Borderlands 3 Vault Hunters: Moze’s Skill Trees and Action Skills
Moze “the Gunner,” is the second of the four Borderlands 3 Vault Hunters to get her own character trailer. Following that trailer’s release, Gearbox also revealed a more detailed breakdown of the Vault Hunter’s three skill trees. Just like Zane Flynt, Moze has a slightly unique approach to Skill Trees and Action Skills. In Borderlands 3, you have three Skill Trees, and each one has an associated Action Skill. However, you can normally have only one equipped at a time. Moze’s Action Skills are a bit different, however. She always has access to the Iron Bear, but her Action Skills offer the mech different sets of weaponry.
Moze’s Skill Trees: Bottomless Mags
The first of Moze’s three skill trees is Bottomless Mags, which, as the name implies, focuses on weapons which rarely need to be reloaded. The tree features the Minigun Action Skill. Additionally, at Tier 2, the tree grants access to the Salamander Flamethrower Action Skill. The tree contains a variety of skills which boost magazine size and augment her Action Skills. You can add explosive rounds to the minigun, for example, or load the Salamander with caustic acid.
Three skills are listed by Gearbox as examples of what players can expect from Bottomless Mags. The first of these is Forge, which allows Moze to constantly regenerate ammunition for her equipped weapon. The second is Matched Set. This skill rewards sticking with a single weapon manufacturer, as it grants a magazine size bonus and heat per shot decrease which stacks with every piece of equipped gear from the same manufacturer. The third and final skill is Specialist Bear. This allows Moze to equip the same Action Skill on Iron Bear twice, in addition to boosting their twinned damage.
Moze’s Skill Trees: Demolition Woman
“With the knowledge of Moze’s arsenal,” says Gearbox QA Tester Daquan Sease; “I would recommend exploring the Demolition Woman skill tree. Iron Bear is a crucial part of the Gunner’s gameplay and, at an early level, players can successfully rely on the splash damage of its Grenade Launcher. The skill tree offers multiple ways to customise your play-style. Equip the passive ability Stainless Steel Bear, offering additional armour and fuel to stay in Iron Bear longer, or utilise Torgue Cross-Promotion to increase splash damage. Don’t forget to equip Moze’s action skill in both slots to access the Iron Bear ability, it’s too good!”
While Bottomless Mags focuses on delivering a constant stream of firepower, Demolition Woman is all about explosives. This tree provides access to the V-35 Grenade Launcher Action Skill, plus the Vanquisher Rocket Pod at Tier 2. Skills on this tree mostly focus on explosives, whether you’re firing them with the V-35, throwing them manually, or shooting explosive rounds. The three example skills provided by Gearbox are Auto Bear, Short Fuse, and Torgue Cross-Promotion.
First up, Auto Bear will allow Iron Bear to fight remotely. Essentially, when you disembark from the mech after summoning it, it will stay active for a short while and fight on its own. In fact, before shutting down, it will even charge a nearby enemy and self-destruct! The Short Fuse skill affects any firearm you use and adds a particularly explosive perk. Whenever you deal damage with a gun, there’s a change that the attack will explode on impact. Finally, the Torgue Cross-Promotion skill means that whenever Moze deals splash damage, whether from a grenade or in another form, there’s a possibility that the splash radius will double in size!
Moze’s Skill Trees: Shield of Retribution
Moze’s final skill tree is Shield of Retribution. This tree provides access to the Railgun Action Skill,a precise and high-damage firearm. At Tier 2, you can also get the Bear Fist, a close-range attack which gives Iron Bear a close-quarters option. The tree, meanwhile, focuses on teamwork and can provide a variety of buffs and effects to nearby teammates. Of course, there’s also plenty of skills designed to augment the tree’s Action Skills. You can even get a skill to fire out the Bear Fist and drag in enemies.
The first example skill from Shield of Retribution is Force Feedback. With this skill, whenever you score a critical hit, your shields will automatically begin recharging. Next up is Full Can of Whoop-Ass, which also helps jump-start shield recharging. In this case, however, Moze’s shields as well as those of all her teammates will start recharging anytime she enters Iron Bear. The third and final example skill is Phalanx Doctrine. This passive ability provides Moze with a stackable buff every time she scores a kill. Every stack she earns provides a bonus to her maximum gun damage and shields. Where this skill starts to get crazy, however, is that there’s no upper limit to the stack. Although it will degrade over time, in areas where there’s no shortage of weaker enemies, Moze can amass huge bonuses very quickly.