The Borderlands series has always had an affinity for pop culture references, so it’s no surprise that Easter eggs are already popping up in the recently released Borderlands 3 gameplay. Peer long and hard at Vault Hunter Zane’s Borderlands 3 skill tree, and you’ll see that two of his skills - Quick Breather and Seein’ Red, to be precise - have flavour text that’s a nod to both Captain America and Breaking Bad respectively. Specifically, Quick Breather reads I can do this all day and Seein’ Red says No half measures. Did you feel that? Goosebumps.
So far Zane is the only Vault Hunter that can have two Action Skills available simultaneously, as you can use both his sentinel drone (which shoots at enemies) and his digital clone (which also shoots at enemies, plus you can switch places with it) at the same time. Sure, the price you pay is giving up your grenades but, after playing Zane in the demo, I can assure you it’s totally worth it.
To get even more advanced, Quick Breather makes your shield recharge whenever you swap places with your Clone, and Seein’ Red means that whenever you use an Action skill all your kill skills immediately activate too. Nifty. Having spent an hour and a half in Zane’s Vault Hunter boots, he’s definitely shaping up to be a character that players will undoubtedly spend hours tweaking and perfecting until they’ve got the perfect killing machine and, with new features like skill augments (which add status effects to your action skill), there’s tons of potential builds for every Vault Hunter. So, even when you’re adventuring with a buddy, you could both be playing Zane but rocking completely different skill sets. The mere thought of that brings a tear to my eye. Sniff.
Hungry for more Borderlands 3 goodness? I don’t blame you. Here’s the biggest things that have changed in our Borderlands 3 preview, or look below to see what Rhys sounds like after all that Troy Baker Borderlands 3 drama!
