New Borderlands 4 Update Is One of the Biggest of 2026, Here’s What Changed

A significant new update for Borderlands 4 has just been released, and it’s one of the largest the game has received this year. While Borderlands 4 gets small updates every week, major patches are less frequent. The last big update was over a month ago, when the first story expansion was launched. Now, the developers at Gearbox are aiming to make substantial improvements to Borderlands 4 following the release of that new content.

Update 1.6 for Borderlands 4 is now available on PS5, Xbox, and PC, and it’s a big one! Gearbox has made a ton of adjustments to improve balance for different characters, weapons, and challenges. The update also tweaks how some gameplay works and refines features added in the Story Pack 1 DLC.

More content is on the way for Borderlands 4 before the year ends. Gearbox plans to release three additional bounty packs and a second story expansion. Most of this new content is expected between July and September of 2026, and we should hear more details from Gearbox in the coming months.

You can find a complete list of changes and updates for Borderlands 4 in the patch notes below.

Borderlands 4 Update 1.6 Patch Notes

World Encounters

Our goal is to make Kairos feel constantly vibrant and full of peril. We’re reducing wait times between important events so you can quickly get back to the action, without unnecessary delays.

World Bosses will appear more often so you can battle them for loot more frequently
World Events now have a shorter wait time between appearances

Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned

Gameplay & Adventures

We’re making your journey through The Whispering Glacier as easy as possible, even though it’s a strange and challenging place. We’ve included helpful hints for new activities so you’ll know exactly what to do to succeed!

Addressed reported access issues for players with Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned entitlements
Prevented Alpha Kraggon from getting stuck inside the spawn den to keep your mission on track
Caged Kraggons will now stay behind bars until you’re ready to let them out
Teaming up is easier than ever! Friends can now join your Nightmare sessions once they pick their character
Keep an eye out for new helpful pop-up tips for ice fishing, finding hidden crates, and more

Missions

Now you can experience the story and play the game exactly how you like.

Base game progress now carries on as intended even if you start the new story content early
Hearing Things: Toxic Raider is much more eager to jump into the fight
It Grows Below: The objective moves forward even if you change your difficulty level
What Lies Dreaming: We’ve updated the waypoints so the story keeps progressing even if you alternate paths
Stopped Daphne from running into a wall

Nightmare Rifts:

We want The Rifts to be challenging, but understandable. You won’t encounter unfair bosses or unpredictable portals – everything is designed to be straightforward.

Nightmare jump scares will only startle you the very first time you use the drop pod
Nightmare Rifts will stay visible and ready for you, even if you wander far away and come back
You can enter Nightmare Rifts while riding vehicles
Kraggula will stay inside the arena and focus on the fight
Krag’thulu’s portal Kraggons shows up right when the boss roars, and the boss has learned some new sneaky invisibility tricks!
Fulgur can attack players that have the high ground
We changed how smaller enemies appear in the Rift so you always have a target when you need a Second Wind
Slithertongue is more aggressive and will spit at you instead of hiding. We also added a longer break between its big attacks so you have more time to aim for its tentacles
Ol’ Thrash has learned how to use its own explosives without hurting itself

Enemies

Your opponents are now more skilled! They’ve improved their abilities – like jumping and attacking – making battles feel smoother and more dynamic.

Badass Flying Dahl Soldiers no longer use Order rocket tracers
Badass Flying Threshers are better at recovering when hit with Stasis
DAHL Mechs will no longer knock players way back with their attacks in multiplayer
DAHL Sergeant enemies have learned a new Jet-Dash attack to keep you on your toes and increase combat variety
Lost Legion Medics have figured out how to heal without dropping their own weapons
Icemaw’s Ice Shard spit attack will now vanish after death
Enemies across the world jump and move in a much more lifelike way

General

Removed the extra Pickle
Eerie whispers from Shuggurath Egg are now easier to hear
You will now properly leave the nightmare state when changing your world difficulty
Traveling back from The Whispering Glacier will now keep your whole party together in the intended spot
The Ancient Crawler activity now gives out the intended amount of SDU tokens
Corrected some mission items that were not appearing as intended

Legend of the Stone Demon

We’ve updated Legend of the Stone Demon to make combat faster and more engaging, and to ensure character interactions feel natural. We want battles to be exciting and keep you focused. We’ve done this by making enemies appear quicker and keeping them positioned for optimal fights, so you can stay fully immersed in the action.

