The Borderlands series is renowned for its co-op gameplay, distinctive art style, humor, and memorable playable characters who often wield advanced tech or psychic powers. Harlowe, one of the new Vault Hunters in Borderlands 4, continues this tradition. Gearbox has now unveiled details about her unique gameplay style.
As a former combat scientist for Maliwan, a prominent weapons manufacturer in the Borderlands universe, Harlowe commands an impressive arsenal of high-tech gadgets. She excels at crowd control, adeptly debuffing or incapacitating adversaries to create tactical advantages for herself and her teammates.
Harlowe`s Core Abilities
One of Harlowe`s signature abilities is the Chroma Accelerator, which launches an unstable energy sphere. This sphere drifts forward, piercing through groups of enemies and inflicting cryo damage. Players can detonate it prematurely for radiation damage or allow it to explode upon impact. Enhancements for this skill include ricocheting between targets, storing damage over time for a larger explosion, and increasing its gravitational pull.
Harlowe can also deploy a Flux Generator, projecting a freezing energy field that entangles foes. Enemies caught in this field share incoming weapon and skill damage, creating a powerful chain reaction. Further upgrades can expand its radius, add secondary area-of-effect triggers, and even enable it to simultaneously buff allies while debuffing enemies.
Her most visually striking tool appears to be the Zero-Point ability, which suspends enemies in mid-air within a vibrant, high-tech bubble. While enemies are trapped, Harlowe can fire upon them or reactivate the ability to forcefully slam them in any direction she`s facing. This skill can be upgraded to provide healing to Harlowe or her allies, draw ricocheting bullets towards suspended enemies, or generate a singularity followed by a cryo-explosion when an opponent is slammed.
For players eager to plan their builds, a preview of Harlowe`s skill trees is already available. Borderlands 4 is set to launch on September 12 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a Nintendo Switch 2 port following approximately a month later on October 3.