Vex has some truly powerful builds in Borderlands 4, mostly aided by Bleed and Knife Tech, but why not try something else? We've experimented with Vex's red skill tree, Here Comes Trouble, which provides Vex with the Phase Phamiliar Ability Skill. Below, players can find the best skills to use for this Vex the Siren build, along with the rest of her equipment. The build itself focuses on making Vex's minion, Trouble, invincible and extremely strong, while ensuring Vex never runs out of health or shield with a mixture of hard-hitting bullets and Ordnance weapons.
This build will not use Bleed or a Throwing Knife with Penetrator Augment
Best Skills for Phase Phamiliar Vex
|
Skill |
Description |
Why It's Useful |
|---|---|---|
|
Hasty Fiends (3/3) |
Vex and her Minion gains increased Movement Speed and Damage Reduction. |
Being able to move faster and take a +20% Damage Reduction will help Vex reach her enemies faster and stay alive longer. |
|
Grave Sustenance (2/5) |
Kill Skill. Restore a percentage of Missing Action Skill Duration. |
Killing enemies rewards players with a reduced cooldown for their Action Skill, building into more damage with Trouble. |
|
Grave Command (3/3) |
Kill Skill. Restore a percentage of Trouble's Command Skill Cooldown and respawn Cooldown. |
Further decrease the time it takes for Trouble to come back into the action. |
|
Overprotective (2/3) |
Kill Skill. Vex and her Minion gain Overshield. |
Overshield for killing just means more additional tankiness. |
|
Yowl and Bay (1/5) |
Vex's Minions gain increased Maximum Health Capacity. Vex gains increased Gun Damage for a Duration after Commanding Trouble |
A little extra Gun Damage after using Action Skills isn't too much, but it's not nothing. |
|
Claw and Bang (5/5) |
Vex and her Minion gain increased Melee Damage and Ordnance Damage. |
Ordnance Damage is the main focus here, as +30% Ordnance Damage is going to really ensure the destruction of Vex's enemies. |
|
Beast Mode (Augment) |
Command Skill. Command Trouble to enter Beast Mode, becoming Immune to Damage and gaining increased Minion Attacks Speed and Movement Speed for a Duration. |
Vex's Action Skill now makes Trouble immune to damage for 10 seconds, and increases speed and attack by 30%. |
|
Grave Current (5/5) |
Kill Skill. Vex's Minion gain Bonus Shock Damage. |
Vex can help provide Trouble with 120% Bonus Shock Damage. |
|
Deadwire (5/5) |
When Vex deals Gun Damage, there is a Chance to spawn a Spark Remnant that will seek out a nearby enemy and explode, dealing Shock Minion Damage to other nearby enemies. |
One of Vex's best skills provides her with a powerful Spark Remnant simply by causing Gun Damage, which is also buffed by Grave Current. |
|
Grave Thirst (5/5) |
Kill Skill. Vex and her Minion gain lfiesteal for a Duration. |
An extremely important skill that allows Vex to almost instantly heal back lost health with a kill. |
|
Unsealed (Capstone) |
Trouble will now Mark his current target, causing them to take increased Gun Damage from Vex. Kill Skill. When a Marked enemy is killed, Trouble gains a Stack of Unsealed for a Duration, granting Health Regeneration and increased Damage. While Phase Phamiliar is active, Unsealed effects are doubled. |
Trouble helps Vex to gain +50% Gun Damage against Marked targets, and further increases damage and health regeneration by killing said Marked targets. |
|
Blast Rites (5/5) |
Whenever Vex uses an Ordnance, she gains Overshield, and also gains increased Fire Rate for a Duration. |
Increases Overshield and Fire Rate by 25% just by spamming Ordnance. |
|
Corporeal (3/3) |
Vex and her Minion gain increased Maximum Overshield Capacity and Overshield Duration. While Vex has Overshield, she and her Minion gain increased Damage Dealt. |
More Overshield Capacity is always nice, but simply by having Overshield, Vex will deal more damage. |
|
Blasted Fiends (5/5) |
Vex gains increased Ordnance Damage. A percentage of Vex's Ordnance Damage increases Minion Damage. |
Another buff to Ordnance Damage makes Ordnance weapons even more useful, especially when it adds to Minion Damage. |
|
Elemental Essence (5/5) |
Vex gains increased Elemental Damage. Double this effect when an Action Skill is active. |
If players are using Shock, then further Elemental Damage is going to help. |
Players will want to use this build as an effective way to eliminate enemies, as the Kill Skills will mean that Vex constantly regains lost Health or Shield, or even gains Overshield. Vex is also going to be reliant on Trouble, her Minion that will cause plenty of damage and take plenty of attention, so that Vex isn't the one getting shot. The Capstone and Augment are designed in a way that Vex can spam her abilities to ensure Trouble is always immortal, and always weakening certain enemies, allowing Vex to increase her damage output and continue to stay alive.
