Athena is one of the playable characters in the game, who made her debut in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC in the original Borderlands. Her Action Skill is called Kinetic Aspis, which is a shield that can absorb a finite of frontal damage based on your level, which is stored as energy. The aspis is then thrown, voluntarily or at the end of the duration, which explodes and deals double the amount of the stored damage.
Action Skill: Kinetic Aspis
Press [LB/L1/F] to raise your Aspis and absorb all front damage. The Aspis can store a finite amount of absorbed damage as energy, based on your level. The Aspis is thrown at the end of the active duration, or if you press [LB/L1/F] again. The Aspis creates an explosion upon impact, dealing base damage plus double the stored energy, before returning to you.
- Defensive Arc: 90 degrees
- Active Duration: 11 seconds
- Cooldown: 16 seconds
Phalanx Skill Tree
| Name | Tier | Lvls | Description |
| Invictus | 1 | 5 | Increases the Damage (7% per level) dealt by the Aspis when thrown. |
| Ephodos | 1 | 5 | Increases Movement Speed (4% per level) and Gun Damage (4% per level) while holding the Aspis. |
| Vanguard | 2 | 5 | While the Aspis is active, you and your nearby friends gain Health Regeneration. The Health Regeneration Rate (1 Rank per level) increases as the Aspis absorbs damage. |
| Hold the Line | 2 | 5 | Lengthens the duration (1.1 seconds per level) the Aspis can be active before it is automatically thrown. |
| Prismatic Aegis | 3 | 1 | The Aspis now stores the elemental damage type of absorbed damage. Multiple elemental damage types can be stored and all stored damage types are dealt by the Aspis when thrown. |
| United Front | 4 | 5 | Damage Absorbed by the Aspis now provides power (5% of absorbed damage into shield power per level) to the Shields of you and your nearby friends. Also increases your Maximum Shield Capacity (4% per level). |
| Clear! | 4 | 1 | When thrown, the Aspis' explosion grants Second Wind to friends within range. In addition, you gain a Damage Bonus (40%) while in Fight For Your Life. |
| Stalwart | 4 | 5 | Allows the Aspis to absorb a percentage (20% per level) of damage from your friends' guns. Also increases your Maximum Health (5% per level). |
| Return Fire | 5 | 5 | When active, the Aspis has a chance to reflect (10% per level) incoming Lasers and Bullets while still absorbing their energy. |
| Prepare for Glory | 5 | 5 | Activating the Aspis taunts nearby enemies, making them more likely to attack you. Additionally, for every individually enemy who inflicts damage on your Aspis, you gain a stack of Prepare for Glory, increasing your Gun Damage (2% per stack). Stacks persist for a short duration after the Aspis has been thrown. |
| Wrath of the Goddess | 6 | 1 | The Aspis will ricochet to up to 4 additional enemies, each taking less damage (33% reduction each ricochet) than the last. The Aspis will return to you after it hits the final enemy. |
Xiphos Skill Tree
| Name | Tier | Lvls | Description |
| Gun Kata | 1 | 5 | Increases Gun Damage (3% per level). Additionally, your Melee Damage (10% per level) is increased for a short duration after shooting an enemy. |
| Clarity of Purpose | 1 | 5 | Increased Melee Damage (5% per level) and Maximum Health (3% per level). |
| Mercurial | 2 | 5 | Kill Skill. Killing an enemy increases Movement Speed (4% per level) and Damage Resistance (5% per level) for a few seconds. |
| Omega-Senshu | 2 | 5 | You deal increased Damage (7% per level) to any enemy who has less than 50% of their Maximum Health remaining. |
| Rend | 3 | 1 | Your melee attacks cause enemies to bleed (12 seconds duration), inflicting damage over time. The damage is increase again higher Health targets (up to 100% bonus damage), and the damage also benefits from your Melee Damage bonuses. |
