Shack Chat: Who's your main in Borderlands 3?

It’s Shack Chat time! Your weekly glimpse into the minds of the Shack Staff. If we ever reach a point in the future where you can rebuild someone’s consciousness using their online personality, we should absolutely use the Shack Chat as the foundation. And what says more about a person than who they choose to main in Borderlands 3?

Though we’re just talking Borderlands 3 mains, we’d love to hear about your builds and the gear you’re farming (the One Pump Chump is especially good).

Question: Who’s your main in Borderlands 3?

FL4K - Greg Burke, Lives in the mines

I sadly don’t own Borderlands 3. However, if I did, I’d probably end up using FL4K. I like the idea of having pets do my dirty work for me and taking agro off myself so I can dish out damage. FL4K also seems to look like Mass Effect’s Legion. Which is pretty cool. Who doesn't love a killer robot looking for a vault key?

Amara - David L. Craddock, Longreads Editor

I haven’t yet had the privilege of shooting and looting my way through Borderlands 3, but when I do, Amara will be my go-to. Brawling, plus ethereal abilities that will let me pummel baddies with ghostly fists? Count me in.

Zane - Bill Lavoy, Sole Survior

Put another one on the board for Zane, even though I don’t yet own Borderlands 3. I want to be playing it, but the games schedule at this time of year doesn’t care what I want to play. I had to make my choice by studying the playable characters on the Borderlands 3 website.

Moze - Brittany Vincent, Senior Editor

I used Moze in Borderlands 3, but I really I wish I could go back and play as Roland. He was a good, all-around soldier that felt good to play as, and I liked his automatic turret option and powering up his Infantry skill tree. Bring back Roland or Axton. That is my request. Otherwise, I just play as Moze because she vibes the best with my play style, and heavy weaponry makes it easy to gun down things that get in the way of loot.

Amara, the Siren - Josh Hawkins, ‘Poor training did that one in.’

During my time in Borderlands 3, I’ve tried out all four of the Vault Hunters, however, Amara is easily my favorite. I’ve always been a fan of the Siren abilities in the Borderlands games, and Amara’s skills and ability to focus on melee and close quarters combat has made her a treat to play. I often find myself switching between all three of her main action skill variants, all of which have fantastic uses for different instances.

Perhaps my favorite thing about Amara, though, is her attitude. She’s cocky and she’s not afraid to tell you that she’s better than you. This has led to some pretty funny quotes throughout the 50 hours or so that I’ve managed to put in with her as my main, and I’m honestly not upset at all I chose to main her for my first playthrough. Of course, if I had to choose a follow-up for my next playthrough, I’d have to go with FL4K, they’re just a master of mowing down enemies with their abilities and pets.

Capt. Hammerlock - Chris Jarrard, Smells like a Skag

I choose Captain Hammerlock as my main. Admittedly, he is not a playable character and doesn’t exactly fit the spirit of this week’s question, but he is the only character in the franchise that I really like, so there it is. Hammerlock is a classy fellow with loads of good stories to tell and never fails to entertain me. I have no doubts that he would be just as effective in combat as all the generic Vault Hunters.

FL4K the Beastmaster - Sam Chandler, Guides Editor

Borderlands 3 is fast becoming my pick for GOTY, and even one of my favorite games of all time, and that’s largely because of FL4K, the Beastmaster. I love that FL4K has three pets to choose from to aid them in battle, a Skag, a Spiderant, or a Jabber, with each offering a unique personality and combat potential. I started out using the Spiderant, but quickly switched to the Skag once I found it gelled well with my skill tree. But then I saw the critical damage FL4K could dish out in their green tree, so now I'm loving my alien monkey. 

I still miss playing Salvador from BL2, but I think that FL4K has found a special place in my heart. In saying this, I’m pretty excited to see what characters Gearbox has in store for players in the future.

Zane - Donovan Erskine, Intern

I always lean towards the more stealthy and gimmicky characters in an RPG, Zane fits right into that. With abilities that allow him to deploy an attack drone or summon a clone that distracts enemies, Zane is my guy. You’ll find me tip-toeing around Pandora, carefully placing traps for my foes, while hiding behind my shield.

I’d also like to tell you that I put a lot of thought and planning into this, but I really didn’t. The description of Zane mentions that he’s a retired corporate hitman, and that made me think of Agent 47, and then I was pretty much sold on Zane. He’s got drones with machine guns and a barrier shield, plus he can teleport to his Digi-Clone, so I’m thinking he and I will get on just fine when I get to playing Borderlands 3… probably in January 2020.

Borderlands 3 is downright incredible. In his review, Josh Hawkins went so far as to say it is “an absolute masterpiece,” and went on to praise its story, characters, and of course the humor. What about your own thoughts and preferences, do you think you’ll main one character throughout Borderlands 3?

Shack Staff

Shack Staff stories are a collective effort with multiple staff members contributing. Many of our lists often involve entires from several editors, and our weekly Shack Chat is something we all contribute to as a group.