Gearbox Software has announced two new Battleborn characters; for those who aren’t familiar, Battleborn is the studio’s upcoming fast-paced first-person shooter.

Truth be told they have been drip feeding the internet sections of the character roster since June this year, and this is a continuing trend as two new characters were revealed today.

The Two New BattleBorn Characters

Trevor Galt

Trevor was the first of the Battleborn, a peacekeeper in the darkening of the stars. He saw the futility of the opportunistic, petty factions and their wars in this trying time, and understood that not one would be strong enough to survive on their own. He is said to have formed the Battleborn task force through a series of favours, old comrades, and ancient enemies. He is a rallying cry against a much greater evil, a spark in the darkness.

Gameplaywise, Ghalt is somewhat of a tank. Perhaps not up to the magnitude of the previously revealed “Montana” but damn close, and with some extra tricks up his sleeve.

Without modification, Ghalt has a deployable “Scrap Trap” which will stun an enemy foolish enough to step within its AOE for two seconds, before exploding. If an enemy needs a little encouragement to step into the trap, Ghalt also has the luxury of a Scorpion style spear, known only as “The Hook” which will gladly grapple an enemy and drag them into your proximity, and if they are unfortunate enough that a trap is between you and them, well that can’t be helped. The synthesis present here is not only admirable, but lethal given the right conditions.

In terms of his other equipment and abilities, Ghalt wields a shotgun which, as it should be, is devastating at close range to most opponents. If that isn’t enough, his ultimate draws a second shotgun, doubling damage output for 10 seconds. As a passive effect, the last 4 shots in the cylinder of the shotgun deal an additional 25% damage. I’m sure many people are already seeing the awesome power of a quick combo here, laying down a trap into a hookshot into an ultimate should see any enemy dispatched in seconds.

His Helix skill tree allows a plethora of upgrades, from making the “Scrap Trap” invisible at range, to slug rounds for the shotgun, even to the “Hook” having a larger hitbox, draining health and shield, and moving faster. Needless to say, in both lethality and lore, Trevor Ghalt is sure to be the powerhouse of the two new Battleborn characters.

Deande

“Deande”, a spymaster. Reminiscent visually of a wartime propaganda spy, an aesthetic perfectly executed. That said, she certainly has experience, serving the “Jennerit” faction for a touch over 1000 years as a spymaster and assassin. Her rampant use of what is known as “Sustainment” retains her veritable young looks indefinately, a perfect counter for the natural aging process, but not the rather unnatural process of being shot. As such, she must have skills to keep her alive, and indeed she does.

Deande once served Lord Commander Lothar Rendain, who had a small role in an old trailer for “Battleborn”. She was there as he banished the Empress, but could not follow in his morally ambiguous politics, and as such defected to the “Battleborn”, leaving behind the Jennerit faction as a whole.

So how does one survive as a spy in a game of savage battlefield warfare? Simple, deviousness.

Deande utilises iron tipped fans as both a melee weapon, and a short range projectile. Destructive in close combat, Deande players must first find a way to reach their opponent before being shot to pieces, as indeed on the health and defensive side, Deande is as resilient as a thin tissue.

This is where the deception filters into the gameplay. Her first skill allows her to create a “Holotwin” which works to render Deande invisible, while creating a clone which possesses 20% of her health, and 25% of her damage output. This clone will fight under the player’s command for a total of 8 seconds, or being gunned down, before exploding, dealing 20% damage.

For the more overt player there is the so called “Burst dash” in which Deande will charge forward into close quarters, immediately dealing 200 damage to the opponent and lowering their attack damage by 30%, effectively signing their death warrant.

Passively, after uncloaking, Deande players will find that they deal an additional 25% damage with skills and attacks, encouraging the sneaky side of play by which the player is to clone, cloak and back-stab an opponent, assuredly dispatching them with a minimum of effort. Her ultimate, “Blink Storm” is a flurry attack, releasing 10 strikes in quick succession directly in front of her, stunning enemies and dealing 50 damage per hit. Again, a devastating close quarters sweep.

Deande’s Helix tree allows her decoy to deal, tank, or explode for more damage, enables Deande to sap life from enemies she attacks, slow enemies with her attacks, or render her “Burst Dash” singularly lethal to any non tank opponent with damage buffs.

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These two new Battleborn characters seem to be almost the counter of one another. Deande is a mobile, deceptive, fragile assassin while Ghalt is a slow trap based tank. It would certainly be interesting to see how these two characters synthesize or play against each other with a perfect difference in play style and ability.

Battleborn is to be released May 3rd 2016, with more characters speculated to be announced between now and that date.