| Bloodlust | 4 | 5 | Gain Health Regeneration whenever you make an enemy Bleed (0.8% of Max Health/sec per Bleeding enemy), for the duration of the Bleed effect. This effect stacks if you have multiple Bleeding enemies. |
| Epicenter | 4 | 1 | Slam Alteration Skill. When you Slam you now create a singularity, pulling nearby enemies closer and dealing damage to them. |
| Tear | 4 | 5 | Increases Gun Damage (7% per level) dealt to Bleeding targets. |
| You've Got Red on You | 5 | 5 | When an enemy is killed by your melee attacks, or dies while Bleeding, they explode (1 Rank blast radius per level). Nearby enemies will take damage from the blast, and also be kind of grossed out. |
| Fury of the Arena | 5 | 5 | Gain increased Fire Rate (2% per level) and Reload Speed (2% per level) for each Bleeding target. |
| Blood Rush | 6 | 1 | Melee Override Skill. Press [RS/V] to dash toward an enemy and strike them with Xiphos with increased Melee Damage (40%). This ability has a cooldown (10 seconds). If this attack applies a Bleed to a target that isn't Bleeding, or kills a target, the cooldown is immediately reset. Perform a regular melee attack when Blood Rush is on cooldown. |
Ceraunic Storm Skill Tree
| Name | Tier | Lvls | Description |
| Storm Weaving | 1 | 4 | When you swap weapons, you gain Storm Weaving, increasing your Fire Rate (7.5% per level) and Elemental Effect (25% per level) chance for a short duration (9 seconds). |
| Maelstrom | 1 | 1 | Dealing Incendiary or Shock damage causes you to gain stacks of Maelstrom. All Elemental Damage (0.4% per stack) dealt is increased for each stack of Maelstrom. Stacks will decay over time, and this rate of decay increases as you accumulate more stacks. |
| Gathering Tempest | 2 | 5 | Increases Magazine Size (8% per level) and Reload Speed (5% per level). |
| Conduit | 2 | 5 | While you have at least one Electrocute Status Effect active, you regenerate a percentage of your Shields (0.02% per stack) every second for each stack of Maelstrom you have. |
| Smite | 3 | 1 | When you are airborne, shooting an enemy will Smite them, causing Incendiary and Shock Damage in a small area. Smite damage increases as you accumulate more stacks of Maelstrom (minimum 10 stacks). This ability has a cooldown (12 seconds). |
| Unrelenting | 3 | 5 | Kill Skill. Killing an enemy increases Weapon Swap Speed (0.08% per stack) and Fire Rate (0.06% per stack) for each stack of Maelstrom. |
| Superconductor | 4 | 5 | The Aspis has a chance to shock (10% per level) nearby enemies when struck. When this occurs, you gain bonus Maelstrom stacks (5 stacks). |
| Zeus' Rage | 4 | 1 | When you throw the Aspis, a devastating Fire and Lightning Storm will spawn at the target location, doing area damage for several seconds. The damage of the storm increases based on the amount of damage absorbed by the Aspis. |
| Elemental Barrage | 4 | 5 | While Storm Weaving is active, your weapons have a chance (6% per level) to not consume ammo. This chance is increased (0.02% per level per stack) for every Maelstrom stack you have. |
| Overload | 5 | 5 | Whenever you kill an enemy who is electrocuted or burning, there is a chance (9% per level) for the status effect to chain to a nearby enemy. When this occurs, you gain bonus Maelstrom stacks (20 stacks). This bonus is gained twice if the target is both burning and electrocuted. |
| Flash Freeze | 5 | 5 | Whenever you Freeze an enemy, you gain Flash Freeze for a short duration (1 second per level). During this time, you cannot gain or lose Maelstrom stacks. |
| Hades' Shackles | 6 | 1 | Slamming links you to nearby enemies with a Shock Tether for a short duration (3 seconds), electrocuting them. The tether is broken if you lose line of sight to the target. Any enemies still tethered at the end f the duration, or who die while tethered, release an Incendiary Nova, and you gain bonus Maelstrom stacks (20 per enemy) for each enemy affected. This ability has a cooldown (15 seconds). |
