update

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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