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Borderlands 4's Worst Character Sucks Less After Today's Update
Game Reviews

Borderlands 4’s Worst Character Sucks Less After Today’s Update

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A new update for Borderlands 4 is available now on all platforms, and after installing it you’ll discover that all of the game’s playable vault hunters are now stronger. But one in particular, Amon, is much, much more powerful after the patch, which is great because many (myself included) considered him to be the worst and weakest of the bunch.

Borderlands 4 launched last month to mostly positive reviews and big numbers on Steam. I really like the game and its chaotic mix of looting and shooting, even if performance issues have been a problem over the last few weeks. But performance has improved steadily with the last few patches, and now Gearbox is targeting balance tweaks. But don’t worry, the studio isn’t nerfing anything yet. Instead, the latest patch for the open-world FPS is all about buffing the vault hunters. And Amon, a large space warrior, got the most buffs following complaints that he wasn’t much fun to play and didn’t feel as exciting during firefights as other characters.

On October 2, Gearbox pushed out a new patch for Borderlands 4 that is focused entirely on improving each of the game’s four vault hunters. After the update, Harlowe does more stasis slam damage, Rafa’s APOPHIS Lance skill is deadlier, and the Siren Vex got some buffs to make some of her builds more viable. But it’s Amon who got the most tweaks by far, with the new patch notes listing 60+ buffs. Yowza! And some of these are huge, with one buff to “Massive Forgewave Damage” being listed as a 100-percent increase!

While it might seem drastic, Amon truly needed these buffs. I’ve now played as Rafa, Vex, and Amon in Borderlands 4, and by far the most boring and weakest was the big, tanky Amon. It often felt like I was tossing points into his skill tree without ever feeling the effects. Hopefully, these buffs help his kit feel more exciting and effective to use during combat encounters.

Anyway, here are the full Borderlands 4 patch notes as shared by Gearbox on Thursday:

Character Balance Adjustments:

Harlowe

Action Skills – Zero-Point

  • Stasis Slam Damage increased by 30%
  • Stasis Immune Damage increased by 14.7%

Rafa

Action Skills – APOPHIS Lance

Capstones – People Person

  • Project: Raiju Damage now scales by 12% per second, up from 10%
  • Project: Basilisk Damage increased by 15%
  • Project: Basilisk Hazard Damage increased by 25%
  • Project: Gorgon Damage increased by 17%

Passives – People Person

  • El Catrín
    • Critical Hit Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
    • Bonus Shock Damage increased to 8% from 7% per point
  • Per My Last
    • Double Damage Chance increased to 6% from 5% per point

Action Skills – Arc-Knives

  • Melee Attack Damage increased by 12%
  • Dash Damage increased by 5%

Passives – This Year’s Gimmick

  • Handshake Deal
    • Melee Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • To the Last
    • Skill Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • El Paragus
    • Splash Damage increased to 9% from 7% per point
  • Liquidation
  • Collaborative Ignition
    • Bonus Damage increased to 8% from 6% per point
  • Sinergia
    • Duration increased to 14 seconds from 12 seconds
    • Melee Damage increased to 4% from 3% per point
  • Empuje
    • Action Skill Duration increased to 7% from 6% per point

Vex

Action Skills – Incarnate

  • Phase Explosion Damage increased by 16.6%
  • Eldritch Blast Damage increased by 9.5%

Augments – Vexcalation

  • Energy Vampire Damage increased by 25%

Capstones – Vexcalation

  • Heartpiercer Damage increased by 22%
  • Desecration Hazard Damage increased by 50%
  • Desecration Airborne Burst Damage increased by 48%
  • Geistwave Damage increased by 41%

Passives – Vexcalation

  • Radiant Attunement now deals 7% Splash Damage, up from 6% per point
  • Dreadlight Hazard Damage increased by 100%
  • Ars Arcana now increases Skill Damage by 9% from 8% per point

