Borderlands 4 weekly update and latest patch notes

Borderlands 4 isn't quite a live service game, but its endgame does heavily revolve around a weekly schedule. This weekly update rotates endgame content, shifts the location of Maurice's Black Market vending machine, and is often when Gearbox reveals and releases key patch notes.

With this in mind, the weekly update is an important date to keep track of, whether you're just entering the endgame or perfecting your builds with a shopping list of gear. Below, I'll go over what's available this week and any major changes so you don't miss out.

Borderlands 4 weekly update

Each week in Borderlands 4, the Big Encore boss, Wildcard Mission, and Black Market vending machine activities change. Since these are endgame activities, you'll have to have completed the campaign before you can access them. These changes go live at the weekly reset time, which is every Thursday at 9 am Pacific.

Here's what's active this week from October 23 to October 30:

• Big Encore boss: The Battle Wagon in The Lowering March Ripper drill site in Stoneblood Forest, Terminus Range, which has a chance of dropping the Bugbear assault rifle, Finnity XXX-L sniper, and Compleation shield.
• Wildcard Mission: Dark Subject with vampiric, cold-hearted, and invisible modifiers, and a guaranteed drop of the Kickballer legendary shotgun each time you complete it.
• Maurice's Black Market vending machine: On Elpis Orbital Shatterfield, near the lift to the higher area inside the DAHL building.

This week's Big Encore and Wildcard offerings are actually surprisingly good for once. The Battle Wagon is a very easy boss to farm for some reasonably strong items, especially now that the Bugbear has been buffed. The Wildcard's modifiers are somewhat annoying, but it's worth it to get the Kickballer, a powerful shotgun, even with the nerf to the crit knife in this patch and Jakobs ricochets.

Latest Borderlands 4 patch notes

This week's patch is the large balancing patch we've all been waiting for, impacting pretty much every build in the game. The biggest changes are a hefty nerf to crit knives and the Groundbreaker specialisations' ability to massively multiply damage, Vex's Bloodletter perk no longer infinitely stacks bleed, and Harlowe's Neutron Capture now converts all gun damage to radiation, but only triggers on gun shots specifically.

Here are the Borderlands 4 patch notes this week:

Progression and Loot

• Reduced Specialization Respec Machine cost from 5000 Eridium to 1500
• Added drops to a certain boss fight that was not dropping loot
• [PC] Ultimate Vault Hunter Level 5 Rank Up mission now correctly increases rank on Steam
• Granted missing cosmetic rewards for players who completed Kairos Speaks with 155 Echo Logs prior to a previous update
• Improved equipment handling when opening Rewards while driving
• Lost Loot Machine logic updated to better prioritise higher-quality loot in overflow situations
• Lost Loot Machine SDU upgrades now properly expand slots in multiplayer sessions
• Addressed a reported issue with the Lost Loot Machine that could cause duplications in multiplayer
• Loot enemies now drop more cash
• Golden Chests can now consistently be opened after joining a session and redeeming SHiFT keys
• Reward Centre behaviour has been adjusted after claiming the Gilded Glory Pack, to prevent it from losing function
• Break Free reward bundle redemption standardised, will now correctly apply account-wide as intended
• Adjusted unlock conditions so Rift Incompatible achievement now correctly completes for all players in multiplayer
• Cut That Out achievement now unlocks when viewing the board from a further distance.
• Level-based progression updated so Crimson Rising achievement unlocks at character level 10 as designed
• Timing adjustments made so Catch a Ride! achievement unlocks only at the intended progression point
• Challenge tracking updated so Jakobs' Throwing Knives no longer count as gun kills
• Ensured that Bobblehead collectibles in Pester’s Grotto and Motherbird Node were accessible.
• Discovered locations now stay discovered when returning to single-player after multiplayer
• Various Fast Travel stations have been adjusted to unlock when they’re intended to, including concerns seen in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode
• Vault Key animations now play correctly during ECHO-4 sequences
• ECHO Log pickup in Unpaid Tab now counts properly
• Amara’s Escort to Core objective now consistently advances when replayed
• Improved various instances of mission waypoints not showing up accurately

Harlowe

• Creative Bursts
  • Neutron Capture now converts all Gun Damage into radiation, and now only applies to Gun Shots, and not all instances of Gun Damage.
• Cosmic Brilliance
  • Flux Generator + Annihilation interaction updated so spawned grenades now scale correctly with character level
• Addressed some Gravitar builds that reportedly caused performance slowdowns; they should no longer prevent UI elements from updating or Fight For Your Life sequences from completing
• Gravitar passive and Augment bonuses to Gun Damage now correctly apply to Ripper Heavy Weapon barrels and the Ripper Legendary Heavy Weapon Steamer; Entanglement interactions also function as designed
• Gravitar class mods have been adjusted to no longer roll +5 Pencils Down and push passives past their intended cap

Amon

• Forgeskills
  • Adjusted interaction with Forge Master class mod so Forgeskill now respects its cooldown in multiplayer
• Onslaughter action skill (Calamity)
  • Camera behaviour stabilised when combining Onslaughter with Order Legendary Pistol Noisy Cricket
  • Attack frequency of Rocket Punch is now consistent in multiplayer
• Seeing Red Duration restored no longer increases per point invested, and is now 4 seconds for all ranks.
• Scourge action skill (Vengeance)
  • Scorched Kairos passive now displays consistent magazine size values for the Ordnance gadget
  • The Forgewave no longer fires unintentionally during Glacial Rapture
  • Projectiles no longer get stuck in the air when Forgemaster Firewall is active during the Fortress Indomita boss fight
  • Blackout Shock Damage now properly scales with points invested
  • Blackout is now 15% per point, down from 21% per point
• Crucible action skill (Cybernetics)
  • Visuals corrected so Forgeknight Forgeaxe no longer disappears when activating Crucible at the same time as throwing with Double-Edge
  • Corrected the animation of Crucible while climbing
  • Raging Inferno Incendiary Damage now properly scales with points invested
• Shield visuals adjusted for improved clarity in combat situations

Vex

• Dead Ringer action skill (Fourth Seal)
  • Specter’s copied weapon now displays proper visual effects when firing with a Maliwan Element Switcher
• Incarnate action skill (Vexcalation)
  • Bleed from Bloodletter has been updated so it no longer recursively triggers itself, preventing unintended damage loops
• Phase Phamiliar action skill (Here Comes Trouble)
  • Double Trouble Illusion Damage Multiplier is now 75%, up from 50%
  • Double Trouble Illusion's Duration is now 8 seconds, up from 5 seconds
  • Apex Beast Damage Dealt increased to 15% from 10% per stack of Unsealed
• Challenge “Me, Myself, Myself, and I.” now tracks correctly in multiplayer, independent of clone duration on other players

Rafa

• Apophis Lance action skill (People Person)
  • Apophis Lance changed to penalise Gun Accuracy instead of Gun Handling, resulting in projectile speed being unaffected
  • Apophis Lance now benefits from cooldown reduction effects
• Free Grenade from Filantropo class mod now deals appropriate damage even when no grenade is equipped

Generic gear tweaks

• Skills that boost Gun Handling now properly increase Projectile Speed
• Addressed reports that swapping weapons with the Free Loader Enhancement on an Order weapon with a Ripper magazine would cause all weapons to not consume the accurate amount of ammo
• Health restoration from Legendary Repkit Adrenaline Pump now works correctly when combined with Legendary Shield Guardian Angel
• Reduced critical chance on Jakobs crit knife to 30%
• Jakobs Legendary Pistol, San Saba Songbird, no longer stacks infinitely when swapping weapons
• Using a Jakobs Shotgun with Torgue sticky projectiles and the Knife Launcher underbarrel no longer deals knife damage after switching fire modes
• Jakobs weapon parts updated so ricochet effects only trigger from intended damage sources
• Ripper Legendary Shotgun Golden God overheating effect now clears correctly when switching weapons
• Corrected behaviour on Maliwan Legendary SMG Ohm I Got so the first three shots no longer consume ammo without dealing damage during continuous fire
• Maliwan Legendary Heavy Gun Gamma Void corrected to apply proper increased Radiation damage to enemies inside the Singularity
• Weapons with COV magazines now function correctly if a repair animation is interrupted with a Repkit in multiplayer
• Daedalus Legendary SMG Frangible removed from chest loot tables
• Daedalus Legendary AR First Impression reduced the critical damage multiplier
• Recoil behaviour improved while charging and firing Order ARs and Torgue Heavy with Triple Barrel parts with Gun Handling passives
• Vladof Flamethrower underbarrel no longer deals infinite damage or bypasses Bio Armor
• Torgue Grenades with Spring and Apex Augments now always explode on its first apex
• Grenades with Spring Augment and Divider Payload now have the intended three additional bounces when paired
• Gadgets no longer reset to maximum uses after gaining Second Wind
• Healing Orbs spawned from Legendary Repkit Kill Spring can no longer heal enemies
• Order Legendary Shield Cindershelly combat voice lines now trigger at the intended frequency, less often, to be less distracting
• Tediore underbarrel names now match correctly across item cards and ammo widgets
• Maliwan Lingering Payload and Splat Pack Augment projectiles no longer persist when thrown at vending machines

Specific Guns

• Star Helix fire rate increased by 33%
• Bonnie and Clyde base damage increased by 40%; Pair of Thieves: Bonus damage granted increased to 150% from 100%
• Bugbear base damage increased by 40%; Rotary Gun: Max Damage increased to 200% from 100%
• Rowan's Charge base fire rate increased by 100%
• Rowan's Charge recoil reduced slightly
• Lucian's Flank base damage increased by 50%
• Lucian's Flank recoil reduced slightly
• Aegon's Dream base damage increased by 35%
• Gamma Void base damage increased by 450%; Singularity Duration decreased to 6s from 10s, Radiation damage amp increased to 50% from 40%, Gamma Void Cooldown increased by 100%
• Ravenfire base damage increased by 25%

Class Mods

• All class mods:
  • Melee Damage Action Skill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
  • Skill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
• Vex Class mods:
  • Avatar's Attunement Skill Duration on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
  • Kindread Spirits' Command Skill Cooldown rate on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
• Amon class mods:
  • Blacksmith's Forgedrone Duration on level 50 class mods has increased to 45%
  • Blacksmith's Legendary Effect now also increases all Forgedrone Damage by 20% per active Forgedrone
  • Viking's Detonation Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
  • Forge Master's Forgeskill Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
  • Elementalist's Legendary Effect now also increases all Damage Dealt by Amon by 2% per active Affinity Stack
• Harlowe class mods:
  • Bio-Robot's Hazard Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%
  • Skeptic's Stasis Damage on level 50 class mods has increased to 60%

Repkits

• Hard Hitter now grants 50% Melee Damage Dealt, up from 40%

Firmware

• Reel Big Fist now grants 25% Melee Damage at rank 1 and 2, up from 15%/25%
• Action Fist now grants 25% Melee Damage at rank 1, up from 15%
• Action Fist now grants 30% Action Skill Damage at rank 2, up from 30%
• Action Fist now grants 30% Action Skill Damage on Melee Kill, up from 25%

Shields

• Boxer Armor Shields now grant 20%/30%/50% Melee Damage depending on parts rolled, up from 15%/25%/40%
• Berserker Energy Shields now grant 20%/30%/50% Melee Damage depending on parts rolled, up from 20%/27.5%/35%

Specialisations

• Groundbreaker now only stores Gun, Action Skill, and Ordnance damage

Last week's Borderlands 4 patch notes

There were no major patch notes from last week, given the update was delayed. However, below are all the major changes from the previous big update, the October 9 patch notes, which primarily took a balancing pass at weapons. The biggest winners were the Seventh Sense and Queen's Rest, though the Hellwalker got a damage buff to make up for a previous 'nerf' when it became an incendiary weapon.

