While Arc Knives might not be Rafa’s strongest Action Skill in Borderlands 4, it’s still useful. It excels at taking on large groups of enemies and bosses that stay on the ground, but building a successful strategy around it can be challenging.
This is a powerful, late-game build for Rafa in *Borderlands 4* designed to quickly defeat enemies. It uses a combination of Corrosive, Kinetic, and Incendiary damage and allows Rafa to withstand a lot of damage. While it struggles against flying opponents, it easily handles enemies on the ground.
Best Arc Knives Rafa Build – Skills
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| Green Tree | |
| Handshake Deal | Increases Gun and Melee Damage. Good all-around boost. |
| Dial In | Melee gains a stacking Melee Critical Hit Chance buff when he hits enemies with melee attacks. Stacks are lost when he hits a crit. |
| Saldar | Melee crits gain lifesteal. Important for face-tanking enemies in the late game. |
| Altered Cabron (Augment) | Rafa restores health when he kills an enemy with Arc Knives. When Rafa heals, he gains Bonus Corrosive Damage on all attacks and gains movement speed. This effect stacks. |
| El Borracho | Rafa deals increased Corrosive Damage while his Action Skill is active. This bonus increases the longer his Action Skill remains active. |
| Sustainable Energy | Rafa gains Health Regeneration while Overdrive is active. The regeneration gets stronger based on how much time Overdrive has remaining. |
| Galvanic Panic | Melee attacks with Arc Knives launches STRM Gliders that deal Corrosive Damage based on the number of Marked enemies. Killing enemies while Arc Knives is active restores its duration. Activating Blade Fury launches a volley of STRM Gliders. |
| Red Tree | |
| Shield Barriest | Rafa gains bonus Shield Recharge Rate and improved Shield Recharge Delay while Overdrive is active. |
| Juerga | Action Skill Duration is restored when Rafa critically hits an enemy. |
| Resiliencia | Rafa gains Damage Reduction while Overdrive is active. |
| Asymmetric Warfare | Indirect Projectiles gain bonus damage. This affects all Action Skill Weapons, Thrown Weapons, and projectiles not fired from your gun. |
| Errant Spark (4/5) | Indirect Projectiles deal bonus Incendiary Damage. If they already deal Incendiary Damage, double the bonus. |
Put five points into each skill mentioned earlier, but don’t worry about maxing out Errant Spark. There aren’t enough skill points available right now to fully upgrade it, and the developers may add more in the future.
In short, this setup focuses on maximizing how long Arc Knives (and Rafa) can stay active. Rafa can withstand a lot of damage thanks to health regeneration from Sustainable Energy and lifesteal from Saldar, as long as he’s attacking and has a good shield. Arc Knives will also stay powered up for a long time with Galvanic Panic and Juerga, but this relies on Rafa landing critical hits frequently and quickly defeating enemies. Similar to other Rafa builds, this one keeps Overdrive active almost constantly.
This version also relies on a couple of unusual but crucial connections between Asymmetric Warfare and Errant Spark.
- Arc Knives fits under the Indirect Projectiles description despite not being a projectile-based weapon.
- Errant Spark’s bonus Incendiary Damage also applies to Arc Knives.
Arc Knives aren’t very effective against flying enemies, so you’ll still need a way to increase your gun’s damage. The Vitriol skill is great for this – it adds extra Corrosive Damage to your next shot after you reload. Pair it with a weapon that has a fast reload speed, and invest 4 points into Vitriol to significantly boost your damage output.
The Lifesteal effect from the Hostile Acquisition skill isn’t currently working with Arc Knives, which might be a mistake in the game.
Specialization Skills
If you’re building a character focused on close-range combat and using Action Skills, here are the Specialization Skills you should prioritize:
- Riddle You This (Brute): Gain Gun Damage every time you deal Gun Damage.
- Bullet Train (Runner): Increase Gun Damage by 15% while walking. The bonus increases the faster you are moving, and you can now Hipfire while Sprinting.
- Now With Caffeine (Daredevil): Using your Repkit restores 25% of Action Skill Cooldown.
- Down But Not Out (Sharpshooter): You can aim while in FFYL, and you suffer no accuracy penalties.
As a fan, I’ve found that Riddle You This is awesome for increasing my gun damage, especially when I’m not relying on my Arc Knives. But if I’m more into powerful, single-shot weapons like the Noisy Cricket or the Hot Slugger, I actually prefer In the Zone from the Sharpshooter skill tree – it works much better for that playstyle.
Currently, Arc Knives isn’t very consistent in how it uses stats. The skill ‘Bear Arms,’ intended to boost melee damage based on gun damage, surprisingly doesn’t work with Arc Knives. However, it *does* work with ‘I Am A Gun,’ which has a similar effect but for Action Skills. If you’re looking to maximize your Arc Knives damage, ‘I Am A Gun’ is a better choice than ‘Down But Not Out’.
Recommended Weapons and Items
Choose a weapon based on the Specialization Skill you’re aiming for – automatic for rapid fire, or something with more impact for a powerful single shot. If you plan to use the Vitriol skill, weapons that shoot one bullet at a time or reload quickly are a great choice. Otherwise, feel free to use any gun you prefer! We suggest finding a weapon that can equip a useful underbarrel attachment, such as Maliwan’s Beam Tosser, Ripper’s Shrapnel Cannon, or a grenade launcher from Jakobs.
Must-Have Legendary Items
- Onion Shield: This is an armor segment-based shield that grants you two seconds of invulnerability when a segment breaks.
- AF1000 Repkit: If you ever lose Arc Knives for whatever reason, an AF1000 with the Accelerator perk will reduce your Arc Knives cooldown significantly.
- Firewerks Shield: Allevieates some of your weakness against flying targets by spawning rockets when your shield segments break, or when you kill enemies.
Class Item
The Dancer Legendary Class Item is a powerful upgrade for Rafa, doubling the benefits of his Overdrive ability. This is especially useful with Arc Knives, as Overdrive will be consistently active. However, it’s not essential – prioritizing a Class Item with desirable stats and skills is generally more important.
Speaking of stats and skills, look a Class Item with any of the following:
- El Catrin (Skill): Sliding grants Action Skills bonus Shock Damage and increases Rafa’s Critical Hit Damage.
- First Impression (Skill): The first shot after reloading deals bonus damage.
- Blowout (Skill): Applying a Mark or scoring crits with Action Skills makes enemies explode and launch Corrosive projectiles.
- Gun Damage
- Action Skill Damage
- Elemental Damage
- Bonus Shields
Firmware Sets
Borderlands 4 has a lot of Firmware Sets, and though you can complete this build without them, using some is highly recommended. The most effective Firmware Sets for Arc Knives are:
- Rubberband Man: Grants Damage Reduction and Lifesteal.
- GOOJFC: Improves Action Skill Damage and Cooldown Rate
- Godkiller: Deal more damage and take less damage from Badasses.
- Deadeye: Increases Gun Accuracy and Gun Critical Hit Damage.
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2025-09-16 16:10