Harlowe is a lot of fun to use, and while she has an incredible one-shot build with CHROMA Accelerator, there’s a great build in the Flux Generator green skill tree that’s worth using. With the right skills and weapons, Harlowe’s never going to run out of ammo, and she’s never going to stop getting those Critical Hits. We’ve provided what we deem to be the best Flux Generator build for Harlowe in Borderlands 4, so check out the build below and give it a test run in your own battles of Kairos to see how it fairs!
This build will not use the Crit Knife meta from the Penetrator Augment Throwing Knife.
Best Skills for Flux Generator Harlowe in Borderlands 4
|
Skill |
Description |
Why It’s Useful |
|---|---|---|
|
Momentum (5/5) |
Whenever Harlowe Entangles an enemy, she and her allies deal increased Critical Hit Damage. |
Entangling enemies with Harlowe’s Action Skill is easy and provides a bonus to Critical Hit Damage. |
|
Neutron Decay (5/5) |
Whenever Harlowe Irradiates an enemy, she gains increased Gun Damage. This effect stacks. |
Radiation weapons and their Status Effect will increase all Gun Damage with a max of +50%. |
|
Creative Overflow (3/3) |
Harlowe deals increased Gun Damage based on her Overshield. The more Overshield she has, the bigger the bonus. |
Up to +36% bonus Gun Damage, which is easily achieved with the skills listed and the Super Soldier Shield. |
|
Resonance Cascade (3/3) |
Whenever Harlowe deals Radiation Damage to an enemy, she gains increased Action Skill Damage. This effect stacks. |
Use Radiation weapons to gain more damage. |
|
Nuclear Winter (Augment) |
Whenever Harlowe and her allies are inside the Flux Generator’s Radius, they deal Bonus Cryo Damage. Whenever Harlowe and her allies leave the Flux Generator’s Radius, they instead deal Bonus Radiation Damage for a Duration. Whenever Harlowe inflcits Cryo or Radiation Status Effects, that enemy becomes Entangled. |
Entangle enemies to increase Critical Hit Damage and chance simply by staying near your Action Skill. |
|
Excited State (5/5) |
Harlowe gains increased Critical Hit Damage. Whenever an enemy is damaged by Harlowe’s Action Skill, the next shot on that enemy will be an Automatic Critical Hit. |
Essentially permanent Automatic Critical Hit by staying near Harlowe’s Action Skill. |
|
Distribution Function (4/5) |
Whenever Harlowe’s Action Skill damages an enemy, restore a portion of her and her Allies Shield Capacity. If their Shields are full, gain Overshield instead. |
Overshield regeneration means more Gun Damage thanks to previous skills acquired. |
|
Accretion (1/5) |
Harlowe and her allies gain Lifesteal against Entangled enemies. |
Entangle an enemy to ensure you constantly have a source of healing outside of Repkits. |
|
Group Study (Capstone) |
Harlowe spawns a HALO Sidekick for each ally instead of her Flux Generator. HALO Sidekicks automatically fly to each ally and hvoer near them, granting increased Gun Damage, Fire Rate, and Reload Speed. Action Skill Retrigger: Overload Harlowe’s HALO Sidekick to increase their effects. This effect stacks. While Overloaded, Harlowe’s Action Skill Duration drains faster. |
This is an essential Capstone, providing Harlowe with the ability to buff herself withe very Action Skill use and retrigger. |
|
Gamma Ray Burst (5/5) |
Whenever Harlowe retriggers her Action Skill, the next shot fired from her Gun drains her Shield and deals Bonus Radiation Damage based on the amount drained. |
Drain your Shield for more damage that’s always going to be more Radiation. |
|
Harlowe’s Certainty Principle (1/5) |
Harlowe gains increased Gun Handling, which is further increased with every enemy in her Flux Generator. |
Not an important skill, but it’s needed as you can invest in Critical Funding, a very important skill. |
|
Critical Funding (5/5) |
Whenever Harlowe Critically Hits an enemy, she gains a chance to Entangle it, and Refills a portion of her Gun’s Magazine. |
Not only will Harlowe be getting easy Critical Hits, but Entangling means more damage, and infinite ammo with this skill, especially for Heavy Weapon Ordnance. |
|
Meltdown (5/5) |
Harlowe’s Critical Hits with Guns deal Bonus Radiation Damage. |
More Radiation Damage means more Damage overall. |
|
Cyclotron (3/5) |
Harlowe gains increased Fire Rate. |
Faster firing weapons is always a treat. |
|
Field-Ready Prototype (2/5) |
Harlowe gains increased Action Skill Damage. |
More damage from the Flux Generator Action Skill abilities. |
|
Elementary (2/5) |
Harlowe gains increased Elemental Damage and Status Effect Damage. |
Helps make Radiation more impactful. |
The way this build works, is that players need to use their Action Skill to remain within the Energy Field provided from it. Inside the Energy Field, Harlowe will have an extreme amount of buffs, and one of them includes a near-guarantee of Critical Hits, which in turn, provides refunded ammo in the magazine, even for Ordnance Weapons. This means that you just have to use your Flux Generator Action Skill, stay within the Energy Field, equip your Rocket Launcher, and spam it for infinite ammo that hits harder with every shot and continues to have Critical Hit damage to wipe out bosses within seconds, even on UVH5. This build is all about increasing Gun Damage, Critical Hit Rate, Fire Rate, and Ordnance-use time to decimate bosses and other foes.
