Borderlands 4 Patch Makes Big Balance Changes, With All Vault Hunters Getting Buffs

Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox has released the looter shooter’s first big balance update since it came out, and it makes a number of significant buffs across the board.

In a blog post, Gearbox said its goal is to “always provide players with the tools and means to build their perfect Vault Hunter,” and it wants players to experiment and craft theories for builds by combining different gear, firmware, skills, and specialization trees.

To that end, it’s focused on creating greater build diversity by adjusting underperforming skills. Amon, the Vault Hunter considered by most to be weakest in the game, gets buffs that bring him closer to the other playable characters.

Elsewhere, Vex's summons and Rafa's melee power were adjusted to make those builds more viable in the late endgame, Gearbox said. And Harlowe has a couple tweaks “to make sure Stasis is getting value for players.”

Gearbox had said it would leave overpowered builds, even those based on what it called "unintended interactions,” alone for the time being to focus on buffs, and the studio has remained true to its word with today’s patch.

However, expect those builds to fall by the wayside somewhat in the future, Gearbox warned. “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,” the studio said.

“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.”

Gearbox continued: “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.”

It's worth noting an additional improvement in the patch notes, below, which focuses not on balance but on performance. The update adds auto-clearing of Borderlands 4 stale shaders on version update, preventing performance degradation on some PCs. That will be welcome news to Borderlands 4 PC players who found the last update caused stuttering.

Borderlands 4: All Vault Hunter Skill Trees Ranked

The patch notes are below.

Borderlands 4 October 2 balance update patch notes:

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

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.