Shields have always been an integral part of vault hunter builds in the Borderlands series and are no different in Borderlands 3. However, there is one shield in particular that can be exploited to grant the player infinite benefits such as reload speed and melee damage.
This shield is known as the Rough Rider, a returning shield from Borderlands 2. In Borderlands 3, The Rough Rider is a shield that has zero capacity but decreases damage dealt to the player by a substantial amount. If players have a Rough Rider shield that has abilities that state their activation as, "when the shield is depleted," then the infinite stat glitch can be achieved.
In order to accomplish the glitch, players must first have the Rough Rider shield with the stat that they wish to boost such as melee damage or speed. Next, the player must go into their inventory and equip and unequip the Rough Rider rapidly, the more this is done then the better the stat boost will be. Finally, the player must have the Rough Rider equipped before exiting their inventory once they are satisfied with the stat stacking they feel is necessary.
From that point forward, players are free to zip around the map at sonic speeds or one-shot any enemy in the game, including Wotan the Invincible. The stat boosts remain until the player leaves the game, so they are free to fast travel, enter new areas, do missions, and even die. As long as the player does not leave the game or join a friend, the glitch will remain.
There isn't much to worry about with the glitch as it is fairly simple to accomplish and the only real difficulty is getting a Rough Rider in the first place with the benefits that the player wants. The Rough Rider is a world drop that can be dropped from any enemy but it also has a dedicated loot source. The Rough Rider's dedicated loot source is Urist McEnforcer which is a rare enemy spawn in Lectra City underneath the train-like area where another unique enemy, One Punch, can be found.
While the Rough Rider is hard to get as Urist McEnforcer's spawn rate is terribly low, having the shield and pairing the sprint variation with the exploit can be pretty fun to race against friends. If players are not into exploits as this one makes the game a lot easier, then the shield is still definitely worth going for as the damage reduction is pretty decent for being a shield with zero capacity.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC.