Your first move in Borderlands 4 should be to turn on this classic map setting

Borderlands 4 combat radar compass: All four Vault Hunters stood back to back firing weapons. Harlowe is in the bottom left, Vex in the bottom right, Amon in the top left, and Rafa is in the top right.
(Image credit: Gearbox)

The biggest change in Borderlands 4 is undoubtedly the shift towards a full open-world. Long gone are the days of separate zones; now we can walk from end to end with no interruptions—besides killing hordes of bandits, of course. However, this change has always made navigation that much more complicated, as we're not restricted by closed-off locales and predictable corridors anymore.

Because of this, Gearbox made the baffling decision to remove the traditional minimap in favour of a compass at the top of the screen. Sure, the compass is useful for getting your bearings, but it's also completely useless in pinpointing enemies in combat. There's a psycho to your northeast, but they could be standing right in front of you or ten blocks away. See what I mean?

Luckily, tucked away at the bottom of the 'gameplay' tab in the settings menu is the radar display. This isn't quite the minimap of old, which would give you the exact layout of the area, but it will help you track the exact location of enemies in combat relative to your own position.

(Image credit: Gearbox)

Plus, you can use the combat radar alongside the compass to have the best of both worlds. With the radar enabled, enemies will no longer be marked on the compass, making it way less cluttered than it is by default. So, use the radar to track your enemies, and the compass to track your quest objectives and other open-world activities with no messy overlap.

Whether you're a Borderlands veteran or not, try it out and see what I mean immediately—it's a great boost to your situational awareness. Really, the radar should be enabled by default, as most people are going to completely gloss over this option and needlessly struggle on with the compass. It's not optional in my eyes.

Borderlands 4 Shift codesBorderlands 4 charactersBorderlands 4 Harlowe buildsBorderlands 4 Rafa buildsBorderlands 4 Vex buildsBorderlands 4 Amon builds

Borderlands 4 Shift codes: The new key connection
Borderlands 4 characters: Meet your new Vault Hunters and find out who's strongest.
Borderlands 4 Harlowe builds: The amped-up Gravitar.
Borderlands 4 Rafa builds: The speed-demon Exo-Soldier.
Borderlands 4 Vex builds: The spooky Siren.
Borderlands 4 Amon builds: The fierce Forgeknight.

Rory Norris
Guides Writer

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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