Borderlands 4 has more skills per character than Borderlands 3 and 2 combined

Gearbox Software recently released the official story trailer for Borderlands 4, and now the CEO of the development studio, Randy Pitchford, has teased how in-depth the character classes are in the upcoming game.

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Speaking at Borderlands Fan Fest, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and chief creative officer Randy Varnell discussed what players can expect out of building their characters up in Borderlands 4, with Pitchford saying that character classes are so in-depth that even if four players took the same characters and action skill into a fight they would find they have enough variation in their skill set that they'd be able to take on different roles in the fight. More specifically, Pitchford said, "You'll find more skills per character than in Borderlands 3 and 2 added together."

Borderlands 2 characters each had three skill trees with 10 skills in each tree, with Borderlands 3 upping that to 4 skill trees per character and 18 to 20 skills in each tree. Adding those together, players get an intense amount of possible variation between skills, enabling players to explore specific builds with their character to see what works best with their playstyle. The problem Borderlands 4 will need to make sure they have overcome with extensive skill options is making each of those skills feel not only unique, but also useful.

There is no point in having a large quantity of skills to choose from if the majority of them aren't useful. This is usually followed by a small number of extremely obvious skills that are no-brainers to take. So, hopefully, Gearbox has balanced the skills so there aren't clear winners and losers.