FL4K THE BEASTMASTER
BEST BUILDS ON PANDORA!
FL4K BUILDS
*No DLC: Does not require this DLC / DLC: Requires this DLC
Leveling Up
Level 1 to 32
No DLC* • Gun Damage
PLAYSTYLE
FL4K, the Beastmaster class in Borderlands 3, is one of the game’s most versatile characters due to its highly varied skill trees. If you’re less interested in dealing damage through pets and prefer to maximize critical hits and gun damage, this build is perfect for you. This build utilizes FL4K’s Rakks, focusing on reducing action skill cooldown time and increasing charges, rather than solely boosting damage.
SOLO
Thanks to the Hunter skill tree, this is a great way to level up FL4K in solo because of its incredible potential to do tons of gun damage. Apart from one skill, we have dumped nearly 26 points there, making FL4K a force to be reckoned with no matter what weapon you hand him. Thanks to the additional support from the Rakks, FL4K can easily stand its ground and do incredible damage.
COOP
This build works flawlessly in co-op and FL4K’s boosted damage works wonders in a team. Any healing support that can be provided to keep FL4K alive is useful, but he’ll largely maintain a small distance to do tons of damage. Thanks to Galactic Shadow, there’s a lesser chance of enemies attacking FL4K, so the team can be used as bait while FL4K finishes enemies off thanks to its ridiculous critical and gun damage.
SKILLS
Level 0 – 2: Unlock Rakk Attack
Level 2 – 5: 3 Points in Leave No Trace
Scoring a critical hit has a 36% chance of adding 1 ammo to FL4K’s magazine.
Level 5 – 7: 2 Points in Interplanetary Stalker
Killing an enemy grants stacking pet damage and damage dealt for a short time. Each enemy FL4K kill grants a unique stacking bonus.
Level 7 – 10: 3 Points in Head Count
Scoring a critical hit has a 30% chance to reduce action skill cooldown by 2 seconds.
Level 10 – 12: 2 Points in Hunter’s Eye
You get a 12% critical damage bonus against humans, 6% bonus damage against robots, and your beasts have an 11.2% damage resistance.
Level 12 – 17: 5 Points in Two F4ng
FL4K has a 25% chance to fire an extra projectile per shot.
Level 17 – 20: 3 Points in The Most Dangerous Game
Killing a badass or stronger enemy boosts FL4K’s critical damage by 10%, Gun Damage by 25%, Pet Damage by 27%, and weapon handling by 50%. FL4K also receives a cash reward.
Level 20 – 23: 3 Points in Big Game
Hunter skill bonuses are boosted by 30%, and the duration of hunter skill is boosted by 100%.
Level 23 – 24: 1 Point in Galactic Shadow
Increase critical damage by 15%, and enemies are less likely to attack FL4K.
Level 24 – 27: 3 Points in Grim Harvest
Increase your gun damage by 9%, skill damage by 15%, and pet damage by 21%.
Level 27 – 28: 1 Point in Megavore
FL4K has a 20% chance of scoring a critical hit with a weapon on any part of the enemy.
Level 28 – 32: 4 Points in Furious Attack
Shooting an enemy stacks gun damage (1.6% per stack), pet damage (2.4% per stack), and handling (4% per stack) for 4 seconds with 10 max stacks.
Action Skill: Rakk Attack!
Augment 1: Flock ‘N Load
Augment 2: Rakkcelerate
Pet: As you wish
Megavore
Level 50
No DLC* • Critical
PLAYSTYLE
FL4K is the beastmaster of Borderlands 3, but keeping dangerous pets and using them for destruction isn’t his only forte. FL4K is also an excellent marksman, and if you’re looking for a build that’s high on critical and gun damage, it’s hard to go wrong with this at level 50. Bonus points if you like using pistols because you can essentially use that with unlimited ammo and melt the entire healthbars of bosses.
Your game plan is simple. Against mobs, you’ll want to use your regular shotgun to score nearly all critical hits and finish off enemies without breaking a sweat. When facing a boss, Fade Away is your best friend. This action skill turns you invisible, and pairs insanely well with the Queen’s Call pistol. You can keep shooting throughout the duration of the action skill and finish off bosses like it’s nothing.
SOLO
This is an amazing build for solo play, and arguably the strongest route FL4K can go in. The critical damage potential is off the charts here, and FL4K becomes a walking death machine that can literally go against basically any enemy and boss at level 50 without feeling the need to readjust their gear, or skill point distribution. Their critical damage bonus is the reason FL4K is picked so often, and it’s hard not to see why.
COOP
FL4K’s damage potential is so high with this build that bringing them along in co-op basically makes the entire campaign and beyond a cakewalk. Any support is appreciated, but they don’t really need it. Thanks to the critical damage, there’s a very good chance that FL4K might just be the most hard-hitting character on the team. Additionally, thanks to the Gunslinger Jabber being on the team, the pet essentially acts as another unit.
