Borderlands 3 has introduced players to a whole array of new faces. With every addition to the series, players get a chance to play as either new characters or NPCs from previous renditions of the game. This also means that players will have to get accustomed to playing a new character with new abilities and quirks.
Luckily, getting the hang of a new character in the game isn’t too difficult. Players familiar with the series will find comfort in some of the play styles (and personalities) of each of the new playable characters.
Read our full Borderlands 3 review
Moze is one badass woman who drives a badass mech and is a perfect fit for players who want to make everything around them go boom. Moze’s mech, Iron Bear, allows her to deal massive amounts of damage to groups of enemies without dying or having to reload.
For players who are completely new to the franchise, playing as Moze may be the best bet. Because of her mech and way of playing, she can play as a tank with massive firepower. Her play style can be described as overtly offensive — she can push through large groups with her Iron Bear suit and shoot down enemies like there is no tomorrow.
Her skill trees reflect how players may want to play Moze and Iron Bear. The Demolition Woman skill tree focuses on Moze’s ability to attack groups. For players who want to have a wider attack range, using this skill tree will allow for the most enemies to receive the most damage. The Shield of Retribution places Moze as more of a tank character, where absorbing damage is not a big deal. It also helps in giving bonus Fire Damage or additional shield protection to teammates. Lastly, there is the Bottomless Mags skill set, which is all about inflicting damage. This skill tree lets Moze fire shots rapidly, making her an unrelenting force in bigger battles.
The sneakiest character in the whole operation, Zane brings a bit of flair to Borderlands 3. He doesn’t get along with anyone, except his own hologram, and is well known across the Borderlands as being a thorough, albeit jaded, tech expert with his own agenda.
Although Zane is good for most new players, he may be a little more tricky to use than Moze. Zane is a great sniper and awesome for capping distant enemies, but he’s not as flexible in his abilities as Moze. He also has the ability to equip and use two Action Skills at once, but doing this will sacrifice his ability to use grenades.
Zane’s first skill tree that players can pick from is Hitman, which allows for Zane to send an automated SNTL drone into battle. This drone will continuously fire and even allows Zane to have a little control over who the drone is attacking. Double Agent allows Zane to spawn a Digi-Clone of himself. This clone stays in place but distracts the enemy, which will focus fire on the hologram Zane. Under Cover allows Zane to deploy a barrier that blocks incoming projectiles and fire. Zane and his allies will be able to shoot through Zane’s barrier, but no attacks can pass through toward allies. Additionally, Zane is able to pick up, hold, and move the barrier, which gives added control over who and where Zane is protecting.
Amara follows the steps of previous sirens but adds a little bit of a twist to her abilities. Previous sirens focused on healing and helping, but Amara is straight up looking to fight someone. Her love of fame and fortune is outweighed by her want to take out enemies and show off her fighting prowess.
Players are able to build Amara’s character with either a focus on powerful attacks or based on support. Because of Amara’s diverse background, players who love brawlers and support characters would be perfectly suited for her role.
Her skill trees reflect her love of fighting. Her skill sets, Brawl, Fist of the Element, and Mystical Assault, highlight Amara’s abilities as a fighter and defender of the people. The Brawl tree focuses on, of course, brawling. It gives players passive buffs, which will allow Amara to have an advantage in face-to-face fights. The Fist of the Element allows for Amara to lock enemies into place with a giant fist. Similar to Maya’s Phaselock, enemies become easy targets for the team to open fire on. In contrast to both of these, Mystical Assault is more passive. It gives boosts to accuracy, critical hits, and reload times. This skill tree ensures that whatever enemy Amara is facing will be dealt a lot of damage.
Just when you think robots don’t have enemies, FL4k enters the fray. FL4k is a robot wanderer who has control over animals, namely getting help from a pet. He uses a mixture of animal attacks and his ability to become temporarily invisible to get the edge on any enemy.
A lot of FL4K’s ability works to benefit snipers and support-type characters. FL4K and his pet work together by providing buffs to one another or by FL4K directing the pet on who to kill. Because of his very specialized way of fighting, FL4K is best suited for expert or veteran Borderlands players.
FL4K’s skill trees focus on the three major components to how FL4K is generally played. The Stalker tree allows FL4K to tighten up his stealth, ensuring enemies have no idea that he is approaching. Players can also benefit from increased speed and regeneration when using Faded Away. The Hunter skill tree focuses more on Critical Hit damage. A lot of FL4K’s upgrades will focus on reducing ammo cost, reload time, and Action Skill cooldown rates. If players want to play FL4K as the Beastmaster he truly is, selecting the Master skill tree is the best bet. This skill tree will give players the ability to summon hound-like horned Skags, which can be sicced onto foes.
Although this is more an aesthetic note, it’s also nice that, with FL4K, players will be able to select which pet with each of the three skill trees is used. Each pet will have its own passive abilities that will benefit the player differently. With the Stalker skill tree, the Jabber will be holding a pistol, which will later upgrade to a shotgun. For the Hunter skill tree, the pet will be a Spiderant that will charge at enemies. With the Master skill tree, the pet will be a Guard Skag. Their upgrades and perks will each be different, so it is something to keep in mind when building FL4K’s skill tree.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.