Borderlands 4: Best Vex Leveling Build Guide
Borderlands 4 introduces four new Vault Hunters, but for many players, Vex is quickly becoming a fan favorite. With her ability to summon minions that deal incredible damage while keeping you alive through lifesteal and kill skills, Vex feels like a mix between a spellcaster and a summoner. If you enjoy melting enemies with hordes of allies while buffing yourself in the process, this build is for you.
This Borderlands 4 Vex leveling build guide focuses on her Dead Ringer (Blue) tree, using Specters and Reapers to dominate the battlefield. Below, you'll find the best skill progression path, recommended gear, and tips to maximize her potential.
Best Skill Tree Progression for Vex
The core of this build revolves around Dead Ringer (Blue) because of its overwhelming synergy with Specters. By investing heavily here, you'll summon minions that stick around as long as they have health, shredding through shields and enemy health bars with ease. The build path we recommend is roughly a 0/13/37 split across Red/Green/Blue trees.
Key Skills to Prioritize
·Sanguine Fiends (Blue x5): Grants health regeneration for you and your minions whenever you score a kill. At max rank, you'll recover 20% health per kill-making you incredibly hard to kill.
·Grave Assault (Blue x5): Boosts your minions' overall damage output, turning them into true glass cannons.
·Blood Sacrifice (Blue x1): Triggers all of your kill skills whenever one of your minions dies, letting you chain insane buffs.
·Prismatic Weaponry (Blue x5): Scales your damage and buffs, especially when combined with the Coven augment.
·Coven (Augment): Specters grant Critical Hit Chance, while Reapers grant Health Regeneration. Both effects drastically improve survivability and DPS.
·Obedient Fiends (Blue x5): Makes your minions tougher and deadlier, keeping them on the battlefield longer.
·Dark Pact (Capstone, Blue): The cornerstone of the build. It heals all Phase Clones, increases attack and movement speed, and stops health drain during its duration. Perfect for boss fights or large enemy waves.
Secondary Skills for Support
·Bloodletter (Green x5): Enables your gun and skill crits to apply Bleed, which counts as a status effect. This ramps your damage exponentially when paired with shotguns.
·Fiendish Invigoration (Green x3): Provides fire rate and damage buffs, keeping you efficient with your weapons.
·Burning Attunement (Blue x5): Adds extra scaling through elemental bonuses.
Gear Recommendations for Leveling Vex
While skills form the backbone of the build, gear makes the difference in Borderlands 4. Here are the most important items to look for as you progress:
Weapons
·Primary: Shotguns - Vex thrives with close-range firepower. With Bloodletter active, shotguns stack Bleeds fast.
·Penetrator Knife (Unique Augment): If you find this item, it makes all damage to a marked target count as critical hits for 5 seconds. Combine this with Bloodletter, and the damage output spirals out of control.
·Jakobs Dullahan (Spread Launcher variant): A powerful shotgun option that works perfectly with this build.
Class Mods
·Medical Commander: Grants bonuses to Fiendish Invigoration and Infusion, improving both gun damage and melee burst.
·Alchemist: Boosts points in Prismatic Ichor, further scaling your elemental effectiveness.
Shields
·Firewerks Shield (drops from Splashzone): Fires homing missiles on kill (you or minions). It synergizes with your kill skills and adds devastating AoE.
Repkits & Enhancements
·Low Cooldown Repkit: Look for one with Accelerator, Amp, Leech, or Cooling. A cooldown under 10 seconds makes rotations smoother.
·Legendary Jakobs or Maliwan Enhancements: Boost damage scaling significantly if you can acquire them while leveling.
If you can't find these early on, investing in Borderlands 4 Items through farming or trading (and in some cases choosing to buy them) ensures your build stays efficient from the start.
General Gameplay Tips for Vex
1. Let Your Minions Work
Once your build comes online, your Specters and Reapers will do most of the heavy lifting. Don't waste ammo unnecessarily-focus on positioning and supporting your allies.
2. Use Dark Pact Strategically
This capstone can turn the tide in difficult fights. Activate it against bosses or large enemy groups to maximize uptime for your minions without worrying about their natural health drain.
3. Exploit Bleeds and Status Effects
With Bloodletter and Prismatic Ichor, you'll spread Bleeds and elemental DoTs everywhere. These stack rapidly, overwhelming even Badass enemies.
4. Farm Early Gear
Don't ignore the early game farm for the Firewerks Shield from Splashzone. It dramatically boosts your clear speed by adding homing missiles every time something dies-whether by your gun or your Specters.
5. Shotgun Synergy
Even if you're not normally a shotgun fan, they are the best weapon for this build. The sheer synergy with Bleed and critical hits makes them invaluable for cutting down tougher foes.
Why Vex Is Perfect for Co-Op or Solo
Another reason to love this build is its flexibility. In co-op, your Specters essentially add extra DPS to your team, and Dark Pact ensures your squad's frontline damage stays strong. In solo play, Vex feels like a powerhouse necromancer-surrounded by minions that deal non-stop damage while you heal through kills and buffs.
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for a fun, powerful, and minion-based leveling build in Borderlands 4, Vex is an excellent choice. By focusing on her Dead Ringer (Blue) tree, you'll create an army of Specters that tear through enemies while you sustain through lifesteal and kill-triggered buffs. Pair this with the right shotguns, class mods, and shields, and you'll find yourself breezing through the campaign.
For players who want to optimize faster, having access to extra resources like Borderlands 4 Money or choosing to buy Borderlands 4 Items can help keep your Vault Hunter geared and ready for tougher challenges. Whether you're a solo adventurer or a co-op squad leader, Vex's leveling build is one of the most rewarding ways to experience Borderlands 4.