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Borderlands 4 Build

Shotgun Lancer Rafa

Rafa

APOPHIS Lance

End Game

By Garnet

Updated on Oct 29, 2025

Oct 29, 2025

Build Overview

This build will primarily focus on using Jakobs shotguns like the Hellwalker, Hot Slugger, or even non-uniques with Rafa's APOPHIS Lance. Both to gain a massive critical chance (100% with no crit knife) and massive damage while charging Apophis Lance. We will also have massive damage from El Soldado, First Impression and Vitriol. We will have amazing one shot damage which will play nicely with Jakobs ricochet ability and Bounce Pass enhancement.

The tl:dr for this build is just charge APOPHIS Lance and hip fire with a Hot Slugger or Hellwalker and watch enemies drop. The main important piece of gear is the Dancer class mod as it will massively increase Overdrive bonuses and allow us to reach 100% crit chance with no knife or Piercer enhancement. Btw, you can't even use the crit knife ordnance while APOPHIS Lance is active anyway, so it wouldn't benefit this build that much.

Note: do keep in mind that since we are using critical hit chance primarily, we will not benefit fully from the critical hit formula. Specifically critical bonuses from Enhancements, Coms, or Firmwares. But that won't stop us from being very powerful.

Strengths And Weaknesses

Doesn't really need super specific gear (aside from theDancer class mod)
Highly effective even if you're a bad shot
Easily deals with UVHM5 content
100% Crit Chance with no Knife or Piercer

may feel awkward to handle Apophis Lance while shooting at first
will not benefit from the full critical hit formula

Build Variants

Default

Piercer

The basic gameplay flow is to activate APOPHIS Lance. For mobbing, you can just shoot once to activate Ojo Rojo then start charging Apophis Lance and hold it for the full duration of the action skill, doubling the bonus damage of El Soldado. Shotguns are easy to use and hip fire with even while charging Apophis Lance. For Badasses, Bosses, or otherwise tough enemies, you can shoot them twice first to apply two marks (APOPHIS Lance applies a mark to an enemy anytime you shoot them, making them take 20% more damage per mark.) Then start charging your final shot to double El Soldado bonuses. The Dancer class mod is super important for this build, as it massively increases overdrive bonuses allowing us to hit 100% critical chance with no other gear.

Juerga will allow our APOPHIS Lance to last for a very long time. Since it'll be easy to land crits, we can continuously proc Juerga.

With the Dancer, activate Apophis Lance, then kill an enemy to activate Soltado. Finally, with max stacks of Jaque and a blast from Ojo Rojo, we achieve 100% crit chance. It's easier than it sounds.

If you have the Piercer enhancement, which grants Jakobs weapons 20% critical chance, check the "Piercer" build variant instead.

Skill Tree

Default

Piercer

Points Spent 0 / 49

LMB Allocate

RMB Unallocate

5/5

1/5

5/5

Rinse as we will be reloading a lot. It will activate Preparado giving us action skill cooldown rate. First Impression and Vitriol will give us great damage on our first shot, which we will almost always get with stuff like the Hot Slugger and Hellwalker. Brain Dump will give us great crit chance with Jaque, Soltado and the Dancer class mod while Overdrive is active. El Soldado will give us huge damage while charging Apophis Lance. Sitiar is just more gun damage. Juerga will give us increased action skill duration on critical hit, which is great because it will be really easy for us to crit. In my experience, a single point in Al Centro is enough to improve your weapon handling. Resiliencia will give us some nice durability with the overdrive bonuses from the Dancer. If you don't have the Jakobs Piercer enhancement, I would take Ojo Rojo. You can shoot once when you start Apophis Lance, then this with all your other crit bonuses will allow you to hit 100% crit chance. If you do have Piercer, check the Piercer tree.

Equipment

Default

Piercer

Weapons

Repkit & Ordnance

Utilities

Jakobs Shotguns with low mag sizes work best with this build. However, you certainly can still use other gear. The Seventh Sense for example if great with this build too if you run out of shotgun ammo. It's also easy to hip fire with, and the crit chance with this build can guarantee that the extra projectiles also critically hit. Hot Slugger, Hellwalker, Rainbow Vomit, T.K's Wave, and the Seventh Sense are all great. You can even use non-unique Jakobs Shotguns. The Underbarrel Launcher is super good, and actually has the best damage when the shotgun has the lowest mag size, so keep a look at for those. They are also great for Vile Enemies. I have a non unique Dullahan for example, which has a one shot mag and underbarrel launcher and does work.

