The Most Broken Build in Borderlands 4
If you’re looking to absolutely demolish bosses in seconds, delete entire enemy groups without breaking a sweat, and feel genuinely overpowered in Borderlands 4, you’ve found it. Vex’s Bleed build isn’t just strong—it’s potentially the most devastatingly effective build in the entire game right now.
Centered around the Bloodletter skill in Vex’s Incarnate tree, this build creates a perfect storm of critical hits, status effects, lifesteal, and damage multiplication that scales exponentially. Bleed procs on critical hits, benefits from both gun damage AND status effect damage bonuses, and when combined with Vex’s natural synergies, it becomes an unstoppable force.
Fair warning: This build is so powerful that it might get nerfed in future patches. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Why the Bleed Build Works So Well
Before diving into specifics, let’s understand what makes this build fundamentally broken:
The Core Synergy
Bloodletter applies Bleed on critical hits
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Bleed is a Kinetic status effect
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Bleed damage scales with BOTH Gun Damage AND Status Effect Damage
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Vex can boost BOTH of these stats simultaneously
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Result: Exponential damage scaling
The Lifesteal Loop
Lifesteal keeps health topped off
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Full health activates Blood is Power (damage boost)
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Higher damage = faster kills
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Kills trigger Kill Skills = more bonuses
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Repeat indefinitely
Why Critical Hits Are Key
- Vex can stack critical hit chance extremely high
- Every crit potentially triggers Bleed
- More crits = more Bleed procs = more DOT damage
- Certain weapons (especially Jakobs) are designed for crits
- The Penetrator Augment makes EVERYTHING a crit for 5 seconds
This isn’t just a good build—it’s a perfectly engineered damage amplification system.
Complete Vexcalation Skill Tree Build
Here’s the exact skill allocation for maximum Bleed effectiveness:
Core Skills (Priority Order)
1. Bloodletter (5/5) – THE FOUNDATION
What it does: Gun and Skill Critical Hits have a chance to apply Bleed, causing Kinetic Status Effect Damage over time
Why it’s essential: This is literally the entire build. Without Bloodletter, there is no Bleed build. Bleed is affected by Status Effect Application Chance and counts as a status effect itself, meaning it benefits from all status-focused skills.
Max this first. Everything else supports this skill.
2. Material Components (5/5) – DAMAGE AMPLIFIER
What it does: Increases Kinetic Damage and Kinetic Status Effect Damage
Why it’s essential: Double-dipping damage boost. Your guns hit harder (more gun damage = stronger Bleed application), AND your Bleed DOT ticks harder (status effect damage). This is massive multiplicative scaling.
Synergy: Since Bleed is Kinetic, every point here directly amplifies your primary damage source.
3. Essence Leech (5/5) – SUSTAINABILITY
What it does: Grants Lifesteal. Effect doubles when Action Skill is active.
Why it’s essential: Lifesteal keeps you alive AND activates multiple damage-boosting mechanics:
- Enables Blood is Power (full health = damage boost)
- Increases reload speed via Idle Hands
- Provides consistent healing without needing to use health items
The doubling effect during Action Skills is HUGE. Combined with extended Action Skill uptime, you’re basically immortal while dealing insane damage.
4. Blood is Power (3/3) – THE MULTIPLIER
What it does: Bonus Kinetic Damage with Guns based on current Lifesteal when Health is full
Why it’s essential: This is where the build gets absurd. When your health bar is topped off (easy with Lifesteal), you gain bonus gun damage based on how much lifesteal you have. More gun damage = stronger Bleed procs.
The loop: Lifesteal keeps you at full health → Full health activates damage bonus → Higher damage kills faster → Kills maintain full health → Repeat
5. Enchantment (5/5) – ACTION SKILL SYNERGY
What it does: Bonus Kinetic Damage with Guns while Action Skill is active
Why it’s essential: More gun damage during Action Skills, which means stronger Bleed applications. Combined with Grave Quickening (below), you’ll have near-constant Action Skill uptime for permanent damage boosts.
Stack this with Blood is Power for ridiculous damage multiplication during Action Skills.
Supporting Skills (Still Critical)
6. Leeching Attunement (5/5) – ATTUNEMENT BONUS
What it does: While Attuned to Kinetic, grants Lifesteal and Reload Speed (effects persist after switching Attunement)
Why it’s useful: More Lifesteal stacking with Essence Leech. The reload speed is a nice bonus for maintaining DPS uptime. The persistence after switching Attunement gives flexibility.
