Borderlands 4 will feature an overhauled loot system, bringing in new weapon manufacturers, increasing the weapon variety through a parts system, and readjusting loot’s drops rates.
Shown in a PlayStation State of Play, Borderlands 4 is making some big changes to the way guns work and the rates that loot drops at, in an effort to bring “the magic back” to the Borderlands loot grind. Borderlands 4 will feature eight weapon manufacturers, three of which–Order, Ripper, and Daedalus–are brand new. Each weapons manufacturer offers specialized weapons, usually excelling at some specific, like Jakobs weapons providing additional critical-hit damage.
Borderlands 4 Loot Manufacturers:
- Jakobs – Critical hit friendly
- Maliwan – Elemental focused
- Vladof – Less accuracy, more bullets
- Tediore – Toss to reload
- Torgue – Explosive
- Order – charge shots
- Ripper – Fully automatic
- Daedalus – Easy to use, multiple ammo types
As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, Unlike the previous Borderlands games, the weapon manufacturers are going to overlap in Borderlands 4 as part of the Licensed Parts system. This system causes weapons to feature parts from different manufacturers, giving you multiple specialties on a single weapon. The example shown was a Vladof gun with a high ammo capacity using Torgue explosive bullets. It sounds like weapons will drop this way, as there was no mention of crafting or changing out parts on guns.
In addition to the new guns, there are also three new equipment types in Borderlands 4. Ordnance is a new shared slot for grenades and heavy weapons. Heavy weapons now operate on a cooldown system instead of using ammo. Enhancements replace Artifacts and now focus on providing boosts to specific weapon manufacturers. Lastly are the Repkits, which can provide healing or buffs on a cooldown.
Gearbox also discussed how it would be changing the loot drops in Borderlands 4 to make the loot chase more exciting. This primarily means reducing how frequently legendary weapons drop and improving their individual stats and unique abilities to make finding them feel more exciting. Loot will be instanced for each individual player in co-op in Borderlands 4, and to help out with the loot grind, you will be able to replay missions and boss fights for more loot drops.
Borderlands 4 recently had its release date moved up to September 12, when it will release on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
