The latest Borderlands 4 breakdown from developer Gearbox focuses on the endgame grind where many players will spend most of their play time in this looter shooter RPG, and as someone who hasn't really invested into a Borderlands endgame since Borderlands 2, I'm thinking I might be back.
In a new video and blog post, Gearbox commits to an endgame loop about "challenging yourself against tough enemies, amassing the awesome loot they drop, then using it to strengthen your build and take on even more difficult challenges for even better loot."
"Making sure Borderlands 4's endgame stays engaging long after you've rolled credits is a huge focus for the team," the studio writes, "creating a highly replayable loot chase whether you're continually powering your main character up with new gear or rolling alts to try out other Vault Hunter classes."
To that end, the Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode from Borderlands 2 has been revived. Creative director Graeme Timmins tips his hat to the second entry in the series, calling UVHM a "beloved community feature" and saying "we wanted to bring it back" with some modernizations. (It was also in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, but like many players, I don't have quite as much love for that game.)
UVHM is basically New Game+ with hot sauce. Finish the campaign to unlock it, then prepare for tougher enemies with special modifiers and better loot. You'll get more XP and resources, and you'll have a better shot at high-rarity gear and signature Legendaries.
"When Borderlands 4 launches, Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode will have five difficulty levels, which are unlocked incrementally by completing challenges spread across Kairos and will put your skills and Vault Hunters' builds to the test," Gearbox explains. "Once you've completed enough challenges, you'll face a climactic trial: a Wildcard Mission, which tasks you with replaying a mission filled with buffed enemies who have a new set of lethal traits."
These Wildcard Missions will also serve as weekly challenges, with Gearbox remixing encounters that guarantee a Legendary.
This returning mode is embellished with loot and progression systems like boss-specific drops, "Firmware" optimizations that let you nest set bonuses within the non-gun parts of your build, and Specializations replacing Borderlands 3's Guardian Ranks as the extended power treadmill that lets you "level up hundreds of times" for incremental bonuses.
Here's an especially encouraging tidbit: "In Borderlands 4, the act of loot farming has been improved to offer more variety and more predictable goals—including dedicated drops, another inclusion inspired by player feedback.
"Instead of fighting the same bosses over and over again in the same part of the map, you're now incentivized to take the fight across Kairos and fight a wide variety of enemies in the pursuit of the specific loot you're looking for."
At the pinnacle of Borderlands 4's endgame sits Pearlescent-tier loot, "a new loot tier above Legendary," and "Invincible Bosses," the de facto raid bosses, which will start rolling out in post-launch patches beginning in Q4 2025. These bosses are actually quite killable, but sound like hell to fight.
"Think of them as bosses on steroids: massive health pools (not literally invincible, but close to it), extremely lethal attack damage, and new modifiers that can make quick work of any unprepared Vault Hunters," Gearbox says.
With Destiny 2 currently trying to extract the pickaxe it headbutted of its own volition, I suddenly have a looter shooter-shaped hole in my life, so you can color me intrigued by all this endgame stuff. I'm nothing if not a numbers goblin, and Gearbox does anything right, it's making a number go up. A lot of this stuff sounds pretty good on paper, so I hope it's compelling in practice come launch.
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