Borderlands 4 is getting closer to release, and we have a new preview giving players a look at two more Vault Hunters who haven’t been shown before – Amon and Harlowe – plus an early boss fight that shows how the game is mixing things up. While this preview only covers a small slice of what’s coming, it gives a good taste of the variety and changes players can expect.

Meet Harlowe

Harlowe used to work as a combat scientist for Maliwan before becoming a Vault Hunter. Her fighting style is all about using weird gadgets and explosive science experiments to control battles. She has three different abilities that all focus on freezing enemies, controlling crowds, and helping teammates.

Her CHROMA Accelerator shoots energy bursts that go through enemies and freeze smaller ones. You can then blow it up for a big radiation explosion that covers a wide area. This makes clearing out groups of enemies feel really satisfying. Zero-Point is more about precise control. It lets you lock down one tough enemy and deal heavy damage to them. Even enemies that can’t be frozen still take good damage, and if you use the second attack, you slam them into the ground hard. This works great against stronger enemies.

The Flux Generator is her support ability. When you throw it down, it creates an energy field that slowly freezes enemies and links them together so damage spreads between them. The description says allies inside the field also get extra shields, which should be useful when playing with friends. Harlowe seems very flexible. When playing alone, she can deal massive ice and radiation damage. In multiplayer, she can focus more on helping teammates. She’s perfect for players who like controlling large groups of enemies and using area-of-effect damage.

Meet Amon

Amon the Forgeknight is different from other Vault Hunters because he has two active abilities instead of one main skill and one passive. Each of his skill trees gives him both an Action Skill and a Forge Skill, making his playstyle more active and specialized.

The Vengeance tree is about defense and support. His Action Skill called Scourge gives him an ice shield and whip that absorbs damage and builds up a meter. When the meter fills up, his whip strikes shoot piercing ice projectiles. His Forge Skill Firewall creates a burning wall that hurts nearby enemies and makes bullets from allies stronger when they pass through it. This tree works well for players who like turning enemy attacks back at them while helping their team survive.

The Cybernetics tree focuses on precision and explosions. The Crucible ability lets Amon throw elemental axes – a fire axe with his left hand to burn enemies or an ice axe with his right hand to freeze them. Frozen or burned enemies explode when they die, which can start chain reactions. Picking up the axe makes his cooldowns shorter, so you want to keep throwing them. The Double-Edge Forge Skill adds a boomerang axe that does ice damage going out and fire damage coming back, plus it makes primed enemies explode. This tree is for players who enjoy technical throwing and big explosions.

The Calamity tree is all about aggressive attacks. Onslaught turns Amon into a berserker, giving him shield regeneration, faster movement, and fire damage on his weapons. It also unlocks Rocket Punch, which lets him dash at enemies and stagger them. The Molten Slam Forge Skill brings heavy area damage with a fiery hammer strike that can wipe out entire groups at once. This tree rewards players who like constant action and overwhelming enemies with raw power.

Amon feels very adaptable, able to switch between defensive support, careful axe throwing, or pure chaos depending on which skill tree you choose. He’s great for players who want variety and the ability to handle different situations.

Idolator Sol Boss Fight

The preview of Borderlands 4 also has a boss fight this time against Idolator Sol, which feels different from typical Borderlands bosses. While the previous boss from earlier previews required aerial grappling to hit weak spots, Sol is more of a ground-based fight with clear attack patterns that you need to dodge actively.

The main challenge is Sol’s armor, which can’t be destroyed normally. During his pillar attack, he drops special canisters that you can grapple and throw at specific body parts to temporarily remove the armor and reveal weak points. Throughout the fight, smaller enemies spawn to bother you, but they also have another purpose – if Sol absorbs them, his armor comes back completely and you lose your chance to damage him until the next pillar phase. You need to kill these smaller enemies before he can absorb them.

Sol keeps constant pressure on you with sweeping attacks you need to double jump over, big area slams you must dash away from, and floor markers that cover the whole arena, forcing you to find safe spots while staying aggressive. As his health gets lower, the fight becomes tighter, faster, and more dangerous.

The Sol fight stands out because it’s more methodical than usual Borderlands combat. Instead of just shooting constantly, you need to read his attack patterns, time your dodges correctly, and strike when you have the right opportunity. It’s a fresh change that adds more strategy to the usual chaos.

Final Thoughts

These two new Vault Hunters show how much variety Borderlands 4 is bringing. Harlowe excels at crowd control and flashy gadgets, while Amon’s dual-skill system makes him one of the most versatile characters the series has seen. Together with the other Vault Hunters, they create a roster that feels fresh and can adapt to many different play styles.

The Idolator Sol fight reinforces this shift toward variety by offering combat that slows down the usual spray-and-pray approach in favor of more deliberate, pattern-based fighting. Having to dodge attacks, manage canisters, and stop enemies from feeding Sol all make the encounter feel intentional and rewarding.

Combined with the new Vault Hunter designs, it looks like Borderlands 4 will be bigger and more thoughtful in how it challenges players to adapt and master different combat approaches. The full game launches September 12, 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC through Steam and Epic Games Store, with Nintendo Switch 2 getting it on October 3, 2025.