Borderlands 4 was released earlier this month, and we are sure that there are quite a few of you Vault Hunters exploring Kairos. If that’s the case, then you might have also been experimenting with a slew of different weapons. There are a whole lot of them, and getting into the fine details can be a bit difficult. For example, some of you might be scratching your heads at what the difference really is between Action Skill Damage and Skill Damage.
It can be a bit confusing. Some of you, I’m sure, are just looking to go with the weapons that have the bigger numbers. That’s fine, you play how you like. However, for those trying to create the best build to suit their playstyle, knowing how various elements interact with each other is more than important. Those details are crucial, so one developer took it upon themselves to help explain the difference between the two damages.
Borderlands 4 Developer Explains Action Skill Damage & Skill Damage
If you were looking at different details of an item, you might find that there are two different Skill Damage sections. You might find an Action Skill Damage and a Skill Damage. They might seem the same, but it has some fans wondering what the actual difference is between the two.
That’s what happened with one Reddit user who took to the official Borderlands 4 subreddit in hopes of getting a clear answer. Fortunately, there are developers from Gearbox Software who are able to clarify. That’s exactly what Reddit user Aetry did as they explained and gave examples in their reply. We’ll include the official quote from the developer below, and hopefully that will clarify things.
Bl4 Dev here – Skill Damage and Action Skill Damage is like Gun Damage and Shotgun Damage.
All Skills are skills, but only some are Action Skills. Same as all Guns are Guns, but only some are Shotguns.
Skill Damage influences Action Skill Damage (which includes things like Pets, and Forgeskills on Amon), Passive Skills (That deal damage), Traits (that deal damage, like Gravitars Entangle).
Action Skill Damage influences only Action Skill Damage. This includes things like Pets (that also benefit from Minion Damage), and anything else the Skill lists as “Damage” on the skill.
Examples:
Action Skills benefit from BOTH Skill Damage and Action Skill Damage.
Amon’s “Onslaughter” does Melee Damage with his fist, this would get Skill Damage, Action Skill Damage, and Melee Damage.
Vex’s Specters would get Skill Damage, Action Skill Damage, and Gun Damage (since they use Guns).
Forgedrones (as an example) only benefit from Skill Damage, as they come from Passive Skills, as well as Melee Damage.
Of course, we might see some slight changes over time with some of these items after buffs and nerfs. But that should hopefully get you going with whatever build you’re trying to perfect in the game. Meanwhile, in other news related to the latest Borderlands game, we know that a new Vault Hunter named C4SH is coming. Likewise, for those of you on Nintendo Switch 2, we recently learned that the game has unfortunately been delayed indefinitely.
