Ruthlessly exploit and attack the vulnerabilities in your enemies' defenses when Loveless the Hacker, an all-new Vault Hunter, arrives on September 10 as paid DLC!* The latest episode of the Gearbox DevCast is a Loveless Spotlight, detailing her backstory, playstyle, and design philosophy. Hosts Andrew Reiner and April Johnson chatted with Game Designer Ryan Bailey, who crafted Loveless' Action Skills and Trait designs.
Two minds exist inside Loveless, forming a synchronized set of lethal skills that strike as one. Through a symbiotic melding of the biological and digital, this ex-Anshin hacker-turned-assassin has become a superior lifeform. Equipped with the highest-end cybernetics, Loveless shares her psyche with a digital virus of her own creation, which can digistruct into a physical Wyrm form to act as a deadly extension of her shared, perfection-seeking will.
Loveless' abilities are aggressive and agile, using a cybernetic arsenal to cut down enemies with Corrosive and Radiation damage. Throw her Plague Star shuriken to slice through mobs while spreading a withering Contagion, outsmart opponents with the stealthy misdirection of her Visual Paradox Nexus that can cloak Loveless and spawns a decoy in her place, or sic her Malignant Construct on targets and watch your symbiote Wyrm companion eradicate them with its tail whips and toxic breath. Loveless' Action Skills have added utility through low-cooldown power spikes called Functions and high-impact finishers called Executables.
The new Loveless Character Short "Uncontainable" features the shared consciousness of Loveless and her viral alter-ego Wyrm, as she recounts a violent dive into the digiverse in pursuit of precious Vault data:
Loveless the Hacker is just one part of the big Borderlands 4 content drop coming on September 10, as Version 1.10 will also introduce the paid DLC of Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort*, and Bounty Pack 5: Amara and the Vile Shadows**, all of which will be available for individual purchase. If you missed the previous Gearbox DevCast episode, which deep-dives into the adventures that await in Story Pack 2 and Bounty Pack 5, be sure to check out the full recap here. With that, let's dig into Loveless' suite of deadly abilities and how they synergize to make her the ultimate life-taking lifeform.
Loveless the Hacker's Trait and Action Skills
For all you theorycrafting Vault Hunters, Loveless' Action Skills and full list of abilities across all three skill trees are now available on the Loveless Vault Hunter page nested within the Game Info page. But if you're looking for a high-level overview, here's a rundown to complement all the info Ryan shared during the Gearbox DevCast.
Loveless' trait RAM is a special bar that fills up as she scores Critical Hits or inflicts Status Effects on enemies, which are both fundamental strengths of her overall kit. Once the RAM bar is full, Loveless' next melee attack will be Empowered with amped-up damage, as she wields her Techno-Kagi claws (a play on the tekko-kagi weapons of feudal Japan) to slice up a nearby, soon-to-be-dead target.
This Empowered melee attack consumes Loveless’ entire RAM bar as an explosive finisher, but you can also opt to save it for the right moment, as her gun damage increases based on the fullness of the RAM bar. Just don't wait too long, as the RAM bar will steadily deplete if you haven't dished out Critical Hits or Status Effects recently.
Loveless's Action Skills have additional Function or Executable effects, along with passives that support them throughout her kit. Certain Action Skills have a Function, an Executable, or both.
Functions: Tap Action Skill an additional time to activate. Typically very low cooldown and fast bursts of power.
Executables: Press and hold Action Skill to activate. These have longer cooldowns with huge payoffs.
As for Loveless' Action Skills themselves, here are the subroutines and skill trees at her disposal. Making smart use of their Function and Executable effects is the key to unlocking their full potential:
- Plague Star (Virology skill tree): Loveless digistructs a massive Shuriken into her hand and throws it at her target, Piercing enemies, dealing Corrosive Action Skill Damage, and inflicting enemies with Contagion, which deals Corrosive Status Effect Damage over time for a duration. If an enemy suffering from Contagion dies, the virus seeks new hosts and inflicts them with a portion of the Contagion Stacks that the original enemy had.
- Executable: Press and hold this Action Skill to detonate all Contagions, consuming them and dealing Corrosive Action Skill Damage in an area.