If you can get the Legendary Jakobs Enhancement with Piercer and Bounce Pass, that would probably be best. Quintain is the name. But Piercer and Bounce Pass will both be good. Just make sure to avoid Leaper and Sequencer. We don't need Leaper because we will almost always be getting critical hits, and we don't want Sequencer because critical hit chance (non weakspot hits) will not benefit from it. Anything that doesn't actually hit a regular weakspot will not benefit from the full critical hit formula, including firmwares, enhancements, class mods etc

The Dancer Class Mod is very important for this build, it's the main piece of gear we have built around as it gives us massive Overdrive bonuses.

The rest of the gear is up to you. Just use your favorite shield, repkit, and ordnance. I have been running the Triple Bypass which is great for survivability. If you can get an Amp (Amplified) roll, that will give you a big damage bonus. Highly recommend using that with the Underbarrel Shotgun to melt bosses quickly when farming. The Accelarator (Adrenalized) Perk is also nice for action skill cooldown rate. Health Burst (Fast-Acting) will give you extra healing if you'd prefer something more defensive.

For a shield, just use your personal favorite. I have been having good success with the Cindershelly shield. It will flirt with you and gains more damage resistance every time you take damage.

Again Ordnance is preference. Probably a strong rocket launcher like the Bottled Lightning would be good to get some damage off with when APOPHIS Lance is on cooldown.

For passives on your equipment, remember we won't usually benefit from critical damage bonuses. It doesn't really matter outside of that, but I'd look out for non critical damage bonuses, action skill cooldown rate, or whatever other utility you might want

Firmware

Default

Piercer

Repkit & Ordnance

Repkit FirmwareGOOJFC

Ordnance FirmwareGOOJFC

Utilities

Class Mod FirmwareGOOJFC

Shield FirmwareHeating Up

Enhancement FirmwareGod Killer

It really doesn't matter for the build very much. I would just avoid critical damage bonuses since we won't get them most of the time with this build. If you want some recommendations, I would take 3 GOOJFC, 1 Heating Up, and 1 God Killer. This will give you action skill cooldown rate, reload speed, and bonus damage against Badass enemies.

Specialization

Default

Piercer

Specialization 1Riddle You This

Specialization 2One Shot, One Kill

Specialization 3Down But Not Out

Specialization 4Now With Caffeine

For specializations, the build really doesn't rely on them so it's okay if you don't have them unlocked. I would just recommend Riddle You This and One Shot, One Kill for damage. Now With Caffeine can be really nice for cooldown rate especially with the Triple Bypass, and this build is largely centered around getting and maintaining APOPHIS Lance. Finally I'd take Down But Not Out. If you do get downed, it can be kind of hard to aim in fight for your life. This will allow you to ads in ffyl and removes accuracy penalties so it can help you land your shots.

Again, the build doesn't really rely on specializations so feel free to change these up however you want.

Gameplay

Juerga will allow our APOPHIS Lance to last for a very long time. Since it'll be easy to land crits, we can continuously proc Juerga.

With the Dancer, activate Apophis Lance, then kill an enemy to activate Soltado. Finally, with max stacks of Jaque and a blast from Ojo Rojo, we achieve 100% crit chance. It's easier than it sounds.

If you have the Piercer enhancement, which grants Jakobs weapons 20% critical chance, drop Ojo Rojo and take Sangre por Sangre for the cooldown rate. Just start charging Apophis Lance as soon as you activate it, and all the shots will fire when the duration runs out activating Sangre por Sangre.

If you run out of shotgun ammo, or just wanna try another weapon type, I recommend the Seventh Sense. It is awesome with this build as the bonus projectiles will also critically hit.

Remember you can use your repkit while APOPHIS Lance is active as long as your aren't actively charging a shot.

-Okay, it seems like shotguns grant 2 stacks of Jaque per projectile. You can get 20 at once with the Hellwalker

Notes

Thanks for reading comrade! Check out the video guide if you want! This build is honestly very versatile and easy to setup. You really just need the Dancer and a good Jakobs weapon to do work. Remember that for bosses, you can shoot them twice first to apply two marks to them making them take extra damage before you start charging your final APOPHIS Lance shot for El Soldado bonuses. For mobbing, I would just shoot once to activate Ojo Rojo. Unless you have Piercer, then take Sangre por Sangre and just immediately start charging APOPHIS Lance when you activate it.