Enemies for combat chests arrive more quickly, so you can earn your rewards that much faster!
We’ve made sure “Vile” type enemies stay in their own territory and don’t wander into the Demon’s Domain area
Fearful Petra will now properly react when enemies are nearby

General Gameplay

To make battles more enjoyable and balanced, we’ve adjusted some enemy abilities. This ensures your powers and elemental weapons always feel powerful and effective.

Jumping and dashing work exactly how you expect, even if you change your crouch settings
Enemies with the Elemental Eater and Deal With It traits have been updated! Now they take a portion of damage from Action Skills and elements rather than ignoring them completely
- Deal With It now allows 20% of your Action Skill damage to go through
- Elemental Eater now allows 10% of your elemental damage to go through. Elemental weapons can now set these enemies on fire, shock them, or melt them with acid. Since this “extra” damage isn’t reduced by their traits, high-chance elemental guns are more powerful against them!

Challenges & Progress

Show off your accomplishments! We carefully track your achievements and Vault Cards so you can accurately display your progress in every mission.

Missions in multiplayer and the Demon’s Domain achievement count as finished for everyone in the group when completed
The “Pop Out” achievement will wait until the boss is defeated before it celebrates your victory
Eridian recordings you find will be shared across all your different characters
More enemies show up during the “Creep Impact” event, making it easier to finish your collection goals on time
Your Vault Cards will consistently give you new things to do every single day
Defeating the Timekeeper from Moxxi’s Big Encore will count toward the “Kill Order Encore Boss” Vault Card challenge
Vault Card Challenge “Kill enemies with Maliwan guns and gear” will progress when killing enemies with projectiles from the Recursive Maliwan Ordnance
The Nighttime Conglomerate Challenge will not reset after loading a save. Listening to the Spooky Story Radio will progress so you don’t have to start over

World & Exploration

We’ve done some spring cleaning across the world to keep you inside the map and on the move

Moving between single-player and multiplayer won’t change your starting location anymore
Floating enemies, loot boxes, and chests have been brought back down to the ground
We’ve filled in gaps and addressed invisible walls across the world so you can reach every secret and collectible
Fishing prompts will only appear in places where you can fish
Fast Travel stations for “Entrance to Umbral Foundry” and “Demon’s Domain” have been updated to be active once discovered
Teleporting while a friend is in a Nightmare mission will not stop your progress
When jumping into Mad Ellie content immediately after starting the game, you are able to create a new hero
Improved multiple grapple points across the map
Applied ECHOlocation updates for various missions

Vault Hunters

We’re always working to fine-tune Action Skills and skill trees to make sure everything feels balanced. The changes listed below are our most recent adjustments, and we’ll continue to make more as the game develops.

C4SH the Rogue

We’ve been carefully reviewing C4SH, our new robot, focusing on his abilities and equipment to ensure he’s fun, easy to understand, and strong to play. We’ve identified a few areas where damage and skills are stacking unexpectedly, and we’re planning an update soon to fix these issues and restore the balance we originally intended.

Gameplay

We strive to make sure C4SH’s abilities and equipment appear as impressive as they are in action. We’ve also confirmed that his special reward systems are functioning correctly and delivering rewards as intended.

Defeating Kraggons with a Snowball consistently grants you a stack of Fortune
With the Cooler Class Mod, C4SH can interact with his own Jinx and Ordnance damage for more tricky combat setups
C4SH holds the correct card when equipping two Sleight of Hand Augments. The right hand will display the first Augment, while the second is in his left hand
The design of the “Gamblorr, God of Bets” Vault Hunter Head has been updated

Roll the Bones Skill Tree

This update focuses on totems and debuffs, making them work more effectively when you’re moving quickly or switching strategies.

Cleromancy: Bone Totems will disappear if you happen to fall in battle or if you summon a vehicle. Gun Damage from Angry Totems will expire when traveling to another map or initiating Mission Replay. Mortar Totems can now fire grenades in water
Luckless: We’ve updated the text to better explain what the skill does, and the “Jinxed” icon will only show up when an enemy is actually affected
Snake Eyes: The cooldown kicks in as soon as you’ve Jinxed more than one enemy. We also made your homing Bone Splinters last longer so they have more time to find their targets

Luck of the Draw Skill Tree

We’re making sure your hand is always full and your attacks hit with the right kind of force.

