Saying Borderlands 4's Rafa is the most similar Vault Hunter to the traditional soldier archetype we've seen before is true, but it's also a massive disservice to the ex-Tediore trooper. The best Rafa builds in Borderlands 4 range from the typical turret playstyle all the way to the other end of the spectrum as a lightning-fast melee-only assassin.
No matter what type of build you're looking for, Rafa can do it all; I'd say he's the most diverse Vault Hunter of the bunch. Below, I'll go over three different Rafa builds at max level, covering the skills, augments, capstones, and gear to pick up for them.
Best Rafa builds in Borderlands 4
Rafa's three skill trees are arguably the most distinct from each other than any other Vault Hunter in BL4, as each one specialises in something completely different:
- Remote Agent: Rafa's most gun-focused skill tree, with tons of buffs to your DPS (many of which also improve your shoulder-mounted Peacebreaker Cannons). There's a branch specifically for indirect projectiles, which is great for Tediore and Jakobs weapons (or weapon parts). There's also a major emphasis on Overdrive bonuses.
- This Year's Gimmick: Almost entirely designed for melee, which shouldn't be all that surprising considering it's the home of the Arc-Knives action skill. There are two main paths you can take this down: either a hybrid build with guns and ordnance mixed in with your action skill, or a very unique build where you're permanently running around with your blades out.
- People Person: While this is another gun-based tree, it differs from Remote Agent quite a bit, with more of a focus on infinite ammo and elemental damage. This tree is especially good for burst damage with fast Apophis Lance action skill cooldown.
Rafa's trait is Overdrive: Whenever you activate an action skill, enter a state of the same name which increases the damage dealt from all sources and boosts movement speed. While an action skill is active, Overdrive's duration doesn't decrease.
Now onto the best builds for Rafa, starting with his most consistently strong setup, Remote Agent/Peacebreaker. I've listed the skills, augments, and captones in the order you'll want to pick them up, though remember that you can always respec if you'd like to tweak things while levelling.
Rafa build: Critochet
- Primary skill tree: Remote Agent
- Action skill: Peacebreaker Cannons
- Favoured element: Incendiary
Is it a little bland compared to Arc-Knives? Yes. Is it very easy to get tasty returns? Also yes. Rafa's Peacebreaker Cannons are the most fire-and-forget action skill of the bunch, literally just switching on some cannons on your shoulders. However, it's perfect for a critical hit ricochet build that's a ton of fun.
Naturally, it's a very gun-focused build, so we'll be maxing out perks like Sitiar for additional gun damage and Deft Hands to boost the fire rate of both Rafa and his turrets. Likewise, to the benefit of both damage and survivability, I recommend a few points in Shield Barriest, CYA, Field Repairs, and El Valiente, which all combine to help you deal bonus damage based on your overshield.
The next part of this build is boosting critical hits. The Instinto augment allows your Peacebreaker Cannons to crit, while Juerga restores action skill duration whenever Rafa (not your turrets) gets a critical hit. So, pair this with gear that has boosts to critical hit chance to make the most of it.
For the final branch, specialise in indirect projectiles. These are basically anything not shot from your gun, so action skill weapons, thrown weapons (including Tediore), and ricochets. This branch causes all of these to deal increased damage and bonus fire damage, gain lifesteal, and cause them to ricochet between targets, which is a pretty hefty DPS gain without any extra effort. Plus, it'll work well against normal enemies and bosses alike.
Since Rafa's Overdrive is such a strong trait, I recommend picking up Everdrive to increase its duration, Temerario to further increase gun damage (scaling based on how long it's been active), and Soltado to double all of these Overdrive bonuses. Plus, you can also get Las Jaras and The Thrill from the top of the People Person skill tree for regenerating ammo and increased fire rate, which will also benefit from Soltato.
