Gearbox Software has released the first significant balance patch for Borderlands 4. This update aims to immediately improve the gameplay of the game’s main player classes. Released on October 2, 2025, the patch includes many adjustments to the Vault Hunters’ skills and passive abilities, showing the developers’ commitment to ongoing support. Notably, this initial set of changes focuses mainly on enhancing character abilities instead of applying widespread nerfs to popular builds. This approach encourages build diversity and helps maintain character strength throughout the campaign and endgame content.
The biggest improvements are seen across three of the four playable characters. Amon, The Forgeknight, benefits the most, getting several percentage increases across his skill trees. For example, his melee-focused Vengeance tree sees a 27% rise in Forgewhip Damage and an impressive 86% increase for the Molten Rebuke augment. Likewise, Vex and Rafa have received targeted increases to boost their performance. Vex’s Phase Explosion Damage increased by 16.6%, and Rafa’s signature APOPHIS Lance action skill now does 10% more damage. These changes aim to bring some less-used skills into the competitive play scene, allowing for more varied strategies in high-level gameplay.
The fourth Vault Hunter, Harlowe, receives a few focused but impactful adjustments, with two changes improving the damage output of the Zero-Point skill tree, including a 30% rise in Stasis Slam. Along with character adjustments, the patch also includes a minor but important fix for PC players: it stops performance issues by clearing stale shaders automatically during version updates. Additionally, the weekly activities have been updated, rotating the Weekly Big Encore Boss, the Weekly Wildcard Mission, and the location and offerings of Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine.
This balance update lays the groundwork for Gearbox’s promised post-launch content plan. The developer confirmed that players can look forward to a Halloween-themed event soon, which will bring new Legendary weapons and cosmetic items. Looking ahead, the official roadmap shows that multiple free updates and paid DLC packs are in the works through 2026, with the first downloadable Vault Hunter, C4SH, expected to arrive in the first quarter of the year.