Sleight of Hand: This skill recharges when you enter your Windfall state while fighting for your life
Thunder the Table: The Piercing Bolt Card now damages nearby enemies
Wretched Shadow: This is now counted as a melee attack! This means it will get much stronger with gear that boosts your melee damage

Chaos Walking Skill Tree

Trick Shot: We added a very short wait time between ricochets. This keeps the action fast without causing the game to slow down when using high-speed weapons
Burn the House Down: No longer progresses the Deal With It Challenge with Fire Mortars
Desperado: Addressed a sneaky interaction where C4SH’s own free grenades were applying Bleed and stopping his shields from charging while using certain gear
Nothing Beats Lead: We updated the math to make sure your special elemental infusions convert to Kinetic damage. We also addressed the interaction with Rooker Order Sniper Rifle that was creating too many projectiles and could slow down the game. The Description has also been updated to reflect that the passive is only affected by non-bonus elemental damage
Reckoning: Rockets are significantly better at finding and hitting “corrupted” enemies, and they no longer have a chance of being stuck floating in the air
From Gloam to Glow: When a Suicide Psycho tries to blow you up, that explosion damage is helpfully turned into an Overshield for you!
Bleed the Bad: Cross-Fire’s Burst Fire is activated by Windfall

Amon the Forgeknight

Forgedrones now move faster
Shots from the Kickballer shotgun will pass right through your Firewall, letting you stay protected while you blast away
Masterworks: Increased Forgedrone Damage Dealt
Ordained Hammer:
- Increased Detonation Chance
- Added Detonation Damage
Blast Furnace: Increased the Damage Dealt per Stack and lowered Max Stacks so you’re doing more damage quicker
Honed Point: Increased Critical Hit Chance and the Active Skill Cooldown
Escalation: Increased Attack Speed and Movement Speed
Armor of Contempt: Increased the amount of Overshield gained when dealing Action Skill Damage
Heavy Plate: Increased Maximum Shield Capacity and Maximum Overshield Capacity
Tritanium Knuckles: Increased Skill Damage per point
Bullet Storm: Increased Gun Damage per stack and increased the Stack Duration to do more damage, longer
Brimming Vigor: Increased Maximum Health and Melee Damage when at full health.
Ballistic Bulwark: Increased amount of Overshield gained per point
Disco Infernus: Increased stack duration and Fire Rate per point.
Age of Ice: Increased damage to Frozen enemies and Bosses
Class Mods:
- Elementalist: Increated Damage Delt per Affinity Stack
- Blacksmith: Increase Forgedrone damage for each Forgedrone

Vex the Siren

As a big fan, I’m really happy to hear they’ve been tweaking Vex’s abilities! It sounds like they’ve streamlined things so only the skills that should be getting stronger actually are. Plus, they’ve also given some general improvements to skills and Class Mods, which is awesome. It feels like everything is getting a nice polish!

Grave Power: This skill is meant to boost “Kill Skills.” We’ve adjusted an interaction where a non-Kill Skill, Witchy Trigger Finger, was getting a boost that wasn’t intended
Bloodletter: Large weapons mounted on vehicles will no longer trigger this skill by mistake
Phase Phamiliar:
- Trouble’s health has increased.
- Trouble’s Melee Attack Damage has been increased.
- Reduced teleport cooldown to get Trouble back in the fight quicker.
Blood is Magic: Increased how much Action Skill Damage is done based on Vex’s health
Yowl and Bay:
- Vex’s minions have more Max Health capacity
- Increased the amount of Gun Damage dealt
- Increased Gun Damage Duration
Elemental Essence: Increased the Elemental Damage per point
Dead Ringer: Specters are able to attack larger bosses from further away
Class Mods:
- Avatar: Increased Bonus Damage and Attunement Skill Duration
- Kindred Spirits: Increased the Command Skill Cooldown Rate, so you can use it more often, and increased the Bonus Kinetic Minion Damage

Rafa the Exo-Soldier

Rafa’s automatic abilities are much more consistent now, particularly when he’s equipped with certain items or uses powerful explosives.