- Visual Paradox Nexus (Hack / Slash skill tree): Loveless activates her Visual Paradox Nexus for a duration, increasing Movement Speed and Critical Hit Damage. Killing an enemy while Visual Paradox Nexus is active causes Loveless to enter Stealth for a brief duration and creates a Clone at the location of the killed enemy. Only one Clone can exist at a time.
- Function: Pressing Action Skill again will send out a Slash with a Kusarigama, creating a wave of Radiation Melee Damage. If Loveless is in Stealth, the Kusarigama attack will Critically Hit and end Stealth.
- Malignant Construct (Manifestation skill tree): Press Action Skill to Summon a digital Wyrm to fight by Loveless' side. When Loveless summons Wyrm, she gains Symbiosis Stacks, allowing her to benefit from Symbiosis Effects. Symbiosis Stacks deplete over time. Loveless gains Symbiosis when Wyrm kills an enemy or by using certain Passives.
- Function: Press Action Skill while Wyrm is out to order them to Teleport towards an enemy, dealing Radiation Damage in an area around them.
- Executable: Press and hold Action Skill while Wyrm is out to order them to use a powerful Breath Attack on an enemy, dealing Radiation Melee Damage.
Loveless' Virology skill tree has clear elemental affinities for Corrosive and Radiation, though she's adept at applying Status Effects in general, lending to all kinds of build possibilities. If you start racking up Contagion stacks on a few enemies in a larger group, the viral infection can quickly spread and decimate everything it touches. You can also focus in on the Plague Star itself with Augments like d://File, which makes the shuriken ricochet and leave Radiation Hazards in its wake, or the replicat.exe Capstone that sends out three shurikens which orbit around you to unleash up-close Corrosive devastation.
The Hack / Slash skill tree is a mix of skills that reward gunplay and melee attacks alike. As Ryan highlighted, this skill tree evokes gameplay vibes similar to Borderlands 2's Zer0, as it lends itself to builds that prioritize precision shots with Sniper Rifles while also offering specializations for close-quarters combat. The Clone that spawns in after you score a kill during Visual Paradox Nexus can be turned into an extension of Loveless' lethality by Augments and Capstones, while the Footwork passive and its synergistic skills can combine to turn Loveless into a fast-moving melee brawler.
While discussing Malignant Construct, Ryan gave a special shoutout to Gabriel Vézina, a fellow Game Designer who worked on this iconic Action Skill that unleashes Loveless' symbiotic Wyrm. In contrast to more traditional pet classes, such as Vex and her autonomous feline companion Trouble, Loveless' Malignant Construct and its correlating Manifestation skill tree are designed to encourage constant engagement and instruction of Wyrm to maximize its damage. Deploying a consistent rhythm of Functions and Executables will turn Wyrm into a radiation-breathing weapon of mass destruction, and the resulting Symbiosis Stacks will buff Loveless to new heights via a multitude of powerful passives.
Hack the planet on September 10
Loveless the Hacker, Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort, and Bounty Pack 5: Amara and the Vile Shadows are all coming on September 10, available for individual purchase when the Version 1.10 update drops. But Loveless isn't the only Vault Hunter making a splash on September 10, as Version 1.10 will increase the max level cap by 10 levels for all Borderlands 4 players, and includes plenty of balance adjustments for other Vault Hunters!
If you're looking to style yourself like Loveless, or just want a closer look at her outfit, accessories, and weapons, be sure to check out the official Loveless the Hacker Cosplay Guide over on the Community Hub page!
As a quick refresher, owning Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition gets you all of the content from the Bounty Pack Bundle (Bounty Packs 2, 3, 4, and 5) and Vault Hunter Pack (Story Packs 1 and 2), while Borderlands 4 Deluxe Edition gets you the Bounty Pack Bundle. Content from individual Bounty Packs and Story Packs will also be available for separate purchase.
*Story Pack 2 DLC has two parts: new story content in FL4K and the Last Resort, and a playable Vault Hunter with Loveless the Hacker. Included in the Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition, Vault Hunter Pack, and available for separate purchase. Base game required.
**Bounty Pack 5 DLC has two parts: a repeatable mission in Amara and the Vile Shadows, and rewards earned through gameplay with Vault Card 5. Included with the Borderlands 4 Bounty Pack Bundle, Deluxe and Super Deluxe Editions, and available for separate purchase. Base game required.
