Borderlands 4

Borderlands 4 Update Notes - October 2, 2025

This update includes some additional balance changes and updates for Vault Hunters.

Welcome to our first significant balance patch! Our high level goal for Borderlands 4 is to always provide players with the tools and means to build their perfect Vault Hunter. Through the combination of gear, Firmware, Skill and Specialization trees, we want players to experiment and craft theories, then put them to the test in combat.

For today's update, we wanted to focus on creating greater build diversity by adjusting underperforming skills. Amon in particular gets a host of adjustments to bring him closer in line with the general power level of the other Vault Hunters. Vex's summons and Rafa's melee power see adjustment to make those builds more viable in the late endgame. Finally, Harlowe has a couple tweaks to make sure Stasis is getting value for players.

Looking to the future, we're investigating stats and behaviors on Class Mods, Rep Kits, Shields, and Firmware to make sure they are providing avenues to greater build diversity. We are also planning to fix a number of unintended interactions. These exploits prevent us from creating meaningful build diversity as they trivialize content that is otherwise meant to challenge players.

We're excited about the future of Borderlands 4 and its upcoming Post-Launch Roadmap. This is just the start of an exciting year of updates and content, and we can't wait to experience it all with our community.

Please restart your game to ensure that the update goes through and to prevent connection errors in matchmaking.

If you're encountering any issues, please contact 2K Support for direct assistance. You can also read the PC Troubleshooting Guide, a list of known issues, or browse a list of Support threads here.

Change List: 

Weekly Activities: 

  • Weekly Big Encore Boss has switched to a tougher variant of a different existing boss with an even more rewarding loot pool for those that take it on. 
  • The Weekly Wildcard Mission has changed. These missions feature a guaranteed Legendary drop that you can repeatedly earn to get your ideal roll.
  • Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine has moved to another location and changed its offerings. Remember, while the location is the same, your vending machine items are different from other players, so ask around to see if someone has the item you’re looking for!

Additional Changes: 

  • Added auto-clearing of Borderlands 4 stale shaders on version update, preventing performance degradation on some PCs.

Character Balance Adjustments:

Harlowe

Action Skills - Zero-Point

  • Stasis Slam Damage increased by 30%
  • Stasis Immune Damage increased by 14.7%

Rafa

Action Skills – APOPHIS Lance

  • Increased Damage by 10%

Capstones – People Person

  • Project: Raiju Damage now scales by 12% per second, up from 10%
  • Project: Basilisk Damage increased by 15%
  • Project: Basilisk Hazard Damage increased by 25%
  • Project: Gorgon Damage increased by 17%

Passives – People Person

  • El Catrín
    • Critical Hit Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
    • Bonus Shock Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
  • Per My Last
    • Double Damage Chance increased to 6% from 5% per point

Action Skills – Arc-Knives

  • Melee Attack Damage increased by 12%
  • Dash Damage increased by 5%

Passives – This Year’s Gimmick

  • Handshake Deal
    • Melee Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • To the Last
    • Skill Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • El Paragus
    • Splash Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • Liquidation
    • Damage increased by 50%
  • Collaborative Ignition
    • Bonus Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • Sinergia
    • Duration increased to 14 seconds from 12 seconds
    • Melee Damage increased to 4% from 3% per point
  • Empuje
    • Action Skill Duration increased to 7% from 6% per point

Vex

Action Skills – Incarnate

  • Phase Explosion Damage increased by 16.6%
  • Eldritch Blast Damage increased by 9.5%

Augments – Vexcalation

  • Energy Vampire Damage increased by 25% 

Capstones – Vexcalation

  • Heartpiercer Damage increased by 22%
  • Desecration Hazard Damage increased by 50%
  • Desecration Airborne Burst Damage increased by 48%
  • Geistwave Damage increased by 41%

Passives – Vexcalation

  • Radiant Attunement now deals 7% Splash Damage, up from 6% per point
  • Dreadlight Hazard Damage increased by 100%
  • Ars Arcana now increases Skill Damage by 9% from 8% per point

