Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: Fatemaker class and abilities guide

Every Borderlands game gives players the option to choose among a handful of different playable characters, dubbed Vault Hunters. In the past, these have all been predefined characters, but with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, Gearbox is changing things up a bit. For the first time in the series, players will be able to customize their own characters, now called Fatemakers to fit with the fantasy theme. While players still select a class from which to choose, their physical appearance and cosmetics aren't tied to any one class. It's conceivable that a Graveborn and Spellshot, for example, could look the same. That doesn't mean they'll play the same, though.

With six Fatemaker classes and the option of multiclassing once leveled up to choose from, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands opens up a lot of possibilities for different play styles. Borderlands already sits among the best Xbox games for some people, and this latest spinoff only looks to make the series even better.

Because there are six Fatemaker classes from which to choose, we've compiled them all along with their Class Feats and Action Skills so that players can see which best suits them.

Brr-Zerker

The Brr-Zerker class is exactly what you'd expect from the pun. Combing the melee hits of Borderlands' classic Berserker and an insane amount of Frost damage, the Brr-Zerker specializes in close-quarters combat. That's not to say they aren't good with guns, though. With frost-infused weapons they can freeze their enemies in their tracks. Still, they're best used for players who want an up close and personal view of the action.

Class Feat

• Rage of the Ancients: Every time the Brr-Zerker uses an Action Skill they will become Enraged, dealing bonus Frost damage.

Action Skills

• Dreadwind: The Fatemaker will spin around with their melee weapon, slashing anything and anyone in their path. Their movement speed will also be buffed for a short time.
• Feral Surge: Like any good melee class, Feral Surge allows the Fatemaker to leap toward an enemy and deal a massive amount of Frost damage upon impact. Even better, if this ability is used to damage a non-boss enemy, and their health is already below a certain percentage, it will render an instant kill.

Stabbomancer

Tiny Tina's Stabbomancer class is a stealthy assassin-styled character not unlike Zer0 or FL4K from previous Borderlands games. Like the aforementioned characters, the Stabbomancer can also turn invisible using one of their Action Skills. Playing a Stabbomancer is all about dealing the most critical damage as effectively as possible, whether that means sneaking up with a blade or sniping an enemy from long distances. As Gearbox describes them, Stabbomancers are the "jacks of all trades, masters of none." Adept at wielding critical hit damage along with status effects, Stabbomancers can use every tool at their disposal to take care of someone.

Class Feat

• Dirty Fighting: Increases the Stabbomancer's chances at scoring a critical hit.

Action Skills

• Ghost Blade: The Fatemaker targets a specific location on the battlefield and throws out a spinning Ghost Blade that deals melee damage based on their current equipped melee weapon.
• From The Shadows: Similar to Zer0 and FL4K, the Stabbomancer turns invisible when From The Shadows is activated. Every hit during its duration is a critical hit, but the trade-off is that critical hits deal reduced damage.

Graveborn

Graveborns can be considered the Borderlands equivalent of a necromancer. Described as "Death-touched acolytes," the Graveborn class wields Dark Magic to their advantage at the cost of their own health. And like some other Borderlands classes before it, it's also accompanied by a companion. Instead of a Skag or Jabber, however, the Graveborn makes use of a Demi-Lich that can actually talk back to the character. Players going for a Graveborn will likely favor a risk/reward type of play style, but the buffs are well worth the sacrifices.

Class Feat

• Demi-Lich Companion: A floating Demi-Lich follows the Graveborn, dealing ranged Dark Magic attacks. If the Fatemaker casts a spell, so does the Demi-Lich. Its Hellish Blast deals the same type of elemental damage that the Fatemaker's spell does.

Action Skills

• Dire Sacrifice: You want to deal a ton of Dark Magic damage? You use Dire Sacrifice. Like the name implies, the Graveborn offers up a little something of its own in return for the power: some of their health. Based on the amount of health sacrificed, it will do additional damage.
• Reaper of Bones: A good skill to use when you're near death. Reaper of Bones instantly restores all of the Graveborn's health, granting them Leech Efficiency and bonus Dark Magic damage. As you can expect with this class, the Graveborn also loses an increasing amount of health during Reaper of Bones' duration. Should the Graveborn die, they'll instead become invulnerable for a short time.

