Everything You Need to Know About 'Tiny Tina's Wonderlands'

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands takes place right after the events of the Borderlands 2 expansion, "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep." And just like that special piece of DLC, this full spinoff game will be played within the confines of a world that reflects a fantasy-themed tabletop role-playing game. The many personalities you'll encounter during your magical adventure include Tiny Tina herself, who fills the game's important role of "Dungeon Master." Some of the other characters you'll bump into along the way include a successful tavern owner named Izzy, a formidable "Soothsayer" named Vesper, the head of the "Diamond Guard" elite defense force named Paladin Mike, and many more unique personalities.

The Borderlands playstyle is front and center, albeit with a few noticeable alterations. You'll be able to tackle the game's epic journey by your lonesome or right alongside three other players via online or local split-screen multiplayer. You'll traverse a massive overworld patterned after a tabletop RPG map that's filled with a host of open biomes that reflect the medieval fantasy themes present in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. Players will engage in combat with a host of baddies as they rely on a mix of damage-dealing guns, close-range melee weapons, Wards that play a part in improving their defense, and Rings & Amulets that further upgrade their stats. Borderlands' signature grenades have now been replaced by spells, which are tied to a cooldown meter right after using them.

Instead of selecting vault hunters, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands gives players the chance to choose and customize their very own "Fatemakers." These characters' looks and abilities can be attached to one of six different character classes, which include the Brr-Zerker, Stabbomancer, Clawbringer, Spellshot, Graveborn, and Spore Warden. A special blog post straight from the game's official site noted the main skills that each class relies on during battle:

Brr-Zerker

• Ice Breaker lets you deal increased damage to enemies who are Slowed, which just so happens to be a side effect of Frost damage. The closer your target gets to being frozen solid, the more damage you'll deal!
• Blast Chill gives every melee attack the chance to create a Frost Nova, giving you the potential to deal tons of area damage by swinging your melee weapon like a wrecking ball during a crowded encounter.
• Blood of the Fallen is a Kill Skill that activates whenever you slay an enemy, reducing your Action Skill Cooldown a tad for each enemy downed. Use your Action Skill, score lots of kills with the damage it deals, repeat!

Stabbomancer

• Follow Up creates a stacking effect that increases the damage of your next melee attack whenever your gun deals damage, so close the distance on targets for a lethal one-two punch.
• Elusive lets you sprint at full speed and shoot at the same time, with a chance to evade incoming attacks that increases the faster you're going. You'll be a blur of death on the battlefield.
• Executioner's Blade gives your Gun and Spell critical hits a chance to summon an Ethereal Blade that shish-kebabs your target; with enough Critical Hit Chance stacked up, you'll be skewering opponents left and right!

Clawbringer

• Dragon Aura grants increased elemental damage to you and any nearby allies so you can burn, shock, and freeze your foes like never before.
• Storm Breath lets your Wyvern Companion spew forth arcs of electricity that bounce between targets, and gives you damage reduction to boot!
• Indomitable is a huge boon to your survivability; the next time you would enter the Save Your Soul downed state, you'll instead refill your Ward and gain bonus Lightning damage. Talk about a shocking comeback!

Spellshot

• Magic Bullets take a portion of your bonus Spell Damage and applies it to your guns, so you can blast out tons of damaging projectiles, be they magic or lead.
• War Caster is a Kill Skill that gives you a chance to instantly reload your weapon when you slay an enemy, with increased chance based on your Spellweaving stacks. With any luck, you'll rarely have to fish for a new clip mid firefight.
• Sever the Thread gives your gun's critical hits a chance to instantly reset all your spell cooldowns, letting you fire off a nigh-unending onslaught of spells with the right build.

Graveborn

• Faithful Thralls gives you bonus damage for each Companion you have, providing a strong incentive to Multiclass with another Companion-based class.
• Dread Covenant redirects some of the damage you sustain to your Demi-Lich Companion—and if you're about to croak, your Demi-Lich Companion will sacrifice itself to give you back some health. Talk about taking one for the team!
• Lord of Edges provides increased damage dealt and damage reduction the closer you are to death's door; turn that dwindling health bar into a means for death and destruction!

Spore Warden

• Spore Cloud gives your Mushroom Companion the charming ability to let one rip and create a poison cloud in the process that damages over time. Stink has never stunk like this before.
• Called Shot provides an increasing degree of bonus gun damage and damage reduction the longer you aim down your gun's sights, letting you really get a bead on your target before the precision kill shot.
• Play the Angles will get your shots bouncing hither and thither, as your gun's critical hits have a chance to ricochet once or sometimes even twice. That's getting the full value out of every bullet.

You can get a better look at the rest of the custom character classes in action via the gameplay trailers posted above. It's worth noting that players will eventually unlock the "Multiclass" system, which allows them to attach an additional battle class to their Fatemaker and pave the way for a wholly unique character build that impacts their stats and newly acquired abilities over time. And once you've beaten the game's main campaign, you'll unlock the option to change your secondary class (keep in mind that your primary character class is locked in permanently, though!).

You'll come across a whole host of sweet gear and loot in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. That loot includes all sorts of melee weaponry and firearms, which are categorized under pistols, SMGs, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and heavy weapons. The rarer the gun is, the more powerful it'll be. Some guns rely on elemental attributes, such as Fire, Frost, Lightning, Poison, and Dark Magic. And of course, you'll also be able to get your hands on additional Wards, Rings, and Amulets that'll continue to strengthen your custom Fatemaker's stats & abilities.