Action Skills – Phase Phamiliar

  • Trouble Health increased by 10%
  • Trouble Damage increased by 21.9%

Augments – Here Comes Trouble

  • Violent Outburst Damage increased by 12.5%
  • Vorpal Fang Damage increased by 34%

Capstones – Here Comes Trouble

  • Trouble Bubble Damage increased by 33%

Passives – Here Comes Trouble

  • Blood is Magic now increases Action Skill Damage by 8% from 7% per point
  • Claw and Bang now increases Melee Damage by 8% from 6% per point

Passives – The Fourth Seal

  • Fell Inscriptions Melee Damage increased to 7% from 6% per point
  • Recurrence now increases Melee Damage by 0.2% per stack from 0.16% per point
  • Haruspex Phase Dagger Damage increased by 11.7%

Amon

Action Skills – Scourge

  • Scourge has had its Maximum Vengeance increased by 50%, making it able to absorb more damage and deal more damage with Forgewhip when consumed.
  • Forgewhip Damage has increased by 27% 

Augments – Vengeance

  • Blastchill Damage increased by 45%
  • Molten Rebuke Damage increased by 86%
  • Eternal Winter Massive Forgewave Damage increased by 100%
  • Stormlance Damage increased by 52%
  • Stormlance Detonation Damage increased by 10%

Capstones – Vengeance

  • Glacial Rapture Capstone now has a 60 second cooldown, down from 70 seconds
  • Glacial Rapture Forgewhip Damage increased by 16%
  • Glacial Rapture Fissure Damage increased by 41%
  • Wrathfall Damage increased by 46% 

Passives – Vengeance

  • Scorched Kairos now increases Ordnance Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Battleborn now increases Gun Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Scar Tissue now increases Maximum Health and Rep Kit healing by 9%, up from 8% per point
  • Eternal now increases Action Skill Duration by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Worldbreaker Damage increased by 50%
  • Winter’s Kiss now increases Damage Dealt by 10%, up from 8% per point
  • Strike The Anvil now deals 15% of the Damage Dealt, up from 12% per point

Action Skills – Crucible

  • Forgeaxe Damage increased by 12%
  • Double-Edge’s Twinned Forge Axe Damage increased by 10% 

Augments – Cybernetics

  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Cooldown restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Ordnance restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Endless War Gun Damage Taken increased to 20% from 15% per Prime stack
  • Hour of the Hammer Forgehammer Damage increased by 14%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword damage increased by 13%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword Detonation damage increased by 4%

Capstones – Cybernetics

  • Snowmaul Damage increased by 38%
  • Storm Surge impact damage increased by 10%
  • Storm Surge Forgestorm damage increased by 60%
  • Conflangarang Capstone’s Fire Trail Damage increased by 100%

Passives – Cybernetics

  • Gathering Storm now increases Elemental Damage by 3% per stack, up from 2% per point
  • Executioner now increases Critical Hit Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Forge Skill Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Detonation Damage by 8%, up from 6% per point
  • Tempered Pyre Forge Axe Damage increased by 19%
  • Tempered Ice Forge Hammer Damage increased by 18%
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Damage by 10%, from 7% per point
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Duration by 8%, from 5% per point
  • Tempered Lightning Forge Sword Damage increased by 13%
  • Lightning Rod Elemental Bolt now deals 40% of the Damage Dealt, up from 30% per point
  • Escalation now increases Forgedrone’s Attack Speed and Movement Speed by 5%, up from 3%, per point
  • Honed Point now increases Forgedrone’s Critical Hit Chance by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Heat Exchange now increases Cryo and Incendiary Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point

Action Skills – Onslaughter

  • Onslaughter Shield Regeneration increased to 15% per second, from 10%
  • Onslaughter Rocket Punch Damage increased by 78%
  • Molten Slam now has a 60 second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Molten Slam Damage increased by 50%

Augments – Calamity

  • Fellfrost Damage increased by 71%
  • Fulminating Fist damage increased by 69%

Capstones – Calamity

  • Hoarcleave now has a 55 second cooldown, from 65 seconds
  • Hoarcleave damage increased by 11%
  • Hoarcleave Detonation damage increased by 18%
  • Molten Roil now has a 70 second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Stormcutter now has a 65 second cooldown, from 75 seconds
  • Stormcutter Damage increased by 65%