Best Weapons and Gear for Flux Generator Harlowe in Borderlands 4
The most important weapon that makes this build unstoppable is the Rocket Socket Heavy Weapon Ordnance. This Epic rarity Rocket Launcher from Torgue comes has a god roll that comes with Two-Shot (Fires 2 Rockets at a time) and Fire Rate (Fire Rate is increased by +30%) with Radiation. Not only is this the fastest firing Rocket Launcher, but it also fires two rockets for the price of one, which effectivelly doubles damage and doubles the chance to get a Crit Hit along with refunded ammo to ensure infinite ammo. When not using the Heavy Weapon Ordnance, any weapon you’re comfortable with will do, but due to its high Fire Rate, we enjoyed the Luty Madlad from Mimicron in the “Tipping Point” Order Bunker in Idolator’s Noose, Fadefields.
The next important aspect of this build is the Super Soldier Shield, farmed from Vile Lictor at the Umbral Foundry, Windspear, Terminus Range Available after “His Vile Sanctum”. Super Soldier grants Overshield when Energy Shield fills, and increased Fire Rate, Movement Speed, and Ammo regeneration. This is the most important Shield for its incredible buffs that synergise with Harlowe’s skills.
For the Repkit, we went with Shiny War Paint for how it boosts Fire Rate and Movement Speed on use, and this can be obtained from the Meathead Riders at “The Old Scrape” Ripper Drill Site, in Cuspid Climb, Terminus Range. For Harlowe’s Class Mod, use anything that increaes Gun Damage and Action Skill Damage, but we decided to go with the Reactor Legendary Class Mod for how it grants Stacks of Movement Speed, Gun Damage, Fire Rate, Reload Speed, and Status Effect Damage from Entangling enemies with Harlowe’s Action Skill. Reactor is a random drop right now, but it should be dropping from Primordial Guardian Inceptus, located in the Vault found in the Dissected Plataeu of the Fadefields. Lastly is the Enhancement, which doesn’t really matter, but try and find one that increaes Gun Damage.
Best Specializations for Flux Generator Harlowe in Borderlands 4
|
Specialization Perk |
Description |
Points Required |
|---|---|---|
|
Riddle You This |
Whenever the Vault Hunter deals Gun Damage, gain a Stack of Riddle You This, increasing Gun Damage. |
20 in Brute |
|
Full Spectrum Arsenal |
Ordnance Damage now benefits from increases to Gun Damage. |
10 in Gadgeteer (10 in Survivor & Brute) |
|
Fragmentation Payload |
Ordnance gains a chance to Critically Hit enemies, and also gains increased Ordnance Critical Hit Damage. |
20 in Gadgeteer (10 in Survivor & Brute) |
|
I Am A Gun |
Action Skill Damage now benefits from increases to Gun Damage. |
10 in Daredevil (10 in Sharpshooter & Runner |
For Specializations, players are going to need plenty of levels, as it’s a hefty investment for the best skills. However, the first things players should prioritize is 20 points into Brute for Riddle You This to increase Gun Damage simply by dealing Gun Damage up to +50%. After, invest 10 points into Survivor and then pump 20 into Gadgeteer, for Full Spectrum Arsenal and Fragmentation Payload to increase the Damage Dealt by Ordnance Weapons, and the ability to Critically Hit with them. For any points left over, invest 10 in Runner, 10 in Sharpshooter, and 10 in Daredevil for the I Am A Gun skill, but anything else will do for the fourth and final skill.
Best Firmware for Flux Generator Harlowe in Borderlands 4
|
Firmware |
Bonuses |
Slots |
|---|---|---|
|
Deadeye |
Gun Accuracy is increased by +30% Gun Critical Damage is increased by +25% Every Critical Hit grants 15% Critical Damage per Stack (for a Maximum 5 Stacks) for 10s |
3 |
|
Gadget Ahoy |
Ordnance Cooldown Duration is reduced by +15% Ordnance Damage is increased by +20% |
2 |
We decided to pick Deadeye and Gadget Ahoy as the Firmware of choice for Flux Generator. Deadeye is great for the increase to Critical Damage, which is provided with Harlowe’s skills and her Fragmentation Payload Specialization. Pairing that extra damage with Gadget Ahoy’s +20% Ordnance Damage just means even more damage than what there already is, so prepare to kill things far faster, especially bosses.