7. Grave Vitality (5/5) – KILL SKILL HEALTH
What it does: Kill Skill – Increases Maximum Health Capacity and Health Regeneration
Why it’s useful: More health means more room for Lifesteal to work. Health regeneration provides additional sustain. As a Kill Skill, it’s constantly active in combat.
Survival boost that enables aggressive play.
8. Idle Hands (3/3) – RELOAD EFFICIENCY
What it does: Vex and Minions gain Reload Speed based on health fullness
Why it’s useful: With Lifesteal keeping you at full health constantly, you’re essentially always getting maximum reload speed. Less time reloading = more time shooting = more Bleed procs.
Quality of life improvement that becomes a DPS boost.
9. Cold Iron (2/5) – FLAT DAMAGE
What it does: Increases Gun Damage
Why it’s useful: Straightforward damage boost. Higher base gun damage means stronger Bleed applications. Only 2 points because other skills offer better returns.
10. Portents of Suffering (5/5) – STATUS AMPLIFICATION
What it does: Vex and Minions gain increased Status Effect Damage
Why it’s essential: Bleed is a status effect. This directly amplifies every DOT tick. Combined with Material Components, your Bleed damage becomes absolutely disgusting.
This is why Bleed scales so hard—multiple skills buffing the same damage source.
11. Grave Quickening (5/5) – COOLDOWN REDUCTION
What it does: Kill Skill – Increases Action Skill Cooldown Rate
Why it’s essential: Remember how Essence Leech DOUBLES Lifesteal during Action Skills? And how Enchantment boosts damage during Action Skills? Grave Quickening ensures you have Action Skills available constantly.
More uptime = more lifesteal = more damage = more survivability.
12. Prismatic Ichor (1/5) – BONUS CHAOS
What it does: When applying a Status Effect, apply another random Elemental Status Effect
Why it’s useful: Free extra damage on top of Bleed. Since you’re constantly applying Bleed, you’re also constantly applying random elemental effects. More DOT = more total damage.
Only 1 point because the randomness makes it unreliable, but the extra damage is welcome.
Understanding the Skill Synergies
The Damage Multiplication Chain
Here’s how these skills stack with each other:
Base Gun Damage
× Material Components (Kinetic Damage)
× Cold Iron (Gun Damage)
× Blood is Power (Lifesteal-based Gun Damage at full health)
× Enchantment (Gun Damage during Action Skill)
= Your Actual Gun Damage
Then, when Bleed applies:
Bleed Base Damage
× (scales from Gun Damage above)
× Material Components (Kinetic Status Effect Damage)
× Portents of Suffering (Status Effect Damage)
= Your Actual Bleed DOT
The result? Exponential scaling that makes bosses melt in seconds.
The Survivability Loop
Essence Leech + Leeching Attunement = High Lifesteal
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High Lifesteal keeps health at maximum
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Maximum health activates Blood is Power damage bonus
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Maximum health maxes Idle Hands reload speed
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Grave Vitality adds health regen and max capacity
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You’re basically unkillable while dealing maximum damage
Best Action Skill Setup
Recommended Action Skill: Grave Harvest (Augment)
Why Grave Harvest?
Soul Orb Collection → Extended Action Skill Duration
- Kill enemies to drop Soul Orbs
- Picking up orbs extends your Action Skill duration
- More Action Skill time = more doubled Lifesteal + damage boosts
Healing on Pickup
- Soul Orbs also heal you when collected
- Combined with Lifesteal, you’re getting healed from multiple sources
- Maintains full health for Blood is Power activation
Synergy with Grave Quickening
- Kills reduce Action Skill cooldown
- Extended duration from orbs keeps buffs active longer
- Near-permanent Action Skill uptime in combat
The loop: Activate Action Skill → Kill enemies → Collect orbs → Extend duration → Kill more → Repeat until everything is dead
Best Weapons for Vex Bleed Build
Weapon Type Priority: Kinetic Only
CRITICAL RULE: Only use Kinetic (non-elemental) weapons.
Why? All your damage bonuses specifically boost Kinetic damage. Elemental weapons won’t benefit from Material Components, Blood is Power, or Enchantment’s Kinetic damage boosts.
Manufacturer Choice: Jakobs
Why Jakobs weapons are perfect:
✅ Always Kinetic – Jakobs weapons never have elemental affinities
✅ Critical Hit Design – Built for precision, high crit damage
✅ Powerful per-shot damage – Strong Bleed applications
✅ Ricochet potential – Enhancement options for multi-target damage
Jakobs is THE manufacturer for this build. Every weapon they make naturally synergizes with Bloodletter mechanics.