Spellshot

While all Fatemakers can wield spells, the Spellshot class is much more adept at using them to their advantage. Like a wizard using polymorph, a Spellshot can turn enemies into "harmless Skeep" with a simple spell. Spellshot definitely seems like a crowd-control type of class and good against a large number of enemies at once. Never one to just rely on the arcane, Spellshots make great use of their guns as well, imbuing them with magical abilities to increase their damage output even more.

Class Feat

• Spellweaving: Stacks of Spellweaving will accumulate every time the Spellshot casts a spell or reloads a weapon, increasing spell damage. These stacks decay after a short time.

Action Skills

• Ambi-Hextrous: Gearbox clearly likes word plays. In addition to the usual spell slot that Fatemakers have, Ambi-Hextrous allows the Spellshot to equip a spell into their Action Skill slot, effectively letting them wield two spells at once.
• Polymorph: As any good D&D wizard should have, Polymorph will turn enemies into Skeep. If the enemy happens to be immune to this ability, casting it instead grants two stacks of Spellweaving and the Fatemaker casts a free spell.

Clawbringer

If the Graveborn are necromancers and Spellshots are wizards, then the Clawbringers in Wonderlands could be considered the paladins. Gearbox notes that Clawbringers are faithful warriors who "seek to bring Heroism to the Wonderlands through fire and thunder." That's not just a statement meant to make them sound tough or cool either. Clawbringers literally harness fire and lightning damage to brutal effect, wielding a mighty hammer onto the battlefield not unlike Thor. They also have a companion in the form of a Wyvern.

Class Feat

• Wyvern Companion: This will probably be the closest we'll get to Mordecai's Bloodwing (RIP). The Clawbringer's Wyvern can fly around and attack enemies using Fire Breath.

Action Skills

• Cleansing Flames: Summoning their hammer, the Fatemaker slams it into the ground, creating a massive Fire Nova.
• Storm Dragon's Judgement: The Fatemakers throws their hammer, dealing lightning damage to anything in its path. And just like Thor and Kratos, Clawbringers can recall their hammer to deal additional damage, ending the Action Skill early.

Spore Warden

I think the closest approximation of a Spore Warden in D&D would be druids. Being one with nature, Spore Wardens can create devastating tornadoes that decimate enemy lines. And not to be left out, they too have a companion, this time in the form of a poisonous mushroom. Spore Wardens seem best designed for co-op play as many of their skills are meant to buff allies, but that doesn't mean they can't be effective in solo play either. They have plenty of tricks up their sleeve to keep enemies out of range so that they never even get the chance to strike.

Class Feat

• Mushroom Companion: A mushroom follows the Spore Warden around, dealing poison damage to nearby enemies. Any buffs to the Fatemaker's damage also apply to their mushroom companion.

Action Skills

• Barrage: When using Barrage, the Spore Warden will summon a magical bow that fires seven arrows and can ricochet among enemies.
• Blizzard: Three frost tornadoes are created that seek out nearby enemies, slowing them in their tracks.

Multiclassing

Players will automatically start out Tiny Tina's Wonderlands by picking one character class, but the option opens up later in the game to select a secondary class, giving the player four Action Skills from which to choose (though only one can be equipped at any given moment). But because Class Feats are passive, players can have two at once, meaning it's possible to run around the map with two companions by their side.

Each class also only has one skill tree, unlike previous games where each Vault Hunter had multiple, so players will need to choose their classes wisely. Fatemakers will earn skill points upon leveling up, but as any Borderlands player knows, there's never enough to unlock every skill in each tree.

Once players beat the main campaign, they can change their secondary class if they want to. The Fatemaker's primary class is unchangeable, however. For that you'll need to create an entirely new character.

Enter the Wonderlands

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands looks like a wonderful extension of the Borderlands universe, no pun intended. Borderlands 2's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC was already excellent, and doubling down on the fantasy theme is doing it a great service with Gearbox's attention to detail. With six Fatemaker classes to choose from and multiclassing on the table, it'll be a hell of an adventure.