"Feels like I'm shooting pebbles": Gearbox is planning Borderlands 4 patches to buff legendary pistols, help assault rifles, and improve the beloved Hellwalker

Borderlands 4 has been out for the better part of a month now, which means it's time for the most important part of the post-launch cycle – waiting for balance patches to fix your favorite pieces of loot. Gearbox is teasing a handful of items on the immediate to-do list, and it's looking like a good time if you like legendary pistols, assault rifles, or the beloved Hellwalker.

Creative director Graeme Timmins and associate creative director Grant Kao "have a plan of attack for the next couple weeks of changes," according to a tweet from the latter dev. "We have a big patch coming soon that will address the recursive behaviors of a few passives which will impact a few builds."

In response to content creator Moxsy's note that Star Helix "genuinely needs a buff, feels like I’m shooting pebbles," Kao says that "this week we're going to tune some pistols and put in a damage increase for the hellwalker that we didn't get in time when we converted it to fire. ARs will come next!"

The Hellwalker was a favorite in Borderlands 3, and it should be – after all, it's a tribute to Doom's Super shotgun, one of the greatest weapons in video game history. But while it returned in Borderlands 4, it didn't deliver quite the same punch in the new game. Hopefully the next round of buffs will give it that ol' deadly feeling once more.

Kao says that the team's goal "has always been to increase and enhance the build variety of classes and gear to tackle the game now and challenges we have lined up in the future." With that in mind, they aim to start "increasing the value of some legendary pistols" in the immediate future before they "look at increasing the opportunity for ARs to shine." Hopefully that means those bullets won't feel like pebbles much longer.

If you're looking for more loot, check out all the Borderlands 4 Shift Codes we've dug up so far.