Borderlands 3 has been out for a few weeks, so a bunch of you are approaching the end of your first playthrough. Some of you keeners are probably well on your way to your second playthrough, but you still might find some benefit to learning just what the end-game of Borderlands 3 looks like.
True Vault Hunter Mode
There are a couple of things that happen once you beat the main campaign. The first is the same thing that’s happened in every previous Borderlands game, and is essentially a New Game Plus called “True Vault Hunter Mode.” If you’re a Borderlands fan then you already know how this goes: you play through the game again starting with your same level and gear, but enemies are tougher, loot drops are better, and badass enemy encounters are much more frequent.
Mayhem Mode
True Vault Hunter Mode will take you to level 50, but what do you do after you beat the game again? That’s when you turn on Mayhem Mode, which is the new end-game mode added in Borderlands 3. To activate this mode, you have to beat the main campaign and then head to the mysterious console on Sanctuary III. Once activated, random gameplay modifiers will begin once you hit planet-side. These modifiers were toyed with in the Claptastic Voyage DLC in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as well as the Moxxi DLC in the first Borderlands. Certain types of guns can get more powerful, enemy speed or health might increase, or they might develop an elemental damage resistance.
The benefit for activating Mayhem Mode is that you get a 200% bonus to your loot drop quality, meaning rare and legendary gear will appear more frequently. You also get bonus cash, Eridium, and Experience to help you gather Guardian Ranks, although enemy health is increased by 15% while shields and armor is also increased by 25%.
Guardian Ranks
Speaking of Guardian Ranks, that’s another thing you can start doing after you beat the main campaign. It replaces the Badass Points system from Borderlands 2; instead of performing challenges, you unlock Guardian Ranks by simply killing more stuff and gaining experience.
Guardian Ranks can be dropped in three different categories. Enforcer Ranks are strictly for primary DPS stats, such as raw damage, fire rate, and critical hit chance. Survivor Ranks increase health, shields, and other stuff to make your vault hunter tougher. Hunter Ranks are for weapons handling stats like accuracy, recoil reduction, and reload speed, but also help boost action skill cooldown and luck.
Farming a few Guardian Ranks can really help when it comes time to enter True Vault Hunter and Mayhem Mode. You also get Guardian Rewards are certain levels, which can add more special effects to your character and unlock certain cosmetic items. If you’ve already hit max level for your playthrough, it’s a good idea to save some side missions to get Guardian Rank experience. Or better yet, go back and complete some of those Torgue Circle of Slaughter missions you might have skipped when going through the campaign.
Eridian Proving Grounds
We’re still not done yet, though! Eridian Proving Grounds also unlock after you finish the main campaign. They’re designed to be performed with a group, but you can do them solo if you’re strong enough. They’re basically time-based challenges where if you do well you get some great loot at the end.
Eridian Proving Grounds involve defeating three waves of enemies and then a final boss. The boss’s loot quality increases depending on your performance: kill everyone quickly without being downed and you could net yourself a legendary item.
Raid Boss Farming
Eridian Proving Grounds is one way to get high-level loot, while the other is just farming raid bosses on Mayhem Mode. Since the recent hotfix, the most recommended boss to farm is Graveward as it can be done quickly. Since Graveward doesn’t have a timed invulnerability period, you just need to do a boatload of damage to make dead.
Here’s an example of how to kill Graveward in about 30 seconds with a crit-based Fl4k built.
Play Again With A New Character
Beat the game with one vault hunter? Great! Now do it again with a different one. Each character has a completely different playstyle, so playing them completely changes the game. Plus you’ll get more storage space for all that loot you’ve been farming.
For now, that’s basically it for Borderlands 3, but a new event is coming that is sure to add another layer to completed campaigns. DLC is almost certain to arrive eventually that will increase the level cap and add more content, just as with the previous Borderlands games, but we’re still waiting on official announcements to see what those might look like.