Top Legendary Weapon Choices
1. Hellwalker (DOOM Shotgun) – BEST IN SLOT
How to get: Farm Meathead Riders at The Old Scrape (Ripper Drill Site)
Why it’s amazing:
- Legendary Jakobs shotgun
- Massive per-shot damage = devastating Bleed procs
- Each pellet can trigger critical hits independently
- Multiple pellets = multiple Bleed applications per shot
- High risk, high reward close-range devastation
Best use: Boss encounters where you can get close and unload
2. Bod – CONSISTENT POWERHOUSE
How to get: Farm Axemaul at The Toil of Spoiling Vis
Why it’s amazing:
- Legendary Jakobs shotgun
- Reliable legendary drop
- Excellent base damage for strong Bleed procs
- Good critical hit potential
- Less gimmicky than some other options
Best use: General-purpose legendary for this build
3. Hot Slugger – SNOWBALL MACHINE
How to get: Farm Callous Harbinger of Annihilating Death at Craven’s Nook
Why it’s amazing:
- Legendary shotgun with stacking damage buff on kills
- Each kill increases damage further
- Higher base damage = stronger Bleed applications
- The snowball effect makes you progressively more dangerous
Best use: Mobbing situations where kills stack quickly
Warning: Needs kills to ramp up, less effective on solo bosses initially
Best Weapon Attachment: Spread Launcher Underbarrel
Look for weapons with Spread Launcher underbarrel attachments.
Why it’s godly for this build:
- Spread Launcher deals insane standalone damage
- Additional damage amplifies subsequent Bleed effects
- Essentially gives you free burst damage on top of Bleed DOT
- Creates massive damage spikes
Any Kinetic weapon with Spread Launcher becomes significantly better for this build.
Best Ordinance: Penetrator Augment Throwing Knife
The Game-Breaking Combo
What Penetrator does: When you hit an enemy, ALL damage they receive for the next 5 seconds is guaranteed critical damage.
Why this is absurd for Bleed builds:
- Hit enemy with Penetrator knife
- For 5 seconds, EVERY shot you fire is a guaranteed critical hit
- Bloodletter triggers on critical hits
- 100% Bleed application rate for 5 seconds
The sequence:
- Throw Penetrator knife at boss
- Unload entire magazine (every shot crits)
- Every crit applies Bleed
- Boss takes massive Bleed DOT stacking
- Refresh Penetrator, repeat
This turns bosses into trivial encounters. You can check our Penetrator Augment farming guide for location details.
Best Gear: Class Mods and Enhancements
Class Mod Priorities
Look for Class Mods that boost:
1. Bloodletter skill points (TOP PRIORITY)
- Every bonus point in Bloodletter increases Bleed proc chance
- More procs = more total DOT damage
2. Gun Damage bonuses
- Directly amplifies your damage output
- Strengthens Bleed application damage
3. Critical Hit Chance/Damage
- More crits = more Bleed procs
- Higher crit damage = stronger initial hits
4. Status Effect Damage
- Directly buffs Bleed DOT ticks
- Multiplicative scaling with Portents of Suffering
Ideal Class Mod: Technomancer (Vex-specific) with Bloodletter bonus points and gun damage stats. You can farm this from Idolator Sol.
Enhancement Priorities
Look for Enhancements that provide:
1. Jakobs Ricochet Enhancement (MUST-HAVE)
- Makes Jakobs weapons ricochet twice on critical hits
- Triples your effective damage output
- Each ricochet can proc additional Bleeds
- Turns single-target weapons into multi-target destroyers
2. Status Effect Application Chance
- Increases Bleed proc rate from Bloodletter
- More consistent DOT application
3. Critical Hit Chance
- Higher crit rate = more Bleed procs
- Stacks with Jakobs’ natural crit bonuses
4. Gun Damage
- Straightforward damage amplification
- Scales both direct damage and Bleed
Where to farm Enhancements: Check legendary class mods farming guide for enhancement farming strategies.