Passives – Calamity

  • Heavy Plate now increases Maximum Shield Capacity by 7%, up from 6% per point
  • Wield The Storm now increases Status Effect Damage and Status Effect Duration by 7%, from 6% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increases Melee Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increased Skill Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Harbinger now increases Melee Damage by 2% per stack, up from 1% per point
  • Mortal Flare Damage increased by 22%
  • Judgment now increases Melee damage by 10%, up from 8% per point

Update Notes - September 25, 2025

This update brings new Weekly Activities, stability and performance improvements, adjustments to some rewards/progression, and further refinements across UI, audio, visuals, and gear. This update also adds a Field of View (FOV) slider option on consoles. Please restart your game to ensure that the update goes through and to prevent connection errors in matchmaking.

If you're encountering any issues, please contact 2K Support for direct assistance. You can also read the PC Troubleshooting Guide, a list of known issues, or browse a list of Support threads here.

NOTE: We've received reports that some players are experiencing reduced performance after downloading this update.

SOLUTION: Stuttering issues should resolve over time as the shaders continue to compile in the background while playing. If you're still experiencing issues after 15 minutes of continuous play, you can also clear your shader cache via your video card manufacturer's approved method.

Change List:

Weekly Activities: 

  • Weekly Big Encore Boss has switched to a tougher variant of a different existing boss with an even more rewarding loot pool for those that take it on. 
  • The Weekly Wildcard Mission has changed. These Missions feature a guaranteed Legendary drop that you can repeatedly earn to get your ideal roll.
  • Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine has moved to another location and changed its offerings. Remember, while the location is the same, your vending machine items are different from other players, so ask around to see if someone has the item you’re looking for!

Stability & Performance

  • Improvements to stability and performance.
    • Addressed various instances of hitching, low FPS, and crashes. 
    • We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.
  • Updated character animations for performance improvements.
  • Graphics Preset could be set to High or Very High when using Run Auto-Detect in Visual Menu.
  • [Xbox] Corrected an issue where players would get a black screen after the Vault Symbol loading screen.
  • Addressed rare issues of infinite loading screens during crossplay.
  • Improved loading of characters in menus to reduce visible delays when entering character select.

Rewards & Progression

  • Addressed a reported issue where players could lose or be rewarded unintended extra Skill Points in multiplayer.
  • Addressed an issue that could prevent Contract target enemies from consistently spawning.
  • Updated Repkit lifesteal challenge to track lifesteal from any source.
  • Prevented region discovery trophies/achievements from unlocking before discovering all areas.
  • Prevented instances of unowned DLC content appearing in chests or in menus.
  • Improved clarity of DLC-related warnings and reward availability. 
  • Addressed a reported issue where the Reward Center could stop working after claiming the Gilded Glory Pack rewards. 
  • Rewards Center popup now correctly excludes already-claimed cosmetics.
  • Reduced sell prices on Gilded Glory Pack gear in Vending Machines.
  • Updated the Break Free Pack reward bundle to redeem properly in all instances.
  • Challenge timing has been updated so players can properly progress from Ultimate Vault Hunter (UVH) 4 to UVH 5 after completing the required Wildcard Mission.
    • When ranking up in multiplayer, players that are not the host will not see the change to their UVH level, but will be able to switch to the higher level. This will be addressed in an upcoming update.  
  • Updated Class Mods to prevent them from dropping with incorrect skill points.
  • Removed the ECHO log "Maurice's Log" as a requirement for the challenge ”Kairos Speaks“.
    • Note: For those not seeing the reward after this change, we will be addressing that in a future patch.

Vault Hunter Changes

Harlowe the Gravitar

  • Gravitar Ground State Capstone has been corrected to remove inaccurate verbiage about enemies taking reduced damage when they do not.
  • Gravitar Flux Generator no longer heals enemies with Potential Transference Capstone. 
  • Updated Gravitar Accretion passive to consistently grant Lifesteal to allies. 
  • Addressed various reported issues with Gravitar Unstable Energy Pocket created from CHROMA Accelerator Action Skill.
    •  Includes instances where it would not disappear properly, convert to Cryo Damage, or split as intended with certain skill tree combinations. Skills that saw updates: Special Purpose Magnets Augment, The Shattering Light Capstone, QED passive, Break the Ice passive, Containment Breach Augment, and Eureka! Passive.