Awe: If you use a class mod that gives you extra points in this skill, the duration will last longer
Errant Spark: This shock-filled power triggers when you are firing missiles
Class Mods:
- Dancer: Overdrive bonuses are now increased by +50%
- Buster: Increased the chance that APOPHIS Lance would not consume charges.
- Filántropo: Decreased the cooldown time
- Esgrimidor: Increased Critical Hit Chance

Harlowe the Gravitar

CHROMA Accelerator: You can use Jakobs pistols to shoot and detonate your Unstable Energy Pockets
Flux Generator: Activation reduces less Action Skill Duration
Class Mods:
- Reactor: Effects gained from having 10 stacks have been reduced
- Skeptic: Increased Damage from Radiation and Cryo darts, and lowered the Action Skill Cooldown rate to account for the increased damage
- Atomic Driver: Increased Lifesteal
- Bio-Robot: Hazard Damage and Radius increased

Gear

Pearlescents

In Borderlands 4, finding great loot is a key part of the experience! We’ve improved our rarest weapons to ensure top performance from all your favorite manufacturers. Plus, we’ve updated item cards to clearly show you what each piece of gear does.

Pearlescent Tier Updates

Okay, so chasing down those awesome Pearlescent weapons is a huge thrill, right? We wanted to make sure every piece of gear I finally get actually feels powerful and unique. To do that, we’ve cleaned up the random parts that would drop on those guns – basically, we got rid of the stuff that didn’t really change how the gun played. This means better drops overall, and it’ll apply to anything new I find from now on.

Daedalus Pistol: Soul Survivor: Always comes with a CoV magazine, has a much better chance of featuring an Atlas underbarrel attachment, and has a smaller pool of licensed barrels
Order AR: Crow Sourced: We removed some magazine types that didn’t fit quite right, such as CoV and Ripper
Ripper Shotgun: Crazed Earl: We removed underbarrel parts from this weapon to reduce part variance

Additionally, we’ve updated these same guns for a smoother gameplay experience:

Daedalus Pistol: Soul Survivor – Your damage will increase immediately if an ally falls in battle
Order AR: Crow Sourced – Projectiles that deal Splash Damage properly scale with increased Splash Damage
Ripper Shotgun: Crazed Earl – Prevented non-melee attacks from triggering shards

Manufacturers

Torgue

Licensed Sticky Magazine Weapons: We’ve updated the text on these guns so the description matches how the explosions actually behave in your hands.
Pearlescent Pistol: Handcannon – Sticky projectiles explode when they should after hitting an enemy
Shotgun: Unstable Kor – Nova Damage gets stronger for every sticky projectile you’ve attached to an enemy

Ripper

Tankbuster: Landing a shot on an enemy’s head will always count as a critical hit

Maliwan

Weapon Prefixes: We’ve restored missing prefixes to Heavy Weapon “Gamma Void” and Maliwan SMG “Ohm I Got” so you can identify their special parts more easily
Rep Kit: Geiger-Roid – We’ve corrected the Shock damage and updated the cards for fire versions. We also timed the “Nova” blasts to better match the flashes on your screen

Vladof

We’ve tuned the Flamethrower and Bullet Hose enhancements so their extra shots don’t improperly stack
Shield: Heavyweight – We’ve made sure the Heavyweight Legendary shield is making the most of your armor segments.It will only use up your armor segments when your melee attack is actually going to be boosted by them

Tediore

Licensed Part: MIRV – Throwing your gun now creates even more guns when reloading with the DigiDivider Enhancement or Rafa’s Cackling Grenazerker Class Mod
Grenade: Faulty Detonator – Restored prefixes to better identify rolls

Jakobs

Grenade Ordnance: Bismuth-Tipped Daggers – Fire, shock, and other effects will now keep hurting enemies as long as the daggers are stuck in them

Order

Protean Cell Grenade: Direct Current now only activates while the shield has energy left

UI and Menus

Multiplayer and Missions

Staying in touch with friends and seeing how you’re doing shouldn’t be complicated. We’re always working on making things even better for you.

If you try to join a friend who is playing a mission you don’t own yet, the game will give you a clear message on how to get in on the fun as quickly and easily as possible
“True Activity” replay missions are clearly tracked on your main screen so you always know your goal
We’ve updated mission celebrations. You’ll see the correct victory screen when you finish a quest, and we’ve removed the “victory” pop-ups from smaller tasks like the Bunker or Fuel Siphon

Combat can get messy, so we’ve tidied up the boss health bars to keep your eyes on the prize.

Boss health bars have been streamlined. Skill icons, like Harlowe’s Zero-Point marker, will only show up while the boss is actually affected. Once the effect is gone, the icon disappears
Enemies will no longer look like they have full health just because you looked away for a second. Their health bars always show their true status

I’m really happy with the latest update! They’ve made getting around the world map way simpler, and finally, my settings actually stay how I set them. No more constantly readjusting everything – it’s a huge quality of life improvement!

