill Skill: Vex gains increased critical hit damage and weapon handling.
• Bloodletter (5/5): Gun and skill critical hits have a chance to apply bleed, causing kinetic status effect damage over time for a short duration. Bleed is affected by status effect application chance and is considered a status effect.
• Grave Implements (4/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her minions gain increased gun damage for a duration.
• Material Components (5/5): Vex gains increased kinetic damage and kinetic status effect damage.
• Grave Power (3/3): Vex’s Kill Skills gain increased max stacks.
• Target Prescience (5/5): Vex’s gun damage gains critical hit chance against any part of enemies.
• Drink Full (5/5): Whenever Vex deals gun damage, gain a stack of Drink Full, increasing fire rate. Stacks are lost if a new stack hasn’t been generated for a short duration.
• Witchy Trigger Finger (Augment): Dealing damage with Eldritch Blast or Phase Explosion will reload Vex’s current gun and grant a stack of Witchy Trigger Finger, increasing gun damage for a short duration. Stacks persist even after Incarnate ends.
• Mortal Terror (5/5): Chance to trigger Kill Skills when critically hitting enemies.
• Vibe Check (Capstone): Eldritch Blast is now a charge skill. Activating this ability consumes all charges to ricochet on hitting an enemy for each charge consumed. Eldritch Blast’s cooldown reduction from gun damage is doubled.
• Grave Vitality (2/5): Kill Skill: Vex gains increased maximum health capacity and health regeneration.
• Ars Arcana (3/5): Vex gains increased skill damage.
• Essence Leech (3/5): Vex gains lifesteal. Double this effect when an action skill is active.
• A Deeper Grave (2/3): Vex’s Kill Skills gain increased duration.
• Blood Is Power (3/3): Vex gains bonus kinetic damage with guns based on lifesteal when her health is full.

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The Fourth Seal

The Fourth Seal skill tree build¶

Using The Fourth Seal skill tree enables Vex to summon an army of minions using the Dead Ringer action skill. This vastly increases her damage output while allowing her minions to act as a distraction. This build is strong for crowd control, as you’ll always have multiple minions on the field. You can summon reapers with weapons or spectres with scythes, but they both deal bonus damage and status effects meaning Vex can tackle arenas saturated with enemies easily. The skills we’re choosing focus on boosting weapon and melee damage as well as buffing the maximum health of Vex and her minions.

Best The Fourth Seal skills¶

Vex is going to trigger her Kill Skills whenever a minion dies thanks to the Blood Sacrifice skill, so we’re going to select as many Kill Skills as possible in the tree. Given the fact that minions can inflict status effects and are attuned to the same element of Vex’s equipped weapon, we’ll focus on buffing those, too. The Prismatic Ichor skill especially focuses on applying an additional status effect to an enemy as soon as it’s inflicted with one. Reapers benefit from the Cursed Blade and Extra Cursed skills, cursing enemies with melee damage meaning they take additional kinetic status damage.

Here are the skills and points you should assign to each in the Vex build for The Fourth Seal:

• Cold Iron (5/5): Vex and her minions gain increased gun damage.
• Sanguine Fiends (1/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her minions regenerate health over time.
• Fell Inscriptions (5/5): Vex and her minions gain increased melee damage and maximum health capacity.
• Portents of Suffering (5/5): Vex and her minions gain increased status effect damage.
• Grave Assault (1/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her minions gain increased fire rate for a duration.
• Cursed Blade (1/5): Vex’s melee attacks apply cursed to hit enemies, making them take kinetic status effect damage any time they take gun damage.
• Extra Cursed (1/1): Cursed damage now triggers on minion melee damage and deals increased damage when it’s triggered by a critical hit.
• Blood Sacrifice (1/1): Kill Skills are triggered whenever Vex’s minions die.
• Grave Fiends (5/5): Kill Skill: Vex and her minions deal increased damage.
• Grave Quickening (4/5): Kill Skill: Vex gains increased action skill cooldown rate.
• Wither (Augment): Minion Skill: Spectres cast wither on an enemy when they spawn, dealing status effect damage over time, and increasing damage taken for a duration. Kill Skill: Killing a withered enemy allows spectres to use wither again.
• Obedient Fiends (5/5): Vex gains increased minion damage. Minion Skills and Command Skills gain further increased damage.
• Ancient Rites (5/5): Vex gains a stack of Ancient Rites for each of her active minions every second, increasing minion damage. Stacks are lost after a short duration with no active minions.
• Dark Pact (Capstone): Vex can equip two augments, and gains the Dark Pact ability. Dark Pact allows Vex to fully restore all active phase clones as well as granting increased movement speed and minion attack speed for a duration. Phase clones do not lose health over time while Dark Pact is active, and health loss is reset when Dark Pact ends.
• Diener (1/1): Dead Ringer gains an additional charge.
• Prismatic Ichor (5/5): When Vex or her minions apply a status effect, apply a random elemental status effect.
• Burning Attunement (2/5): Attune Skill: While Vex is attuned to incendiary, she and her minions gain critical hit damage and status effect chance. Effects persist for a duration after attunement is switched.
• Recurrence (3/5): Whenever Vex deals gun or melee damage, gain a stack of Recurrence, which increases her minions’ gun and melee damage. Stacks are lots if a new stack has not been generated for a short duration.