For a newcomer entering into a long-running series, it can be quite intimidating. In the years since Borderlands 2, the looter shooter genre has expanded with the likes of Destiny and The Division. Maybe current fans of the genre never jumped on the Borderlands train. Now that the third one is out and a successful title, those players might pick up the sequel.
This list will be primarily for new players of the Borderlands game, as the entries are most likely second nature to series veterans. As the title suggests, it’s not that you intentionally make these mistakes, it’s just there are so many systems working within this game that you may end up overlooking a thing or two. The beauty of the series is that there is no wrong way to play the game, but there are things that will definitely make your experience tougher than it needs to be. Here are ten ways you’re unintentionally making Borderlands 3 harder for you.
10 Picking The Wrong Class For Your First Time
If you’ve never played a Borderlands game, then you want to choose a very accessible Vault Hunter to start with. Each Vault Hunter is extremely diverse from one another, which makes for a ton of replayability. As such, don’t pick a Vault Hunter that could give you a bad first time, most notably, Zane.
There’s no doubt that Zane is awesome, but his class requires a ton of tactical planning and is reserved for more experienced Borderlands players. On the other hand, you have FL4K, which is the best for newcomers. Not only does he have an AI pet companion, but his Action Skills are pretty straightforward, especially Fade Away.
9 Not Using Your Action Skill Enough
This one may seem obvious, but there are players who forget to use their Action Skill a lot. In other games like Destiny, your ultimate skills can sometimes have a very long cooldown, which you may be used to. This is not the case with Borderlands. The combat is designed around your Action Skill.
It is not just about guns. Instead, it’s how you can utilize your skills around those guns. That powerful high-damage shotgun you found is good, but it can become ridiculously overpowered if you’re using it with FL4K’s Fade Away skill.
8 Using The Wrong Elemental Damage
Elemental damage is extremely important, especially as you progress further. You may notice that certain enemies have different colored health bars. This is the game letting you know what type of elemental damage to use. For example, a blue health bar indicates a shield, which requires a shock weapon to do any significant damage. If you see a yellow bar, then you’ll need to switch to a corrosive weapon. Last but not least is a red bar, which is basically just the enemy’s flesh.
Most elements work on it, but fire tends to be the best course. Loot is aplenty in Borderlands 3, so you’ll more than likely have the correct element type in your inventory somewhere.
7 Your Weapons Might Be Under-Leveled
Luckily, the level scaling isn’t as ridiculous as it was back in Borderlands 2, but it matters nonetheless. Unfortunately, that awesome weapon you have will eventually become under-leveled (unless it’s at the highest level cap of course). You’ll want to make a note of the enemy levels and ensure that your weapon levels are within a decent range.
Trying to destroy enemies with a weapon ten levels below them isn’t going to do you any good. The exception to this rule is Legendary weapons, which can last much longer in the game than others due to their powerful stats.
6 Not Taking Advantage Of Manufacturer Traits
Each piece of gear is designed by a specific manufacturer. This is more than just branding by the various corporations within the Borderlands universe. Each manufacturer puts its own trait on their weapons. Sometimes it’s simple like Torque, who makes their weapons all have explosive capabilities. Then you have more unique companies like Atlas, whose weapons have tracker bullets.
Make sure you pay attention to the gun manufacturer, as they can add a whole new layer to a gun that you may not have realized. You can see which ones work better for your play style and, more importantly, which ones don’t.
5 Using The Wrong Weapon Types For Your Build
To be fair, each character class is proficient with every weapon type. That being said, you can spec your character to be way better with a certain gun-type or manufacturer. There is a ridiculous amount of variations for each weapon. You’ll want to ensure the weapon you’re using is the one that suits the abilities you’ve chosen.
For example, FL4K’s Guerillas In The Mist augment gives their Fade Away skill unlimited critical hits for five seconds. Due to this, maybe using a shotgun with a slow fire rate isn’t your best action course. Instead, find a gun with a decent magazine size and high fire rate, allowing you to really use that skill’s potential.
4 Not Picking Up Most Loot
There are over a billion guns (well a billion variations) in Borderlands 3. With so many weapons to choose from, many of them probably won’t suit your play style. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick them up though. Money is very important at the beginning of the game since you need it to upgrade your ammo capacities.
You could very well just hope that enemies drop money, but the best way to obtain cash it to just simply sell your gear. Just because the weapon is green rarity doesn’t mean it can’t sell for a decent price.
3 Not Upgrading Skill Points From Your Class Mod
Class Mods are great ways to get even more power out of your character. You’ll notice that the class mods come equipped with various passive traits. Those traits are even better if you match them with the right skill tree.
The Class Mods also give you an automatic skill point or two on specific skills, potentially letting you have 7 out of 5 on a certain one. You’ll be doing that Class Mod a disservice if you don’t spec your character for the skills they offer.
2 Trying To Be A Jack Of All Trades At First
Each class has three skill trees, with more potentially coming in DLC. Even at three, there’s no possible way to fully upgrade each one. Due to this, don’t try and initially spec your character with all three trees. Each specific tree is designed to let you specialize your character. For example, Amara’s Brawl tree is designed for more melee-focused players.
If you try to allocate your points in various trees initially, you can miss out on some truly awesome builds. Now, this doesn’t mean you won’t eventually be able to start using more than one tree as you get into more endgame builds, however at first, just try to stick to one and make your life easier.
1 Farming Bosses Before You Reach Level 50
You’re going to be leveling up at a pretty decent pace, which means you’re wasting your time trying to farm bosses before you reach the level cap. As stated before, weapons will eventually become outclassed. If you’re level 15 and you go back to farm a level 10 boss, you’re pretty much only going to get level 10 loot, making it almost pointless.
Don’t worry about farming for better gear as that’s mainly left for the endgame. Also, once you beat the game, you can turn on Mayhem Mode, which will bring all enemies, including bosses, to your current level.