Gearbox has been drip-feeding details about the latest batch of Vault Hunters leading up to the September 12 release of Borderlands 4. A couple of weeks ago, they gave us a look at the next Siren, Vex, and today, they released the gameplay overview for Rafa, the next elite soldier carrying the mantle for Roland (Borderlands), Axton (Borderlands 2), and Zane (Borderlands 3).
Based on the gameplay trailer, a big differentiator between Rafa and his predecessors is his expertise in close- to mid-range combat. Equipped with a Deadframe exo-suit, Rafa’s kit is poised to attract players who enjoy fast-paced, melee combat that’s heavily combo intensive.
Here’s a breakdown of the weaponry Rafa has at his disposal.
Arc-Knives: Rafa is packing twin energy blades for slicing and dicing foes in the Borderlands. When using them, the traditional FPS perspective is swapped for third-person to give players maximum visibility and spatial awareness as they move between targets. And the ability Blade Fury allows players to finish the carnage with a spinning attack that slices through enemies surrounding Rafa with Shock Damage.
Peacebreaker Cannons: Adding some range versatility to Rafa’s kit, his Peacebreaker Cannons auto-target enemies in front of him. After some leveling up, players can customize the ammunition type of the cannons and can even turn them into a standalone turret to be placed on the battlefield.
APOPHIS Lance: Rafa’s arm transforms into an APOPHIS Lance cannon that shoots out big plasma orbs. The trailer shows enemies bursting into wet chunks as Rafa dispenses multiple charges.
Overdrive: Rafa’s passive trait and the reason we’re predicting the character’s combo-oriented gameplay. Overdrive buffs Rafa’s movespeed and damage whenever an Action Skill is used. Similar to mastering a skill rotation in an MMORPG, players who can synergize skill cooldowns for maximum efficiency will be able to get the most out of Rafa’s aggressive kit.
You can check out the full gameplay trailer on YouTube. If all this sounds exciting to you, don’t worry, more Rafa news is coming very soon. We’ll be getting a deeper dive into Rafa’s abilities and skill trees tomorrow, July 24, so stay tuned.