FL4K - Beastmaster levels and abilities in Borderlands 3 Borderlands 3 guide, walkthrough
Last update: 18 September 2019
FL4K is one of the playable characters in Borderlands 3. This section of the guide contains basic information related to this figure. You will learn about Fl4k's abilities. In addition, we have prepared a recommended build for FL4K, where we have collected, in our opinion, the best combination of active and passive skills.
- FL4K - General information
- Fl4k - recommended build
- Fl4k - the skills of the Hunter tree
- Fl4k - Master skill tree
- Fl4k - Skills of Stalker tree
FL4K - General information
- FL4K is an artificial intelligence seeking the meaning of its existence. This character represents the hunter class.
- This character's specialization is Beastmaster thanks to which FL4K can be accompanied by one of three types of pets - assistants.
- Each of the available pets can attack enemies in a different way, such as using melee attacks or attacking from a distance. You can also issue Attack Commands by holding the Action Skill button. Your pet can, e.g. charge at an enemy or use a different firearm.
- After reaching the higher tiers of the "starting" pet's skill tree, you should replace it with one of its two stronger variants. You can get the new stats bonuses and change how your pet attacks enemies.
- Fl4k can be developed in two main ways - develop your pet into a supportive companion or prepare a whole build around your pet to increase the strength of its attacks. The build prepared by us assumes choosing the second scenario, to make the pet as strong as possible.
Fl4k - recommended build
In our opinion, the most interesting way of developing Fl4k is to make sure that the pet deals highest damage possible to your enemies and additionally cast strong negative statuses on them (especially radiation). Most of the skills (also the used Action Skill) in our build derives from the Master tree. This is complemented by selected skills from the Stalker tree.
This build assumes the use of the active Gamma Burst skill, the activation of which is the ideal way to start any battle. If you measure it right, enemies from the Rift will take massive damage. The ability of Gamma Burst also allows you to resurrect a pet if it is knocked down. You don't have to risk getting to the sidekick to bring him back to life.
One of the most important additions to this build is the passive Dominance skill from the very bottom of the Master tree. It allows you to drag a single opponent to your side (crowd control). For a certain amount of time you can have two allies - a pet and a controlled opponent. This is very useful especially if you play alone.
ABILITY / SKILL NAME [TREE] | SKILL TYPE | COMMENT |
Gamma Burst [Master] | Action Skill | Always try to create a Rift near the strongest opponent you've seen. If the pet is dying, then by activating Gamma Burst you have a chance to bring him back to life immediately. Unfortunately, the active skill will need more time to renew itself. |
Great Horned Skag or Eridian Skag [Master] | Pet | Both recommendations concern improvements to the Guard Skag pet. In our opinion, their effectiveness is very similar. The best way to test both abilities is to try them - they differ in the pet's behavior after an attack command is executed and with the second bonus to Fl4k's statistics (damage from guns or fire rate speed). |
Atomic Aroma [Master] | Action Skill Augment | This improvement is very helpful in further weakening enemies after a irradiated pet appears at the Rift. |
Endurance [Master] | Action Skill Augment | This is a great upgrade to promote aggressive gameplay and make the pet more powerful as you kill enemies while the Gamma Burst ability is active. |
Ferocity [Master] | Passive Ability | Purchase all 5 levels, allowing the pet to deal 50% more damage. |
Persistence Hunter [Master] | Passive Ability | Bonuses to statistics are theoretically related to Fl4k, but the extended Action Skill duration can also be useful for your pet. |
Go for the Eyes! [Master] | Passive Ability | It's a very important skill for a pet. At its highest level, each first attack in melee combat deals as much as 75% more damage. |
Who Rescued Who? [Master] | Passive Ability | This is a great supportive skill that allows Fl4k and his pet to heal each other. |
Frenzy [Master] | Passive Ability | This is another skill that increases damage dealt. The great thing is that the bonus is for both, Fl4k and his Pet. |
Psycho Head on a Stick [Master] | Passive Ability | This ability has only level 1, but immediately offers good bonuses for statistics. You can easily increase the speed of the pet's movement and the strength of its attacks. |
