Borderlands 4 best Rafa build
The best builds for all Rafa action skills.
Choosing the best Rafa build in Borderlands 4 will depend on how you want to play as the Exo-Solider and if you want an all-round build, or one that's more focused on one of his three action skills.
Rafa is a character we recommend using if you're more experienced in Borderlands 4, simply because he excels more at close-up combat with his Arc-Knives, and combat that requires you to be in the thick of it to make the most of his other skills.
Without further ado, here are our recommendations for the best Rafa build in Borderlands 4, covering the best overall build and best builds for each action skill.
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Borderlands 4 Best Rafa build
Our recommendation for the best Rafa build is the Ricochet build which works best when aligned with Jakobs weapons, specifically the Hot Slugger Legendary weapon if you can get your hands on it. This is a strong build for Rafa overall, though if you want more specialised builds you might want to focus on individual action skills as a base.
Your main focus will be on increasing your gun damage, overall damage from all sources (like with the El Valiente skill), and boosting projectile as well as action skill damage. Gun damage should be your highest priority when crafting this build.
You can find out more about the Ricochet build in our best builds guide.
Borderlands 4 Best Rafa Apophis Lance build
Our recommendation for the best Rafa Apophis Lance build is actually the Ricochet build because of its heavy focus on increasing gun and projectile damage - both of which feed into Rafa's Aphophis Lance off-hand Arm Cannon. Of course, to start this build off you'll need to equip the Aphophis Lance action skill!
Once you've done that, you'll want to focus all your skill point investments on the Remote Agent skill tree until you get the build you want. The main skills you'll want to equip will be ones that boost Rafa's gun damage, like the Sitiar passive, or ones that increase all around damage with extra defensive boosts like the El Valiente passive.
Also, skills like Juerga for restoring action skill duration and Barrage to increase Splash Damage are worth aiming for as well. Anything that can back up or add a stronger effect to your weapons or projectiles is worth aiming for. Once you're further down the skill tree, aim for the Errant Spark passive to give all indirect projectiles bonus fire damage and the Lateral Plinking passive to give these projectiles a chance to ricochet.
You can see the build in action in this video from RageGamingVideos on YouTube.
Borderlands 4 Best Rafa Peacebreaker Cannons build
Our recommendation for the best Rafa Peacebreaker Cannons build is the Beam Team build, which will take a while for you to work towards as Beam Team is a Capstone in the Remote Agent skill tree but it's worth the effort. This build mainly focuses on the Remote Agent skill tree, but a few points can be spent in the other two as well for maximum efficiency if you wish. Beam Team will replace the Cannon's weaponry with a Shock Beam and a Corrosive Beam that auto-locks on enemies in your view.
Of course, this build begins with the Peacebreaker Cannons action skill and you can choose between the Instinto or Bullet-Buddy Deluxe augments. We recommend Bullet-Buddy Deluxe until you can equip the Capstone, but once you get the Capstone you should switch to Instinto to make the most of the build.
While you're working towards the Beam Team Capstone, you need to be focusing on skills that boost Rafa's gun damage and specific Peacebreaker-boosting skills like the Deft Hands passive on the Remote Agent tree. Also, equipping the Pa' Dentro passive from the People Person tree is a good idea - health boosts are always welcome.
Skills that boost other damage types, like Elemental, should be considered too. For example, the Vitriol passive which makes the first shot from a fully-loaded Mag deals extra Corrosive damage and Concentrated Build Up to give bonus Shock Damage are worth investing in.
Borderlands 4 Best Rafa Arc-Knives build
Our recommendation for the best Rafa Arc-Knives build is the Galvanic Panic build, which will take a while to work towards as it's a Capstone from the This Year's Gimmick skill tree, but if you're using Arc-Knives as your action skill it's worth being patient for. This is a focused build with a few key skills to pick out and max out when you've got enough for them.
Of course, to begin this build you'll need to equip the Arc-Knives action skill and, to boost your health capacity, equip the Altered Carbon Augment. This augment restores a chunk of Rafa's maximum health capacity when Arc-Knives is active, but also allows him to deal bonus Corrosive damage and gain increased movement speed when health has been gained. All very handy things when using melee attacks in a gun-based game.
Keeping Rafa alive while using melee weapons (the Arc-Knives) is a big challenge, so while you've got Cruel Accural passive equipped to increase skill damage the longer an action skill has been active, you'll also want to invest in health-boosting and healing skills such as Saladar. This passive lets Rafa gain Lifesteal when any melee critical hits land.
Also, when you get to the lower tiers of the skill tree, invest in the Blowout passive. This one causes any enemy with a Heavy Arms Mark or that has been critically hit with Rafa's action skill to explode in Corrosive Lobbed Projectiles. As an extra bonus, the longer that the action skill has been active, the more projectiles are fired out.
Finally, your goal is to get the Galvanic Panic Capstone. This Capstone will help you deal with even the trickiest of enemies that seemingly pop out of nowhere, you've not noticed, or are airborn! The Capstone means that when Rafa does a melee attack with Arc-Knives, an Acid STRM Glider gets fired out at any enemy in view. This deals Corrosive Splash damage that's determined by how many marked enemies are in the area. Killing an enemy while Arc-Knives is active will restore action skill duration and activating Blade Fury will make Rafa fire out a series of Gliders in front of him which end in Arc-Knives. In short, it's a power overload.
That's all for now! If you're looking for more Borderlands 4 content, check out our best builds and class tier list, our page on how to unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter mode or our one showing you how to respec.