Progression in Borderlands 4 is deeper than it's ever been, largely because you actually unlock new items and systems as you go, from more weapon parts to class mods, enhancements, and firmware. Effectively serving as gear set bonuses found in MMOs, firmware is crucial to your endgame build, though finding what you need is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
You'll start getting occasional gear drops with firmware bonuses at around level 25—these items will have a unique glow, no matter the rarity. If you're lucky, you'll get the perfect firmware for your build, and it'll serve you well for quite some time. However, since it's attached to your gear, you'll inevitably swap it out for something higher level soon enough, tossing it in the trash like almost everything else while you're levelling. But you shouldn't.
Just like how you unlock specialisations after beating the campaign, which makes ticking off all the side content and reaching level 50 beforehand a bad move, you'll also unlock the ability to transfer firmware bonuses. If you've seen machines around settlements that you can't interact with yet, those are the transfer machines.
For a handful of cash and eridium, you can strip any gear with firmware and apply that bonus to an item of the same category, no matter the level difference. So, that old level 27 Deadeye enhancement you got, which massively boosts your critical hit damage, can be applied to your max level enhancement if you've got the original item to hand.
With firmware being impossible to specifically farm for, good luck getting what you're looking for when you need it. Frustratingly, the only way to get around this is to save any gear that drops with firmware bonuses and chuck it in the bank for safekeeping. Once you've finished the campaign and have grinded for the perfect gear at level 50, dive into your bank and transfer over some firmware. In fact, it's good practice even once you're max level, just in case you ever want to swap things around.
I'm sorry to encourage hoarding, especially with how frustrating the UI often is, but it's the most effective and least stressful way to get the firmware you want. Other than that, I'd just farm for legendary gear you want and look out for any gear with firmware that drops while you're at it.
Since firmware can't drop on guns, you can have a maximum of five bonuses active at once. Most likely, this'll be a three-piece and a two-piece, though you could slot five one-piece bonuses if you fancied it. To help you in your search, here are all the firmware bonuses you can find:
Firmware Set | One-Piece Bonus | Two-Piece Bonus | Three-Piece Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 | Row 0 - Cell 3 |
Action Fist | Melee damage is increased by 15% | Action skill damage is increased by 10% | On melee kill, action skill damage is increased by 25% for 8s |
Airstrike | Splash radius is increased by 20% | Splash damage is increased by 20% | On kill, drop a missile strike on nearby enemies |
Atlas EX | Gun mode switch speed is increased by 20% | Gun damage is increased by 10% while an Atlas target-lock is active | When killing an Atlas target-locked enemy, automatically lock another nearby enemy |
Atlas Infinum | Gun fire rate is increased by 5% while an Atlas target-lock is active | Guns with Atlas-licensed parts gain 10% damage | Atlas target-locks are infinite, unless you swap guns |
Baker | Shield capacity is increased by 10% | Repkit cooldown duration is reduced by 15% | Maximum health is increased by 25% |
Bullets To Spare | Fire rate is increased by 5% | Gun magazine size is increased by 20% | Gun fire rate is increased by 50% of the magazine size |
Daed-dy O' | Gun mode switch speed is increased by 25% | Gun magazine size is increased by 15% | On mode switch, grants 20% damage and 20% fire rate for five seconds |
Deadeye | Gun accuracy is increased by 30% | Gun critical hit damage is increased by 25% | Every critical hit grants 15% critical damage per stack (up to five stacks) for ten seconds |
Gadget Ahoy | Ordnance cooldown duration is reduced by 15% | Ordnance damage is increased by 20% | Ordnance kills grant 20% damage for 15 seconds |
Get Throwin | Ordnance damage is increased by 10% | Splash radius is increased by 20% | Grenades and Tediore thrown guns have a 50% chance to spawn homing missiles that attack nearby enemies |
God Killer | Damage dealt to badass enemies is increased by 10% | Damage taken from badass enemies is reduced by 10% | On killing a badass enemy, damage dealt is increased by 20% for 60 seconds |
GOOJFC | Action skill cooldown rate is increased by 10% | Action skill damage is increased by 15% | Action skill cooldown rate is increased by an additional 20% |
Heating Up | Gun reload speed is increased by 20% | The number of overheated shots before breaking is increased by 50% with CoV-licensed gun parts | Gun damage is increased by 25% while overheating with CoV-licensed gun parts |
High Caliber | Projectile speed is increased by 25% | Gun damage is increased by 10% | Bullets pierce enemies |
Jacked | Zoom-in speed is increased by 20% | Hyperion gun shield capacity is increased by 25% | Hyperion gun shields have a 30% chance to ricochet projectiles back to the enemy |
Lifeblood | Repkit healing is increased by 10% | Lifesteal is increased by 5% | On kill, regenerate 10% of your maximum health |
Oscar Mike | Gun reload speed is increased by 10% | Gun damage is increased by up to 20% based on the emptiness of your gun's magazine | After reloading, fire rate is increased by 30% for four seconds |
Reel Big Fist | Melee damage is increased by 15% | Melee damage is increased by an additional 25% | Melee kills trigger a nova explosion for 200% melee damage |
Risky Boots | When health is less than 35%, damage taken is reduced by 30% | When health is less than 35%, movement speed is increased by 35% | When health is less than 35%, damage dealt is increased by 100% and lifesteal is increased by 5% |
Rubberband Man | Damage reduction is increased by 5% | Lifesteal is increased by 5% | Bonuses granted by this firmware are doubled |
Trickshot | Gun reload speed is increased by 5% | Gun critical hit damage is increased by 10% | Critical hits have a 50% chance to refill one ammo to the currently equipped gun's magazine |
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