Best Gear for Phase Phamiliar Vex
The most important aspect of this build is the Witch Class Mod, acquired from Primordial Guardian Radix at the Vault in Carcadia Burn. The Witch Class Mod will provide players with +10% Lifesteal, along with a Legendary Perk: When Vex has Maximum Health, her Lifesteal partially applies to Shields. When Vex has Maximum Shield, her Lifesteal partially grants Overshield. This means that, paired with Vex's skills in this build, every kill is going to heal Vex and overcharge her Shields to ensure she's never going down.
When it comes to weapons, feel free to use whatever you are comfortable with, but we preferred SMGs and Shotguns because of the Deadwire skill we invested in. Since Vex has a 10% chance to spawn a Spark Remnant with Gun Damage, and that Spark Remnant deals more damage depending on the Gun Damage, we decided that hard-hitting Shotguns and fast-firing SMGs would be beneficial. For an effective SMG, seek out Plasma Coil from The Timekeeper in Upper Dominion, as this reloads extremely fast and fires even faster.
Ordnance is also important for the build, as using it will grant Overshield, and damage is increased by 30% from it. Rocket Launchers are always good, but low cooldown items, like Grenades with multiple charges, can really help. Something like Jelly from Splashzone in the Coastal Bonescape would help, as this grenade has 4 charges, a fast cooldown, and bounces around while dealing impact/splash damage.
In terms of Enhancement, Repkit, and Shields, feel free to use whatever you are comfortable with, as most of your healing will come from Kill Skills, and your Enhancement depends on the weapon type you use. Shields can also be efficient, so something like Cindershelly from The Backhive at The Claim Auger Mine in the Dissected Plataeu is a great choice due to how absorbing damage reduces Damage Taken by 2% up to 50%, and on the off chance that your shield breaks, it releases an extremely powerful Nova blast that increases damage by +20% per stack of Resolve, which can reach +500%.
Best Specializations for Phase Phamiliar Vex
|
Specialization |
Perk |
|---|---|
|
Brute (20) |
Riddle You This |
|
Survivor (20 |
Bullets Are Scared Of Me The Best Defense |
|
Gadgeteer (10) |
Full Spectrum Arsenal |
For Specializations, players will want to invest 20 points into Survivor and 20 points into Brute, and then 10 points into Gadgeteer. This will increase maximum Health and Shield, Gun Damage, and Ordnance Cooldown, respectively, and players will also be able to use the most important Specialization Perks seen above, which ensure Vex's Gun Damage is always high, as is her Damage Resistance.
Best Firmware for Phase Phamiliar Vex
|
Firmware |
Bonuses |
Slots |
|---|---|---|
|
Risky Boots |
When Health is less than 35%, Damage Taken is reduced by -30% |
1 |
|
Gadget Ahoy |
Ordnance Cooldown Duration is reduced by +15% |
1 |
|
GOOJFC |
Action Skill Cooldown Rate is increased by +10% Action Skill Damage is increased by +15% Action Skill Cooldown Rate is increased by an additional +20% |
3 |
The most important Firmware set is GOOFJC because of how it aids in Vex's Action Skill by providing a reduced Cooldown Rate and Damage, meaning players can use Trouble far more often, and gain even greater strength from him. Gadget Ahoy is also good, as Ordnance is useful in this build for building Shield, and Risky Boots is just a backup to reserve a 30% Damage Reduction to avoid being put in Fight For Your Life.
Borderlands 4
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
