How Specializations Work in Borderlands 4: Completing and Solving

Select Language:

Borderlands 4 has improved the Guardian Rank system from previous games and now calls it Specializations. This new system is designed to give players a sense of long-term progress that makes leveling up with different characters easier. It also offers options to customize builds using a small set of unique perks.

Compared to Guardian Ranks, the specialization trees are simpler to understand and allow for more player choice and flexibility. If you want to increase your damage or add useful utility benefits, completing the campaign unlocks this system. Here’s how specializations function in Borderlands 4 and all the advantages they provide.

What Are Specializations?
Specializations are a post-campaign upgrade that replaces the Guardian Rank system from earlier versions. After finishing the main story, you unlock a new skill tree that provides permanent bonuses for all your characters. If you’re not satisfied with your current specialization choices, you can respec them at any respec station in a central hub town, though it costs Eridium to do so.

Boons within specializations are split into two main groups:

1. Stats: Small bonuses that impact combat, like weapon damage, reload speed, or movement speed.
2. Skills: Stronger bonuses similar to perks from skill trees. You can equip up to four skills at once.

After completing the campaign, any experience points (XP) you earn contribute towards your specialization rank. Unlike your character level, specialization levels can go on indefinitely. Each rank gives you one point to invest in one of four perk trees. Increasing these trees unlocks skills that you can activate at ranks 1, 10, and 20. You can have up to four skills equipped at a time, which may come from different specialization categories.

Investing ten points into two neighboring trees unlocks a hybrid tree named Gadgeteer, Killer, or Daredevil, each with its own set of skills. These also behave like the original four trees.

All Specialization Bonuses
There are seven total specialization trees—three are hybrid trees unlocked by placing ten points in adjoining stat trees. Note that stats scale infinitely but experience diminishing returns.

Specialization Perks
Perks vary by tree and include effects like:

• Sturdy Stuff: Fight For Your Life lasts longer when not moving; Second Winds fully restore HP.
• Bullets Are Scared Of Me: Damage resistance depending on your HP or shield fullness.
• The Best Defense: Increased gun damage based on your HP or shield.
• Tripwire: Decrease ordnance cooldown when activating your action skill.
• Full Spectrum Arsenal: Ordnance damage benefits from gun damage increases.
• Fragmentation Payload: Increased critical chance and damage with ordnance weapons.
• Lead Or Alive: Guns reload automatically when entering Fight For Your Life; increased fire rate.
• CQC: Melee damage boosts fire rate.
• Riddle You This: Apply gun damage bonuses that stack over time.
• Contamination: Critical hits increase status chance, stacking multiple times.
• Overkill: Killing enemies with critical hits causes explosion damage.
• Down But Not Out: Aim down sights while in Fight For Your Life and avoid accuracy penalties.
• In The Zone: Gain increasing gun and critical damage while aiming, stacking multiple times.
• Now With Caffeine: Reduce action skill cooldowns with Repkits.
• I Am A Gun: Action skill damage benefits from gun damage boosts.
• Bear Arms: Increase melee damage and gun damage synergy.
• Bullet Train: Hipfire while sprinting; gun damage increases with movement speed.
• Groundbreaker: Store damage from attacks and slams; release as bonus kinetic melee damage.

Each tree provides unique perks, and players can tailor their build by investing points across these options. Dedicating ten points to adjacent trees unlocks hybrid trees with additional perks. Stats increase without limit, though gains decrease over time.

ChatGPT Perplexity Gemini AI Grok AI