Borderlands 4 Rafa Build Guide: Skills, Weapons, & Gear

One of the best parts of Borderlands 4 is that all four Vault Hunters are viable. But not all of them are going to mesh with every player’s specific playstyle, so you may need to do some digging until you find the one for you. That said, Rafa is probably the one Vault Hunter that’s for everyone.

He is highly versatile, as all three of his skill trees are sufficient for both solo play and multiplayer. You really can’t go wrong when picking a skill tree for Rafa, but there are plenty of situations where each tree could shine above the rest.

Best Skills For Rafa In Borderlands 4

He Is Very Flexible

Don’t worry too much about getting overwhelmed by Rafa. Other than the Arc-Knives tree, which is melee-centric, his other two trees play a lot like a traditional Borderlands game or many other looter shooter classes. Rafa is very much a ranged-focused character with his Exo-Soldier setup, so you’ll feel right at home if you play a lot of genre staples.

The People Person Tree Is Straightforward

Although this is the tree I played with the least, it’s still viable. People Person focuses on Rafa’s Adophis Lance, which allows him to fire an ordinance blast to take out multiple enemies. It’s equipped with Rafa’s offhand, and serves as an additional source of damage beyond your main weaponry.

Here are some skills to focus on in this tree:

• Rinse
• Las Jaras
• Pa’ Dentro
• Arriba
• Metal Management
• Awe

For this build, look for shock-based weapons. Awe, in particular, buffs all of your shots into critical hits if an enemy is shocked. This is a massive damage boost that you can hit consistently, even if you have a side weapon that’s shock-based. While you’re out exploring, it makes clearing out trash enemies even quicker.

Remote Agent Is An Ideal Leveling Build

Remote Agent is arguably the easiest build to start with, as it involves a simple action skill that you can trigger at will during a particularly tough bout. The Peacebreaker Cannons are like massive shoulder-mounted guns that auto-fire, letting you focus entirely on dealing extra damage with your core loadout.

These are some recommended Remote Agent skills:

• Sitiar
• Instinto
• Juerga
• Field Repairs
• CYA
• El Valiente

With this build, you’re essentially adding survivability without relying too much on your skill and burst damage. El Valiente is a great passive, allowing you to deal increased damage overall, while rewarding you with bigger damage boosts when your shields are full. Once you get acquainted with dodging and how to avoid damage, you can really up your damage output with El Valiente.

Instinto in particular can be extremely powerful, as you can trigger it while your Peacebreaker Cannons are out to deal even more damage. This can be acquired in the early game, and can significantly increase your overall damage output. If the game gets overwhelming, just remember that passives are always active (as long as the triggering condition is met), and can help you out even if you aren’t using them actively.

For an alternate playstyle, consider investing in skills that buff indirect damage, like Asymmetric Warfare. This will buff your primary and secondary skills, which can be directly targeted against bosses for burst-fire damage. Considering some boss fights can dole out the most damage to your Vault Haunter, taking them out quickly can help you avoid more deaths.

This Year’s Gimmick Is The Flashy Melee Tree

This tree is very in your face and melee-based, topped off by the Arc-Knives action skill. You’ll de-equip your weaponry and pull out Arc-Knives, which are specialized weapons that you can slice with, and mark enemies for extra damage via a debuff. You can keep swiping at foes to keep the mark, which is incredibly useful against beefier enemies and bosses.

Here are some skills you can get to lean into this playstyle:

• Handshake Deal
• El Corazon
• Altered Cabron
• Diamond Hands
• In The Zone
• Dial In (into Saldar)
• El Paraguas

The Handshake Deal skill will increase both your gun and melee damage, which is the best of both worlds. Using that damage, you can leech life with Saldar and inflict a ton of melee damage on elites and bosses alike. This also allows Rafa to be more versatile when swinging his knives around.

Diamond Hands is an interesting skill, because it buffs gun damage after applying melee damage. This creates a really fun playstyle where you’re essentially dancing between ranged and melee, which Rafa can absolutely handle thanks to his arc-knives. His speed also makes hunting for vaults easier.

If you’re constantly playing with a full party, Arc-Knives is one of the flashiest playstyles possible in Borderlands 4. Not only will you be able to contribute a ton to your group, but you’ll also look really cool doing it. If you don’t like your build, you can always respec and change it.

Best Weapons & Gear For Rafa In Borderlands 4

Keep A Diverse Lineup Of Weapons

When playing through Borderlands 4 with Rafa, focusing on shotguns got me very far. Rafa, by nature, has a lot of melee-based abilities depending on his build, and dancing between using a shotgun and those skills can really make a difference and turn Rafa into a powerhouse. Given his high survivability in many builds, he can stay alive, get in, do a ton of damage, then get out and recover.

Keeping a number of different shotguns can be a boon, depending on the situation and the enemy you’re facing. For instance, focusing on shock can take out enemies who are heavily armored via shields, and can synergize with some of Rafa’s skills. In classic Borderlands fashion, you don’t need to micromanage this closely, but it can help make a difference against a boss.

If you’re interested in seeing what the core Borderlands 4 experience is about, picking Rafa is a great choice. He’ll introduce you to the basics, and when you’re ready, you can still customize him to your heart’s content, or move on to another character. Again, every Vault Hunter is viable, so a lot of it comes down to personal preference.

Systems

Released

September 12, 2025

ESRB

Rating Pending

Publisher(s)

2K