Gear

• Ruby's Grasp damage increased by 50%
• Ruby's Grasp fire rate increased by 25%
• Bully drone damage increased by 50%
• Bully base damage increased by 50%
• Rangefinder base damage increased by 30%
• Queen's Rest spawn chance increased from 30% to 50%
• Queen's Rest fire rate increased by 50%
• Seventh Sense orb damage increased by 250%
• Hellwalker base damage increased 30%
• Convergence base damage increased by 25%

Additional changes

• Legendary Tediore Shotgun Anarchy was adjusted to properly award Stacks of Mutualism when auto-reloading or killing enemies
• All Pets from all classes (such as Trouble, Specters, Reapers, and Forgeweapons) now properly gain Critical Hit Chance from Passives and Gear
• Adjustment made to Vex the Siren’s Bleed to count as Status Effect Damage

Below are the October 2 patch notes. While they're older, this was a massive update, so it's worth being aware of the changes—the first real balance changes of Borderlands 4. It saw all four Vault Hunters receive at least a few buffs, and Amon seeing the most by a long shot.

Amon

• Action Skills – Scourge
  • Scourge has had its Maximum Vengeance increased by 50%, making it able to absorb more damage and deal more damage with Forgewhip when consumed.
  • Forgewhip Damage has increased by 27%
• Augments – Vengeance
  • Blastchill Damage increased by 45%
  • Molten Rebuke Damage increased by 86%
  • Eternal Winter Massive Forgewave Damage increased by 100%
  • Stormlance Damage increased by 52%
  • Stormlance Detonation Damage increased by 10%
• Capstones – Vengeance
  • Glacial Rapture Capstone now has a 60-second cooldown, down from 70 seconds
  • Glacial Rapture Forgewhip Damage increased by 16%
  • Glacial Rapture Fissure Damage increased by 41%
  • Wrathfall Damage increased by 46%
• Passives – Vengeance
  • Scorched Kairos now increases Ordnance Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Battleborn now increases Gun Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Scar Tissue now increases Maximum Health and Rep Kit healing by 9%, up from 8% per point
  • Eternal now increases Action Skill Duration by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Worldbreaker Damage increased by 50%
  • Winter’s Kiss now increases Damage Dealt by 10%, up from 8% per point
  • Strike The Anvil now deals 15% of the Damage Dealt, up from 12% per point
• Action Skills – Crucible
  • Forgeaxe Damage increased by 12%
  • Double-Edge’s Twinned Forge Axe Damage increased by 10%
• Augments – Cybernetics
  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Cooldown restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Ordnance restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Endless War Gun Damage Taken increased to 20% from 15% per Prime stack
  • Hour of the Hammer Forgehammer Damage increased by 14%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword damage increased by 13%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword Detonation damage increased by 4%
• Capstones – Cybernetics
  • Snowmaul Damage increased by 38%
  • Storm Surge impact damage increased by 10%
  • Storm Surge Forgestorm damage increased by 60%
  • Conflangarang Capstone’s Fire Trail Damage increased by 100%
• Passives – Cybernetics
  • Gathering Storm now increases Elemental Damage by 3% per stack, up from 2% per point
  • Executioner now increases Critical Hit Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Forge Skill Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Detonation Damage by 8%, up from 6% per point
  • Tempered Pyre Forge Axe Damage increased by 19%
  • Tempered Ice Forge Hammer Damage increased by 18%
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Damage by 10%, from 7% per point
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Duration by 8%, from 5% per point
  • Tempered Lightning Forge Sword Damage increased by 13%
  • Lightning Rod Elemental Bolt now deals 40% of the Damage Dealt, up from 30% per point
  • Escalation now increases Forgedrone’s Attack Speed and Movement Speed by 5%, up from 3%, per point
  • Honed Point now increases Forgedrone’s Critical Hit Chance by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Heat Exchange now increases Cryo and Incendiary Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point
• Action Skills – Onslaughter
  • Onslaughter Shield Regeneration increased to 15% per second, from 10%
  • Onslaughter Rocket Punch Damage increased by 78%
  • Molten Slam now has a 60-second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Molten Slam Damage increased by 50%
• Augments – Calamity
  • Fellfrost Damage increased by 71%
  • Fulminating Fist damage increased by 69%
• Capstones – Calamity
  • Hoarcleave now has a 55-second cooldown, from 65 seconds
  • Hoarcleave damage increased by 11%
  • Hoarcleave Detonation damage increased by 18%
  • Molten Roil now has a 70-second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Stormcutter now has a 65-second cooldown, from 75 seconds
  • Stormcutter Damage increased by 65%
• Passives – Calamity
  • Heavy Plate now increases Maximum Shield Capacity by 7%, up from 6% per point
  • Wield The Storm now increases Status Effect Damage and Status Effect Duration by 7%, from 6% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increases Melee Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increases Skill Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Harbinger now increases Melee Damage by 2% per stack, up from 1% per point
  • Mortal Flare Damage increased by 22%
  • Judgment now increases Melee damage by 10%, up from 8% per point