Action Skills – Phase Phamiliar

  • Trouble Health increased by 10%
  • Trouble Damage increased by 21.9%

Augments – Here Comes Trouble

  • Violent Outburst Damage increased by 12.5%
  • Vorpal Fang Damage increased by 34%

Capstones – Here Comes Trouble

  • Trouble Bubble Damage increased by 33%

Passives – Here Comes Trouble

  • Blood is Magic now increases Action Skill Damage by 8% from 7% per point
  • Claw and Bang now increases Melee Damage by 8% from 6% per point

Passives – The Fourth Seal

  • Fell Inscriptions Melee Damage increased to 7% from 6% per point
  • Recurrence now increases Melee Damage by 0.2% per stack from 0.16% per point
  • Haruspex Phase Dagger Damage increased by 11.7%

Amon

Action Skills – Scourge

  • Scourge has had its Maximum Vengeance increased by 50%, making it able to absorb more damage and deal more damage with Forgewhip when consumed.
  • Forgewhip Damage has increased by 27%

Augments – Vengeance

  • Blastchill Damage increased by 45%
  • Molten Rebuke Damage increased by 86%
  • Eternal Winter Massive Forgewave Damage increased by 100%
  • Stormlance Damage increased by 52%
  • Stormlance Detonation Damage increased by 10%

Capstones – Vengeance

  • Glacial Rapture Capstone now has a 60 second cooldown, down from 70 seconds
  • Glacial Rapture Forgewhip Damage increased by 16%
  • Glacial Rapture Fissure Damage increased by 41%
  • Wrathfall Damage increased by 46%

Passives – Vengeance

  • Scorched Kairos now increases Ordnance Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Battleborn now increases Gun Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Scar Tissue now increases Maximum Health and Rep Kit healing by 9%, up from 8% per point
  • Eternal now increases Action Skill Duration by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Worldbreaker Damage increased by 50%
  • Winter’s Kiss now increases Damage Dealt by 10%, up from 8% per point
  • Strike The Anvil now deals 15% of the Damage Dealt, up from 12% per point

Action Skills – Crucible

  • Forgeaxe Damage increased by 12%
  • Double-Edge’s Twinned Forge Axe Damage increased by 10%

Augments – Cybernetics

  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Cooldown restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Axe and Stones Action Skill Ordnance restoration increased to 40% from 33%
  • Endless War Gun Damage Taken increased to 20% from 15% per Prime stack
  • Hour of the Hammer Forgehammer Damage increased by 14%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword damage increased by 13%
  • Blade Tempest Forgesword Detonation damage increased by 4%

Capstones – Cybernetics

  • Snowmaul Damage increased by 38%
  • Storm Surge impact damage increased by 10%
  • Storm Surge Forgestorm damage increased by 60%
  • Conflangarang Capstone’s Fire Trail Damage increased by 100%

Passives – Cybernetics

  • Gathering Storm now increases Elemental Damage by 3% per stack, up from 2% per point
  • Executioner now increases Critical Hit Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Forge Skill Damage by 6%, up from 5% per point
  • Destruction Engine now increases Detonation Damage by 8%, up from 6% per point
  • Tempered Pyre Forge Axe Damage increased by 19%
  • Tempered Ice Forge Hammer Damage increased by 18%
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Damage by 10%, from 7% per point
  • Masterwork now increases Forgedrone’s Duration by 8%, from 5% per point
  • Tempered Lightning Forge Sword Damage increased by 13%
  • Lightning Rod Elemental Bolt now deals 40% of the Damage Dealt, up from 30% per point
  • Escalation now increases Forgedrone’s Attack Speed and Movement Speed by 5%, up from 3%, per point
  • Honed Point now increases Forgedrone’s Critical Hit Chance by 5%, up from 4% per point
  • Heat Exchange now increases Cryo and Incendiary Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point

Action Skills – Onslaughter

  • Onslaughter Shield Regeneration increased to 15% per second, from 10%
  • Onslaughter Rocket Punch Damage increased by 78%
  • Molten Slam now has a 60 second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Molten Slam Damage increased by 50%