Mutated Defenses [Master] | Passive Ability | It's one of abilities that makes your pet to live longer. It also offers only one level of advancement. Unfortunately, you can't use it all the time because it has a fixed cooldown. |
Pack Tactics [Master] | Passive Ability | Again, you can increase Fl4k's and Pet's damage. Additionally, their health bars are extended what is very useful. |
Dominance [Master] | Passive Ability | You must attack the enemy in melee combat to properly take control over them. Also try to attack the beasts in this way, as the ability will work for up to 24 seconds. It is worth to choose the strongest possible enemies so that after they join your side they can help you as best as possible. |
Self-Repairing System [Stalker] | Passive Ability | Unfortunately, this skill is only supported by Fl4k, but still the bonuses for maximum health and its regeneration will be very useful. |
Eager to Impress [Stalker] | Passive Ability | Purchase this skill to reduce the cooldown on your Action Skill. This is important in this build, as any activation of the radioactive Rift can seriously injure enemies within its range. |
Lick the Wounds [Stalker] | Passive Ability | Acquire this ability if you play alone, that is, if you can't be treated by other players. Resurrecting a pet can save your life more than once when there are no mobs nearby to kill in order to get a Second Wind action. |
Fl4k - the skills of the Hunter tree
Action Skill and pet
Fl4k has two action skills within the same tree. These are the proper ability and the pet, which is summoned at the moment of its activation. You don't have to choose the Action Skill + Pet combination from the same skill tree. Action Skill and Pet can come from different trees.
Skill Name / Pet Name | Action Skill Effects and Comment |
Rakk Attack! | Releases two flying Rakk creatures that bomb enemies and deal damage from fire. This skill has two stacks, so you can make raid one after the other. You don't have to wait each time for your skill to renew. |
Spiderant Centurion | Summons Spiderant pet. This monster can attack enemies and perform charges. In addition, its presence contributes to the slow regeneration of Fl4k's health bar (1% of health per second). |
Action Skill Augments
These improvements concern the Rakk Attack! skill. They occupy the left column of the skill tree and need to be unlocked after a certain number of development points have been accumulated. At the moment you can have only 2 augments out of 4 available in the active slots.
We advise you to take an interest in the last two augments you may unlock. You will be able to deploy more monsters on your enemies and your ability can become available more often. The first two augments are not completely useless and you can set them when you need to regenerate more effectively or when you are fighting enemies whose weakness is chill and cold status.
Requirements | Augment Name | Augment effects and commentary |
5 points | Rakk Open a Cold One | Flying Rakk creatures can inflict cold damage and freeze enemies. |
10 points | Falconer's Feast | Successful attacks by Rakk creatures lead to the regeneration of Fl4k's health. Up to 7% of your health can be recovered. |
15 points | Flack 'N Load | Add 2 Rakks to the group. You can have up to 4 Rakks that may attack your opponents. |
20 points | Rakkcelerate | Active skill charges 20% faster and gains 1 extra stack. This means you can send up to 3 groups of Rakks in a short period of time. |
Upgraded Pet
Once you have unlocked the improved pet (new variety), you can place it in the same slot as the Spiderant Centurion. Again, we would like to remind you that you can combine a pet with Action Skill from another development tree.
Spiderant Scorcher is a more offensive pet and Spiderant Countess a more defensive pet.
Requirements | Pet Name | Pet Features and Comment |
10 points | Spiderant Scorcher | Spiderant can deal additional fire damage. In addition, Fl4k also deals 10% bonus damage from elements. |
15 points | Spiderant Countess | Spiderant, instead of performing a charge, can bury himself underground and deal Corrosive damage. In addition, Fl4k gains a 5% damage reduction. |
Passive Abilities
The following table describes all passive abilities of Fl4k from the Hunter skill tree. The points requirement in the first column indicates how many development points you need to invest in this tree to make a skill available for purchase. Passive skills have 1 to 5 levels and buying each level increases their effectiveness.
Requirements | Skill Name | Passive Skill Effect and Comment |
0 points | Interplanetary Stalker | A bonus to damage is awarded for each enemy defeated by Fl4k. It can sum up to a maximum of 3 times. |
0 points | Leave No Trace | There is a chance that after the critical damage, you will get an extra bullet in your magazine. This is best suited for weapons with strong single shots. |
0 points | Second Intention | Fl4k gains a reload speed bonus when he kills an enemy. The bonus can be doubled if it was a critical strike. |
5 points | Hunter's Eye | Fl4k gains reduce damage bonus, armor bonus, and critical damage bonus when he's struggling against different types of enemies. |
5 points | Head Count | Action Skill's cooldown may be reduced when critical damage is dealt. Unfortunately, this is only a 10% chance by default. |
5 points | Ambush Predator | When there are no enemies nearby, a you get a bonus to critical damage and weapon handling. This is a useful skill if you are attacking enemies from long distances. |
10 points | Two F4ng | There is a chance to fire an extra bullet during your attacks. By default, this is only a 5% chance, although you may notice a difference with automatic weapons. |
15 points | Big Game | Skills from the Hunter category become much more effective and have a longer duration (by default up to 1/3). |
15 points | The Most Dangerous Game | Killing a Badass opponent or a stronger enemy gives you a bonus to critical hits, weapon handling and weapon damage. In addition, you will get credits. The bonus lasts 2 minutes. |
20 points | Galactic Shadow | Fl4k deals increased (15% by default) critical damage and enemies attack less frequently. |
20 points | Grim Harvest | Fl4k gains bonus to damage from weapons and damage caused by Action Skill. |
25 points | Megavore | Fl4k gains a 20% chance to critically hit with a weapon. The bonus damage will be particularly visible if you use weapons that have higher striking force and damage than fast rate of fire. |
Fl4k - Master skill tree
Action Skill and pet
Fl4k has two action skills within the same tree. These are the proper ability and the pet, which is summoned at the moment of its activation. You don't have to choose the Action Skill + Pet combination from the same skill tree. Action Skill and Pet can come from different trees.
Skill Name / Pet Name | Action Skill Effects and Comment |
Gamma Burst | Fl4k creates a Rift at the point you aim at by teleporting your pet there. Pet deals radiation damage to nearby enemies as he appears. In addition, the pet is irradiated and deals radiation damage in subsequent attacks. Using Gamma Burst, when a pet is knocked down or dead, will revive it in its target location with 30% health. The disadvantage is that it will double the Action Skill cooldown. |
Guard Skag | Summon the Skag pet. The monster can attack enemies and spit acid on them. In addition, its presence increases Fl4k's damage by 5%. |
Action Skill Augments
These improvements concern the skill of Gamma Burst. They occupy the left column of the skill tree and need to be unlocked after a certain number of development points have been accumulated. At the moment you can have only 2 augments out of 4 available in the active slots.
We suggest you take an interest in Empathic Rage and Endurance upgrades that combined together will let you to deal more damage over a longer period of time. If you prefer to play very defensively, you can use Burst Aid in the place of one of them, so that you can quickly heal yourself with Action Skill.
Requirements | Augment Name | Augment effects and commentary |
5 points | Atomic Aroma | Pet is surrounded by an aura of radiation that deals continuous damage to all enemies in the vicinity of the pet. |
10 points | Empathic Rage | For the duration of Gamma Burst, Fl4k's damage is increased by 20 percent. |
15 points | Endurance | Killing an opponent by Fl4k or a pet increases the attack strength of the pet by 10% and extends the duration of Gamma Burst by 3 seconds. A maximum of 5 such bonuses can be added up (50%, 15 seconds). |
20 points | Burst Aid | The Rift remains visible when Gamma Burst is activated. Standing next to it guarantees health regeneration (20% per second). |
Upgraded Pet
After unlocking the improved pet (new variety), you can place it in the same slot as the Guard Skag. Again, we would like to remind you that you can combine a pet with Action Skill from another development tree.
The choice of an improved pet should mainly depend on whether you prefer higher damage or improved firing rate speed.
