What’s the best Borderlands 4 Rafa build? After almost being extinguished by his own exo-suit, Rafa’s eyeing a carefree life. But, of course, a soldier is never entirely off-duty, and Borderlands 4’s commando class is always battle-ready.
The former Tediore man is incredibly adept at combat regardless of range. Between his particularly pointy Arc-Knives, his made-for-midrange Peacebreaker Cannons, or his Swiss cheese-making APOPHIS Lance, Rafa always packs the right tool for any occasion – our Borderlands 4 legendary weapons guide offers up further destructive inspiration. Below you’ll find everything you need to know about Rafa in Borderlands 4, including his full skill tree, background, action skills, capstones, and more.
Best Borderlands 4 Rafa build
The best Borderlands 4 Rafa build will have you utilize his particular set of skills to the max. Rafa’s always-on trait, Overdrive, buffs your movespeed and damage from all sources as long as your action skill’s on cooldown. As such, regardless of which skill tree you head down, you should prioritize reducing the cooldowns of his action skills to ensure maximum Overdrive uptime.
Similarly to Vex – one of the other four Borderlands 4 characters – Rafa is one of the easier characters to pick up and play, providing ranged and melee action skills to cover all playstyles. This also impacts your build priorities. For example, getting up close and personal with Arc-Knives opens you up to taking more damage, necessitating some form of sustain as early as you can get it.
Borderlands 4 Rafa action skills
We’ve already introduced the names of Rafa’s action skills, and below you can find exactly what they do. You’ll have to quickly decide your favorite, though, as only one can be equipped at a time. They’re interchangeable, but you won’t get the benefits from skill trees for other action skills you’ve already invested in.
Here’s a breakdown of Rafa’s three action skills:
- APOPHIS Lance: Rafa equips his APOPHIS Lance, which is an offhand arm cannon that trades off some of his gun handling for the ability to fire piercing shock ordnance blasts. Pressing the action skill button fires a blast, consuming a charge. Holding it uses up all charges to fire a charged blast with increased damage, projectile size, and projectile speed. Unused charges are converted back into action skill cooldown when APOPHIS Lance ends.
- Peacebreaker Cannons: Rafa equips his Peacebreaker Cannons, which deal kinetic gun damage to enemies in front of him for the skill’s duration. Ending Peacebreaker Cannons early partially refunds the action skill cooldown.
- Arc-Knives: Rafa brings his giant knives to the gunfight, equipping his Arc-Knives. These deal melee damage and mark enemies struck by them. These marks stack with each hit, causing foes to take progressively more damage. While using Arc-Knives, Rafa shifts to a third-person perspective and can perform the following actions:
- Use melee attacks.
- Dash forward and use a shock melee attack.
- Use Blade Fury, dealing shock damage to all marked enemies while ending the skill.
Borderlands 4 Rafa skill tree
Each action skill has its own skill tree, providing powerful upgrades to your Vault Hunter. Once 15 skill points have been invested into a tree, you’ll gain access to three extra branches, each ending with a powerful ability called a capstone that transforms what your action skill does. Only one capstone can be equipped at a time.
Throughout each skill tree, you’ll also find 15 augments. These enhance your action skills with a secondary bonus, but, like action skills and capstones, you can’t lock in more than one simultaneously.
APOPHIS Lance
The APOPHIS Lance skill tree offers two clear themes. Firstly, you can opt to increase Rafa’s Overdrive uptime through reload speed-related nodes, then amp the damage with further passives. Alternatively, you can go all-out on bolstering the firepower and reducing the downtime on his ordnance.
- Branch 1 capstone – Project Raiju: APOPHIS Lance morphs into a close-range Shocking Taser that deals shock damage in a forward arc when the skill button is held. Taser damage ramps up the longer the skill button is held.
- Branch 2 capstone – Project Basilisk: APOPHIS Lance now fires a corrosive blob, leaving a corrosive hazard and splitting into several smaller blobs when it detonates. Consuming more lance charges makes the blob split more.
- Branch 3 capstone – Project Gorgon: APOPHIS Lance becomes a laser that beams through enemies, dealing incendiary damage. The laser deals increased damage and chains to more enemies when the action skill button is held, consuming more charges in the process.
You’ll also have five augments to choose from in the Rafa APOPHIS Lance tree. They are:
- Sangre por Sangre: Whenever Rafa consumes an APOPHIS Lance charge, he gains increased action skill cooldown rate. This bonus is increased for every APOPHIS Lance charge consumed.
- Battery Subscription Service: APOPHIS Lance gains an additional charge. Additionally, whenever Rafa’s APOPHIS Lance consumes four or more charges in a single blast, he gains increased skill damage for a duration.
- Branch 1 – Ojo Rojo: APOPHIS Lance gains critical hit chance. Whenever Rafa damages an enemy with APOPHIS Lance, he gains a further increased critical hit chance.
- Branch 2 – Gibistruct Module: Whenever Rafa kills an enemy with his APOPHIS Lance, spawn a free grenade on that enemy. If Rafa has a grenade equipped, spawn a copy of that grenade instead.
- Branch 3 – Engorged Bore: APOPHIS Lance gains increased projectile radius and projectile speed. PROJECT: Gorgon gains increased Number of Chains.
