Borderlands 3 Leveling Guide – How to Get XP Fast!

Do you want to know how to level up fast in order to reach the level cap or want easy XP to grind and unlock every Guardian Rank Perk? Then let me help you achieve your goals with this in-depth guide.

There are several in-game mechanics that you can utilize to boost your character to the next level. So if you are just starting out with the game, check out the essentials, however, if you are a veteran player and just want to know the best farming locations, I got those too!

Starting tips for leveling your character

You have to gain experience points (XP) in Borderlands 3 in order to level up your character. The simplest way you can do this is by killing enemies and completing quests. Every time you level up you get a skill point that you can spend in your skill tree. With these skills, you can build out your character’s abilities and become stronger and more versatile. There are a few things that you can do to increase the amount of XP you are getting.

Complete Side Quests

Completing missions will give you a big chunk of XP, the same goes for side missions. If you only follow the main story campaign in Borderlands 3 the game can become challenging. This is because the game scales up the difficulty level of the enemies. The game is designed that way to challenge you. However, if you need a bit more help or like to be a bit overpowered, you need to complete side quests.

You can find these additional missions all over the place. They are highlighted as a yellow exclamation mark on your minimap. While they don’t have anything to do with the main story, they do provide you XP, Badass Loot, and a weird experience.

Farm Bosses

Throughout the game, you will encounter various boss fights. The great thing about Borderlands is that you can return to these locations and try and defeat the bosses again. These “challenging” battles are not just a great way to stack up on XP but you can also get awesome legendary loot from bosses. These unique items can really help you take down your opponents a lot faster. This means, more experience points for you!

One of the most popular Bosses to farm for XP is Graveward on Eden-6 because it has a giant critical hit spot.

XP Artifact

You can get artifacts like ‘Moxxi’s Endowment‘ that boost the amount of XP you gain. After the 16th main mission, ‘Cold as the Grave’, you will unlock the Artifact Slot in your inventory. While these items don’t give you a lot of XP initially but if you keep using them, that number can stack up over time. So let’s say every little bit helps.

Take Advantage of Mayhem Mode

You can activate Mayhem Mode when you completed the main story campaign. This lets you increase the game’s difficulty and as one of the rewards, you will gain increased XP.

Weapons also get more powerful when you increase the Mayhem Levels. You can simply put the game on Mayhem 10 or 11 and buy some weapons from the Vending Machine in Sanctuary 3. You might even go to Maurice’s Black Market Vending Machine and purchase some Legendary Weapons. When you have a nice range of weapons, you can scale back a difficulty you are comfortable with.

This way you can use overpowered weapons against lower mayhem-level enemies. When you acquire better gear, you can scale the Mayhem difficulty up and grind your way to the highest Mayhem Level.

Use Science!

Artifacts aren’t the only XP boosters in the game. There is also the Borderlands 3 Science Arcade Machine. This is a mini-game that you can find in Tannis’ Lab aboard Sanctuary III. You don’t just help actual science in the real world by playing this mini-game, you are also earning points to purchase in-game boosters.

Earn 500 coins in this arcade game and then purchase the “Brain Nanobots”. This booster gives you an additional 25% experience points for the next 2 hours.

Early Game XP Guide for low-level Borderlands 3 players

You want to complete side-quest early on in the game when you still have a low-level character. Because enemies don’t scale when playing Borderlands 3 in normal mode. You will find yourself quickly out level the enemies and when that starts to happen, those easy kills won’t provide you with a lot of XP. You want to complete side-quests as these give you a good amount of experience points. Start with the fundamentals before moving on to the popular XP Farms listed below.

Best XP Farm Locations in Borderlands 3

These are the best XP farm locations to quickly level up your character. These locations can be farmed solo and I also have a few options if you don’t have any of the DLCs.

Scraptrap Prime (Handsome Jackpot DLC)

Scraptrap Prime is a respawnable mini-boss that you encounter in the Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot DLC. It’s an excellent location to farm for XP to boost your character’s level or Guardian Rank. However, you need to have purchased this DLC or the Borderlands 3 season pass in order to take advantage of it.

