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★ Builds: Vex | Amon | Rafa | Harlowe

The Lifesteal Incarnate Bleed Vex build allows Vex to deal the highest kinetic damage with bleed in Borderlands 4. See the best builds, skills, weapons, guns, and gear to use for Vex, along with the best skill tree abilities and character playstyle.
| All Vex Guides | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best Builds | Cosmetics | Skill Trees and Voice Actor |
| Leveling Build | Boss Farm Build | Bleed Build |
| ・Adjustment made to Vex the Siren’s Bleed to count as Status Effect Damage |
Note: Only Changes that affect this build are listed above
The October 9 update brings about some Vex changes that adjust how Bloodletter works. Basically, Vex' Bleed can now no longer proc itself, nerfing strategies where Vex only does one shot and lets Bleed compound on the target.
On the plus side, Bleed now counting as Status Effect Damage buffs its interactions with The Fourth Seal, allowing it to receive the Status Effect buffs from the Blue Skill tree.
October 9 Update and Patch Notes
The Incarnate Bleed Vex has one of the highest DPS in game, defeating Radix in 8 Seconds, and both forms of Timekeeper in under 45 Seconds!
| Strengths | Weaknesses | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
✔︎Very high gun damage ✔︎Built in Lifesteal when using Kinetic guns ✔︎Bleed easily destroys Badasses and Bosses |
✖︎Locked to Kinetic Guns only ✖︎More reliant on end-game gear ✖︎Requires specific Specialization investment |
Vex' Bleed build boasts one of the highest gun damage in the game when using Kinetic guns, mainly due to how the skills are set up. With certain guns, you should be able to one-shot enemies by landing critical hits, regardless of how tanky they may be.
Vex' Lifesteal skills from her Incarnate Tree, alongside the Teen Witch class mod allows her to stack lifesteal which not only buffs her gun damage, but also allows her to gain overshield, effectively putting you out of harm's way just by always being in combat.
Due to the Kinetic damage skill investments, choosing elemental weapons would be less ideal, since it will not receive any of the buffs, reducing your overall dps. This build also requires specific end-game equipment, such as the Teen Witch class mod, and more points in Specialization to keep your DPS, especially in higher difficulties.
| Skill Tree | Vexcalation |
|---|---|
| Action Skill: Incarnate | |
The Vexcalation Skill Tree contains the Bloodletter skill, which allows Vex to deal a new Kinetic Status Effect to enemies that are hit by Critical Gun Damage.
This Build also focuses on multiple Kinetic Damage buffs from the skill tree, while using the Action Skill Incarnate to trigger various buffs which improve Vex' overall DPS.
![]() | |||
| Skill Tree | Priority Skills | ||
|---|---|---|---|
The Fourth Seal(Blue Tree) | |||
From Levels 1~30, focus on unlocking the Heartpiercer Augment, specifically taking the skills that improve your Kinetic Damage, Gun Damage, and Lifesteal. Following our recommended skill path allows you to melt down bosses as early as Level 30.
Once you reach Level 31, focus on taking skills that improve Gun Damage, while also remembering to take Enchantment which gives you a +37.5% Kinetic Damage buff.
Cold Iron and Cursed Blade from the Fourth Seal tree provide minimal buffs, and can be re-invested instead in other Skills if you wish to increase Vex' Mobility or Action Skill cooldown rate instead. Portents of Suffering, however is an invaluable skill that increases Status Effect Damage, meaning this directly buffs your bleed.
Geistwave
|
||
| Tree | Vexcalation | |
|---|---|---|
| Effect | ||
| Instead of causing a Phase Explosion, Vex launches a Geistwave, dealing Ordnance Damage to enemies it passes through. Each affected enemy takes increased Damage for a Duration. | ||
Geistwave removes Incarnate's Phase Explosion, and instead replaces it with a forward facing Geistwave, which makes afflicted targets take +30% more damage received.
This allows Vex to simply pop her Action Skill while facing a Badass or Boss, and all the damage you deal towards the target will be increased by 30% for the next 15 seconds.
Heartpiercer
|
||
| Tree |
Vexcalation
(Branch 3) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Effect | ||
| Eldritch Blast now Sacrifices Health on use, but becomes a Piercing wave. Enemies hit take Damage, and Allies hit restore Health. Gain Bonus Damage and Healing based on Sacrificed Health. Eldritch Blast no longer has a Cooldown. | ||
For this build, Heartpiercer is the only Capstone you will unlock, but it offers no functional buffs for your intended gameplay.
You can still take this capstone and use Eldritch Blast when you need more healing, but it would be more ideal for this build to instead go for Critical Hits with Kinetic Weapons to quickly recover HP through your Lifesteal.
| Jump to a Section! | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapons | Repkit | Ordnance | |||
| Class Mod | Shield | Enhancement | |||
| Firmware | |||||
| Legendary | Gun Overview |
|---|---|
Hot Slugger
|
Type: Shotgun Manufacturer: Jakobs Blazing Barrel: On kill, deal +30% Damage for 10s for a Maximum 3 Stacks |
| Borstel Ballista |
Type: Sniper Rifle Manufacturer: Jakobs [Alt-Fire] Shotgun: Fires a Shotgun that deals damage per shot |
These Legendary Jakobs Weapons have the best damage potential when using this build.
Both the Hot Slugger and the Borstel Ballista have high single shot damage, with the only condition you need to satisfy is to aim for weak spots to guarantee a crit.
