The master of crits and companions honestly FL4K is the character I recommend to everyone starting out because the gameplay loop is so satisfying, Fade Away turns you invisible and guarantees every shot is a critical hit, pets revive you and tank enemies and deal surprising damage tbh, and Megavore giving every bullet a chance to crit even on non-weakspots is the kind of power fantasy that makes Borderlands so fun, I've mained FL4K since day one and every time I pop Fade Away and watch a boss health bar just disappear in seconds it never gets old, like the feeling of going invisible and then just unloading into a crit spot while your pet runs around causing chaos is something no other character quite matches and who knows maybe the pet AI will get you killed sometimes but that's part of the charm I guess
Skill Trees
Hunter
Pure crit damage, increases critical hit damage and fire rate and action skill uptime, and Megavore gives every bullet a chance to crit even on non-crit spots which is honestly the best capstone in the game for bossing. I've built FL4K so many different ways and every single time I end up coming back to Hunter as the primary tree because the damage scaling is just unmatched and you feel the difference immediately when you put points into it.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Interplanetary Stalker | Increased damage based on enemy type discovered | 5 |
| 1 | Leave No Trace | Crit hits have chance to return ammo to magazine | 3 |
| 2 | Second Intention | Kill skill: increased reload speed | 5 |
| 2 | Hunter's Eye | Increased crit damage vs each enemy type | 5 |
| 3 | Head Count | Crit hits decrease action skill cooldown | 3 |
| 3 | Ambush Predator | Increased crit damage when no enemies are targeting you | 5 |
| 4 | Two F4ng | Chance to fire an additional projectile | 5 |
| 4 | Big Game | Increased Hunter Skill duration and effectiveness | 3 |
| 5 | Galactic Shadow | Massive crit damage boost, enemies less likely to target you | 1 |
| 6 | Megavore | 20% chance for any bullet to be a critical hit | 1 |
Stalker
Health regen, movement speed, and survivability, Fade Away turns invisible and guarantees all shots crit, and The Power Inside gives massive damage during Fade Away. This is the secondary tree for most crit builds and it rounds out FL4K's survivability nicely, I mean the health regen from Self-Repairing System might not look impressive on paper but when you're in a boss fight and slowly getting chipped down it makes a huge difference trust me.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Self-Repairing System | FL4K and pet regenerate health | 5 |
| 1 | Sic 'Em | Pet gains increased damage when commanded | 3 |
| 2 | Furious Attack | Pet kills grant FL4K increased gun damage | 5 |
| 2 | Overclocked | Increased fire rate | 5 |
| 3 | Persistence Hunter | Increased action skill duration, gun damage | 3 |
| 3 | Rage and Recover | Pet gains lifesteal on attack command | 3 |
| 4 | The Fast and the Furryous | FL4K and pet gain movement speed at full health | 3 |
| 4 | Hidden Machine | Increased damage when enemies target someone else | 5 |
| 5 | Pack Tactics | FL4K and pet share a portion of each other's max health | 3 |
| 6 | The Power Inside | Fade Away gives 50% bonus damage while active | 1 |
Master
Pet-focused, your pet becomes a destructive force with damage bonuses, elemental attacks, and the ability to revive you. You get the idea, this tree makes your pet go from helpful to genuinely scary and honestly seeing your Skag just body a badass by itself is one of the most satisfying things in the game.