Rafa

• Action Skills – APOPHIS Lance
  • Increased Damage by 10%
• Capstones – People Person
  • Project: Raiju Damage now scales by 12% per second, up from 10%
  • Project: Basilisk Damage increased by 15%
  • Project: Basilisk Hazard Damage increased by 25%
  • Project: Gorgon Damage increased by 17%
• Passives – People Person
  • El Catrín
    • Critical Hit Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
    • Bonus Shock Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
  • Per My Last
    • Double Damage Chance increased to 6% from 5% per point
• Action Skills – Arc-Knives
  • Melee Attack Damage increased by 12%
  • Dash Damage increased by 5%
• Passives – This Year’s Gimmick
  • Handshake Deal
    • Melee Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • To the Last
    • Skill Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • El Paragus
    • Splash Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • Liquidation
    • Damage increased by 50%
  • Collaborative Ignition
    • Bonus Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • Sinergia
    • Duration increased to 14 seconds from 12 seconds
    • Melee Damage increased to 4% from 3% per point
  • Empuje
    • Action Skill Duration increased to 7% from 6% per point

Vex

• Action Skills – Incarnate
  • Phase Explosion Damage increased by 16.6%
  • Eldritch Blast Damage increased by 9.5%
• Augments – Vexcalation
  • Energy Vampire Damage increased by 25%
• Capstones – Vexcalation
  • Heartpiercer Damage increased by 22%
  • Desecration Hazard Damage increased by 50%
  • Desecration Airborne Burst Damage increased by 48%
  • Geistwave Damage increased by 41%
• Passives – Vexcalation
  • Radiant Attunement now deals 7% Splash Damage, up from 6% per point
  • Dreadlight Hazard Damage increased by 100%
  • Ars Arcana now increases Skill Damage by 9% from 8% per point
• Action Skills – Phase Phamiliar
  • Trouble Health increased by 10%
  • Trouble Damage increased by 21.9%
• Augments – Here Comes Trouble
  • Violent Outburst Damage increased by 12.5%
  • Vorpal Fang Damage increased by 34%
• Capstones – Here Comes Trouble
  • Trouble Bubble Damage increased by 33%
• Passives – Here Comes Trouble
  • Blood is Magic now increases Action Skill Damage by 8% from 7% per point
  • Claw and Bang now increases Melee Damage by 8% from 6% per point
• Passives – The Fourth Seal
  • Fell Inscriptions Melee Damage increased to 7% from 6% per point
  • Recurrence now increases Melee Damage by 0.2% per stack from 0.16% per point
  • Haruspex Phase Dagger Damage increased by 11.7%

Harlowe

• Action Skills - Zero-Point
  • Stasis Slam Damage increased by 30%
  • Stasis Immune Damage increased by 14.7%

Miscellaneous

• Added auto-clearing of Borderlands 4 stale shaders on version update, preventing performance degradation on some PCs.

Borderlands 4 Shift codes: The new key connection.
Borderlands 4 Black Market location: New legendaries, no grind.
Borderlands 4 vault key fragment locations: Crack open Kairos.
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.