The Borderlands 3 Vault Hunter count will probably remain at four, with no new heroes planned for DLC

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Don't expect new Vault Hunter DLC for Borderlands 3, as Gearbox instead wants to expand what its existing roster can do

Credit: Gearbox

Keeping with series tradition, there will be four Borderlands 3 vault hunters to choose from when the looter shooter threequel lands in September later this year, but Gearbox apparently has no plans to expand that roster beyond its signature quartet following the game's launch. 

While you can expect new Borderlands 3 DLC in the form of story expansions and cosmetic microtransactions (and, yes, they are microtransactions), the studio doesn't intend to follow its post-launch model with previous games by adding any new Vault Hunters into the mix. 

This news comes via Gearbox's CEO Randy Pitchford on Twitter, who responded to a question about potential DLC Vault Hunters for Borderlands 3 in the future. "We are focused on the main game for now", explained Pitchford, "But my feelings are that it might be better for us to put our time into expanding what the existing vault hunters can do and how interesting their future growth is instead of adding new ones to start over with."

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So, it sounds like Gearbox will be going the Destiny 2 route with its long-term curation schedule, fleshing out existing classes and Vault Hunters with new Borderlands 3 skill trees rather than encouraging players to start afresh on a completely new build. 

For a lot of Borderlands 2 fans, this will come as a disappointment, but the studio's approach outline by Pitchford (which may well end up changing a few years down the line) would certainly cater to a longer and more compelling endgame for Borderlands 3, with players able to experiment with new ways to play with their highest tier characters. 

Pitchford's comments also seem to suggest that Gearbox hasn't settled on this decision either, so it could well be possible that we'll be seeing future Vault Hunters arriving on Pandora in Borderlands 3's future. Just let me play as Krieg again, and I'll be happy. 

Read about what's really going on with Borderlands 3 microtransactions, or watch the video below to learn 20 things you need to know about one of the biggest new games of 2019. 

Alex Avard
Alex Avard

Alex is a former Features Writer at GamesRadar, which once made him responsible for gracing the internet with as many of my words as possible, including reviews, previews, interviews, and more. Lucky internet!