Gearbox Developers reveal more Borderlands 4 details during the Gearbox Main Theater Show at PAX East 2025. This Developer Panel picks up from the exclusive Borderlands 4 State of Play event, while they briefly recap a few things, the hosts add a ton of new details to the things we know, and answer burning community questions.
Timestamps
- 00:00 Intro
- 01:10 Moved Release Date
- 01:40 How is BL4 going
- 02:36 BL4 Story intro
- 03:30 Where are the Crimson Raiders
- 03:52 What’s up with the Timekeeper
- 05:16 What’s happening on Kairos now
- 06:20 New Vault Hunters
- 06:33 Vex – The Siren
- 08:29 Rafa – The Exo-Soldier
- 09:55 Harlowe – TRAUUUNT
- 11:00 Amon – The Forgeknight
- 12:28 Kairos
- 13:52 Dynamic Weather
- 14:25 Dynamic World
- 14:53 VAULTS?
- 15:17 Movement + Vehicles
- 16:26 Compass vs Mini-map
- 18:44 ECHO-4
- 20:13 Weapons
- 21:08 Where is Dahl
- 21:40 Licensed-Parts
- 22:36 Under-barrels
- 23:25 Enhancements
- 24:33 Ordnance Slot
- 25:40 Shields
- 26:15 Skill Tree
- 27:00 What to expect from Vault Hunters
- 28:42 Vex Dead Ringer
- 29:50 Loot Chase
- 31:02 Legendary Tease
- 31:22 Dedicated Drops
- 31:50 Co-op
- 34:12 Q&A
- 34:36 Invincible Bosses
- 34:44 End Game
- 35:21 Respawn without Save-Quitting
- 35:46 Badass Rank
- 36:22 Price
- 39:39 Ordenite
- 40:34 Splitscreen
- 41:05 Rarity Tiers (Pearls)
- 41:40 Farm Vaults
Hosts
- Randy Pitchford – Founder of Gearbox Entertainment
- Andrew Reiner – Global Creative Executive Officer
- Nick Thurston – Lead Game Designer
- April Johnson – Associate Narrative Director
- Grant Kao – Associate Creative Director
Key Takeaways
- Lilith sacrificed herself and teleported Elpis.
- The Crimson Raiders have split up in search of Lilith. So not everyone will be in BL4’s story.
- Timekeeper outlawed vault hunting and inserted cybernetic implant bolts to control the Kairos.
- Ripping out the bolts has an impact on your personality.
- Vex is new to her powers and is the first Siren that excels in dealing Kinetic damage, Soul zap, and health drain.
- Vex’s 3rd action skill is called Dead Ringer. Summon multiple Reapers or Specters. There is a Legendary Class Mod that provides your gear to the Specter.
- Rafa’s Action Skills are the Gun, Blades, and Shoulder cannons.
- Harlowe. Got sick of TRAUUUUNT. Gravity ball with slam, disco ball of destruction, more
- Amon. Forging his body. Drones. Scifi viking. Axes, sword, spear, shield, whip, etc.
- Dynamic weather. Different Storms with Rain, Thunder, Snow, or Dust. You won’t take extra shock damage because it’s raining, but they can obscure your vision a bit.
- Dynamic world bosses, NPCs needing help.
- Multiple Vaults
- Vehicle customizations. Multiple chassis.
- Compass because a 2D Mini-map complicates things with the vertical level design.
- Echo-4. Can be customized (hats). Give rewards if you don’t want to “Talk to Lilith”.
- Licensed Parts are the various behaviours.
- Additional Licensed parts from: Atlas, COV, Hyperion
- There is no crafting for the Licensed Parts in Borderlands 4.
- The Epic Rarity has the most Licensed parts. Legendary Items have 1 part less than Epic, but have a unique part.
- Grenades also have licensed parts
- Echo-4 is Dahl Tech, but Dahl doesn’t return as a manufacturer in this game.
- Enhancements have Gear-set bonuses called Firmware.
- Armor is an offensive shield that can regenerate during combat.
- Legendary items can drop from red chests and bosses
- Bosses & Mini-bosses have dedicated loot drops and can be respawned with Moxxi’s Encore Machine.
- Rubi’s grasp is a legendary item that drops from the boss with the many hands.
- Expect Patches + DLC to enhance the game
- Invincible Bosses = Yes
- End Game = Yes
- Badass rank = Yes, with meaningful choices
- Borderlands 4 has over double the budget of Borderlands 3
- Ordinite is a sister element to Eridium but has the opposite effect. It’s not a currency but does explode.
- There are multiple Vaults, and you can rerun them.
- Randy trolls Pearlecent rarity
- A BL4 Collector’s Edition was mentioned but not revealed
Original Article
Gearbox Software and 2K Games announced that they are at PAX EAST 2025, and doing another Borderlands 4 Deep Dive during their Main Theater Show. They are currently looking at all the feedback from the exclusive Borderlands 4 State of Play event and assessing which burning questions they can answer.
The exclusive Borderlands 4 State of Play showcased Kairos from the perspective of Vex and Rafa. We got a glimpse of the seamless world they are creating, the new UI, and fresh gameplay experiences.
Fellow Bordertlands Content Creators expressed their concerns about certain mechanics, a missing mini-map, Item Card details, and more.
I’m curious to hear their response to these and other things, but I’m also eager to learn new things that weren’t showcased during the exclusive State of Play event because Gearbox has pledged to support Borderlands 4 with both free and paid post-launch content following its release, including two new playable Vault Hunters and extended story content.
Hopefully, we also get more details about the upcoming Borderlands 4 Hands-On event.
What to Expect
While the Borderlands Social Channels push the GBX Main Theater Show, Gearbox Software has stated on their Socials that they are also excited to share more Risk of Rain info, so don’t expect a dedicated BL4 presentation.
- Risk of Rain Updates
- Borderlands 4 State of Play Recap
- Addressing fan feedback
- Magic Trick?
