Under Cover Zane
The Best Borderland 3 Support Build

You can also check our other Borderlands 3 builds at Best Borderlands 3 Builds for all Characters

1. Build overview

This is currently the best Support Build for Borderlands which is based on Zane's Barrier Shield which blocks incoming projectiles and increases the Gun Damage of all allies inside significantly. The Barrier also grants your active Shield's bonuses to all allies, however, makes it have a slightly reduced the effect on Zane. The Solo capabilities when playing this build are greatly limited as it's mainly focused on assisting teammates with the Barrier and by Freezing enemies rapidly. Since we don't benefit from any Gun Damage bonuses, we have decided to pick Duct Tape Mod and Fractal Frags so that you throw extra "free" Grenades for some additional damage. This build offers currently the highest team bonuses out of all the available characters and has insane Crowd-Control via several sources of Cryo Damage. 

2. Build's PROS & CONS

PROS

Very high team utility  Great Crowd-Control  Passively throws Grenades for extra damage   Very tanky

CONS

Low Damage  Can't play Solo

3. Passives

Below you will find the recommended Passive for the Under Cover Support Zane build. This is heavily Oriented on the Under Cover Tree which provides the Barrier Skill and numerous bonuses to it. It also enhances Zane's defensive capabilities. We have also decided to use the Didi-Clone from the Doubled Agent Tree, which grants some extra damage with the Passive chance to throw free Grenades and additional Cold Nova for extra Freeze. 

Under Cover Tree

Under Cover is the primary Tree which is used when playing a Support Zane. This Tree provides the Barrier Skill with insane team utility bonuses and very solid defensive buffs which allow Zane to stay alive during the hardest encounters. Usually, he will be the last one standing and reviving allies Notable Passives: Best Served Cold - Zane creates Cold Nova whenever he kills Frozen enemies to Freeze even more enemies in the area; Calm, Cool, Collected - grants Zane increased Shield Recovery, and if he is already full, his Action Skill Cooldown is reduced allowing you to drop your Barrier sooner; Distributed Denial - the single-best Support Passive in the game. It makes your Barrier share your equipped Shield's bonuses with your allies.

Doubled Agent Tree

We have decided to choose Doubled Agent for some extra passively thrown Grenades and Skill Effect duration via Borrowed Time Passive Notable Passives: Borrowed Time - increases Zane's Action Skill Duration making it a must-have for this build; Duct Tape Mod - gives you a passive chance to throw free Grenades whenever you fire, giving us some extra DPS.

Hitman Tree

Choosing Hitman's Passive is optional, but since we are going to use mainly Cryo Weapons, it may not be a bad idea. Notable Passives: Cold Bore - grants increased Cryo Damage after you switch your Weapons.

Support Zane Build Skill Bar

Barrier - the core support/defense Skill used in this build. It blocks incoming projectiles and increasing Gun Damage of anyone behind the Barrier; Redistribution - further increases Gun Damage when the Barrier takes damage; All-rounder - makes the Barrier work as a dome, protecting allies and increasing Gun Damage in every direction; Digi-Clone - summons a Digi-Clone which will attract enemy Fire and periodically throw Zane's equipped Grenade; Schadenfreude - recovers Zane's Shield whenever the Clone takes damage; Binary System - whenever Zane switches places with the Digi-Clone a Cold Nova is cast to Freeze enemies in the radius.

4. Weapon Tips

This build primarily utilizes Cryo Weapons, and what weapons you choose is up to you. Since we have a Chance to slow down enemies with each bullet, it's recommended to use Weapons with high Fire Rate, but that's not mandatory. Your primary goal should be to get the best possible Shield, as its' bonuses are shared across your party. Also picking up powerful Grenades will be a good idea since they make up for quite a big portion of your total DPS.

1. Frozen Heart - one of the best Shields you can choose for this build. It is a very Solid Shield which also creates Freezing Novas when it gets depleted. It can drop from Aurelia Hammerlock on Eden-6;
2. Band of Sitorak - grants high bonus Health and Gun Damage when it's depleted. It's supposedly a random world drop but has a higher chance to drop from the Unstoppable Side Boss on Eden-6;
3. Night Hawking - Legendary SMG which has greatly increased Cryo Damage's effectiveness and additionally slows down enemies on Hit. It also has a high Rate of Fire and DPS. It's a random world drop which means you can find it anywhere in the game.

END NOTE

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Gearbox Software