Augments – Calamity

  • Fellfrost Damage increased by 71%
  • Fulminating Fist damage increased by 69%

Capstones – Calamity

  • Hoarcleave now has a 55 second cooldown, from 65 seconds
  • Hoarcleave damage increased by 11%
  • Hoarcleave Detonation damage increased by 18%
  • Molten Roil now has a 70 second cooldown, from 80 seconds
  • Stormcutter now has a 65 second cooldown, from 75 seconds
  • Stormcutter Damage increased by 65%

Passives – Calamity

  • Heavy Plate now increases Maximum Shield Capacity by 7%, up from 6% per point
  • Wield The Storm now increases Status Effect Damage and Status Effect Duration by 7%, from 6% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increases Melee Damage by 8%, up from 7% per point
  • Tritanium Knuckles now increased Skill Damage by 4%, up from 3% per point
  • Harbinger now increases Melee Damage by 2% per stack, up from 1% per point
  • Mortal Flare Damage increased by 22%
  • Judgment now increases Melee damage by 10%, up from 8% per point

Additional Change:

  • Added auto-clearing of Borderlands 4 stale shaders on version update, preventing performance degradation on some PCs.



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The Return of the 'Razor Crest' in 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' Sucks
Product Reviews

The Return of the ‘Razor Crest’ in ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Sucks

by admin



When Lucasfilm surprise dropped our very first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu this week, the first thing we saw was a very familiar ship: the bulky chrome body (now bedecked in stripes of yellow paint) and the barrel-shaped twin engines jutting out of either side. It was meant to invoke one thought to anyone who’s watched the show: the Razor Crest is back.

The thing is, the Razor Crest was blown into itty-bitty bits during the climax of The Mandalorian season two. We don’t know yet whether or not, months or a year or so later, Din Djarin managed to go back to Tython and collect all the remaining scrap from his old ride to be put back together—probably not, considering that The Book of Boba Fett dedicated an episode to Din getting a new ride in the form of a Naboo N-1 Starfighter. But whether or not he found the time to go back or just simply managed to buy another ship of the same type, an ST-70 Gunship is not really what the return of a ship that looks identical to the one he used to fly around in really says.

© Lucasfilm

It mostly just says, “That thing you know is back.” Which The Mandalorian has gotten, for good or ill, very good at saying; it’s now just applying that to something that’s been gone for a season and a bit of TV, rather than things we know from other old Star Wars material. And it’s just the latest in a long line of things that The Mandalorian, as a show, has given up on in terms of displaying any kind of real growth for its lead characters.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t particularly like the show’s new choice of ship for Din either. Going from an unwieldy metal brick of a transport ship to a slick, stripped-down starfighter—even putting aside the nostalgia play of it being a ship fans knew and recognized, instead of a new design like the Razor Crest had been when it was introduced—didn’t make sense for a character that was ostensibly still trying to be the bounty hunter he had been.

The N-1 was a hero’s ship, one that reflected that, for better or worse, Din’s status in the Star Wars galaxy had changed: he was no longer the lone wanderer just making his way on the fringes of the galaxy; he was thrust into the upper echelons of Star Wars‘ heroes and villains, rubbing shoulders with Luke Skywalker and being the onetime inheritor, whether he wanted to be or not, of the Mandalorian people’s legacy. He was recognized as recognizable and needed a vessel to match that.

The Razor Crest, in a lot of ways, represented the imperfect man we’d come to know over the course of The Mandalorian‘s debut season—it’s not a cool ship, it’s not decked out with a bazillion weapon hardpoints, it wasn’t luxurious inside or out, it was practical, rugged, the Star Wars equivalent of a hauling truck, and that made it perfect for a bounty hunter scrounging around from job to job. Replacing it with a starfighter that was distinctly impractical for the job of bounty hunting but was also the antithesis of everything that made the Razor Crest feel unique, felt like the show forcibly telling us that Din was moving on and accepting his new place in the galaxy, even if that new place was beholden to Star Wars‘ broader yearning for the familiar.

