Borderlands 4 Trailer Introduces Amon And His Axe-Ceptional Skills

Ahead of its release next month, Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox has dropped a new trailer showing off gameplay for the Vault Hunter Amon. While previous videos showed off Rafa’s arsenal of weapons from his Tediore exoskeleton and Vex’s dark Siren powers, Amon is designed to be a highly customizable frontliner who can use his weaponized drones to provide him with a rock-solid defense or cut loose with powerful offensive abilities.

Like the other Vault Hunters, Amon has three Action Skills to choose from, and each one can be enhanced with Augments and Capstones. Amon’s unique Vault Hunter trait is Forgeskill, which allows him to use abilities like Molten Slam, Firewall, or Double-Edge, depending on the equipped Action Skill when its assigned button is held down.

Here’s a quick breakdown on how each one works:

Molten Slam (Onslaughter Action Skill equipped)

Press and hold the Action Skill button to slam a Molten Forgehammer into the ground, dealing incendiary melee damage to enemies in a large area.

Firewall (Scourge Action Skill equipped)

Press and hold Action Skill to deploy a Firewall that absorbs enemy projectiles, and grants friendly projectiles that pass through it increased damage and speed. Absorbed damage is converted into Vengeance if Scourge is active. Enemies near Firewall take incendiary status effect damage over time.

Double-Edge (Crucible Action Skill equipped)

Press and hold Action Skill to throw a twinned Forgeaxe, dealing cryo melee damage to enemies it passes through and returning to Amon, dealing incendiary melee damage on the way back.

Tapping the Action Skill button will result in the following actions, depending on the ability you’ve chosen for Amon:

Onslaughter (Calamity skill tree)

Amon overloads his Forgefist, gaining constant shield regeneration, bonus incendiary damage with guns, and increased movement speed. Pressing the button results in a rocket-punch to an enemy dealing incendiary melee attack damage in a short-ranged cone, and causing enemies–except for bosses–to be staggered if it connects.

Scourge (Vengeance skill tree)

Amon equips a Forgeshield that absorbs all frontal damage as Vengeance. Whenever the Vengeance Meter is filled, Forgeshield provides a reduction to damage. Vengeance drains rapidly if it has not been gained recently. Pressing the Action Skill button launches a Forgewave, dealing cryo ordnance damage to enemies it passes through and consuming Vengeance to increase damage dealt.

Crucible (Cybernetics skill tree)

This skill has three charges, and it lets Amon ready Forge-axes that can be thrown and picked up off the ground to refund cooldown time. Amon can throw a Flame Axe, dealing incendiary melee damage, or a Frost Axe to deal cryo damage. Enemies damaged by Forge-axes are then primed and will detonate when they die or are damaged by a Forge-Skill, dealing damage to nearby enemies.

Borderlands 4 launches on September 12 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and it’ll be coming to Switch 2 a little later on October 3. Gearbox is aiming to make the game run at “mostly around” 30fps on Switch 2, and it will support the Joy-Con 2 controller’s mouse mode.