Consistent Sorting: Your inventory sorting options (like sorting by rarity or type) will now stay the same even after you close the game
We’ve added a new filter so you can easily find your gear from the Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned content
We’ve cleaned up icons and text across the game. Map icons for collectibles are now easier to see. We’ve also added special icons to help you spot exactly where you can use your grapple hook
The “Endzone Bounty” hologram has been resized to match other rewards so it doesn’t block your view
Menus are now more responsive when opening and closing, and we’ve updated the game credits to recognize everyone who helped build the world!

Photo Mode

We’ve made more improvements to Photo Mode, letting you easily capture amazing pictures of your Vault Hunter without annoying visual distractions or camera problems.

Visual Effects & Precision

We’ve cleaned up how Action Skills and the environment look through the lens.

Picture-Perfect Effects: Action Skills, like C4SH’s Windfall or Vex’s Eldritch Blast, look exactly as they should when you pause. Lingering glows or light trails have been eliminated
Focus on the Details: Your camera’s focus (Depth of Field) has been updated to capture moving elements like fire, water, smoke, and even see-through glass
The Missing Hour: You have full control over the time of day with the addition of the 24th hour in the lighting filter

Cleaner Shots

We’ve made sure our “Show/Hide” tools follow your orders.

Toggles for enemies and summons work for every creature, including Night Grubs, Broodlings, and even the Timekeeper
Damage numbers and red indicators will not be present in your shots
C4SH will hide his cards
We’ve made sure Amon’s Forgeaxes will never get “stuck” to the front of your camera lens when you pause

Camera & Perspective

Taking the shot should be easy, whether you’re on foot or behind the wheel.

Rotating the camera is much smoother for mouse users. Your view will keep spinning even if your mouse reaches the edge of your screen
Resetting your camera view while in a vehicle will not cause it to accidentally drive away while you’re trying to take a picture

Splitscreen

Xbox Console Experience

We’ve focused on getting you back into the game faster, and we’ve made a few improvements specifically for Xbox players.

When playing splitscreen with a friend you can resume your game from sleep mode quickly and safely without any loading screens
Xbox splitscreen players will see their level-up animations correctly. Now everyone gets to celebrate their hard-earned progression!

Menus and Readability

We’re constantly working to improve how you understand hero abilities and choose the best character for you. We’ve made some important information more noticeable.

We’ve increased the text size when choosing your Vault Hunter in the intro, making it much easier to read from the couch
Skill Tooltips: We added an auto-scroll feature to the skill menus. This lets you read the full description of complex skills, like C4SH’s high-stakes powers, without any text getting cut off
Vault Card Shopping: You can now consistently finish your Vault Card purchases even if you switch between different menus

Audio and Visuals

We’ve refined the in-game cutscenes, making character dialogue and animations more natural, and enhanced the overall sound quality for a more immersive experience.

Cinematics and Performance

We’ve focused on making the important story scenes look fantastic while ensuring the game runs smoothly. We’ve carefully optimized all in-game videos to deliver high quality visuals without slowing down your computer.

You can use your keyboard or controller while a video is playing
We’ve polished the movies in the Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned story to make sure everything looks consistent
We updated how our videos are stored so the game runs better while they are playing

Character and World Visuals

I’ve noticed a ton of improvements that really pull me into the game world. Everything, from how my character moves to the way the menus are designed, feels smoother and more immersive. It’s like they’ve been working hard to make it feel more real, and honestly, it’s paying off!

If your hero happens to run out of health while swimming, the animation will look exactly how it’s supposed to
We’ve updated animations across the whole game to make movement feel more natural
The visuals for “Full Metal” and “Even Death May Die” have been updated in the status menu
We’ve filled in missing textures and added extra visual effects where intended to make the world feel more alive

Audio and Language

Restored special voice effects where they were missing! Characters like C4SH will have a signature robotic sound on all of their lines
We’ve turned up the volume on quiet voices and addressed missing sound effects in the menus
Characters sound as they should across various languages, with improved lip-syncing and dialog timing

Player Experience

Steam Deck: Ensured a more seamless experience when launching the game after an update
PlayStation: Addressed an issue causing an infinite loading screen when signing out and into a PlayStation account and launching the game
Improvements to stability and optimization
- Dev Note: We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.

2026-04-30 21:17