© Lucasfilm

Now, in The Mandalorian and Grogu, Din has kept that new status quo while also returning to familiarity with this “new” ship. There’s no moving on or mark of what his life was like when The Mandalorian first began anymore. Now he is more explicitly that unequivocal hero, allied with the New Republic, and brushing shoulders with familiar faces over and over. Because the Razor Crest itself has now become something Star Wars can mine for nostalgia, as much as one can mine nostalgia for something that’s just six years old (and has been gone for most of those six years). Now we can be sold all those Razor Crest toys again, except they’ve got yellow paint markings on them. She’s got a new hat!

But really it’s not the ship itself that is necessarily a problem here (again, I liked what The Mandalorian said about Din through his ship of choice in its first two seasons a lot), but what this return represents overall: The Mandalorian finds it really hard to let go of any potential opportunity for growth. The Razor Crest‘s return pales in comparison, narratively speaking, to the number of character throughlines that the series has set up and then promptly dropped. Seasons one and two set up a compelling arc of Din coming to question the orthodoxy of his own Mandalorian covert—and, through characters like Bo-Katan, the idea that there were other ways for him to exist and be Mandalorian outside of those not necessarily healthy teachings—climaxing in both his decision to remove his helmet and to give up Grogu to be trained as a Jedi.

© Lucasfilm

All that immediately turned around in season three, which opened with an arc of almost-penitence for Din, running back unequivocally into the arms and teachings of the covert with little engagement as to why he should do that. And that he did so with Grogu at his side again—a separation resolved between seasons in that aforementioned Book of Boba Fett appearance, largely at the heinous expense of mishandling the character of Luke Skywalker—was just further indication that the show could not imagine a way to follow through with the shifts in its status quo that it laid out. Din Djarin can only be the faceless adherent of the Way; only he can guide Grogu’s path, and now, he can only pilot that one kind of ship you know he piloted before.

It’s a strange sense of inertia that feels jarring as Din becomes the face of Star Wars‘ return to cinema at a time when the series needs newness to guide its way rather than resting on the laurels of familiarity. A couple splashes of paint just simply aren’t enough compared to the message The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s debut trailer sent: that sensation of newness has yet to be found here.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.



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"It really sucks" Battlefield 6 technical director bummed out about those unable to play due to Secure Boot requirement, believes anti-cheat cat-and-mouse game will "never end"
Game Reviews

It really sucks” Battlefield 6 technical director bummed out about those unable to play due to Secure Boot requirement, believes anti-cheat cat-and-mouse game will “never end

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The Battlefield 6 open betas proved exceptionally popular earlier this month for many, but a significant portion of the PC playerbase were met with a daunting wall to play thanks to the game’s Secure Boot requirement. This technical hurdle is in place for the game’s anti-cheat, a kernel-level bit of software dedicated to curbing a rising cheating problem across online FPS games.

Alas, the Battlefield 6 beta still had a few cheaters running around and ruining things for their fellow players. To find out more about whether Battlefield 6’s Javalin anti-cheat was successful in the eyes of EA, Eurogamer sat down to talk to Battlefield 6 technical director Christian Buhl. Buhl would express pride at the anti-cheat team’s work, sadness for those unable to play due to the Secure Boot requirement, and resigned to him and his peer’s fate in the endless battle against cheaters.

Cheeck out some Battlefield 6 multiplayer gameplay here!Watch on YouTube

“We were pretty happy with how the anti-cheat performed,” Buhl beamed when asked how he felt the anti-cheat held up during the betas. “Obviously I’ll say we can never be perfect, anti-cheat is always a cat-and-mouse game where we’re constantly going back and forth and keeping on top of what the cheaters are doing. But from the beginning this was something we put a high priority on, so when we launch this game we have a really strong anti-cheat program in place.”

