Borderlands 4 Gives Away Free DLC to All Players in Huge New Update

Gearbox Software just released a major update for Borderlands 4, and the biggest news is free downloadable content (DLC). Throughout 2026, players can look forward to a lot of new DLC for the game, including new characters, weapons, and story missions. To kick things off, the first piece of DLC is available now—and it’s completely free!

Bounty Pack 1 for Borderlands 4, titled “How Rush Saved Mercenary Day,” is now available on all platforms! These Bounty Packs are smaller add-ons compared to full Story Packs, focusing on new cosmetic items and missions. This first pack is a special, free holiday release from Gearbox. As a thank you, players who bought the Bounty Pack Bundle (which included four premium packs) will receive a fifth pack in 2026.

Beyond the new downloadable content, Gearbox has updated Borderlands 3 with hundreds of improvements. The biggest changes are to Weekly Wildcard Missions, which now have different starting locations. They’ve also made adjustments to the Phosphene weapon challenge and class mods, among other things.

You can find complete details about the latest Borderlands 4 update, including everything in Bounty Pack 1, in the patch notes and new trailer linked below.

Borderlands 4 November 20th Update Patch Notes

Gameplay & Mission Progression

Addressed an issue that could cause the loss of SDU Tokens or Specialization points; this also returns missing tokens and points to those impacted
Resolved an interaction where players could not repurchase a boss encounter after all party members were defeated and respawned in multiplayer
Slide-attacking lootable objects will now open or break them consistently
Resolved progression blockers for more intuitive gameplay during Faction Survivalist, Wayward Gun, Another Day, Another Universe, the Badass Phalanx bounty, and the Black Market Tutorial
Corrected behavior where mission items could disappear after replaying and exiting a mission, preventing completion
Prevented rare instances of some enemies turning into NPCs and becoming unkillable
Adjusted tracking on some challenges and achievements to award progress as intended
Dev Note: The Professional now only awards progress for designated challenge conditions, while Private Reserve and What Have We Here? will progress correctly when opening chests with melee attacks. The Arena Grande achievement should consistently unlock in multiplayer.
Mort will revive players more consistently during Thresher Rancher
Resolved a condition where vehicles could be instantly destroyed if summoned immediately after using a Repkit with the Splat trait
Adjusted object placement and pathing across multiple missions, ensuring proper enemy spawns, interactions, Echolocation, and waypoint alignment
Synchronized some mismatched animations and behaviors in multiplayer
Resolved a reported issue where players could become briefly suspended in midair when exiting mission replay while jumping or swimming
Addressed a bug causing the Chopper vehicles to remain in a falling state after performing a vertical jump or powerslide
Prevented vehicle summoning in restricted indoor areas such as the Umbral Foundry Fortress
Removed the penalty during Scoundrel Roundup: Kilo if the panel is shot twice
Adjusted behavior in The Next Quest Thing so the mission can consistently be accepted after saving and reloading
Improved enemy physics in Gone Are My Leggies to prevent The Beastie from being launched out of the playable area when hit with high-impact weapons
Restored ECHO Log rewards for completing optional objectives in three micro-missions when played solo
Adjusted Arjay’s resistances so status effect damage-over-time now applies correctly
- Dev Note: Visual inconsistencies with Arjay’s wings might appear as a result of this change, but will not impact gameplay.
Adjusted arena boundaries so Locust’s gas canisters now spawn correctly within the arena during the Idolator Sol encounter in Fortress Indomita

Vault Hunters

Amon, the Forgeknight

Corrected skill tree investment functionality to prevent Forgeknight from applying skill points out of order

Rafa, the Exo-Soldier

Exo-Soldier’s Soltado Kill Skill passive has been adjusted to function properly with two skill points
Improved PROJECT: Raiju capstone behavior so APOPHIS Lance consistently damages enemies during extended uptime
Adjusted Booming Business passive’s functionality to prevent grenade spawns when the passive skill exceeds its intended level cap

