Mastering a Vault Hunter and trying to level up their stats to become even more powerful (or to match your friends’ builds) is always a fun yet laborious task, especially when there are a ton of possibilities for builds – as is the case with Borderlands 4.
However, two quite specific stats got many players scratching their heads over what exactly they meant: Skill Damage and Action Skill Damage. Well, I can’t blame them. The difference between a single word is not really that clear, and with so many stats flying around on your screen, it’s easy to get lost.
All this confusion led to a post on Reddit, created by the user “Inferior_Jeans”, who simply asked the obvious question: “What exactly is the difference between Skill damage and Action Skill Damage?”. Thankfully, a Gearbox developer stepped up to clarify for us.
Gearbox Explains the Difference Between Skill Damage and Action Skill Damage
According to the lead character designer Nicholas Thurston, who commented on the post with his user “Aertyr”, the difference is quite simple.
“Skill Damage and Action Skill Damage are like Gun Damage and Shotgun Damage. All Skills are skills, but only some are Action Skills. Same as all Guns are Guns, but only some are Shotguns”, explained Thurston. “Skill Damage influences Action Skill Damage (which includes things like Pets, and Forgeskills on Amon), Passive Skills (That deal damage), Traits (that deal damage, like Gravitars Entangle). Action Skill Damage influences only Action Skill Damage. This includes things like Pets (that also benefit from Minion Damage), and anything else the Skill lists as ‘Damage’ on the skill.”
He even went further and gave some examples. “Amon’s ‘Onslaughter’ does Melee Damage with his fist, this would get Skill Damage, Action Skill Damage, and Melee Damage. [And] Vex’s Specters would get Skill Damage, Action Skill Damage, and Gun Damage (since they use Guns)”.
In short, Skill Damage affects all abilities, while Action Skill Damage only boosts the abilities you actively trigger during combat. That means knowing this small distinction can make a huge difference for players who want to maximize their builds.
Our review of Borderlands 4 calls the game “exactly what the franchise needs”, improving on previous installments with strong writing and a compelling gameplay loop – read the full article.
Borderlands 4 was originally released on September 12, 2025, and is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via the Epic Games Store and Steam), with a release for Nintendo Switch 2 slated for the near future.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