Buhl would elaborate by sharing that Battlefield 6 had two anti-cheat teams working on the game, in what he described as a “pretty massive investment” by EA. There’s the EA anti-cheat team that built the Javalin anti-cheat team, as well as the Battlefield 6 anti-cheat team that focused on “integrating EA’s technology as well as monitoring and all the other responsibilities you’d expect from an anti-cheat team”.

The reason for this expense is to ensure a “fair play experience”, which was “critical to Battlefield’s success” according to Buhl. The cost for the user is granting additional access to Battlefield Studios’ and EA’s anti-cheat, as well as enabling Secure Boot on their PC. This led to many turning away from the PC beta, something Buhl is bummed out about.

Those able to get the game running are having a blast.

“The fact is I wish we didn’t have to do things like Secure Boot” Buhl admits. “It does prevent some players from playing the game. Some people’s PCs can’t handle it and they can’t play: that really sucks. I wish everyone could play the game with low friction and not have to do these sorts of things.”

Buhl continues: “Unfortunately these are some of the strongest tools in our toolbox to stop cheating. Again, nothing makes cheating impossible, but enabling Secure Boot and having kernel-level access makes it so much harder to cheat and so much easier for us to find and stop cheating.”

So where does this cat-and-mouse game end? Does it ever end, and will players have to get used to providing kernel-level access, enabling Secure Boot, and opening their door to other technical requirements for new games?

“The short answer is it never ends,” states Buhl. “We expect our anti-cheat team will continue working on technology, and if at some point there’s a new technological requirement that we’ll have to add that’s critical to securing the fairness of the game, we’ll do that. Or we’ll certainly evaluate that. Anti-cheat never ends, it’s a constant cat-and-mouse game. We’re never going to win. Hopefully they’re never going to win. But in the end, we want to be as safe and secure as possible.



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This sucks: you'll have to pay for two clans in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
Game Updates

This sucks: you’ll have to pay for two clans in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

by admin


As Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 finally gets a release date it looks like it will hit – 21st October 2025 – so comes news you’ll have to pay to access two of the six clans in the game. Clans here act like your character class, determining what kind of gameplay role your character will adopt, as well as giving you a sense of storied belonging in the world, so they’re no trivial thing. And they’re not cheap.

In order to access the Lasombra and Toreador clans, you’ll need to buy the Shadows and Silk add-on pack, which costs £18.69/€21.99/$21.99. And as far as I can tell, you won’t be able to access these locked clans otherwise. If you don’t pay, you’ll only be able to access the default four: Brujah, Tremere, Banu Haqim and Ventrue.

There’s a further gameplay consideration here. Clans modify the difficulty of the game by making you better or worse at certain things. In the preview build of Bloodlines 2 I’ve just been playing, I picked to be Brujah, which are a brawler-focused group. They are a normal difficulty clan to play as, whereas Ventrue – a clan that dominates minds – are easier, and the Banu Haqim, which revolve around stealthy ambush gameplay, are hard. There’s more detail on the various clans on the Bloodlines 2 website, but there’s not, frustratingly, any more information on Toreador or Lasombra.

However, Vampire: The Masquerade being a long-standing tabletop role-playing game means there’s plenty of available information out there about these locked clans. The Lasombra clan is a shadowy organisation that manipulates through religion, apparently, whereas the Toreador are known for being seductive and enthralling, which is exactly the kind of vampire I’d like to be. It’s a shame to have to pay for the privilege.

The Shadows and Silk add-on pack comes as part of the Premium Edition of the game, if you’re willing to fork out £74.99/€89.99/$89.99 for it. It also contains the cosmetic Santa Monica Memories pack. But at the moment I suggest you wait. And I say that because I remain unconvinced after a few hours of play.

This game has had a troubled development and it seems to me that in an effort to get it out, the developer has narrowed the scope and focused more on action gameplay rather than an intricate role-playing experience. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – there’s a terrific sense of speed and punch in what I played – but it does lack substance. I would wait for 21st October and see.



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