Requirements | Pet Name | Pet Features and Comment |
10 points | Great Horned Skag | Skag can charge on enemies and throw them into the air. In addition, Fl4k's damage from attacks with weapons increases by 10%. |
15 points | Eridian Skag | Skag can attract and pull enemies. In addition, Fl4k gains 5% to fire rate speed. |
Passive Abilities
The following table summarizes all passive abilities of Fl4k in the Master tree. The points requirement in the first column indicates how many development points you need to invest in this tree to make a skill available for purchase. Passive skills have 1 to 5 levels and buying each level increases their effectiveness.
Requirements | Skill Name | Passive Skill Effect and Comment |
0 points | Ferocity | Pet deals more damage. This is as much as 10% for each unlocked level, so the final difference in the combat abilities of a pet can be huge. |
0 points | Persistence Hunter | Increases the damage dealt by Fl4k's weapons and extends the Action Skill duration (up to 15 percent for each level). |
0 points | Go for the Eyes! | The first close-combat attack by a pet guarantees an automatic critical hit. Even at the first level, the difference in severity of damage is large, cause it equals 15%. |
5 points | Who Rescued Who? | Whenever a pet deals damage to an enemy unit, Fl4k gains health regeneration for a few seconds. It also works the other way around - your pet can regenerate when Fl4k deals damage to someone. |
5 points | He Bites! | After pet gets hit you may reflect some received damage towards the enemy. In this way you can "pass" 5% of the damage on to each skill level. |
5 points | Frenzy | Damage dealt by a pet guarantees him and Fl4k the status of Frenzy - it provides increased attack strength. This effect may accumulate a limited number of times. |
10 points | Psycho Head on a Stick | Each time Fl4k kills an enemy, his pet gains eight seconds of increased movement speed and damage. The skill only has 1 level to unlock. |
10 points | Hive Mind | When Fl4k takes damage, some of the damage is shared with the pet. It might relieve Fl4k a bit. |
15 points | Barbaric Yawp | The power of all bonuses granted to pet is increased. Even at the first level, this is an increase of as much as 20%. |
15 points | Mutated Defenses | When a pet has a low level of health, it receives lower damage and regenerates its health. Once the effects are over, the skill needs a lot of time to regenerate. |
20 points | Pack Tactics | All damage dealt by Fl4k and his pet and their maximum health points levels are increased. |
20 points | Shared Spirit | It's a skill similar to Hive Mind. After Fl4k's health has fallen to a low level, a large portion of all damage he takes is passed on to the pet. This is another ability that can help you survive longer at the expense of your pet. |
25 points | Dominance | After attacking an enemy in melee combat Fl4k takes control over them, turning them into an ally for a short period of time. If the enemy is a beast, the time of action is doubled. Under the influence of dominance, the target constantly loses health until it dies or the effect is over (maximum duration of the ability is 12 seconds). Only one enemy can be dominated at a time, and an enemy can be dominated only once. |
Fl4k - Skills of Stalker tree
Action Skill and pet
Fl4k has two action skills within the same tree. These are the proper ability and the pet, which is summoned at the moment of its activation. You don't have to choose the Action Skill + Pet combination from the same skill tree. Action Skill and Pet can come from different trees.
Skill Name / Pet Name | Action Skill Effects and Comment |
Fade Away | Fl4k can become invisible. In this mode the hero can launch 3 missiles and each of them will be an automatic critical hit (200% damage bonus). It's best to use a strong weapon to make every shot a powerful attack. Also, Fl4k gains movement speed and health regeneration bonuses while using the camouflage. Invisibility lasts up to 15 seconds. |
Jabber Sidekick | Summons a Jabber pet. This sidekick can attack enemies with a gun and throw irradiated barrels into them. Furthermore, his presence increases Fl4k movement speed by 50%. |
Action Skill Augments
These augments concern the Fade Away skills. They occupy the left column of the skill tree and need to be unlocked after a certain number of development points have been accumulated. At the moment you can have only 2 augments out of 4 available in the active slots.