GEARS
Slot 1: One Pump Chump
Slot 2: The Butcher
Slot 3: Lyuda
Slot 4: Queen’s Call
Grenade: Hex
Shield: Stop-Gap
MOD: Bushmaster
Artifact: Loaded Dice
SKILLS
Leave No Trace, Second Intention, Heat Count, The Most Dangerous Game are kill skills that directly increase your critical damage tremendously.
Megavore gives you a 20% chance of scoring a critical hit while targeting any part of the enemy’s body. Two F4NG add a 25% chance of shooting an extra projectile per shot.
Turn Tail and Run regenerates your health while you’re moving, and also increases damage resistance.
Action Skill 1: Fade Away
Augment 1: Guerrillas in the Mist
Augment 2: Unblinking Eye
Pet: Gunslinger Jabber
Trapper
Level 50
DLC* • Critical
PLAYSTYLE
FL4K is easily one of the strongest characters in Borderlands 3, and this is largely thanks to his excellent critical damage. This build makes some use of the DLC skill tree to improve his survivability, but it’s focused on maximizing his damage output by investing points in skills that directly support his critical damage bonus. If deleting the health bars of bosses within seconds is something you’re after, it’s hard to go wrong here.
Your game plan is quite simple for the most part. While mobbing against regular enemies, you’ll want to make good use of your shotgun, which has a very good range, and pop off headshots to activate different kill skills. When you’re up against bosses, however, using Fade Away turns you into the Grim Reaper himself, and you’ll want to use The Queen pistol to consecutively shoot until you see nothing but dust.
SOLO
Similar to the non-DLC variant: Megavore build, this is an incredible build for solo play, and one of the strongest possible combinations of skills you can put together for a character at Level 50. FL4K’s critical damage is boosted by several skills, and his action ability, Fade Away, which you’ll want to liberally use. He’s fast on his fast, and thanks to the Trapper skill tree, he doesn’t need to worry about getting hit either.
COOP
This build works perfectly fine in co-op, and will likely overshadow everyone in the team. FL4K’s damage potential is so high that if you put him and Amara in a team, they’re going to obliterate everything in sight. Keeping FL4K alive is not a concern because we have put a few points into the DLC tree which further improves his shielding capability. For the most part, FL4K can solo most bosses at this level, so simply provide him minimal support.
GEARS
Slot 1: One Pump Chump
Slot 2: The Butcher
Slot 3: Lyuda
Slot 4: Queen’s Call
Grenade: Hex
Shield: Stop-Gap
MOD: Bushmaster
Artifact: Loaded Dice
SKILLS
Leave No Trace, Second Intention, Heat Count, and The Most Dangerous Game are kill skills that directly increase your critical damage tremendously.
Megavore gives you a 20% chance of scoring a critical hit while targeting any part of the enemy’s body. Success Imminent creates a supernova that deals radiation damage if your or your pet’s shield is broken or filling up.
Better Toys increases the Shield Recharge Rate by 18% and reduces the recharge delay by 24%.
Action Skill 1: Fade Away
Augment 1: Guerrillas in the Mist
Augment 2: Unblinking Eye
Pet: Gunslinger Jabber
Silent Ranger
Level 72
No DLC* • Balanced
PLAYSTYLE
FL4K is one of the most fun characters to play with in Borderlands 3, and it’s largely down to its ability to bring along a pet. Even though this is a great way to play the character, it leaves out some of its best utility as a whole. If you want something from all its trees, this balanced build will ensure you’re getting the best FL4K has to offer.
This build is centered around its Fady Away ability which grants FL4K invisibility and increases its health regeneration and movement speed. Thanks to the way we have invested points, the cooldown is so small that you can keep spamming this ability, use your shotgun and assault rifle to finish off enemies during it, and while it’s recharging your pet does tons of critical damage, and distracts enemies to itself.
SOLO
This is a great build for solo play because FL4K has enough utility to survive, and deal tons of critical and gun damage. Yes, you’ll sometimes be overwhelmed by enemies, but Fade Away is awesome for that exact reason. Not only is it a great skill during combat, but if you need a breather or just get away from the fight, you can enable it, and return when you feel like it. Fade Away’s cooldown becomes so low that it barely takes seconds to recharge.
COOP
FL4K is always an excellent character to add to a team. This build allows him to not only take a breather when required but also deal tons of devastating critical damage with multiple skills directly regenerating their health. This means that they don’t need any additional support from their teammates and skills like Hidden Machine boost FL4K’s damage when enemies aren’t targeting them. So in a way, using the team as bait only helps FL4K perform better.
GEARS
Slot 1: Reflux
Slot 2: The Monarch
Slot 3: Mongol
Slot 4: Hellwalker
Grenade: Hunter-Seeker
Shield: Old God
MOD: Mind Sweeper
Artifact: Pearl Of Ineffable Knowledge
SKILLS
Turn Tail and Run, Rage and Recover, Who Rescued Who? directly heal FL4K and synergize with the Action Skill and its augment to boost health regeneration tremendously.
