Borderlands 4 – Complete Endgame Progression Guide

by

After you finish the main story in Borderlands 4, the real adventure begins! The game offers a huge amount of content to keep you playing, including areas for collecting loot, ways to improve your character, and lots of activities. If you’re looking for things to do after the campaign, this guide will help. We’ll cover how to level up quickly, unlock special ranks for your Vault Hunter, find powerful legendary items, and even try out different characters without having to start a new game.

Complete Endgame Progression Guide

  • Level to 50 quickly with Safehouse bounties (prioritize Vile Bounties, skip acquisition quests).
  • Unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter Ranks via Lilith’s Wild Card and climb to Rank 5 for top-tier loot.
  • Farm bosses on demand with Moxxi’s Big Encore machines.
  • Track down Maurice’s Black Market weekly for guaranteed Legendary items.
  • Use Zane’s Transfer Machine to enhance gear with Firmware upgrades.
  • Invest in Specializations for infinite passive progression.
  • Check weekly content (Wildcard missions, Encore fights, Black Market resets).
  • Start new Vault Hunters at level 30+ without replaying the whole story.
  • Grind Contracts for Eridium to unlock upgrades and respecs.
  • Hunt Vault Guardians and Raid Bosses for the hardest fights and best loot.

Level Up Fast After the Campaign

Most players complete the main storyline at around level 30. Your next aim should be to reach level 50 as quickly and effectively as you can.

  • Head to Safehouses and grab bounty quests — ideally Vile Bounties, since they give the most XP.
  • Skip acquisition quests — they’re slow and barely reward any XP.
  • Stack quests when possible (ex. kill Ripper patrols + recover Ripper items).
  • Unlock as many Safehouses as possible — the more you have, the more bounties you can rotate through.

Once you’re sitting at 50, you’re ready to tackle the meat of the endgame.

Ultimate Vault Hunter Rank Mode

The Ultimate Vault Hunter Rank is how you’ll progress in the game. Instead of getting more items, Borderlands 4 focuses on improving the quality of the items you find – meaning better stats and bonuses as you level up.

  • Your first step is the Lilith Wild Card mission, which unlocks immediately after the campaign.
  • Each rank up requires beating certain bosses or completing modifier-heavy Wildcard missions.
  • Push your way to Rank 5 to maximize your loot potential.

Maurice’s Black Market – Weekly Legendary Loot

Maurice regularly conceals a vending machine that always contains two guaranteed Legendary items. However, the machine’s location is different each week. Find it, collect the rewards, and then wait for it to reappear in a new spot!

Farm Familiar Bosses with Moxxi’s Big Encore

Tired of repeatedly starting and restarting the game to fight bosses for better loot? Moxxi’s Big Encore machines let you instantly refight campaign bosses using Cash or Eridium. This makes it easy to farm for their unique legendary items without any extra effort.

Specializations – Infinite Passive Progression

Separate from your main skill tree, Specializations are their own leveling system. You can:

  • Invest points into passive bonuses like gun damage, reload speed, or survivability.
  • Unlock new skills for added build diversity.
  • Progress infinitely — the grind literally never ends.

Firmware Upgrades with Zane’s Transfer Machine

Firmware begins dropping at Level 25+ and can attach to gear for extra bonuses. You can:

  • Fuse Firmware gear into stronger items at Zane’s Transfer Machine.
  • Tailor your builds with Firmware perks like Lifeblood for extra healing or offensive buffs.

This system adds another layer of customization to your late-game builds.

Weekly Activities

Borderlands 4 leans into a weekly model:

  • A weekly Wildcard mission with wild modifiers.
  • A weekly Encore boss fight.
  • A new location for Maurice’s Black Market.

These reset weekly, giving you fresh challenges and repeatable opportunities to farm unique loot.

Start a New Vault Hunter at Level 30+

Finished the main story and don’t want to play through it again? Once you complete the campaign, you’ll unlock New Game – Ultimate Vault Hunter mode, which:

  • Starts you at Level 30 with the campaign already cleared.
  • Lets you jump straight into endgame with a new Vault Hunter.
  • Perfect for trying out different characters without grinding from scratch.

Contracts for Eridium

You can find endgame missions at bounty boards. These missions can be repeated and give you Eridium, which is the main currency used for…

  • Firmware upgrades
  • Respeccing Specializations
  • Purchasing exclusive endgame items

Vault Guardians and Raid Bosses

The ultimate challenge comes with the big game’s raid bosses and Vault Guardians. These are incredibly difficult fights with special modifiers, but they reward you with the best items available. To access Vaults, you need to gather fragments from Order Silos and use them to create Vault Keys. Once inside, you’ll explore arena-like dungeons, battle unique bosses, and have a chance to earn exclusive legendary gear.

Drill Sites, Auger Mines & Order Bunkers

  • Drill Sites → Wave-based encounters with boss fights. Many bosses have exclusive drops.
  • Auger Mines → Enemy-filled dungeons leading to unique bosses and loot pools.
  • Order Bunkers → Usually locked behind barriers. Clear them for more loot chances.

Bottom line: these are all worth farming. Don’t skip them if you’re chasing gear variety.

Order Silos & Hidden Vaults

One of the easiest things to miss is capturing Order Silos. Doing so earns you vault fragments, and collecting three of these fragments creates a vault key. This key then lets you open Hidden Vaults all over Chyros, each of which contains a unique dungeon, boss, and powerful, exclusive legendary item.

Currently, there are three main locations where you can find a lot of valuable resources. These are called vaults, and they’re great for collecting items. You’ll also see smaller structures called silos spread throughout the map – typically three in each area. Be sure to destroy them whenever you come across one.

Wrap-Up

So, that covers everything about what you can do after finishing the main story in Borderlands 4. You can keep playing by trying to reach the highest Vault Hunter Rank, testing out different character builds with Firmware, or repeatedly battling raid bosses for the best possible gear – it’s all designed to keep you engaged and playing for a long time.

Let us know in the comments what you think of the endgame in Borderlands 4! Are you happy with how much there is to do, or would you like Gearbox to add more activities? Also, if you’re still trying to collect all the Mad Moxxi weapons in Borderlands 4, we have a guide to help you find them all!

Read More

2025-09-15 05:37