Amon the Forgeknight

  • Forgeknight Primal Surge passive now properly restores Shield and Ammo.
  • Forgeknight Firewall Action Skill has been adjusted so Vengeance cannot be stored by Firewall before Scourge is active, as intended.
  • Forgeknight Onslaughter Rocket Punch now connects more reliably with shielded enemies.
  • Addressed a reported issue with Forgeknight Forgeaxe not consistently seeking nearby enemies.

Vex the Siren

  • Addressed a reported issue with Siren Grave Harvest Augment being triggered while Incarnate is not active. 
  • Addressed a reported issue where Siren Blight Attunement passive could occasionally fail to damage the Timekeeper.
  • Damage caused by Siren Spirit Bomb passive now counts properly as Companion Damage and changes its color to match attuned element.

Rafa the Exo-Soldier

  • Addressed a reported issue preventing Exo-Soldier Blowout passive from stacking properly when repeating Action Skills. 

Gameplay

  • Addressed a reported issue in the “Overwriting a Wrong” Side Mission where nodes would not spawn consistently.
  • Addressed a reported issue in the “Talk to Zadra” Mission where the objective could fail if players exited and relaunched mid-dialogue.
  • Updated beam hit detection, as it was causing beams to not be blocked properly. Eg: Forgeknight Forgeshield.
  • Repkits now consistently consume the correct amount of charges after activating Forgeknight Scourge action skill.
  • Prevented Forgeknight from sliding at the end of Molten Slam.
  • Addressed various reported instances of enemies getting stuck.
    • Impacted Missions: during “Kill Order Forces” in the Fadefields, “His Vile Sanctum” Mission, and “A Lot to Process” Mission.
  • Addressed reported desync issues observed with Lightweight Armature enemy movement in multiplayer.
  • Updated Zadra’s Lab Fast Travel unlock to after discovery.

Gear

  • Vladof Atling Gun Heavy Weapon Ordnance now properly targets Primordial Guardian Inceptus.
  • Queen’s Rest Pistols with Daedalus Ammoswitcher licensed underbarrel now shoot the correct projectiles.
  • Gear with the Short Circuit Augment now traces properly toward enemies instead of random directions.
  • Addressed reported edge cases where interrupting reload could cause ammo desyncs that would prevent ammo from firing.

Gear Balance Changes:

  • Hellwalker: now always spawns with Fire element.
  • Tediore weapons: +10% Damage and +10% magazine size.
  • Order Pistol Lucky Clover (Rocket Reload): increased fire rate.
  • Order Sniper Rifle Fisheye: increased Damage.

UI & UX

  • Updated gear thumbnails in cases where they did not display properly, and ensured stand-in thumbnails load properly.
  • Updated various UI visuals for alignment, consistency, and clarity.
  • Adjusted inventory dropdown menus to prevent unintended selected changes. 
  • Added D-pad navigation support to the Reward Center and improved handling of the Inventory Overflow message.
  • Prevented Matchmaking Menu hint bar from displaying incorrect prompts when joining another player’s game.
  • Addressed compass occasionally displaying incorrect location name after teleporting.
  • Updated localization and various text descriptions across the game.
  • Added various improvements to compass, custom waypoint placement, and ECHO location.

Visuals

  • Addressed carryable objects disappearing or appearing in the wrong location after being picked up; includes cases in Ready to Blow, Lost Capsules, and Hangover Helper Missions.
  • Improved triggering of Armor Segment breaks VFX when Shield Capacity effects expire. 
  • Updated NPC and enemy pathing.
  • Addressed VFX concerns with various weapons, vehicles, and elemental states.
  • Various animation updates.
  • Various visual updates and improvements.
  • Adjusted rift portal effect to corrected visuals.
  • Updated ECHO-4 to have correct positioning when viewing various menus, and to prevent clipping. 
  • Ambient critters have a more natural spawn behavior.

