Even diehard members of the “Zane Gang” have to admit that he’s the more generic option in Borderlands 3. He has the unique ability to equip two action skills and a real penchant for technology, but he pales in comparison to the raw power and survivability of Moze’s Iron Bear, the sheer versatility and effectiveness of FL4K and their pets, and the elemental crowd-control abilities of Amara the Siren. In many ways, his new skill tree should shake this up.
For the uninitiated, Gearbox announced that a brand new Borderlands 3 DLC would arrive before the end of 2020, ushering in a brand new game mode as well as a brand new skill tree for every character. FL4K’s skill tree is dubbed the trapper, giving him a new defensive skill tree with crowd control elements and a new companion: a hyperion loaderboat. As such, it’ll be interesting to see what Gearbox shows of the other characters, and in particular, it’s a chance to boost Zane to be on the same level as his companion Vault Hunters.
It’s worth mentioning that specs and builds in Borderlands 3 are always key. It’s not that Zane is necessarily underpowered, but he’s simply not as flavorful as some of the others, even after the various buffs he has received. Zane can be OP just like any other character, but it’s reasons to play him over others than many find lacking.
Before diving into what his new skill tree should offer, it’s worth looking at the bases he already has covered. Each of his action skills is based on some technology, meaning his Digi-Clone, drone, and shield are all “essentials” across his tree. His new action skill is all but confirmed to be some type of tech, so more on that shortly. Each of Zane’s skill trees are designed to support the primary role of this technology in Borderlands 3, so for the Digi-Clone (the doubled agent tree), this is basically a middling utility tree. Zane’s clone can be tricky and swap positions with the player, it can be a source of damage when it copies Zane’s weapons, and of course, it can eat bullets.
Zane’s close can do a lot, but it trades raw power for utility. The Hitman tree is what gives Zane his drone and is effectively a DPS/kill tree. Sentinel adds the damage on, and with all of his kill skills, Zane gains new buffs for scoring kills. Paired with the drone and the clone, it’s a good way to get a lot of damage out on the field. Zane’s last skill tree, Under Cover, gives him a variety of support skills, while also giving him a tank to help shield his allies. Unfortunately, the other characters are so tough as is that the barrier is mostly lackluster flavor.
As such, Zane’s skill tree cover a variety of RPG requirements from utility to support to DPS, but what makes Zane less flavorful than others is the versatility paired with bases already covered by others. As such, the new skill tree needs to do something that no other Borderlands 3 Vault Hunter can do.
Finding a “specialty” tree for Zane may not be so simple. After all, the other Vault Hunters cover a variety of bases too, from elemental components to crowd control, to pets and survivability, and more. But Zane’s penchant for technology is something that should be embraced, meaning his new skill tree should go heavier on tech than any other skill tree. One interesting idea for this, which would inevitably result in Iron Zane builds, is the ability to digitize a mechanical suit, not like Iron Bear but more like Iron Man. The skills could further supplement this action skill by improving the suit and allowing Zane to spec further down certain trees.
This augmented Zane could focus on speed, able to jump from enemy to enemy to deal a bunch of damage and getting ahead of Iron Bear’s AoE attacks. It could feature some skill to pair with SNTL, allowing Zane to see enemies throw walls and across a bigger area not unlike Crypto’s drone in Apex Legends. Identifying targets and zooming to them would make Zane stand out from the others, while it could also specc’d to be more tanky. In theory, this could work a lot like FL4K’s new hyperion loaderboat and spec into a variety of ways to support the other Skill trees.
Another option would be to rely heavily on the fun factor and give Zane something akin to Claptrap’s Vaulthunter.exe action skill in the Pre-Sequel. This would give Zane a little bit of everything, especially given that his action skill would likely be some device that can change and manifest several items. For example, as Claptrap’s action packages could be derived from other Vault Hunters, there’s little reason this can’t be either.
It could suddenly (and shortly) turn Zane into a melee maestro with a buzzaxe in honor of Krieg the Psycho, while it could maybe even see him manifest a watered down version of Iron Bear for himself. On the other hand, it could even bring back gunzerking (a fan-favorite of Salvador’s), or it could even do something like set off a series of small, radiation-focused explosions. Either way, there’s a ton of potential.
Fans should remain patient until Gearbox reveals Zane’s new skill tree, but it really does need to be something that emphasizes the unique, fun factor qualities of Zane the Operative. It shouldn’t be too long before Gearbox reveals his new skill tree since 2020 is dwindling down, but this is definitely something for members of the “Zane gang.”
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are in development.
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