Complete Gear Loadout Summary
Weapon: Jakobs Kinetic Shotgun (Hellwalker, Bod, or Hot Slugger)
Attachment Preference: Spread Launcher Underbarrel
Ordinance: Throwing Knife with Penetrator Augment
Class Mod: Technomancer with Bloodletter bonuses and Gun Damage
Enhancement: Jakobs Ricochet on Critical Hits
Shield: High capacity with damage reduction or lifesteal synergies
Grenade: Anything that supports survivability or groups enemies
Combat Strategy & Playstyle
Against Bosses
1. Throw Penetrator Knife All damage becomes critical for 5 seconds.
2. Activate Action Skill Doubles lifesteal, boosts gun damage.
3. Get Close (Shotgun Range) Position for maximum pellet connection.
4. Unload Magazine Every shot crits, every crit applies Bleed.
5. Maintain Full Health Lifesteal keeps you topped off for Blood is Power damage bonus.
6. Watch Boss Health Evaporate The stacked Bleed DOT does the rest.
Boss example: Shadowpelt goes from threatening to trivial with this strategy.
Against Mobbing
1. Use Kill Skills to Your Advantage First kill activates Grave Vitality and Grave Quickening.
2. Maintain Momentum Each kill extends your buffs and reduces cooldowns.
3. Prioritize High-Value Targets Apply Bleed to tanky enemies, let DOT work while you move.
4. Collect Soul Orbs Extends Action Skill duration, maintains doubled lifesteal.
5. Ricochet Carnage With Jakobs ricochet enhancement, one crit hits three targets.
The result: You become an unstoppable killing machine that only gets stronger as combat continues.
Why This Build Might Get Nerfed
Let’s be honest about the power level:
❌ Trivializes boss encounters – Designed challenges become too easy
❌ Outperforms every other build – Makes alternatives obsolete
❌ Scales exponentially – Gets progressively more broken with better gear
❌ No significant weaknesses – High damage + high survivability
❌ Low skill floor – Easy to execute for massive results
Historical precedent: Borderlands has nerfed similarly overpowered builds in past games (Bore, Anarchy stacking, infinite ammo builds).
Enjoy it while it lasts. This might not survive the first major balance patch.
Alternative Weapon Options
If you can’t get the legendary shotguns immediately:
Any Jakobs Kinetic weapon works:
- Pistols – High fire rate, consistent crits
- Assault Rifles – Medium range, good for mobbing
- Rifles – Precision damage, excellent crits
- Shotguns – Highest burst damage potential
The key is Kinetic + High Crit Potential. Even non-legendary Jakobs weapons will perform well with this skill setup.
For more weapon farming options, check our best legendary assault rifles guide.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
❌ Using elemental weapons – Negates most of your damage bonuses
❌ Ignoring lifesteal – Breaks the damage loop from Blood is Power
❌ Not using Action Skills enough – Missing doubled lifesteal and damage buffs
❌ Standing still – You’re tanky, not invincible
❌ Forgetting Penetrator knife – It’s the difference between good and broken
❌ Undervaluing reload speed – DPS loss from downtime hurts Bleed application rate
Build Progression Guide
Early Game (Level 1-20)
Priority: Get Bloodletter ASAP
- Rush Bloodletter (5/5)
- Material Components (5/5)
- Essence Leech (3/5)
Weapon: Any Kinetic weapon you find
Mid Game (Level 20-40)
Priority: Complete damage scaling
- Finish Essence Leech (5/5)
- Blood is Power (3/3)
- Enchantment (5/5)
- Start Portents of Suffering
Weapon: Start farming legendary Jakobs weapons
End Game (Level 40+)
Priority: Optimization
- Max all core skills
- Farm perfect Class Mod
- Get Jakobs ricochet Enhancement
- Farm Penetrator Augment knife
Weapon: God-roll Hellwalker or Bod
Final Thoughts
Vex’s Bleed build isn’t just powerful—it fundamentally breaks Borderlands 4’s difficulty curve. The synergy between Bloodletter, lifesteal mechanics, and damage multiplication creates a feedback loop that makes you progressively more unstoppable.
Is it overpowered? Absolutely. Will it get nerfed? Probably. Should you use it anyway? Hell yes.
This is the kind of build that defines a game’s meta. It’s the “I beat the raid boss solo” build, the “I carry my entire team” build, the “this is why balancing is hard” build.
Build it, enjoy it, and dominate Kairos while it’s still in this ridiculous state. Future Vault Hunters will look back on pre-nerf Bloodletter Vex the same way we remember pre-nerf Bee Shield in Borderlands 2—with a mixture of nostalgia and disbelief that it was ever this broken.
Now go stack those Bleed procs and delete some bosses.
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