As Borderlands 3 will be released in September 2019, it's a good time to already familiarize yourself with the new playable Borderlands 3 characters. The game takes place some years after the second part, with the Calypso twins Tyreen and Troy appearing on Pandora as new villains. They lead the Children of the Vault, a fanatical bandit cult.

While Tyreen is one of the six sirens active in the entire universe and has magical powers, Troy seems to have very similar abilities - judging by his siren-like glowing tattoos. As only women can usually become sirens, a scene in the trailer where Lilith has lost her own tattoos suggests that Troy may have robbed her of her powers. Numerous other acquaintances also make a return in Borderlands 3, including Tiny Tina, Sir Hammerlock, Marcus, Moxxi, and Claptrap. Concerning the playable characters, the game will again feature four different protagonists. Each character in BL3 symbolizes a class with different play styles and abilities - you can't choose a character and a class separately. The protagonist is the class with which you will play the game.

Moze - The Gunner

Moze commands a mech that she calls Iron Bear. The mech constructs itself around Moze as soon as it is called, making her more mobile than other gunners in the Borderlands series, most of whom have handled static gun turrets. An interesting detail is that a teammate can jump on the Mech and occupy the gun on the head of Iron Bear. Cooperation with team members will, therefore, make Moze more effective.

Amara - The Siren

Amara represents the siren of Borderlands 3. Unlike their predecessors Lillith and Maya, Amara can summon additional arms. Therefore, she is also designed for close combat. She can, however, only equip one ability at a time and only provide it with one augmentation. Amara has three starting skills:

• Phaseslam: The siren jumps into the air and hits the ground with its astral arms.
• Phasecast: Amara fires a projection that damages enemies on its way.
• Phasegrasp: This ability allows Amara to imprison an enemy in a magical fist that emerges out of the ground.

In addition to her three starting skills, she can also unlock other alternate abilities. These are often improved versions of her starting skills, featuring a longer cooldown:

• Fracture: With this skill, several fists come out of the ground, dealing damage to enemies within a certain radius.
• Downfall: The siren jumps into the air and fires a beam at enemies before unpacking its Phaseslam.
• Reverberation: Amara sends a projection like a Phasecast, but the damage increases with each enemy hit.
• Deliverance: This skill fires a projection that fires target-seeking elemental missiles as soon as enemies are hit.
• Tandava: A projection that explodes when an enemy is hit.
• The Eternal Fist: An enemy is locked up like during a Phasegrasp. However, if the enemy dies, the effect can jump over to up to three close enemies.
• Ties that Bind: Also a Phasegrasp, which distributes the damage to other enemies when the locked target is hit.
• Fist Over Matter: An alternate Phasegrasp where fists strike enemies near the trapped enemy.

FL4K - The Beastmaster

FL4K is something like the hunter of the group because he can command different beasts. There are three different companions that FL4K can summon, including a Skag. At the moment it is not clear if the Beastmaster can only summon one companion at a time or all three.

Zane - The Operative

Zane has some resemblance to Zer0 from Borderlands 2 - the character can place dummies that attract enemies. He also has other useful gadgets in stock, such as an attack drone. Furthermore, he is the only one of the four new characters who can equip two skills - making him lose his grenade slot. Zane's skills can be improved or changed with up to two augmentations, but he can't unlock any more abilities.

• Barrier: With this ability, Zane places a shield that blocks enemy damage and also increases the weapon damage of Zane and his friends as they shoot through it. The shield can also be worn by Zane, making it smaller.
• SNTNL: This skill sends out a drone that attacks enemies automatically and can be directed to specific targets.
• Digi-Clone: Zane creates a hologram of himself that distracts and even attacks enemies. The hologram can be improved to throw grenades, an ability the character would otherwise have to do without.

Zane can upgrade each of these abilities with up to two augmentations. He will then trigger a Frost Nova when he swaps with the clone.