Vex, the Siren

Harlowe, the Gravitar

Ensured that QED passive skill would remain functional in multiplayer

All Vault Hunters

Adjusted critical hit calculations so gun and enhancement damage now applies correctly to all valid hit regions
Adjusted Cryo resistance scaling so enemy resistances now correctly match each player’s level in multiplayer sessions
Prevented Action Skills from activating during the first loading screen before entering active gameplay
Ensured sniper ammo displays full capacity when creating a level 30 Vault Hunter

Gear and Rewards

Adjusted melee damage on Bayonet weapons so that melee damage increases with bayonet parts
Addressed an interaction allowing players to infinitely scale the splash radius of homing sticky projectiles when using Torgue Legendary Pistol Queen’s Rest with certain builds and firmware combinations
Updated Skully grenade to adjust projectile damage for consistent output
Corrected boss health bar updates so sustained heavy Ordnance damage with Amon now displays correctly
Adjusted Maliwan Heavy Weapon behavior so projectiles created from a hit don’t detonate immediately after spawning
Corrected the explosion delay of Fuel Rod Discharge to match its description of 3 seconds when used on Ripper shotguns
Adjusted Rolling Thunder underbarrel grenades on Torgue shotguns to behave predictably on vertical surfaces instead of ricocheting excessively
Prevented bosses from floating when Exo-Soldier’s Booming Business passive skill was triggered with Order Legendary Grenade Skully
Addressed a condition where the Vladof Legendary Shield Heavyweight could lose functionality after activating Forgeknight Onslaughter skill
Adjusted projectile interaction during the fight with Vile Ripper so players can now destroy the homing “Unstable Ore” projectiles
Adjusted some gear that was behaving inconsistently in multiplayer, such as: the bounce-back force of The Order Legendary pistol Noisy Cricket, reload animation timing for the Jakobs shotgun Hot Slugger, and misaligned accuracy of the Daedalus pistol Bonn-91
Standardized some instances of Firmware 3-piece bonus cooldowns to appear consistently. Visual cooldowns have been added for Oscar Mike, Ahoy, and Daed-dy O’
Drops are no longer kept in the air when lowering the platform in All Charged Up
Restored functionality allowing players to loot and preview weapons from red chests after completing the Blacklime Bunker

Gear Balance:

Darkbeast

Addressed a scaling issue
Explosion Chance increased from 5% to 20%
Damage increased by 15%

Prince Harming

Addressed a scaling issue
Self Damage amount reduced from 5% to 1.5% of damage done
Damage increased by ~24%

Onslaught:

Damage increased by 75%

Ruby’s Grasp:

Damage increased by ~40%

Lucky Clover:

Damage increased by 37.5%

Vamoose:

Damage increased by 20%

Asher’s Rise

Addressed a scaling issue
Damage increased by 5%

Firmware Balance:

Get Throwin’:

Ordnance Damage increased from 10% to 35%

Daed-dy O’:

Damage increased from 20% to 35%
Mag Size increase from 15% to 20%

Rubberband Man:

Damage Reduction increased from 5% to 10%
Lifesteal increased from 5% to 10%

Jacked:

Zoom-in Speed bonus increased from 20% to 35%
Hyperion Shield Capacity bonus increased from 25% to 50%
Ricochet chance increased from 30% to 40%

Atlas Ex:

Mode Swap Speed increased from 25% to 33%
Damage while locked increased from 10% to 25%

Atlas Infinium:

Fire Rate bonus increased from 5% to 12%
Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%

Reel Big Fist:

Explosion Radius slightly increased

Airstrike:

