“Borderlands 4” has finally arrived after six years of waiting, and the reception is a mix of positivity about the contents of the game and frustration with technical issues.
Hundreds of thousands are playing, and with 50 hours in since I reived an early review copy to demo, I think I can share some tips.
Here are 10 things I wish I knew when I started “Borderlands 4.”
1. Respec Often
While there is a cost to respec your skills at the various machines at the main bases, it’s not as much as it seems; it’s always going to be just a percentage of your current total, like most everything else in the game. I’ve probably respeced at least three dozen times already in an effort to try out various builds, or even when I just wanted to reallocate a point or two. There’s just no reason not to.
2. Purples Are Amazing Now
This genuinely might be one of the most significant additions to the game. Previously you’d quickly toss most purples in favor of legendaries, but because of buffs and the new foundry part combination system, there are some incredible purples. I have felt supremely powerful using many purples, even if they will continue to be replaced as you level. Don’t let older ones lag too far behind before you replace them.
3. You Will Not Get Many Legendaries
Another big change here is that Borderlands wanted to make Legendaries feel legendary again, and that’s extremely noticeable in the campaign. In my 50 hours I think I’ve gotten maybe seven? And only about two from bosses. There are also unique sources.
4. Vending Machines Sell Legendaries
I have gotten two legendaries from simply checking vending machine items of the day, which honestly I did by accident the first time. I probably could have gotten more if I regularly checked these more often. They are crazy expensive, but given how rare legendaries are in the game, you have to take advantage. The two I’ve gotten there are my favorite in the game so far.
5. Boss Farming Is Easier Now
There’s a Moxxi icon that is going to pop up all over the map once you complete various things. That is a new system where you can pay a (low) amount of money to instantly respawn a boss and fight it again with no loading, no save quitting. This is meant for target farming as bosses will have unique loot (I might not bother with this too much until endgame), and it’s a great new system.
6. Ordinance Is Almost As Important As Skills And Guns
While there have certainly been grenade builds in Borderlands before this, Ordinance now being rechargeable means that especially for grenades and now throwing knives, these are up all the time, way more often than your action skills, and they are massively powerful to spam as you fight. Heavy Weapons are also in here, albeit with longer cooldowns, and at least so far, I’ve found them less impactful (better for boss fights in some instances, however). But grenades and knives, especially paired with certain perks and skill tree items, are incredible all the time.
7. Underbarrels Are Wild Now
You know what else is incredible? Underbarrels. We are far away from the days where everything was just a shotgun mode or the occasional grenade launch. There are wild abilities here from one-hit-kill cleaver shots to gravity wells to radioactive fuel rods to corrosive pools to AOE blasts. These are also on cooldowns and an essential part of combat, particularly during boss fights.
8. Actually Listen to ECHOs
The story and writing is a lot better this time around, and nearby ECHOs flesh things out more than ever. They really build out the universe and also individual questlines and are worth listening to this time around.
9. Silos Are Hugely Important
Silos are not safe houses, but they are easier to capture, function similarly and are very important. Silos operate as fast travel points which are essential with such a big map and once you capture them, they spawn a Vault Key Fragment location in that part of the map. Three of those combine into an actual Vault you then have to find and fight the Vault boss within which is obviously going to be one of the biggest encounters in the game.
10. There Is A Campaign Skip For Other Characters
While “Borderlands 4” is great, you may be thinking to yourself “boy, do I really have to do all this with four characters?” You will not. There is a campaign skip option to get your players closer to the endgame without having to go through the entire story again, so don’t worry about that too much.
More tips to come later, hopefully that’s enough to get your started.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
