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Borderlands 3 Seasonal Events guide

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How to play all the Borderlands 3 Seasonal Events—Bloody Harvest, Broken Hearts Day, and Revenge of the Cartels—whenever you like!
Borderlands 3 Seasonal Events

Borderlands 3 has three festive Seasonal Events, which were originally time-limited—but thanks to a later update, you can now enjoy Bloody Harvest, Broken Hearts Day, and Revenge of the Cartels at any time of year!

The reasons for the seasons all trace back to Maurice, your friendly Saurian shipmate aboard Sanctuary III. Unlike other Saurians, Maurice won't try to devour you on sight, and is capable of communicating with you via a device of Dr. Tannis' own invention. He's joined the crew as part of Tannis' Cultural Exchange Program and is fascinated by the traditions of humankind, particularly those related to annual celebrations.

In addition to their unique questlines, the Seasonal Events come with their own distinct sets of themed cosmetics and loot drops, all of which you can collect at your own pace! Whether you're experiencing Borderlands 3's Seasonal Events for the first time or reuniting with Maurice to further his research, here's a rundown on how to enable Seasonal Events and what kind of mayhem-filled festivities awaits once you've activated them.

Maurice

How to activate Borderlands 3 Seasonal Events

Maurice is your point of contact for Seasonal Event quests, but first you have to enable them before you load into the game. Activating a Seasonal Event, be it Bloody Harvest, Broken Hearts Day, or Revenge of the Cartels, can be done via a simple option on the Play branch of Borderlands 3's Main Menu. Initially, you'll see an "Events Disabled" option at the bottom of the menu underneath "Load Character"; toggling this will cycle through the Seasonal Events you want to activate or turn them off entirely. 

Only one Seasonal Event can be active at a time so you and Maurice won't get information overload during his continued studies of human customs. The next time you load into the game, you'll automatically get a quest to talk to Maurice and find out what's got his attention. Note that in online multiplayer, the host player's settings will determine if any of the Seasonal Events are active or not.

Bloody Harvest

Bloody Harvest

In a spooky mood and feeling ready to bust some ghosts? It's time you made a trip to Heck, an eerie domain where the fearsome Captain Haunt and his macabre minions await their next victim.

When Bloody Harvest is enabled, Maurice will kindly ask that you collect a set amount of Hecktoplasm, an item that drops from ethereal Ghosts that pop out of slain Haunted enemies. You'll encounter Haunted enemies all over the galaxy, and can tell them apart by their ghoulish green glow. Haunted enemies can inflict the Terror debuff, which will affect your aim and partially cloud your vision—but some items let you harness Terror to your advantage.

When a Haunted enemy breathes their last, get ready to take out the skull-shaped specter that emerges. It might be a green Ghost that charges straight at you, a red Badass Ghost that spews projectiles, or a yellow Loot Ghost that will try to flit away and drops items when destroyed.

Once you've collected enough Hecktoplasm from the ashes of Ghosts, Maurice will open a portal to Heck aboard Sanctuary III, where you'll have to fight your way through an undead army of Maliwan soldiers who are rising from their graves with ambitions of revenge. You'll also encounter freaky fauna, including flying, fire-breathing Rakk-o'-Lanterns and wretched Ratch that've gorged themselves on blood. 

Deep within the depths of Heck lies Captain Haunt, the bony final boss of Bloody Harvest. When slain, he has the chance to drop any items unique to Bloody Harvest, including cosmetics and gear—so if there's a specific item you're after, you'll welcome to make Captain Haunt un-undead as often as you'd like!

Broken Hearts Day

Broken Hearts Day

Even when he's studying our species' courting rituals, Maurice's investigations always seem to turn destructive. When Broken Hearts Day is enabled, you'll notice big ol' cartoon hearts hovering around the heads of some lovesick enemies. If you adore loot and mayhem, you should shoot those hearts and break them with abandon!

Hearts come in six unique varieties with different effects when you destroy them. Sizzling Lover creates a pool of acid, The Big Muscle will boost your health, Burning Desire explodes into a huge fireball, Bro Love will temporarily convince a nearby enemy to fight on your behalf, Looty Boi dumps out loot, and WrongEventError0285743 glitches in a trio of Bloody Harvest Ghosts that will still try to kill you in the offseason.

Maurice will keep track of how many hearts you've broken and mail you the following rewards at each of the milestones listed below. If you want to farm for a specific Broken Hearts Day item, destroying Looty Boi hearts is your best bet.

  • "ECHOcardiogram" ECHO Skin (10 hearts broken)
  • "Cosmic Romance" Weapon Trinket (25 hearts broken)
  • "Terminal Polyaimorous" Legendary Maliwan SMG (50 hearts broken)
  • "Heartbreaker" Vault Hunter Skin (75 hearts broken)
  • "Wedding Invitation" Legendary Jakobs Sniper Rifle (100 hearts broken)
Revenge of the Cartels

Revenge of the Cartels

In his continued studies of human customs, Maurice got mixed up with the wrong crowd, and now finds himself indebted to Joey Ultraviolet, the kingpin of the Eridium Cartel. When Revenge of the Cartels is enabled, you'll have to save Maurice's scaly hide by taking the fight to Joey and his gangs of underlings at Villa Ultraviolet, an opulent hideout overlooking a tropical summer paradise.

Before you can storm the gates at Villa Ultraviolet, you'll have to track down its location. Maurice will give you a repeatable quest to eliminate neon-glowing Cartel Operative enemies who are lurking around the galaxy. When you kill an Operative, a dead-man's switch signal is sent to their cohorts, and some Cartel Thugs will warp in to avenge their slain comrade. 

Be on your guard, because Cartel Thugs might also be accompanied by one of the Eridium Cartel's Underbosses. These are unique, Badass-level enemies belonging to one of the Cartel's three gangs (more on those in a bit). Eliminating these reinforcements will net you Hideout Coordinates; once you've collected enough of these, Maurice can open up a portal that leads directly to Villa Ultraviolet.

Once there, you'll have to battle your way through hordes of Eridium Cartel members belonging to one of three distinct gangs. You might encounter the tech-obsessed cyborgs of CryptoSec, the meat-charring debt collectors of The Burnt Ends, or the Eridium dust runners known as The Purpatrators.

Each gang has their own Underbosses, who you'll need to take down in addition to Joey Ultraviolet himself—and each gang has its own Legendary loot pool, so multiple visits to Villa Ultraviolet are highly encouraged. Every time you clear out Villa Ultraviolet, one of the other gangs will rise to fill the power vacuum, so you won't take on the same gang twice in a row. 

Clearing out the Villa will draw out Joey Ultraviolet himself, so be ready for one hell of an '80s-tastic, synth-filled fight. Joey has a chance to drop loot specific to Revenge of the Cartels, so you can repeatedly teach him not to mess with Maurice if you want to farm for specific pieces of loot. Good luck taking down the Eridium Cartel, Vault Hunter—Joey Ultraviolet and his gangs won't know what hit 'em!