| Tier | Skill | Effect | Max Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ferocity | Pet gains increased damage | 5 |
| 1 | Go for the Eyes! | Pet's first melee after command is a guaranteed crit | 5 |
| 2 | Throatripper | Chance for pet to crit - FL4K heals on pet crit | 5 |
| 2 | Who Rescued Who | FL4K damage heals pet, pet damage heals FL4K | 3 |
| 3 | Psycho Head on a Stick | Pet gains increased damage, speed, damage reduction | 3 |
| 3 | Hive Mind | FL4K shares damage taken with pet | 1 |
| 4 | Mutated Defenses | Pet gains damage reduction and elemental resistance | 3 |
| 4 | Frenzy | Pet attacks stack increased damage for both | 5 |
| 5 | Barbaric Yawp | Pet bonus stats increased 100% | 1 |
| 6 | Dominance | Pet melee overrides can turn enemies into allies | 1 |
Pets
| Pet | Type | Attack Command | Passive Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jabber Sidekick | Jabber | Throws radiation barrel | +Movement speed |
| Gunslinger Jabber | Jabber | Fires rocket launcher | +Crit damage |
| Spiderant Centurion | Spiderant | Charges and knocks up enemies | +Elemental damage |
| Scorcher Spiderant | Spiderant | Breathes incendiary cone | +Incendiary damage |
| Guard Skag | Skag | Charges with knockback | +Gun damage |
| Eridian Skag | Skag | Fires singularity pulling enemies | +Fire rate |
Best FL4K Builds
Fade Away Guerrillas in the Mist - Crit Build
The most popular FL4K build, guaranteed crits during Fade Away combined with Megavore means every bullet can crit and bosses just disappear, I've one-cycled every raid boss with this setup and it never stops being satisfying, like the pure dopamine hit of watching a health bar go from full to zero in one Fade Away activation is why I keep playing this character
Primary tree Hunter with Megavore capstone, secondary Stalker for The Power Inside, action skill Fade Away with Guerrillas in the Mist and Unblinking Eye augments, class mod Bounty Hunter activates Hunt Skills on boss damage, shield Re-Volter for +200% shock on break or Stop-Gap for survivability, artifact Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge or Company Man, weapons Light Show Monarch Backburner Reflux and honestly any high-crit weapon works, I'm not 100% sure the Carrier is still meta but it was insane last patch so maybe worth trying
Rakk Attack Spam
Constant action skill spam, Rakks trigger anointments and heal FL4K, and it's amazing for mobbing and debuffing, this build is super underrated honestly and people sleep on how much damage the Rakks actually do when built properly, probably my second favorite FL4K playstyle after the crit build
Primary tree Hunter with Head Count and Megavore, secondary Master for Frenzy stacks, action skill Rakk Attack with Rakkcelerate, class mod Rakk Commander or Cosmic Stalker, weapons any with the +100% damage on Action Skill End anoint, shield Frozen Heart or ASS Re-Volter and stuff
Gamma Burst Pet Tank
Pet becomes unkillable during Gamma Burst and FL4K gets massive radiation damage bonus, it's the safest build for solo play and great for learning boss mechanics without dying constantly, I used this build to learn the Empyrean Sentinel raid and honestly without the pet tanking everything I would've quit after the tenth wipe
Primary tree Master with Dominance and Barbaric Yawp, secondary Hunter for Megavore, action skill Gamma Burst, class mod Red Fang makes pet taunt all enemies during Gamma Burst which is honestly hilarious to watch, weapons radiation element and Maliwan for element coverage and stuff like that, you get the idea
Best Weapons for FL4K
| Weapon | Type | Synergy | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Show | Pistol | 4 projectiles, all crit in Fade Away | Jakobs |
| Lucian's Call | AR | Crit ricochet + ammo return = infinite ammo | Vladof |
| Monarch | AR | Bipod mode + Fade Away deletes bosses | Vladof |
| Reflux | SMG | Crit chains lightning between enemies | Hyperion |
| Carrier | AR | Homing micro-missiles on crit | Atlas |
| Hellwalker | Shotgun | One-shot, high crit, Jakobs ricochet | Jakobs |
FL4K Leveling Guide
Okay so starting out you want Hunter tree with Leave No Trace and Head Count because they're essential early and will carry you through the first act easily. Then around mid-levels go Stalker tree for Furious Attack and Overclocked which are huge DPS boosts at this level range and honestly Overclocked is way better than it reads on paper. After that rush Hunter capstone Megavore because it's the biggest power spike FL4K gets and you'll notice the difference immediately, I'm not even kidding the jump from not having Megavore to having it is probably the single biggest power spike of any character in the game. In the later levels fill Stalker for The Power Inside plus survivability and by the time you hit max level with this tree path you'll be ready for any content in the game no problem. And for Mayhem respec to Guerrillas in the Mist and farm Re-Volter shield which is basically mandatory for endgame, you can do Mayhem without it but you're making things harder for no reason, and then experiment with different pet choices because the Gunslinger Jabber gives crit damage bonus which is perfect for this setup or whatever, and the Scorcher Spiderant is actually really good too if you need more elemental coverage, basically any pet works but those two are probably the best for crit builds imo