Lick the Wounds allow your Pet to revive you gaining increased damage after revival. The Power Inside boosts you, and your pet’s damage by 25% upon Action Skill activation, and that’s double if your health is at full.
Megavore gives you a 20% critical hit chance no matter which part of the enemy’s body you hit.
Action Skill: Fade Away
Augment 1: Not My Circus
Augment 2: Until You Are Dead
Pet: Spiderant Scorcher
Beastly
Level 72
DLC* • WAR Loader
PLAYSTYLE
If you’re a fan of both FL4K’s marksman capability and want to bring along a pet to do tons of damage, then this build capitalizes on both aspects almost equally. The WAR Loader is the new DLC pet, and he’s one for the books.
Your game plan revolves around making use of the Messy Breakup shield to massively increase your pet’s damage which you have provided WAR Loader with a duplicate of. Go in, start blasting away, and use the Gamma Burst action skill to summon WAR Loader, who will do tons of damage, and you’ll work together as a team.
SOLO
This is a great build for solo play because you aren’t alone anymore. WAR Loader is a great buddy to bring along, and you’ll also have drones spawning thanks to the Messy Breakup shield. There are multiple skills that restore the shield of both you and your pet, which is why survivability is not an issue, and taking direct damage shouldn’t be that much of a problem. It’s a tricky build to make work, but even without any major strategy on your part, you’ll do just fine.
COOP
This is a great build for co-op play as it adds essentially another player to the team. WAR Loader has plenty of utility which you and the team can capitalize on. Keeping him alive isn’t that big of a problem, so neither FL4K nor WAR Loader are vulnerabilities for the team. There are also a few skills that directly heal both FL4K and War Loader, and Lick the Wounds allows the pet to revive teammates as well.
GEARS
Slot 1: Plaguebearer
Slot 2: Face-puncher
Slot 3: RYNAH
Slot 4: Res
Grenade: Hunter-Seeker
Shield: Messy Breakup
MOD: Red Fang
Artifact: Victory Rush
SKILLS
Better Toys, Fuzzy Math, Keep Them Safe directly restore FK4K and pets’ shield, while Take This! provides the pet with a copy of the shield FL4K has.
Lick the Wounds gives your pet the ability to revive not only you but a member of the team as well. After reviving, it gets a 30% increase in damage.
Psycho Head on a Stick and Gotta Go Fast increase the pet’s movement speed.
Action Skill: Gamma Burst
Augment 1: Empathic Rage
Augment 2: Endurance
Pet: WAR Loader
Beastmaster
Level 72
DLC* • Spiderant Countess
PLAYSTYLE
FL4K’s ability to call upon his trusty pets makes him a force to be reckoned with. If you want a build that’s focused on doing a ridiculous amount of damage through your pet, the Spiderant Countess in this case, then it’s hard to put together a better build than this.
This build isn’t that hard to pull off because all you’re really doing is point your death machine, I mean your pet, towards enemies and let it do most of the things for you. FL4K is basically the support unit here, and you’ll do gun and critical damage while the Spiderant Countess munches on enemies, and does radiation damage along the way.
SOLO
This is an excellent build for solo play because you aren’t technically alone. Your pet is your partner, and the main damage dealing unit here, and in most cases, it’ll be doing far more damage than FL4K. So, keep your distance, support it, and liberally issue commands, because the AI isn’t always the most reliable. FL4K has multiple skills for health regeneration as well, so it’s not hard to stay alive. Additionally, you aren’t really in the thick of it the same way your pet is, so keep shooting.
COOP
This pet-focused build is perfect for co-op play because the entire team can work around it. After giving the attack order, your Pet will do tons of damage in a wide area thanks to the radiation damage to nearby enemies as well. Essentially, the team, and you, will provide support to the Pet, and finish off enemies around it. FL4K doesn’t really need direct healing, but any healing for the pet is appreciated. Since we invested a point in Lick the Wounds, the pet can actually revive teammates as well.
GEARS
Slot 1: Face-Puncher
Slot 2: Guardian Angel
Slot 3: Alchemist
Slot 4: Res
Grenade: Fish Slap
Shield: Ward
MOD: Red Fang
Artifact: White Elephant
SKILLS
Go for the Eyes ensures that the first melee attack dealt by your pet is always critical dealing, which does 75% additional damage. This pairs well with Gamma Burst, and essentially ensures that most enemies can die, or lose most of their health by the first hit.
Throat Ripper increases the chance of getting a critical hit by the pet by over 15%, while Take this! provides your pet with a duplicate of your shield, making it survive way longer than it normally would.
Action Skill: Gamma Burst
Augment 1: Atomic Aroma
Augment 2: Endurance
Pet: Spiderant Countess
