Beyond its main campaign, Borderlands 4 has shared more about what’s in store for the endgame of the loot-and-shooter.
The first big piece of endgame content is the go-to high-difficulty mode, the Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. After completing the campaign for the first time with a character, this mode will allow players to access “much, much tougher and deadlier” enemies, with “appropriately powerful” rewards. It won’t just be going head-first into a killer mode, either, as there’ll be five difficulty levels that players can incrementally unlock by finishing Wildcard Missions, a challenging mission replay.
The Firmware gear set system is another big new Borderlands 4 highlight, letting players mix and match anything but the Primary Weapons in a loadout (similar to The Division’s system). Three tiers of effects are available depending on how much of a set you match together: Minor for one piece, Major for two matching pieces, and Full for three. With these bonuses available, players can grind to earn and synergize different Firmware sets.
Account-wide Specialization rewards are another reason to keep leveling up, allowing players to gather XP and fill up the bar hundreds of times for skills usable throughout all characters. Players can level up to earn up to four Specialization Skill socket slots, eventually earning Prestige nodes in a Specialization tree.
There are also general tweaks and changes to ensure players don’t get bored, including some quality of life changes. Players are incentivized through “dedicated drops” and their Contracts to earn Eridium, a new currency type specifically for endgame. Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine eliminates the step of restarting the game to take on bosses again by spending Eridium to respawn them on the spot.
Post-launch plans as explained in the full official blog also include some weekly challenges and rewards, including the Weekly Big Encore Boss, a tougher boss with better loot accessible through the Encore Machine, plus a shared weekly Wildcard Mission. Maurice returns with a player-unique hidden shop that lets players trade currency for Legendaries, and the Pearlescent rarity above Legendary rarity makes its return too.
After a brief delay, Borderlands 4 drops on September 4 for Steam, Epic, Playstation and Xbox, with Switch 2 arriving later.