The selection of augments largely affects the way you intend to use invisibility. If you care more about offensive play then Guerrillas in the Mist and Unblinking Eye will do the trick, and if you prefer a more defensive style of play - Not My Circus and Until You Are Dead.
Requirements | Augment Name | Augment effects and commentary |
5 points | Guerrillas in the Mist | Invisibility doesn't end after 3 attacks. However, the critical hit strike decreases and the Fade Away duration is reduced to 8 seconds. |
10 points | Not My Circus | When the Fade Away effect gets depleted, the pet will taunt, attracting the attention of all enemies in a large radius. For a few seconds after the taunt, your sidekick will get a massive reduction of received damage. |
15 points | Until You Are Dead | The Fade Away's health regeneration and movement speed bonuses are maintained for 10 seconds after the skill effect gets depleted. |
20 points | Unblinking Eye | Successive hits on the same target increase the critical damage strength of Fl4k by 75%. The ability resets every 3 hits. |
Upgraded Pet
After unlocking the improved pet (new variety) you can put it in the same slot as the Jabber Sidekick. Again, we would like to remind you that you can combine a pet with Action Skill from another development tree.
In both cases Jabber can access different types of weapons. Decide whether you like the combination of rifle + melee weapon or SMG + rocket launcher.
Requirements | Pet Name | Pet Features and Comment |
10 points | Beefcake Jabber | Jabber uses a shotgun instead of a pistol and can also attack with a melee weapon that knocks back enemies. In addition, Fl4k's health bar is extended by 10 percent. |
15 points | Gunslinger Jabber | Jabber uses SMG weapons instead of a pistol. When Action Skill is activated, pet can also use a rocket launcher. In addition, Fl4k gains a 5% bonus to critical damage. |
Passive Abilities
The following table summarizes all passive abilities of Fl4k from the Stalker tree. The points requirement in the first column indicates how many development points you need to invest in this tree to make a skill available for purchase. Passive skills have 1 to 5 levels and buying each level increases their effectiveness.
Requirements | Skill Name | Passive Skill Effect and Comment |
0 points | Self-Repairing System | The maximum health of Fl4k is increased (by up to 6% per level). In addition, health can slowly regenerate itself. |
0 points | Sic 'Em | The attack command for the pet gets improved. It can be used more frequently and pet can deal more damage when instructed to do so. |
0 points | Furious Attack | After shooting an enemy, Fl4k gains Furious Attack status, which guarantees bonuses for damage and weapon handling. The effect can accumulated a limited number of times and disappears after a short time. |
5 points | Eager to Impress | Action Skill's cooldown decreases every time Fl4k kills someone. Pet's attacks can shorten the cooldown even further. In addition, the attack command cooldown can be completely reset to zero. |
5 points | All My BFF's | The team (other players) can partially heal with Fl4k. In addition, Pet has a guaranteed double health regeneration. |
5 points | Overclocked | Fl4k receives a bonus to fire rate speed, which increases after reloading. The best results will be achieved with these weapons, which often need to be reloaded. |
10 points | Lick the Wounds | Pet will try to revive Fl4k as he fights for his life, when he is in the state of Fight for Your Life. This is a huge boost, especially if you're playing alone and you can count on a reaction of your pet. |
10 points | Turn Tail and Run | During movement, Fl4k continuously regenerates health and received reduced damage from enemies. When standing still, he gains bonus damage and and faster fire rate. Each of these bonuses is more or less useful. |
15 points | The Fast and the Furryous | If Fl4k has more than half his health, he gains bonus damage and a bonus to movement speed. This skill only checks health, it is not important whether the shield has been destroyed or not. |
15 points | Hidden Machine | Fl4k deals more damage if an enemy has no target or attacks another target. It works best if you play in cooperation mode or with a pet that effectively distracts opponents. |
20 points | Rage and Recover | After killing an enemy, Fl4k and his pet regenerate their health for a few seconds. |
25 points | The Power Inside | Fl4k and his pet receive bonus damage while Action Skill is active. If Fl4k is in full health, the damage dealt gets doubled. |