Audio

  • DJs in Carcadia Burn and Fadefields now play their VO when starting or completing Contracts. 
  • Adjusted radio music mix for improved audibility. 
  • Added missing audio for multiple weapon types, customization, and menu navigation.
  • Reduced instances of voiceover cutting out during Missions.
  • Updated startup movies to have correct audio.

Settings & Accessibility

  • [Xbox/PlayStation] Enabled Field of View (FOV) slider on console.
    • Note: Increasing the FOV past the default could cause some dips in performance.
  • Vehicle Field of View settings will now be changed for both users when playing in splitscreen.

Misc

  • Addressed reported instances of incorrect or deleted characters appearing in Menu or Lobbies.
  • Enabled Tab key in SHiFT UI.
  • Added haptic feedback for controllers to Exo-Soldier Unmissable Missiles Augment.
  • Updated Credits listing.

Update Notes - September 18, 2025

This update improves stability on PC, smooths out progression, and updates the Gilded Glory Pack loot and rewards for a more seamless experience. Please restart your game to ensure that the update goes through and to prevent connection errors in matchmaking.

If you're encountering any issues, please contact 2K Support for direct assistance. You can also read the PC Troubleshooting Guide, a list of known issues, or browse a list of Support threads here.

Weekly Minor Updates:  

Every week, we will see changes to which Weekly Big Encore Boss and Wildcard Mission is live! Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine is also on the move! 

Weekly Big Encore Boss 

The Weekly Big Encore Boss is a tougher variant of an existing boss with an even more rewarding loot pool. 

Weekly Wildcard Missions 

Weekly Wildcard Missions add challenging new traits to an existing mission. These missions feature a guaranteed Legendary drop that you can repeatedly earn to get your ideal roll. 

Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine 

Go in search of where the Black Market Vending Machine has moved to and discover what’s available in your game every week. Remember, while the location is the same, your vending machine items are different from other players, so ask around to see if someone has the item you’re looking for!  

You can read more on the weekly changes in our endgame overview post.  

Change List: 

Stability 

  • Addressed crashes tied to animation states, audio, and collision checks
  • Addressed various GPU-related crashes

Gameplay & Progression 

  • Resolved an issue where the Reward Center could stop working after claiming the Gilded Glory Pack rewards
  • Addressed a progression blocker in the mission “Talk to Zadra,” where the objective could fail if players exited and relaunched mid-dialogue
  • Corrected “Doesn’t own DLC” warnings incorrectly showing up on non-DLC gear
    • This will be fixed on consoles in the coming days.

Loot & Items 

  • Updated loot pools so Gilded Glory Pack guns no longer appear in standard chests 

Update Notes - September 15, 2025

Today we rolled out a small update for Borderlands 4 on all platforms, which improves crossplay.

Please note that on PC, you may see a command window briefly pop up as a result of this update. This is an expected behavior and will not impact your game or machine. Please restart Borderlands 4 if you're currently playing to ensure that this update goes through. You may close the pop-up if it appears. We apologize for the inconvenience!

Update Notes - September 13, 2025

We hope you're having a blast in Borderlands 4. The team is loving seeing you all shooting and looting your way through Kairos.

Today we're releasing a new update to help improve stability for a wide range of PCs.

Please note that any time you change any of your graphics settings, your shaders will need to recompile; it may take up to 15 minutes for this process to fully complete.

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, please refer to this Borderlands 4 NVIDIA Optimization guide that features Optimal Settings charts provided by NVIDIA with suggestions for which graphics settings may work best for your combination of GPU and desired display resolution. You should also use the NVIDIA app to download and install NVIDIA's newest Game Ready Driver (581.29) and Optimize for your system.

If you have an AMD graphics card, please refer to this Borderlands 4 AMD Optimization guide that features Optimal Settings with suggestions for which graphics settings may work best for your combination of GPU and desired display resolution.

Thanks again for joining us on this journey, Vault Hunters—we're just getting started. We’re continuing to read your feedback, planning additional updates and will have more details to come.

If you're encountering any issues, please contact 2K Support for direct assistance. You can also read the PC Troubleshooting Guide, a list of known issues, or browse a list of Support threads here.
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