Borderlands 4 best Harlowe build
The best builds for all Harlowe action skills.
Picking the best Harlowe build in Borderlands 4 will entirely depend on how you want to play as her, which Action Skills you want to use and what kind of elemental damage you wish to focus on.
Harlowe is a character we recommend mostly for experienced players in Borderlands 4, but by all means try her out if you want to. Some of her action skills require speed and precision, though her ability to put some enemies into stasis can be handy.
On that note, here are our recommendations for the best Harlowe build in Borderlands 4, including the best overall build and best builds for each action skill.
On this page:
Psst, hey! Check out our Borderlands 4 SHiFT codes to get free goodies - go on, take a look!
Borderlands 4 best Harlowe build
Our recommendation for the best Harlowe build is a CHROMA Accelerator focused build. This means you're, essentially, creating a build solely around utilising and boosting her CHROMA Accelerator action skill to maximise its damage output.
This build mainly happens in the Creative Bursts skill tree, but you can spend some skill points in the other two if you think it will help you out. If you choose to spread your points, check out the Seize the Day tree as there are several skills tree that will help with the cooldown rate for this action skill, like the 'Pulse Drive' passive.
You can find out more about this build in our best builds guide.
Borderlands 4 best Harlowe CHROMA Accelerator build
It's probably obvious, but our recommendation for the best Harlowe CHROMA Accelerator build is the CHROMA Accelerator focused build (yes, we know it's a mouthful.) This build, as the name suggests, really focuses on making the most out of this skill and of course, to start it, you need to equip the CHROMA Accelerator action skill.
Once you've chosen that, you need to equip the Neutron Capture augment which stores any damage Harlowe's Unstable Energy Pocket does and when it explodes some of the stored damage is applied to Harlowe's currently equipped gun to deal bonus Radiation Damage. Also, Radiation Damage is the main elemental damage type you want to hone in on while rounding out this build so you'll want to choose skills that boost this like the Chain Reactor passive.
You'll also want to focus on spending skill points to boost the action skill damage as well as ones that lower the cooldown rate of it as CHROMA Accelerator will be your main source of dealing damage in this build.
The good news is that this build does give you some flexibility with the weapons you choose to use on your adventure, though we'd recommend sticking to high-damage rapid-fire ones when facing tougher enemies or large crowds.
You can see the build in action in this video from RageGamingVideos on YouTube.
Borderlands 4 best Harlowe Zero-Point build
Our recommendation for the best Harlowe Zero-Point build is a Cryo build which focuses on boosting Cryo damage and a small amount on improving the effectiveness of Stasis on enemies. To start this build you'll need to equip the Zero-Point action skill and the Cold Storage augment, though Wildcat Destabilization is a solid alternative if you'd prefer to use that. As the name states, this build is all about boosting Harlowe's Cryo damage but you still can't neglect increasing her overall gun damage.
The majority of skills for this build can be found on the Seize the Day skill tree, but you will need to visit the other two trees at points too. Inititally, apply skills that reduce her action skill cooldown rate, like the Pulse Drive passive, and Periodic Table Flip which increases elemental damage, status effect application chance and cryo effectiveness.
Also, Harlowe's Entanglement trait will come in useful in this build. On the Cosmic Brilliance tree equip the Action at a Distance passive, this gives Harlowe a chance to apply the status effect to each Entangled enemy when she applies a status effect to just one. So for the Cryo build, it means applying Cryo to one may end up effecting all. On the Creative Bursts tree, skills that boost Harlowe's elemental effect potency or the chance to apply to an enemy should be considered - like the Fuzzy Math passive.
You're ultimately going to work your way up to the Cold Plunge Capstone which means that when Harlowe slams an enemy, a singularity will be created on that specific enemy and it's followed up by a Cryo explosion. As you're working towards this there are plenty of skills to pick that will boost Harlowe's damage and this Capstone's power. You should ideally apply skills like Keep Ice On That which gives Harlowe lifesteal when she deals Cryo Damage and Unstable Ice-otope, a kill skill that deals bonus Cryo Damage with all sources.
Borderlands 4 best Harlowe Flux Generator build
Our recommendation for the best Harlowe Flux Generator build is the Nuclear Winter Group Study build, this focuses on combining the Nuclear Winter augment with the Group Study Capstone to boost the Flux Generator's power and damage output.
The Nuclear Winter augment lets Harlowe and allies that are within the Flux Generator's range deal bonus Cryo damage. Also, when they leave the Generator's range they will instead deal bonus Radiation damage for a short period of time. Also, when Harlowe deals either of these elemental damage types, the afflicted enemy becomes Entangled. Group Study, your ultimate goal for the build, lets Harlowe spawn a HALO Sidekick for each ally in place of the Flux Generator. These Sidekicks fly to an ally, hovering near them to deal increased gun damage, fire rate, and reload speed. This can be stacked too - so in short, these two together give the Flux Generator a lot of power.
For this build, you'll want to focus almost all of your skill point investments on the Cosmic Brilliance skill tree. Though, you can deviate slightly if you wish, but we'd advise focusing on the green skill tree until you get the Group Study capstone. Early in the build you'll want to focus on increasing Harlowe's damage output with skills like Momentum which increases her critical hit chance after Entangling an enemy. Also, the Conformative Reality passive and the Action at a Distance passive are worth looking at.
Deeper in this skill tree you'll want to start maxing out specific skills that will increase the damage output Harlowe and the Flux Generator can do. For example, Harlowe's Certainty Principle will increase gun handling which is further boosted with every enemy in her Flux Generator. On top of this, the Accrection passive grants Harlowe Lifesteal against Entangled enemies.
If you want to head to another skill tree for a few extra boosts, get the Make Extraordinary passive from the Seize the Day tree to gain critical hit chance with all skills, which is increased every time an enemy is Entangled. Then, apply the Field Ready Prototype passive to increase action skill damage and the Fuzzy Math passive to increase status effect chance - both of which are on the Creative Bursts tree.
That's all for now! If you're looking for more Borderlands 4 help, check out our pages showing you the best Vex builds and the best Rafa builds.