Borderlands 3 guide, tips and tricks for Vault Hunting

Borderlands 3
(Image credit: Gearbox)

A Borderlands 3 guide will help aspiring Vault Hunters of any level, skill or experience find their footing as they return to Pandora. Whether it's collectibles, bosses, Shift Codes or more, there's plenty to learn, loot and kill - or in some cases, all three at once!

Whatever the question, our Borderlands 3 guide covers everything you need to know about the game, to help you conquer Pandora and its challenges with the maximum of profit, peril and legendary loot. What more could any self-respecting bandit-blasting adventurer ask for?

General tips

Borderlands 3 tips

Borderlands 3 tips

(Image credit: Gearbox)

If you're new to the Borderlands franchise or you just want a quick refresher on how the world works, our Borderlands 3 tips are for you. From preparing for boss fights to picking your class at the start of the game, we've got it all.

Shift Codes

Borderlands 3 Shift Codes

Borderlands 3 Shift Codes

(Image credit: Gearbox)

When you reach Sanctuary, you'll find the big golden chest which requires golden keys to open. You get these through Borderlands 3 Shift Codes, which are essentially codes given out by Gearbox employees on places like Twitter. Keeping track of them all yourself is a huge pain though, so check out our guide which has all of the Shift Codes we know of.

Patch notes

Borderlands 3 Patch Notes

Borderlands 3 Patch Notes

(Image credit: Gearbox Softworks)

If you want to keep on top of the latest developments in the game, then you need to know what's changing by checking out the Borderlands 3 patch notes. From the most recent hotfixes to complete system overhauls, we'll be covering all the updates you need to know about.

Legendaries

Borderlands 3 legendaries

Borderlands 3 legendaries

(Image credit: 2K Games)

Legendary weapons are a huge part of Borderlands 3 and it's always a joy when you see the orange beam appear over some loot. We've got a list of all the Borderlands 3 legendaries we've found, including their effects. We've also got some guides on how to get specific legendaries:

Borderlands 3 One Pump Chump
Borderlands 3 Infinity Pistol
Borderlands 3 Porcelain Pipe Bomb
Borderlands 3 Hazardous Sellout

Best guns

Best Borderlands 3 guns

Best Borderlands 3 guns

(Image credit: Gearbox)

Outside of legendaries, we've got some of the best Borderlands 3 guns during the game's opening chapters here. From The Big Succ to The Leech, here's the weapons you're going to want to use early on.

Best character

Best Borderlands 3 character

Best Borderlands 3 character

(Image credit: Gearbox)

Along a similar line, you also need to select your class right at the start of the game. There's four options to choose from so read up on who we think is the best Borderlands 3 character here.

We've also got each of the skill trees in separate guides, so you can read up on them and decide for yourself which is best:

Borderlands 3 Amara
Borderlands 3 Zane
Borderlands 3 FL4K
Borderlands 3 Moze

Boss guides

Borderlands 3 boss guides

Borderlands 3 boss guides

(Image credit: 2K Games)

There's a bunch of tough Borderlands 3 bosses and while you might breeze past some of them, there's others which prove to be a formidable force such as Killavolt and Captain Traunt. Here's some tips for defeating each specific boss:

Borderlands 3 Killavolt
Borderlands 3 Wick and Warty
Borderlands 3 Captain Traunt
Borderlands 3 Katagawa Ball

Typhon Logs

Borderlands 3 Typhon Logs

Borderlands 3 Typhon Logs

(Image credit: Gearbox Software)

Each area of the game has three separate Borderlands 3 Typhon Logs hidden around them, and finding them all will unlock a final Typhon Dead Drop in that location containing a cache of weapons. Our guide has all of their locations, so you can track every one of them down.

Eridian writing

Borderlands 3 Eridian writing

Borderlands 3 Eridian writing

(Image credit: 2K Games)

You'll discover examples of Borderlands 3 Eridian writing early on in the story, but you won't be able to understand it at first. If you want to read these cryptic items, then we've got all the information you need so you can decipher them.

How to emote

Borderlands 3 how to emote

Borderlands 3 how to emote

(Image credit: Gearbox)

Believe it or not, emoting is actually confusing in this game. Therefore, we've made a guide on Borderlands 3 how to emote, so you can dance and cheer on the corpses of your enemies too.

Ending explained

Borderlands 3 ending explained

Borderlands 3 ending explained

(Image credit: 2K Games)

If you've made it to the conclusion of the story, then you no doubt have questions about the Borderlands 3 ending and what it all means. Helpfully, we've broken down the events that happen, and tried to answer all the queries you may have about the future of the series.

Ford James

Give me a game and I will write every "how to" I possibly can or die trying. When I'm not knee-deep in a game to write guides on, you'll find me hurtling round the track in F1, flinging balls on my phone in Pokemon Go, pretending to know what I'm doing in Football Manager, or clicking on heads in Valorant.