Here's where you should spend your skill points:
Skill Name | Point Investment | Description |
|---|---|---|
Peacebreaker Cannons (Action skill) | NA | Equip Rafa's Peacebreaker Cannons, which automatically fire at enemies in your crosshairs, dealing kinetic gun damage. If that enemy dies, they will find a new target. Holding the activation button ends Peacebreaker Cannons, and refunds a portion of the remaining action skill duration as cooldown. |
Sitiar | 5/5 | Rafa gains increased gun damage. |
Deft Hands | 5/5 | Rafa and his Peacebreaker Cannons gain increased fire rate. |
Instinto (Augment) | NA | Rafa's Peacebreaker Cannons gain increased critical hit chance. Pressing the activation button while Peacebreaker Cannons are active causes them to double their critical hit chance and gain increased critical hit damage, while also causing his action skill duration to drain faster. Kill Skill: Regain action skill duration, while also causing his action skill duration to drain faster. |
Juerga | 5/5 | Whenever Rafa critically hits an enemy, action skill duration is restored. |
Shield Barriest | 1/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased shield recharge rate and improved shield regen delay while Overdrive is active. |
CYA | 1/5 | Kill Skill: Killing an enemy restores shields based on Rafa's maximum health capacity. |
Field Repairs | 1/5 | Whenever Rafa activates an action skill, restore a portion of his maximum shield capacity. If his shields are already full, gain overshield instead. |
El Valiente | 3/3 | Rafa deals increased damage from all sources. The fuller Rafa's shields are, the greater the bonus. While Rafa's shields are full, double the bonus. |
Resiliencia | 1/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased damage reduction while Overdrive is active. |
Asymmetric Warfare | 5/5 | Indirect projectiles gain increased damage. Indirect projectiles include all your action skill weapons, thrown weapons, and projectiles not fired from your gun. |
Errant Spark | 5/5 | All indirect projectiles deal bonus fire damage. If the indirect projectile already deals fire damage, double the bonus damage. |
Ardid | 1/5 | Rafa's indirect projectiles gain life steal. |
Lateral Plinking | 1/1 | Rafa's indirect projectiles gain a chance to ricochet. |
Everdrive | 5/5 | Overdrive gains increased duration. |
Temerario | 4/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased gun damage but decreased weapon handling. This bonus is based on how long Overdrive has been active. |
Devil-May-Care | 1/5 | Overdrive Skill: While Overdrive is active, Rafa gains increased movement speed and gains health regeneration. While it's not active, Rafa takes increased damage but gains increased action skill cooldown rate. |
Soltado | 1/1 | Kill Skill: Double all Overdrive bonuses. |
Las Jaras (Apophis Lance tree) | 2/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa regenerates ammo while Overdrive is active. |
The Thrill (Apophis Lance tree) | 2/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased fire rate. Gain further increased fire rate while Overdrive is active. |
Rafa build: Arcstrider
- Primary skill tree: This Year's Gimmick
- Action skill: Arc-Knives
Rafa's This Year's Gimmick skill tree lends itself to one of the most unique builds in the game: a 100% Arc-Knives build. While restricting yourself to melee damage won't be ideal in all situations, like bosses that fly or turn the arena into a game of 'the floor is lava', it's very good at what it does.
The build is focused almost entirely around the Dead Man Walking augment, which makes it so the Arc-Knives action skill no longer runs out. It will only end if you manually end it using Blade Fury (or die). Naturally, this pairs incredibly well with Midnight Oil, El Borracho, and Cruel Accrual, which all increase your damage based on how long your action skill has been active.
Of course, you'll need a way to counter the health sacrifices of Dead Man Walking and, later, the Inferno Protocol capstone, which deals constant fire damage to you in return for imbuing your Arc-Knives with fire damage. Dead Man Walking will give you an overshield when you attack enemies already, but Dial In, Saldar, and Sustainable Energy also help to keep you on your feet.
The last element of this build is actually ordnance damage. Since you'll be up in the enemy's grill, Booming Business's ability to drop grenades at your feet goes a long way. Plus, it also plays into Sinergia to further increase your melee damage.
Here's where you should spend your skill points:
Skill Name | Point Investment | Description |
|---|---|---|
Arc-Knives (Action Skill) | NA | Rafa equips his Arc-Knives, which deal melee damage and mark enemies whenever you damage them, causing them to take increased damage for every mark applied. M1: Perform basic melee attacks. M2: Dash forward and perform a shock melee attack. F: Unleash Rafa's Blade Fury, which deals shock damage to all marked enemies and ends the skill. |
Handshake Deal | 5/5 | Rafa gains increased gun and melee damage. |
Dead Man Walking (Augment) | NA | Arc-Knives does not end when its duration runs out. Instead, it only ends if Rafa enters Fight For Your Life or activates Blade Fury. While Arc-Knives's duration is depleted, Rafa loses health instead. Whenever Rafa damages an enemy, he gains overshield. |
Midnight Oil | 5/5 | Rafa's Action Skills deal bonus corrosive damage. The longer the skill has been active, the greater the bonus damage. |
Dial In | 5/5 | Whenever Rafa damages an enemy with a melee attack, his melee attacks gain critical hit chance. This chance stacks, and all stacks are removed whenever Rafa critically hits an enemy. |
Saldar | 5/5 | Rafa's melee critical hits gain lifesteal. |
El Borracho | 5/5 | Rafa deals increased corrosive damage while his Action Skill is active. The longer it has been active, the greater the bonus. |
Sustainable Energy | 5/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains health regeneration based on how much Overdrive time is remaining. |
Galvanic Panic (Capstone - Replace Later) | NA | Whenever Rafa performs a melee attack while Arc-Knives is active, fire an Acid STRM Glider at an enemy in his view. These deal corrosive splash damage based on the number of total marked enemies. Additionally, killing an enemy while Arc-Knives is active restores Action Skill duration. Activating Blade Fury causes Rafa to fire a volley of Acid STRM Gliders in front of him and ends Arc-Knives. |
Cruel Accrual | 5/5 | Rafa gains increased skill damage with all skills. The longer his Action Skill has been active, the greater the bonus. |
Collaborate Ignition | 5/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa deals bonus damage with his weapon's element with all skills and ordnances while Overdrive is active. |
Booming Business | 5/5 | Whenever Rafa critically hits an enemy, he gains a chance to spawn a free grenade. If Rafa has a grenade equipped, spawn a grenade based on that. |
Inferno Protocol (Capstone - Replaces Galvanic Panic) | NA | While Arc-Knives are active, Rafa's exo-suit stores all damage dealt to him. It then heats up and constantly does a small amount of fire damage to him. Additionally, Rafa's melee attacks deal bonus fire damage. A portion of all damage dealt to Rafa is also dealt to enemies you've marked. Using Blade Fury causes Rafa to consume all stored damage, and deals bonus fire damage based on stored damage. A portion of this damage dealt is returned to Rafa as health. |
Sinergia | 1/3 | Whenever Rafa deals ordnance damage, he also gains increased gun and melee damage. |
El Diablito | 1/5 | A portion of all fire damage Rafa deals also deals bonus fire ordnance damage. |
Blowout | 2/5 | Whenever Rafa applies a heavy arms mark or critically hits an enemy with his action skill, they explode in corrosive lobbed projectiles. The longer Rafa's action skill has been active, the more corrosive projectiles are spawned. |
Rafa build: Gunzerker
- Primary skill tree: People Person
- Action skill: Apophis Lance
Do you yearn for the days of Salvador's Gunzerking in Borderlands 2? If so, then this is the build for you, letting you effectively dual-wield for incredible damage potential without a reliance on Kill Skills.