Peacebreaker Cannons
The Peacebreaker Cannons tree concerns itself more with keeping Rafa’s shields topped up, reducing his damage taken, and amping his own DPS based on how full his shields are. The best offense is a great defense, after all.
- Branch 1 capstone – Double-ought Autoshot: Peacebreaker Cannons are replaced with shotguns that sport a higher pellet count and increased damage. Rafa’s turrets now have a chance to ricochet shots off of targets, dealing reduced damage to subsequent targets hit. Critical hits always ricochet.
- Branch 2 capstone – Beam Team: Peacebreaker Cannons are replaced with two beams: one shock, and one corrosive. Beams automatically lock onto enemies in vision and may lock onto different targets. Action skill damage increases whenever Rafa applies a status effect.
- Branch 3 capstone – Volatile Hollowpoints: Peacebreaker Cannons are replaced with splash damage-dealing rockets.
The five augments you can choose in this tree are:
- Instinto: Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons gain increased critical hit chance. Pressing left bumper on controller or F on keyboard while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes them to gain critical hit chance and critical hit damage, while also causing his Action Skill duration to drain faster. Killing an enemy causes Rafa to restore action skill duration, while also causing his action skill duration to drain faster.
- Bullet-Buddy Deluxe: While Peacebreaker Cannons are active, Rafa and his allies regenerate ammo into their magazine. Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons deal bonus incendiary damage based on how full his gun is, and his turrets shoot exploding bullets while his magazine is full. Pressing left bumper or F on keyboard while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes Rafa’s shots to consume no ammo, but causes his action skill duration to drain faster.
- Branch 1 – Hell in a Shell: Pressing left bumper on controller or F on keyboard while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes them to fire two Firebombs that deal incendiary damage in a large area. Killing enemies partially restores this skill’s cooldown.
- Branch 2 – Insta-Fort Battle System: Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons also deal Ordnance damage, and he deals increased Ordnance damage while Peacebreaker Cannons are active. Pressing left bumper on controller or F on keyboard while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes them to disconnect from Rafa and become a turret companion that begins firing at enemies in place. Additionally, it will occasionally fire grenades at its targets. If Rafa has a grenade equipped, it copies that grenade. Pressing the left bumper or F again returns the turret companion to Rafa’s back.
- Branch 3 – Unmissable Missiles: Pressing left bumper on controller or F on keyboard while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes them to fire a volley of homing missiles at enemies in view, at the cost of action skill duration.
Arc-Knives
The Arc-Knives tree focuses on keeping Rafa on the move, juicing up both his gun and melee damage, and the cycle of losing (or sacrificing) and replenishing health. Gotta go fast.
- Branch 1 capstone – Huracán Especial: Upon activation, Blade Fury makes Rafa spin his blades, creating a singularity that draws in enemies, dealing continuous shock damage. Whenever an enemy is killed by this attack, Overdrive grants increased action skill cooldown rate.
- Branch 2 capstone – Inferno Protocol: Rafa’s exo-suit stores all damage dealt to him while Arc-Knives are active. The suit heats up, constantly dealing small quantities of incendiary damage to him. In return, Rafa’s melee attacks deal bonus incendiary damage, and marked enemies take a portion of all damage dealt to Rafa. Using Blade Fury consumes all stored damage, dealing bonus incendiary damage based on how much is stored. Rafa heals for a portion of the damage dealt this way.
- Branch 3 capstone – Galvanic Panic: Fires an Acid STRM Glider at an enemy in Rafa’s view when he performs a melee attack while Arc-Knives are active. This glider’s deal corrosive splash damage based on how many enemies are marked. Killing an enemy while Arc-Knives are active restores action skill duration. Activating Blade Fury fires a volley of gliders in front of him, ending Arc-Knives.
Below are all of the augments you can choose in Rafa’s Arc-Knives tree:
- Altered Cabron: Whenever Rafa kills an enemy while Arc-Knives are active, restore a portion of his health. Whenever Rafa gains health, deal bonus corrosive damage with all attacks, and gain increased movement speed. This effect stacks.
- Dead Man Walking: Arc-Knives do not end when their duration runs out. Instead, they only end if Rafa enters Fight For Your Life or activates Blade Fury. While Arc-Knives’ duration is depleted, Rafa loses health instead. Whenever Rafa damages an enemy, he gains Overshield.
- Branch 1 – Thundercutter: Attacks made with Arc-Knives deal shock melee splash damage, and gain increased radius. Rafa gains increased splash damage.
- Branch 2 – Parting Gift: Whenever Rafa activates his dash attack, he leaves behind a grenade. If he has a grenade equipped, use that grenade instead. Enemies damaged by these grenades become marked. Whenever Rafa applies a mark to an enemy, apply an additional mark.
- Branch 3 – Acid Drop: Arc-Knives’ Dash attack is replaced by Caustic Leap. Pressing the left trigger on controller or right-clicking on the mouse causes Rafa to leap forward and create a Caustic Hazard wherever he lands. Whenever a mark is removed from an enemy, it explodes in a Corrosive Nova.
That’s all the information you’ll need for making the best Borderlands 4 Rafa build. Before you go, check out the Borderlands 4 system requirements, as well as the best Amon build if you want to switch characters.