Borderlands 3 is the long-awaited successor to the Borderlands series made by Gearbox Software. This genre-defining looter shooter is well-regarded for its sarcastic, excessive humor and solid gameplay loop of shoot, loot, repeat. Borderlands 3 has a satisfying campaign and many more hours of side quests and extra areas to explore.

Borderlands 3 has a wide array of tough enemies and bosses, but Killavolt in particular can be an especially pernicious foe. He becomes the player’s target in a side-quest given by Moxxi, but can present a unique challenge because of his tricky mechanics and relatively high level.

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The first step to killing Killavolt is, of course, finding him. Killavolt can be located in Borderlands 3’s Lectra city, which can be hard to find itself. Players will be led to Lectra city upon receiving a quest from Moxxi to take out Killavolt. This quest is available when speaking to Moxxi, or can be found on the streets of the Meridian Metroplex area.

Loading screen for Lectra City

The Fight

The suggested level for this mission is 13, but Killavolt is level 16. This is enough of a gap that players should know a good way to grind levels in Borderlands 3. On top of his high level, Killavolt has some unusual mechanics that make him even more challenging.

Killavolt has a shield, which forces players to strafe around him to hit his sides and back. Continuing to change position is a good idea in this fight, because it will also help avoid Killavolt’s melee attacks. Killavolt mixes things up occasionally by raining down lightning on the player, dealing large amounts of damage.

The Strategy

Players should constantly check the ground and ceiling. The lightning strikes can be avoided if the player pays attention, but they are likely the most dangerous out of all of Killavolt’s various attacks. Paying attention to the roof will reveal safe spots for players to move to when these attacks are incoming. Using fire weapons or other damage-over-time effects is the best way to take down Killavolt, or any boss with a shield for that matter.

Damage over time will keep Killavolt’s shield down for longer, allowing the player to land more attacks. Regardless, this is a long fight and takes some patience. Killavolt is meant to be whittled down slowly while the player focuses on avoiding his large attacks for a prolonged period of time. Moving constantly and trying not to get boxed in will make this battle of attrition swing in the player’s favor.

Borderlands 3 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Stadia version also in development.

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