MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller has already spent around 60 hours in Borderlands 4. To ensure you are optimally prepared for the launch of the loot shooter, he offers these 15 tips.
If you have misallocated your skills, you can respec
You will gain access to a respec machine very early in the game. If you do not like your current skill tree or you have accidentally invested in the wrong skill, you can revert your distribution here.
The cost for respec increases throughout the game.
Use your Robo buddy’s built-in navigation
Echo-4, the little robot that handles tasks like hacks for you, can show you the way to map markers and missions. On PC, for example, you can press the “X” key and simply follow the displayed line.
Bonus Tip: Echo-4’s scanner also shows ladders and similar items if you cannot see where to go next in a mission.
Some chests also have Eridium
While playing through the main story, I occasionally found small amounts of Eridium in smaller chests that were just sitting around. It can be worth checking out these seemingly insignificant chests.
Don’t fight every battle
On your journey through the open world, you will repeatedly encounter enemies and cross their bases. Do yourself a favor and ignore some of them. They will respawn shortly anyway. Instead, just drive through some enemy camps and ignore the fire from your adversaries. If you do not want to actively level up or farm, it’s often just a waste of your precious time to engage in every fight.
You have powerful abilities, use them
Borderlands is a shooter, but your Vault Hunter also has powerful abilities. You will make your fights significantly more successful if you do not neglect these abilities. Different skills are suitable for dealing massive damage to single opponents or are great for controlling many enemies, for example when you slow them down or freeze them with cryo skills.
Start expanding your backpack early
You can increase your backpack size in the SDU menu. You receive SDU points when you discover Borderlands logos in the open world. At the beginning of the game, I constantly struggled with the size of my backpack because I did not want to leave loot behind, but the available item slots are very limited. Eventually, I expanded the backpack by several levels at once, which immediately brought a noticeable relief – even if I can never have enough loot space.
Maximize your backpack size
As you already know, you can sell weapons and equipment you do not need at vending machines as junk. This brings in a lot of money, which you can then spend on various things like respecs. Since Borderlands throws loot at you, it’s not hard to fill your backpack – so make use of that space. I am a definite loot goblin, but I never complete a mission with an empty backpack slot. This way, I was able to save a lot of money during the story.
Bonus Tip: You can sort your backpack by value and then see what brings the least money. This way, you can extract a few extra bucks when your backpack is full, but you have still found good loot.
Use the Lost Loot Machine and empty it regularly
There is a machine in Borderlands that salvages your dropped loot. You can find this in various outposts. After a long mission, be sure to check the machine and see if you might have overlooked some good loot. Alternatively, there may be junk left behind that you can also scoop up and sell right away.
You should definitely empty the machine regularly – preferably after each mission. It has a very low capacity, and when it is full, no more loot will be collected. You will simply be giving away money that you earned.
Elemental damage is important
This is well-known to experienced Vault Hunters, but all newcomers should pay attention: The element of your weapon influences the damage dealt.
- If your enemy has a blue health bar, they are using a shield. Shock weapons are particularly effective against shields.
- If your enemy has a yellow health bar, they are using armor or are a robot. Corrosive weapons are particularly effective against these foes.
- If your opponent is using neither shields nor armor, your projectiles hit flesh. Fire weapons are particularly effective there.
The right elemental choice plays a significant role and should be considered when selecting your weapon. This will be reiterated in the next tip.
The wrong element is bad
An element can also be “ineffective” against flesh, shields, or armor in Borderlands. If you shoot an enemy with the wrong element, you will deal reduced damage compared to what the weapon’s base damage would normally indicate.
- Fire is weak against armor and shields
- Shock is weak against flesh and armor
- Corrosive is weak against flesh and shields
- Cryo is weak against shields
- Radiation is weak against armor
To help you visualize the effectiveness of different elements at a glance, I have created a cheat sheet for you:
Side quests are worth it
In Borderlands 4, the story campaign and endgame are particularly appealing, but you should not neglect side quests. These not only offer good loot, XP, and money, but they also unlock new skins. Some customization options are tied to certain side quests in Borderlands 4.
You lose money upon death, and it increases over time
I experienced my first death while testing various weapons. I didn’t even try to kill all the enemies; it was just a test in the open world – and then I was frustrated that I lost over 60,000 at that point. In later deaths, it eventually reached nearly 180,000. I was not aware that respawn costs increase with the amount of wealth because I never saved my money in the previous games; I just spent it right away. Keep that in mind.
Keep 1-2 weak enemies alive
In Borderlands, you are not immediately dead when your health bar is completely empty. For a short time, you can revive yourself by downing an enemy. In battles with many foes or against powerful bosses, it can be smart to leave a small, weak enemy alive to save yourself in case of your demise.
You can swap equipped weapons during combat
In Borderlands 4, you can only equip and actively use 4 weapons in combat, but you can change the 4 equipped weapons at any time. If you notice during a boss fight that they are using a shield, but you currently do not have a shock weapon equipped, you can change that easily.
This tip may seem a bit absurd and obvious, but it can be a real help in challenging fights.
Swapping weapons is especially easy in single-player since the game pauses when you open the inventory. In co-op, that’s not the case. Just wait for the right moment and let your friends cover you.
Play through the story with one Vault Hunter first
You do not have to take each Vault Hunter through the story individually; instead, you can create new characters directly at level 30 after completing the story. So if you don’t want to play through the story multiple times but still want to experience all the Vault Hunters, you can save a lot of time.
I played through the story solo with Amon and am very satisfied with my choice of Vault Hunter. Overall, I had a lot of fun with Borderlands 4. You can read my overall impression here on MeinMMO: Borderlands 4 reminds me of Destiny in the test, which makes it a fantastic loot shooter
