With all the hype and hyperbole out of the way, Borderlands 4 is nearly upon Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC owners. And while the cycle of looting and shooting remains, the journey to break free from the Timekeeper is riddled with many mechanics to understand and master. Here are 15 tips and tricks, ranging from the early game to Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, spoiler-free, that will make your impromptu revolution that much easier.
Capture All Silos
Kairos is a massive world, and getting around, even with the Digirunner, can take a while. So why not take the scenic route by air? Look for any Silos and prioritize their capture. These unlock fast travel points and provide ziplines that allow for quickly soaring through the air without consuming the glide gauge. Getting the desired direction is a little finicky, but since they’re also required to locate Vault Key Fragments, you should capture them ASAP.
Contract Work
Contracts open up fairly early in the game, and they’re a decent source for loot, XP, cash and Eridium. Keep checking back, though, because as you progress through the campaign, higher-level targets with chances at Legendaries, much higher XP gains, and so on will become available. They could be just what you need to hit max level.
Challenges
Alternatively, pursue challenges, which can range from getting kills with different weapons from each manufacturer, slaying X number of Rippers, gaining Second Wind a certain number of times, and so on. These offer various rewards, including loot and new cosmetic options for your character, weapons, ECHO-4 and vehicles, but almost every single one offers cash, Eridium and XP.
Changing Hover Drives
Tired of the same old acceleration on your Digirunner? Want to go faster? Completing challenges can unlock different Hover Drives from each manufacturer to modify the Digirunner’s stats. Head on over to Customization and the Vehicle tab, then to Hover Drive. Maliwan Runner is recommended for higher top speed, and the other stats aren’t too shabby either.
Clear All the Vaults
If you’ve collected three Vault Key Fragments, you’ll learn the position of a Vault, where numerous enemies and a Primordial Guardian await. You’re going to want to return to these for repeated farming – more on that next – but it’s not a bad idea to clear them once while mainlining the story. They’ll provide upgrades to your Glide Pack, from reduced cooldown to less consumption, meaning more gliding and far more dashes (which is always handy for boss fights).
Farm the Vaults
Rather than running through a Vault and slaying its denizens repeatedly, activate Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine to rematch against their Guardians instead. Your mileage may vary on which ones are worth farming, especially since they have dedicated loot tables like the other bosses, but I would recommend the first Vault Guardian that you’re likely to encounter since it drops some decent class items early on.
Before the End (of the Story)
It’s no secret that Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, the post-game, becomes available after finishing the story. However – and I can’t emphasize this enough – take your time. Complete some side quests en route to finishing the story, unlock all the Silos, enjoy life and level up. Because once you’ve completed the quest chain to unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, everything increases in level. Some enemies are still manageable, seemingly scaling to the player, but I found those in unclaimed Silos to be far higher and more frustrating to deal with. Auger Mines and Order Bunkers should be avoided outright until you’re at least level 40 and unlocked enough Specialization passives while having some decent Legendaries.
Best Specialization Passives
Specializations are brand new to Borderlands and function much like Guardian Ranks. Levelling up provides a Specialization point that can be spent on one of four categories to slightly increase health, shields, gun damage, and so on. Invest enough in a specific category, however, and you’ll unlock Passives. Up to four can be equipped at a time, and there are some pretty strong choices. My early favorites include Bullets are Scared of Me, which provides up to 30 percent damage reduction based on how full your shield or health (whichever is higher).
In the Zone increases gun damage and critical hit damage while aiming down sights, up to 25 percent at five stacks (though it’s lost after two seconds of not aiming). Damage over time builds should also pick up the passive that increases the chance of Status Effect Application with critical hits, hitting 100 percent at ten stacks.
How to Farm Eridium
If you accidentally invested in a certain Specialization category, thinking you would unlock a certain node, only to learn it actually requires a different category, then respeccing will eventually become a necessary and expensive process. Besides laying waste to the toughest enemies, how do you farm Eridium? Contracts are one way, and the Weekly Wildcard Mission is another, but there is a somewhat secret third method: The Goredello. Available for limited periods with no notice – you literally need to open your map and check if the event is running – it’s similar to the Underdome in that you’ll face waves of enemies. There are only ten in total, but completing bonus objectives unlocks greater rewards, including Eridium, on top of enemies dropping some on death, making it a nice way to farm (whenever it’s available, of course).
Locating Certain Bosses for UVHM
To progress through Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode’s tiers, you’ll need to complete certain challenges, all helpfully marked out in the Missions tab under Challenges. Finding them isn’t too big of a problem if you’ve already slain certain bosses – simply look for Moxxi’s Big Encore icon and pay to rematch them – but what about the unknown threats? They’re often located at Drill Sites, Auger Mines, and Order Bunkers, so if there are any question mark icons left on your map, investigate those first. As for the others, check any available side quests, denoted by the blue exclamation marks on your map, particularly those rated “Hard” or “Very Hard.” These might require multiple steps, but the boss in question often lurks at the end.
Regularly Check the Vending Machines
Whether it’s the early, mid or late game, keep checking the vending machines for new gear and weapons. The “Item of the Day” could provide a higher-level Epic than the one you’re currently rocking, but they also have a chance to sell Legendaries. Each vending machine offers different loot, so it’s not a bad idea to regularly fast travel and see if they have any Legendaries on offer, especially with how rare they can be.
How to Get SDU
While unlocking safehouses and Silos or completing activities like Auger Mines, Order Bunkers, Drill Sites and so on, you’ll receive SDU, a separate currency for upgrading the maximum ammo capacity of each weapon type, inventory space, Bank space, and so on. Safehouses are probably the most straightforward option of the bunch, next to Silos and the least likely to give trouble pre-Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, so target those first for some easy SDU. Activities like Propaganda Speakers and Crawlers are also worth investigating. Even the Vault Symbols are worth hunting down – they may provide 5 SDU each, but every little bit adds up.
What to Expand First?
More inventory space. That should be your priority when spending SDU. The next best option is additional bank slots, perfect for tossing in some loot that you don’t want to delete but simply don’t have the space, mentally or otherwise, to deal with. You could invest in more Lost Loot slots, thus ensuring space for anything potentially left behind, but I would expand on the ammo capacity of your preferred weapons first.
Co-op for More Black Market Choices
Available in the post-game, Maurice’s Black Market is a travelling vending machine that changes its goods – and location – every week, similar to Destiny’s Xur for many years. While the choices may seem limited, they’re actually unique to each player, so joining their game could yield the Legendaries you’re looking for.
