Even though Borderlands 3 is a couple of weeks away, Gearbox Software is still dishing tons of new information. At their PAX West panel on August 30, they showed off some new stuff regarding Borderlands 3’s endgame content. Here’s everything we know so far about the game once you beat the main story.
Proving Grounds
Proving Grounds is a new addition to the series. This is essentially a wave-based challenge where you fend off randomized enemies in certain locations. Proving Grounds can actually be accessed any time during the story. However, they will probably be best for loot-hunting after the main story.
You have 30 minutes to take down the enemies, but Gearbox has stated that it should not take you that long. The time limit is there for motivation, but the goal is to try and beat it as quickly as possible. The faster you finish Proving Grounds, the better loot you’ll get at the end. There are also some challenges that you can accomplish to get more XP and loot. As of right now, there seem to be four Proving Grounds arenas throughout the game. It’s more than likely that more will be released later down the road. These will need to be found from a few side missions. They are watched over by a Guardian known as the Overseer.
True Vault Hunter Mode
Veteran Borderlands players will already know what True Vault Hunter Mode is (or TVHM as the community refers to it as). TVHM is essentially just Borderlands’s version of New Game Plus. This will allow you to start the game over with all of the loot and gear you’ve acquired. Generally, you should beat the game’s first playthrough at around Level 30. TVHM will bring you from Level 30 to 50 by the end of it. At the PAX West Panel, Gearbox did say that you have the option to let enemy levels scale with you when you go back to past areas.
Gearbox has not yet stated about any potential level cap increases in the future. It’s more than likely though. In Borderlands 2, Gearbox had raised the level a few times, going to Level 80 recently in the new Commander Lilith And The Fight For Sanctuary DLC. They also added Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. This was the third playthrough, but enemies were a lot tougher and they scaled with you.
Guardian Rank
In Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel, Gearbox introduced Badass Rank. These were endless challenges players could achieve, which gave them Badass Tokens. Badass Tokens could then be spent to increase a certain stat across all the playthroughs. In Borderlands 3, Gearbox is expanding on this in a big way. Once you’ve beaten the main story, you unlock Guardian Rank. Guardian Rank will be a separate XP bar that you can fill up. Once you’ve filled it up, you get a Guardian Token. There is a separate skill tree that provides better stats on many different things, such as Critical Hit and Fight For Your Life damage. There are six tiers across all three trees, unlocked by spending 10, 15, 25, 35, 50, or 75 tokens in their respective category.
Just like Badass Rank, these stats will work across all of your playthroughs. This will definitely add a ton of replay value for players who tend to get bored after reaching the level cap. Here are the three separate Guardian Rank Skill Trees, as well as their buffs:
Enforcer
- Critical Damage
- Grenade Damage
- Gun Damage
- Gun Fire Rate
- Melee Damage
- Vehicle Damage
Survivor
- FFYL (Fight For Your Life) Duration
- FFYL Movement Speed
- Max Health
- Shield Capacity
- Shield Recharge Delay
- Shield Recharge Rate
Hunter
- Accuracy
- Action Skill Cooldown
- Luck (Rare Drop Rate)
- Recoil Reduction
- Reload Speed
Mayhem Mode
Mayhem Mode is definitely the most exciting change for the endgame of Borderlands 3. Mayhem Mode is basically just a harder difficulty for your playthrough. It will only be unlocked once you’ve beaten the game in TVHM. As of right now, there are three tiers of Mayhem Mode. Each tier makes the game increasingly difficult. There will be a terminal on your Sanctuary 3 ship that lets you choose which tier to activate. As you select each one, it will tell you what changes in your playthrough. These changes vary across each tier, so we can’t determine for sure what each one does. For example, we saw that the Loot Quality is increased by a large percentage, but enemies will also take less damage from fire.
In addition to this, Mayhem Mods will be applied to each planet you visit, which will be randomized. These mods change up the game and your playstyle. One of these mods is called Savage, where all enemies deal more weapon damage. There’s also You’re a Wizard, which reduces the damage players do with normal bullets but increases their elemental damage by the same amount. There are going to be plenty of other mods to see in the near future.
To help make things easier, Mayhem Mode will also contain Anointed Enemies. These enemies are going to be tough, but they have a chance to drop Anointed Gear. Anointed Gear are special weapons that can provide buffs for specific action skills.
Borderlands 3 will be released on September 13 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Check out our E3 Hands-On demo.
