Borderlands 4 Vex Leveling Guide: Best Specter Build, Talents & Gear (BL4)

If you’re diving into Borderlands 4 and wondering which Vault Hunter to pick, Vex is one of the most exciting choices you can make. She’s a minion-focused character with an army of Specters that absolutely melt enemies, and when built correctly, she turns into a powerhouse that barely needs to fire a shot herself.

This BL4 Vex leveling guide will walk you through the best skill tree progression, talents, weapons, and gear to maximize her potential. Whether you’re brand new to the game or looking for a strong build to carry you through Mayhem, this is the Borderlands 4 Vex specter build you’ll want to try.

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Why Pick Vex in Borderlands 4?

Vex is perfect for players who love minion-based playstyles. Her Specters shred through shields and health bars, while her talents ensure that both you and your allies stay alive longer. If you’ve ever enjoyed pet builds in ARPGs like Necromancers in Diablo 4, Vex will feel right at home.

While she shines with shotguns (even if that’s not normally your weapon of choice), the synergy with her talents makes them devastating tools in her arsenal.

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Best Skill Tree Progression for Vex (BL4 Vex Talents)

Most of Vex’s power comes from her Dead Ringer (Blue) tree, which focuses on summoning and empowering Specters. By level cap, your tree distribution will look something like 0/13/37 (Red/Green/Blue).

Here’s the ideal leveling route for Borderlands 4 Vex talents:

• Sanguine Fiends (Blue) x5 – Heal yourself and minions on kills (20% at rank 5).
• Grave Assault (Blue) x5 → later respec to Portents of Suffering x5 – Core early-game skill until you transition.
• Blood Sacrifice (Blue) x1 – Triggers all Kill Skills whenever a minion dies.
• Grave Quickening (Blue) x4 – More uptime, faster cooldowns.
• Prismatic Weaponry (Blue) x5 – Scales with elemental damage for you and your team.
• Coven (Blue Augment) – Reapers = Health Regen, Specters = Crit Chance.
• Obedient Fiends (Blue) x5 – Buffs minions directly.
• Diener (Blue) x1 – More durability.
• Dark Pact (Capstone, Blue) + Wither (Augment) – Your Specters don’t lose health during this window, giving you unmatched bossing potential.
• Prismatic Ichor (Blue) x5 – Random elemental effects for extra damage.
• Guns and Needles (Green) x3 – Boost gun performance.
• Grave Sights (Green) x2
• Bloodletter (Green) x5 – Turns crits into Bleeds, your biggest late-game damage spike.
• Fiendish Invigoration (Green) x3 – Fire rate & healing after Repkit use.
• Burning Attunement (Blue) x5 – More scaling damage.

Pro Tip: Penetrator Knife Combo

If you find a Penetrator Knife, it makes all damage against the target auto-crit for 5 seconds. With Bloodletter, this means every shotgun blast and minion hit can apply Bleeds — your damage ramps up insanely fast.

Best Gear for Vex in Borderlands 4

To get the most out of this BL4 Vex specter build, you’ll want to hunt down specific gear pieces:

• Weapons: Shotguns (preferably Jakobs Dullahan with Spread Launcher).
• Class Mods:
• Medical Commander (boosts Fiendish Invigoration + Infusion).
• Alchemist (extra points in Prismatic Ichor).
• Keep one with Bloodletter for boss fights.
• Shield: Firewerks Shield (farm Splashzone early). On kill, it fires homing missiles for massive bonus damage.
• Repkit: Prioritize cooldown reduction (10s or less) with mods like Accelerator, Amp, Leech, or Cooling.
• Enhancement: Legendary Jakobs or Maliwan, if available.

General Vex Gameplay Tips (BL4 Vex Specter Build)

• Let your minions do the heavy lifting. Once your Specters are up, your focus shifts to maintaining uptime and keeping them alive.
• Dark Pact is your bossing tool. It refreshes Specter health, boosts attack speed, and makes them unstoppable for the duration.
• Shotguns + Bleed synergy. Use close-range burst damage to stack Bleeds and status effects.
• Stack Status Effects. Bleeds count as status effects, which trigger your other passives and amplify overall damage.
• Farm Firewerks early. The shield synergizes perfectly with minion kills, giving you extra AoE damage on every fight.

By mid-to-late game, you’ll feel like you’re piloting a small army. Enemies melt before your swarm of Specters, while you blast through Badasses with crit-heavy shotguns.