SPLASH AND DASH
RAFA THE ECO-SOLDIER BUILD
Last updated on January 31st, 2026
SPLASH & DASH
Level 1 to 50
Explosive • Infinite-ammo • Boss-melter
Check out our updated Borderlands 4 Rafa Build Guide, with a clear progression route, skill recommendations and best gears!
The Splash and Dash build focuses onthe Peacebreaker Cannons action skill and Torgue sticky bombs. With Rafa’s red Remote Agent skill tree, we can pump up his splash damage to buff both of these DPS sources.
Our skill choices ensure that we never run out of ammo. With high fire rate and bonus damage per sticky bomb, Splash and Dash turns Rafa into a boss melter that also clears mobs with ease.
HOW TO PLAY THIS BUILD
This build is straightforward, as you only need to rapidly stack sticky projectiles and then detonate them for massive burst damage. With virtually infinite ammo, you can do this as much as you want before manually detonating the bombs by reloading or swapping guns.
While mobbing, your high splash damage lets you clear groups quickly without running out of ammo. Against bosses, your goal is to stack as many stickies as possible, then trigger devastating explosions to delete them in one go.
- Against mobs: Activate Peacebreaker Cannons to amplify your splash damage. With nearly infinite ammo from Bullet-Buddy Deluxe and Las Jaras, you can keep firing without interruption, and you can use non-stickies as long as you’re firing explosives.
- Against bosses or strang enemies: Focus on stacking stickies using high fire rate weapons, then detonate them all for massive damage. Pairing this with a Penetrator knife ensures that all explosions crit, turning your detonation into an even more powerful nuke.
STRENGTHS
- Virtually infinite ammo for nonstop firing
- Very high splash damage that melts everything, including bosses
- Strong survivability with shield restoration
- Movement speed bonuses make Rafa fast and hard to pin down
WEAKNESSES
- Requires Overdrive to stay active at all times for maximum effectiveness
- Damage potential reduced if bosses enter immune phases too early
GEARS
Weapons:
Torgue weapons or other guns with a Torgue-licensed Sticky Magazine are the bread and butter of this build. For legendaries, you have plenty of options :
- Kaoson (SMG): With its fast fire rate, you can stack up a lot of stickies quickly.
- Wombo Combo (Assault Rifle): Its underbarrel automatically fires rockets, which benefit greatly from your Overdrive buffs.
- Linebacker (Shotgun): It’s slower than the other choices, but it deals a ton of splash damage in a wide radius.
Repkit:
Any option works here if you only need it for sustain. If you have the Now With Caffeine specialization, you should consider the following legendaries :
- Triple Bypass: It has three charges, which will translate fast action skill resets with the specialization.
- Shiny War Paint: On use, it increases your fire rate and movement speed.
- AF1000: It has passive health regeneration. Strong alternative for pure sustain.
Class Mod:
Dancer is essential as it doubles all Overdrive bonuses. Try to find one that adds at least a +1 to Soltado.
Shields:
The legendary Super Soldier shield grants more fire rate, movement speed, and ammo regen. It’s completely unmatched for this build.
Enhancements:
Look for the Torgue enhancement that boosts damage and damage radius. As for attribute rolls, fire rate and critical damage are ideal.
Ordnance:
Any knife with the Penetrator augment. It will massively boost damage when thrown right before detonating your sticky bombs.
SKILLS
Fire rate and splash damage: Deaf Hands and The Thrill ramp up your fire rate, while Barrage and Volatile Hollow Points massively increase splash damage.
Survivability and sustain: CIA restores shields on kill, while Devil May Care boosts health regeneration and speed. L Valiiente adds bonus damage from your shields.
Utility and uptime: Herga restores action skill duration on crits, ensuring infinite ammo uptime. Al Centro offsets recoil from Tamario, while Jacqui stacks overdrive bonuses for even higher damage.
Skill Planner: Splash and Dash build
LEVELING UP GUIDE
Action Skill: Peacebreaker Cannons
Level 2 to 6: Deaf Hands (5/5)
Increases fire rate.
– Faster damage stacking.
Level 7 to 11: Juerga (5/5)
Critical hits restore action skill duration.
– This helps keep Peacebreaker Cannons active for much longer.
Bullet Buddy Deluxe (Augment)
While Peacebreaker Cannons is active, Rafa and his allies will regenerate ammo in their magazine. This causes the cannons to deal incendiarydamage and fire explosive bullets depending on how full his magazine is. Finally, he can active the action skill once more to trigger infinite ammo, but at the cost of faster action skill duration drain.
– Basically, this gives us unlimited ammo.
Level 12 to 14: El Valiente (3/3)
Increases damage based on your shields. At maximum shields, this bonus is doubled.
– Just extra damage in general.
Level 15 to 16: CYA (2/5)
Kill Skill. Killing enemies restores shields.
– Synergizes well with El Valiente.
Level 16 to 21: Barrage (5/5)
Overdrive Skill. While Overdrive is active, you gain bonus splash damage.
– Huge damage boost for this specific build.
Level 22 to 26: Devil-May-Care (5/5)
Overdrive Skill. While Overdrive is active, you gain bonus movement speed and health regeneration. When it’s not active, you take more damage but have a faster action skill cooldown rate.
– This lets you zoom across the battlefield while also increasing your survivability.
Level 27 to 30: Temerario (4/5)
Overdrive Skill. For each second that Overdrive is active, you gain bonus gun damage but also lose gun handling.
– Even more bonus damage. The gun handling debuff will be addressed later.
Level 31: Soltado (1/1)
Kill Skill. On kill, double all of your Overdrive bonuses for a few seconds.
– Insanely high damage boost.Don’t put a point in this if your class mod already adds 1!
Volatile Hollowpoints (Capstone)
Your Peacebreaker Cannons will now fire rockets that deal splash damage.
– This is where the build starts to fully go “online” as it now benefits from Barrage.
Level 32 to 36: Las Jaras (5/5)
Overdrive Skill. Regenerate ammo while Overdrive is active.
– You’ll never run out of ammo.
Level 37 to 41: The Thrill (5/5)
Overdrive Skill. Increases your fire rate. This is further increased while Overdrive is active.
– Even faster damage stacking.
Level 42 to 46: Al Centro (5/5)
Overdrive Skill. You get bonus gun handling and action skill handing while Overdrive is active. These buffs are increased per second.
– This balances out the debuff from Temerario.
Level 47 to 50: Jaque (4/5)
Dealing damage with a skill grants you a stack of Jaque (max 20). Each stack will buff your Overdrive bonuses.
– This just beefs up our Overdrive buffs even more. If your class mod already covers Soltado, use your extra skill point to max this out.