Jakobs weapons are known for their high Kinetic damage, which makes it perfect for this build.
Jakobs weapons also have augments and modifiers for Critical Hits, allowing it to synergize well with this build, regardless of what gun parts you have on your Jakobs weapons.
Since this build relies on Bleed and Kinetic Damage, you can use any Kinetic Gun and it will synergize well with this build.
As much as possible, avoid elemental weapons, as these will not synergize well with your Skill loadout.
| Repkit | Unique Trait |
|---|---|
AF1000 |
Time Dilation: The Repkit's Duration is increased by +100% and its Cooldown Duration is decreased by -50%. |
The AF1000 is the best Repkit that Vex can use thanks to its Increased Duration and Reduced Cooldown.
Using an AF1000 with a Leech Augment is the absolute best repkit for this build, since you gain increased damage based on your current Lifesteal, allowing you to deal even more damage, and recover more HP while in combat.
| Ordnance | Type and Overview |
|---|---|
| Skully |
Grenade Ordnance Accursed: Fires out projectiles as it homes in on the nearest target. |
The Skully which can be obtained from the Horrors of Kairos Seasonal Event is the best Ordnance to use alongside the Bleed Vex build.
Skully's Homing Properties pairs well with the tracking ricochet of Hot Slugger, and the homing projectiles of Firewerks, making the build extremely useful in clearing mobs.
Teen Witch amplifies the Lifesteal Buffs you gain from Blood is Power, and Gun Damage from Conjunction.
This also massively boosts Vex' survivability, granting you Overshield when you deal damage while both your HP and Shield are full.
| Shield | Type and Overview |
|---|---|
| Firewerks |
Armor Shield Bundled: On kill, spawns Missiles that home in on nearby enemies and deal damage each Kinetic Element Recommended |
Firewerks is the best offensive shield option for the Bleed Vex Build, due to its Bundled augment, which spawns missiles upon killing an enemy.
When used alongside Jakobs weaponry, you can randomly get kills when dealing critical hits, since Jakobs weapons usually have the augment that ricochets critical hits, which will then enable your Missiles, resulting in additional DPS.
| Enhancement | Effects |
|---|---|
| Jakobs |
・Bounce Pass - Guns with Jakobs-licensed parts increase the number of possible Ricochets by 1. ・Sequencer - Guns with Jakobs-licensed parts grant consecutive Critical Hits a stacking +5% Bonus Damage, for a Maximum of 8 Stacks. |
Equipping a Jakobs enhancement with either Bounce Pass or Sequencer greatly improves your DPS when using this build.
Bounce Pass allows your Critical Hits to bounce to more targets, further enabling Firewerks missiles, while Sequencer increases your overall damage, allowing you to deal more damage with your gun and bleed.
| Firmware | Set Bonuses | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deadeye | Gun Accuracy is increased by 30% | Gun Critical Hit Damage is increased by 25% | Every Critical Hit grants 15% Critical Damage per Stack (5 max stacks) for 10s | ||||||||
| Trickshot | Gun Reload Speed is increased by 5% | Gun Critical Hit Damage is increased by 10% | |||||||||
The Deadeye Firmware is the best Firmware for Bleed Vex as it buffs Critical Damage, which your Bleed benefits from. The Gun accuracy and Gun Critical Hit damage buffs also improve your damage, which subsequently also buffs your lifesteal.
Taking 2 pieces of Trickshot equipment also allows you to improve your Gun Reload Speed and Critical Hit Damage, allowing you to improve your DPS further.
| Specialization | Effect |
|---|---|
In The Zone
|
While Aiming, the Vault Hunter gains increased Gun Damage and Critical Hit Damage per second. Bonuses are lost after 2 seconds of not Aiming. |
Riddle You This
|
Whenever the Vault Hunter deals Gun Damage, gain a Stack of Riddle You This, increasing Gun Damage.;Stacks are lost if a new Stack has not been gained for a Duration. |
Contamination
|
Critical Hits grant increased Status Effect Application Chance. |
The Best Defense
|
The Vault Hunter gains increased Damage Dealt based on the fullness of their Shield or Health, whichever has higher Maximum Capacity. |
We recommend taking the following Specializations, specifically investing 10 Points each in Brute and Sharpshooter to unlock Killer as soon as possible. Killer buffs your overall gun and bleed damage, while Contamination further increases the chance for bleed to reapply itself.
The Best Defense synergizes well with this build's lifesteal abilities, but should be a lower priority. Investing more points into Killer would be ideal, since this impacts your Bleed DPS greatly.
Due to the extremely high damage this build can output, this build is viable for all end-game content, including Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode.
Even without the Vampiric Vivisecting Throwing Knife, this build will still be viable due to its high DPS and Survivability, but the rate at which it can clear bosses will be significantly slower.
What is Ultimate Vault Hunter?
Since this build relies on Vex' Bleed mechanic, it is extremely important to land critical hits as much as possible.
With the Vampiric Vivisecting Throwing Knife, your Bleed will also Critically hit, allowing for rapidly stacking damage to even bosses, like shown in the clip above.

Best Builds for Each Vault Hunter
| Character | Build |
|---|---|
Vex |
|
Rafa |
|
Amon |
|
Harlowe |
should i spend into the brute specializtion?
Lifesteal Incarnate Bleed Vex Build



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I went brute after 20 in killer