Fast Travel to Trashlantis which is located at ‘the Compactor’ in ‘the Handsome Jackpot’. When you spawn in at Trashlantis you want to make your way straight ahead and go into ‘Cubeland’. There you need to make your way to the right heading to ‘Refuse Ridge’. There you will encounter Scraptrap Prime and all his minions. While the scraptraps ambush you and try and outnumber you, you can rack up a ton of EXP as they are an excellent source.

Scraptrap Prime and his minions are all armored and therefore weak against corrosive weapons. You can use a Reflux to create chains between the enemies but beware that you are standing in water and can corrode yourself. Once you defeated the ambush of minions, Scraptrap Prime will enter the arena.

Once you defeat him you have to leave the arena through an open container. However, once you go through here watch out for your step and don’t fall down. Stand near the edge and wait a few seconds at this spot, then you can go back into the arena. Because you left the scene for a brief moment the fight will trigger again and you can quickly start farming this location again.

This is my favorite XP farm because it’s fast and you don’t have to “Save&Quit” to restart this grind.

Psychobilies (Ambermire, Eden-6)

The best XP farm location in Borderlands 3 that doesn’t require DLC is the Psychobilies. The Billies are part of Zero’s Crew Challenge on Eden-6. These targets of opportunity are a great resource for XP because the Psychobilies are easily accessible, give a lot of XP,  and don’t have any armor or shields.

This fight can be a bit challenging because the Psychobilies attack as a group. One will jump at you and will try to melee you, this keeps constant pressure on you. Another one will move to the side and throw grenades your way. The next billy will lay suppressive fire from mid-range, while the last one will act like a wingman to the third billy.

Travel to the Ambermire on Eden-6. Pick the center fast travel station which is near the control room. When spawned in, turn around and run through the control room. At the end of the room, you want to jump out the window.

If you jump to the right side, you can make it onto the big tree. Watch out because you can bump your head and therefore will not make the jump. If this happens you can climb over it a little bit further down the root.

If you made it to the other side, you will see a waterfall. This is the spawn location of the Billies. Using incendiary weapons and skills that chain damage is very useful in this fight. The Billies can drop the Electric Banjo artifact, which is actually useful in this fight. However, beware that the shock damage can electrify the water.

Mother of Grogans (Anvil, Eden-6)

Bosses and Mini-Bosses provide a lot of XP in Borderlands 3. So if you want to quickly farm for XP, you want to fight a boss that is easy to kill and quickly repeatable. Well, there is no one that falls faster than the Mother of Grogans.

If you don’t know her weakness this fight can be pretty tough. However, knowing the Game of Thrones easter egg makes this encounter a walk in the park. Just run up to her and melee her just like John Snow did in Game of Thrones.

So what you want to do is travel to the Anvil on Eden-6. You need to bypass the first area, once you made it through the first gate you need to make a hard left and go up the stairs. From here you can jump across the gap and make your way to ‘West of Gross’. There you will encounter the Mother of Grogans.

Just walk to the center of the arena and open up the chest. The Mother of Grogans will spawn in, shoot 1 rocket, and then she will jump down. Now you can run up to her and melee her. She will instantly die, you will instantly gain XP, and have a chance at badass loot. Just Save&Quit after this, taking down the dragons takes a lot of time and isn’t worth your effort. If you reload your game, you will spawn just outside the arena and you can quickly repeat the process.

Pro-Tip: If you want to speed up the process of killing Mother of Grogans even further. You can achieve the same result with the face-puncher. This legendary weapon deals melee instead of projectile damage. Therefore, it is able to insta-kill her. That way you don’t have to run all the way to her instead you can snipe her once she spawns.

Power Leveling

Powerleveling is your fastest way to level 72.

You were presented with an option to play “Cooperation or Coopetition” when you started out playing Borderlands 3. Cooperation is the better option if you want a fun and fair experience while playing with friends. However, you can use the Coopetition mode to power level your way to the level cap.

1. Team up with a friend who has a higher character level than you.
2. Join your friend’s lobby.
3. Set the game lobby to “Coopetition”.
4. Play the game but beware as all the enemies will be at your friend’s character level. Because higher-level enemies are tougher they give more XP. The fun thing is that your friend can do all the work and you can just sit there.

Pro Tips

The fastest way to level up in borderlands 3 is by combining an “XP artifact” with the “Borderlands 3 Science booster” and using a quality build to grind your way through the game at the scraptraps.