Borderlands 3's FL4K, the Beastmaster, is a captivating character, but mastering his unique skill tree can feel overwhelming, especially during the crucial leveling phase. This guide provides an optimized build for efficiently leveling FL4K in 2024, focusing on maximizing damage and survivability from early game to mid-game. We'll cover the best skills, action skills, and pet choices to ensure a smooth and powerful progression.
Choosing Your FL4K Skill Tree: The Critical Path
While FL4K has three skill trees (Hunter, Master, and Stalker), for leveling, we'll primarily focus on Master, augmenting it with key skills from Hunter. Master provides incredible pet buffs and damage amplification, which is crucial for early-game success. Hunter offers crucial survivability boosts, preventing you from getting one-shotted by tougher enemies. We will avoid Stalker initially, as its bonuses are more effective in later game builds focused on critical hits.
Master Skill Tree: Your Pet's Powerhouse
The Master skill tree is the cornerstone of this leveling build. The core skills we'll prioritize are:
- Raging Reaper: This skill significantly increases your pet's damage and health. This is a MUST-HAVE for early game.
- Domination: Provides a critical damage buff to your pet. Combined with Raging Reaper, this makes your pet an absolute powerhouse.
- Big Game: Increases your pet's damage against stronger enemies, making it far more effective in boss fights and tougher encounters.
- Gamma Burst: This is a great skill that adds extra damage to your pet's attacks.
Hunter Skill Tree: Survivability and Support
The Hunter tree offers valuable defensive and utility skills to complement the Master tree's offensive power:
- Fade Away: Provides a short period of invisibility, making it incredibly useful for escaping sticky situations or repositioning.
- Frenzy: Increased gun damage is always helpful, and Frenzy stacks with other damage boosts, making it exceptionally valuable.
Action Skill: The Perfect Companion
For leveling, Skitter (the Spiderant action skill) is your best friend. Its ability to latch onto enemies, applying consistent damage and distracting foes, is incredibly valuable while your pet handles the bulk of the killing. The spiderant's relatively low health isn't an issue due to the significant survivability you'll gain from the Hunter tree.
Pet Choice: The Mighty Jabber
During the leveling process, the Jabber is the superior pet choice. Its high health and consistent damage output provide excellent support, especially paired with the Master skill tree's pet-enhancing abilities.
Gear and Weapons: Early Game Essentials
Early game, focus on weapons with high fire rate and damage per second. Legendary weapons are obviously a bonus, but don't worry too much about farming them early on. Prioritize good damage over specific attributes. Generally speaking, shotguns, SMGs, and ARs work best with this build during leveling.
H2: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
H3: What are the best weapons for FL4K early game?
While legendary drops are always a bonus, focus on high-DPS weapons. Shotguns, SMGs, and ARs all provide excellent damage output for early game. Look for weapons with high fire rate, good accuracy, and decent magazine size.
H3: Should I use a different pet later in the game?
While the Jabber excels at early to mid-game, you might consider switching pets later based on your playstyle. The Spiderant or the Rat are good alternatives, offering different utility.
H3: Are there any other good skill points to consider outside the main build?
As you progress, feel free to experiment with other skills in the Master and Hunter trees. Skills like "Hitman" and "Hunter's Eye" can offer additional damage bonuses. But these are secondary investments after fully maxing out the skills in the previous section.
H3: What if I don't like Skitter?
You can use the other action skills, but Skitter's ability to keep enemies occupied while your pet deals damage is unmatched for leveling. However, if you prefer a more direct approach, you might find success with Rakk Attack. Just remember to compensate with more defensive skills.
H3: How do I make this build even better?
Experimentation is key! This is a solid base build. Once you reach end-game, you can further refine it based on your preferred playstyle and gear. Consider focusing on critical hit builds or incorporating other action skills once you have more access to good legendary weapons and gear.
This comprehensive guide should get you started on the path to dominating Borderlands 3 as FL4K. Remember to adapt and adjust your build based on your experience and the challenges you encounter. Happy hunting!