Missile damage increased by 35%
Decreased Cooldown from 8s to 5s

UI, UX, & Text

Restored filter functionality to Lost Loot menus and addressed non-functional filter selections and sorting dropdowns
Adjusted map icon layering so Main Mission icons no longer overlap Wildcard Mission Giver
Adjusted scrolling behaviors in menus in splitscreen
Ensured the Transfer Machine remains open after exiting inspect mode
Added separate sensitivity sliders for mouse and controller inputs in the Controls (Basic) menu on PC
Corrected the buddy widget display so respawned characters no longer appear as “still respawning”
Removed extra ECHO Log slots
Restored missing item thumbnails in the bank menu and improved loading speed for equipped and backpack item thumbnails when large numbers of items are stored in the bank
Adjusted layout so Item Cards no longer overlap when compared in horizontal split-screen
Addressed a reported issue where weapons could unequip and disappear when changing their customization in the Status menu
Corrected overshield coloration and behavior for pets and buddy widgets so that health, shield, and armor visuals now display properly
Adjusted Contract trackers to only appear when the Contract is active
Resolved a reported issue where mission-related celebratory notifications could display duplicate icons
Added the missing “Restart to Apply Changes” prompt when adjusting texture quality during gameplay
Addressed the chaos displayed by the “SHiFT code is valid” countdown in the SHiFT menu
Removed an extra scrollbar that could appear when Reporting Users
Addressed text inconsistencies in some side missions
Preserved key bindings that could be removed between sessions for non-English keys
Standardized ECHO Log tracking for the Kairos Speaks challenge to ensure totals display consistently between general and mission log views

Visuals

Addressed reported instances where players could become invisible when performing a Vault-level transition during a travel tunnel
Addressed an issue with missing parts and textures on gear
Adjusted fishing point visuals so markers no longer appear incorrectly on terrain near Sandytoes Villa
Adjusted grappling points and traversal paths in multiple missions to prevent players from chaining grapples into unintended areas or losing functionality
Addressed misplaced or inaccessible loot containers, including strongboxes and vending-area chests in The Wireworks and Windspear
Addressed inaccurate rendering of water in some locations
Corrected lingering slide smoke effects that could appear when moving or jumping after performing a slide
Turned off the mining laser after shutting down the second Eridium generator in Terminus Range
Corrected visual stretching on character and NPC cloth when adjusting the FOV while the game is paused
Updated Dark Subject mission so Tim’s weapon now properly disappears with his model during the “Kill Tim”
Addressed multiple reported animation inconsistencies including gear, NPCs, hand stuttering, root-lock issues, and visual glitches during combat actions. These improvements remove visible sliding or snapping during melee or grapple sequences
Improved environmental synchronization in multiplayer
Adjusted mouth animation timing for Callis in Another Day, Another Universe and for Numba One in Mob Mentality so dialogue syncs correctly
Balanced underwater lighting and brightness near Belton’s Bore (The Low Leys, Mountains) for more consistent visual clarity when diving below the surface
Repaired a purple light texture that appeared after interacting with the Auger Shrine in Terminus Range
Optimized beam effects on some Order gear with lasers
Standardized bullet shell ejection visuals for Daedalus pistols
[SPOILER] The smoke during Sophia’s death wasn’t goth enough and was changed from orange to black
Resolved flickering from Exo-Soldier’s PROJECT: Raiju Capstone effect when used inside the Order Bunker
Adjusted deployable barrier visuals on shields and Shield Boi
Faded the red light trails from Atlas underbarrel tracking Darts and Balls on Jakobs pistols
Tuned brightness of target marker visuals when using the Ripper Sniper Rifle tracking mode against certain bosses
Corrected firing animations for Vladof submachine guns with the Extra Barrel underbarrel and Torgue shotguns with Daedalus ammo switcher
Adjusted Order grenade to no longer slide across the ground when dropped from the inventory
Adjusted animation blending for Daedalus shotguns using Maliwan Element Switcher to eliminate abrupt snapping and to prevent the secondary magazine from appearing loaded when using the primary firing mode

Audio

Resolved a reported issue where the crowd could continue to make sounds after they stopped spawning during the Null and Void mission
Prevented host players from temporarily losing audio if another player joined their session while they were in an ECHO menu in multiplayer
Addressed missing or incomplete sound effects when looting in multiplayer sessions
Made the really loud bird in Grasslands quieter
Additional audio balance adjustments

Player Experience

Improvements to stability and optimization
- Dev Note: We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.
Addressed unintended adaptive trigger feedback that occurred with Ripper weapons while reloading or firing without ammo

2025-11-21 00:17