Borderlands 4 Beginner Guide: How to Get Started in 2026

You just launched Borderlands 4 for the first time and the intro cutscene dumps you right onto planet Kairos - a smuggler's moon orbiting a dying star, ruled by a dictator called the Timekeeper who's got the entire population chipped with mind-control implants called Bolts. It's a lot. And honestly, the game doesn't hold your hand much.

I've watched three friends pick this game up and bounce off within the first two hours because they made the same dumb mistakes. So here's what I wish someone told me before I started.

Pick Your Vault Hunter Without Overthinking It

You get four choices: Vex, Amon, Rafa, and Harlowe. Each has three deep skill trees. Don't agonize over this. You can't permanently ruin your character - respeccing costs some Eridium but it's not prohibitive, especially once you hit level 15 or so and Eridium starts dropping from badass enemies.

Vex is the soldier archetype - think Roland or Axton from earlier games. She specializes in deployable turrets and team buffs. Good pick if you're playing solo and want something reliable that won't fold in boss fights.

Amon is the siren-equivalent, built around phase-shifting and elemental damage. His skill tree lets you chain shock damage between enemies, and honestly it's some of the most satisfying crowd control in the game. The learning curve is steeper though - you'll die a lot in the first few hours while figuring out positioning.

Rafa is the melee/assassin type with a grappling hook that isn't just traversal - it pulls enemies toward you or you toward them depending on how you spec. Insane mobility. If you played Zer0 in BL2 or Zane in BL3, Rafa will feel familiar.

Harlowe is the heavy - rocket launchers, explosive damage, damage absorption. Slow as hell but nearly unkillable once you get the right shield. I started with Harlowe and while the early game was a slog, by mid-game I was basically a walking tank.

Later on there's a DLC character, C4$H, but don't worry about that for now.

Your First Hour on Kairos

The game opens in the slums of Ironhold, the first of four major regions on Kairos. Don't try to explore everything. The map is designed to funnel you toward the Crimson Resistance headquarters in the first few missions - follow that thread.

A few things I'd flag:

The double jump and glide mechanics are available from the start. I missed this for like three hours because the tutorial prompt is weirdly easy to skip. On controller it's A to jump, then A again in the air, then hold A to glide. On keyboard it's space-space-hold. This changes everything about combat positioning.

Talk to every NPC with a yellow exclamation mark in the Resistance HQ. There's a vendor tucked in the back corner - Nisha's Armory - that sells a starter legendary for about 3,000 credits. It's random which one you get, but I've pulled a Maliwan shock SMG three times out of five characters. Worth the detour.

Don't sell green weapons until you've checked the Licensed Parts system. Some green guns have manufacturer parts from Jakobs or Vladof that boost fire rate or crit damage significantly. A green Vladof AR with the right parts can out-DPS a purple Hyperion SMG in the early levels. I didn't figure this out until level 20 and it stung.

First Few Missions - What Matters

The Crimson Resistance sends you on a series of sabotage missions against The Order - the Timekeeper's synthetic army. These missions are mostly linear but there's one thing worth knowing: every area has at least one hidden Typhon chest. They're not marked on the map. Listen for the audio cues - a faint humming sound near breakable walls or climbable ledges. The loot in these scales to your level, so opening them early gives you gear you'll replace in two hours. I save most of them for level 15+.

The first real boss is a Order Enforcer - basically a big armored robot with a flame thrower. Don't stand still. The arena has cover points on the left and right edges, and the boss's AI will track you with sustained fire if you're out in the open. Circle-strafe, use the double jump to break line of sight, and aim for the red glowing exhaust port on its back. It takes bonus damage there.

If you're struggling, switch to shock weapons. The Order uses shields almost universally in the early game, and shock damage strips shields fast. Jakobs pistols with shock element are my go-to for this fight.

Settings Worth Changing Immediately

FOV default is 70. Bump it to 95-100. The default makes the game feel sluggish and you'll miss enemies on your periphery during arena fights.

Motion blur - off. Always off for this game. The particle effects during combat are already intense and motion blur makes everything a smear.

If you're on console, performance mode (120fps target) is worth the resolution hit. This game has a lot of enemies on screen at once and frame drops during Eridian Rift encounters can get you killed.

Controller layout: swap crouch/slide to right stick click if you're used to Apex or Call of Duty. The default layout puts melee there, which you'll barely use unless you're playing Rafa.

What Not to Do

Don't buy weapons from vending machines unless they're legendary. Money is tight early and drops are frequent enough that you'll cycle weapons naturally. Save your cash for ammo capacity upgrades and the occasional shield upgrade when you find one that's 30%+ better than what you have.

Don't ignore the vehicle. You can summon your ride anytime from the weapon wheel - hold Y on controller or press V on keyboard. The hover bike is faster than the default buggy, but the buggy has more armor. Vehicle customization unlocks after the third story mission, and honestly some of the cosmetic options are worth the detour.

Don't sell Eridian artifacts. You'll get these from story bosses starting around level 10 and they look underwhelming at first glance. They're not - some of them have hidden stat interactions that aren't explained in the tooltip. The "Fractured Lens" artifact, for example, gives you a stacking damage buff every time you break an enemy's shield, and that buff persists between encounters. I sold my first one because it had blue rarity and low stats. Huge regret.

A few more things I wish I'd known. The hover bike is faster than the buggy even though the stats say otherwise. Don't trust stat screens. They lie. Constantly. The bestiary doesn't list all resistances - Warden Kael has hidden corrosive resistance that nobody mentions. I tested it. Four times. Same result. And if you're wondering whether to buy the DLC character C4$H, honestly I'd wait. He's fun but inconsistent, and the base four Vault Hunters cover every playstyle you'd want. By the time you've leveled one character to 50 and pushed into Rifts, the DLC will probably be on sale.

One last thing about co-op, since the game doesn't push it hard enough: full cross-platform play is built in from day one. PC players can squad with PS5 and Xbox players. Switch 2 players can join too. The instanced loot system means nobody steals your drops. If you've got friends on different platforms, this is the Borderlands to play together. I've been running Rifts with a friend on PS5 while I'm on PC, and aside from occasional voice chat issues, it's seamless.