It Looks Like I Was Right About The Siren's Skills In Borderlands 4

When I saw the first Borderlands 4 trailer, I just wanted to know one thing: What are the new Siren's powers? Sirens are incredibly important characters who possess mysterious magical powers and can be identified by the glowing tattoos on their bodies. Sirens also play a very special role in Gearbox's Borderlands franchise, taking key roles in every game. They're also important to me, as I have played through every single Borderlands game as a Siren except Borderlands 3. (What can I say? Zane was just too charming to pass up.)

Over the years, Borderlands has built up the lore of Sirens, giving them specific criteria and skills to follow. The biggest takeaway from all the information we've gotten throughout the games is that there is a finite number of Sirens in the world, either six or seven depending on where you source your information, and we've already seen a majority of them. This also means that we've either seen or played as most of the types of Sirens that could possibly exist in the franchise. What, then, could the Borderlands 4 Siren's powers be?

I Think I Predicted The Borderlands 4 Siren's Phase Power

I Began By Eliminating Which Powers She Couldn't Have

Every Siren in the Borderlands franchise has a special power, with a name that generally starts with "phase." Each Siren power has its own specialty, from the ability to control technology to the ability to summon massive spectral arms to beat enemies down. Like Sirens, there can only be a handful of special powers in existence, and when one Siren dies she passes her power on to another person in the world. This means that although we might keep seeing new Sirens appear in the games, there are only six phase powers they could have.

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About a month ago, I thought I had the next Siren all figured out. I went through every Siren already mentioned in the Borderlands series and eliminated the powers that the new Siren couldn't have. This included all the powers that have already appeared in the games as belonging to playable characters and ones that are currently possessed by Sirens who are alive. This ruled out Phaselock, Phaseshift, Phasetrance, and Phasewalk, leaving only two possibilities for which power the BL4 Siren can possibly possess.

This is where it got a little muddy. We know for sure what one of the available powers is, but the other is a big question mark. Several Sirens have appeared in the game, whether in person or through historical documents and recordings, whose powers were unknown. For instance, Commandant Steele from Borderlands 1 and Dido, lover of the legendary explorer Typhon DeLeon, were both reportedly Sirens but their powers were never revealed.

To make matters even more confusing, a Siren by the name of Asha shows up in the Borderlands comics, though those aren't considered canon. In other words, one of the special powers that the BL 4 Siren could possess is one big question mark. Luckily, the mysterious sixth power isn't the one I thought the next Siren would wield. Instead, I was sure that the new character would possess the power of the Borderlands 3 antagonist, Phaseleach—and now that a new trailer is out, it looks like I might have been right.

The New Borderlands 4 Trailer Seems To Confirm My Predictions About The Siren's Power

The Community Has Dubbed The New BL4 Siren The "Phasereaper"

Gearbox released a new trailer for Borderlands 4 during the February Sony State of Play, revealing a release date of September 23. More importantly, the trailer finally gave us a glimpse at the new Siren in action. Though we had seen her design in the previous trailer from The Game Awards, there had been no footage of the Siren's special powers, until this new trailer finally showed fans what to expect from this new addition to the Siren family.

The new trailer doesn't reveal too much, but it does show enough to confirm that the new character is, in fact, a Siren (which some fans were unsure about). It also shows enough of the new Siren's powers to earn her the awesome nickname of "Phasereaper" from the community.

Redditor OneSimplyIs posted two clips of the Siren's powers from the trailer for the community to dissect in detail, and it's looking more and more like the Siren's powers will be based on Tyreen's Phaseleach from the previous game. The first clip on Reddit shows the Siren throwing a purple orb at an enemy. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, the purple energy seems to dissolve the enemy, leaving nothing but a skeleton in its place.

The second clip, viewable on repeat on Reddit, is even more interesting. This one shows the character making a purple, glowing version appear in midair, of what looks to be a spectral form of the Siren holding a large scythe. The community is divided about what this specific power will do, suggesting it could be the precursor to a large AOE, a distraction, or even a summon.

What I Think The Borderlands 4 Siren Will Be Like

I Have More Predictions About The BL4 Siren

It's possible that Gearbox reworked the Siren lore again to allow for a new type of Siren to appear, but I don't think this is likely. The story in the last game was too strongly tied to Sirens to change the way they work again. Instead, I agree with some of the fans in the comments, who say that this looks like we're getting a variant of Phaseleech. The colors of the skills used seem to refer back to Tyreen, and the powers themselves seem to fall in line with what we know about the BL 3's antagonist's skills.

I think what we're looking at in the new Borderlands 4 trailer is a precursor to the Siren's "leech" skill. I predict that the "reaper" that appears in the second clip is the Siren preparing to "harvest" some souls for later use. One of the ways the Siren will be able to use this harvested energy is destructive, used to attack enemies with a powerful blast that obliterates them down to their skeletons. I suspect that one of the other ways this energy will be usable is as a summon, which would present some exciting opportunities for Siren users. (Unlike some other fans, I don't think it'll be used for mind control because this was already done with Maya's Thoughtlock skill.)

Borderlands sirens, showing Tyreen, Lilith, and Amara

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Powers aside, I also have some predictions for the Siren character. I believe she'll be a brand new Siren, freshly minted and selected at random when—Minor spoiler alert for the previous game here—Tyreen is defeated in Borderlands 3. There isn't a definitive time frame for how long after BL 3 the events of BL 4 take place, though several fans suggest it's about three years (I couldn't find any information confirming this). However long it's been, the new Siren will still be new to being a Siren and still learning how to use her powers.

I also predict that this Siren comes from a big family, though I admit this part is more of a personal desire than a prediction. So far, nearly every Siren in this game has had a tragic backstory, coming from broken homes and otherwise difficult living situations. This time, though, I'd like to see a Siren who had a loving family until she was suddenly handed these powers and left home to follow the pull of the Vault. No matter what her backstory is, the new Siren in Borderlands 4 looks like she'll be a lot of fun to play, and I can't wait to give her a try when the game releases on September 23.

Source: OneSimplyIs/Reddit (1, 2)