The first half of this tree is all about buffing your own weapon power, such as The Thrill, which significantly increases your rate of fire, Las Jaras to regenerate ammo, and Rinse to reload weapons faster when you inevitably run out. Later on, you can pick up similar skills like Deadline and Sitiar to further amp up your gun damage. Of course, many of these perks are Overdrive Skills, so Jaque later on in the tree can enhance these already strong effects after dealing damage with Apophos Lance.
Naturally, then, the goal is to have Apophis Lance as active as possible. The Battery Subscription Service augment gives it an extra charge, which effectively increases its overall damage, and the Project: Gorgon capstone turns the weapon into a laser beam. Meanwhile, Prepardo recharges your action skill when you reload (which you'll be doing often with all the fire rate boosts), and Mate converts Jaque stacks into cooldown rate when Overdrive ends.
The cherry on top, though, is Per My Last, which has a chance to repeat any action skill damage, completely free of charge. What's not to love about getting a two-for-one deal on your action skill?
Here's where you should spend your skill points:
Skill Name | Point Investment | Description |
|---|---|---|
Apophis Lance (Action Skill) | NA | Equip Rafa's Apophis Lance, an offhand cannon that decreases gun handling but allows him to fire piercing shock ordnance blasts. Any unused charges when this skill ends are converted into action skill cooldown. Press the alternate fire to shoot a piercing shock ordnance blast and consume a charge, or hold alternate fire to charge the skill for increased damage, projectile size, and projectile speed, at the cost of more charges. |
The Thrill | 5/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased fire rate. Gain further increased fire rate while Overdrive is active. |
Rinse | 5/5 | Rafa gains increased reload speed. |
Battery Subscription Service (Augment) | NA | Apophis Lance gains an additional charge. Additionally, whenever Rafa consumes four or more charges, gain increased action skill potency. |
Preparado | 1/5 | Whenever Rafa reloads his current gun, he gains increased action skill cooldown rate. This effect stacks. |
Las Jaras | 2/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa regenerates ammo while Overdrive is active. |
Arriba | 2/5 | Kill Skill: Whenever Rafa kills an enemy, he gains increased ordnance cooldown rate. |
Jaque | 5/5 | Whenever Rafa damages an enemy with a skill, he gains a stack of Jaque. For every stack of Jaque, he gains increased Overdrive bonuses. When Overdrive ends, lose all stacks. |
Mate | 2/5 | When Overdrive ends, convert all Jaque stacks into Mate stacks, gaining increased action skill cooldown rate for every stack of Mate. Once Rafa's action skill is readied, lose all stacks of Mate. |
La Garza | 2/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased weapon handling with weapons and action skills while Overdrive is active. |
Deadline | 5/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased fire rate and reload speed while Overdrive is active. |
Project: Gorgon (Capstone) | NA | Apophis Lance's weapon is replaced with an incendiary laser that pierces enemies. Pressing and holding the alternate attack button causes the laser to deal increased damage and chain to more enemies as it consumes charges. |
Per My Last | 5/5 | Whenever Rafa deals damage with an action skill, he gains a chance to deal that damage again. |
El Soldado | 2/5 | Overdrive Skill: Rafa gains increased gun damage while Overdrive is active. This bonus is doubled while you're charging Apophis Lance. |
Sitiar (Remote Agent tree) | 5/5 | Rafa gains increased gun damage. |
Deft Hands (Remote Agent tree) | 5/5 | Rafa and his Peacebreaker Cannons gain increased fire rate. |
Maestro (Remote Agent tree) | 3/3 | Rafa gains increased skill damage. |
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