Borderlands 4 Releases Patch Notes for Major December 11 Update

I’m so excited about the new Borderlands 4 update! It’s really focused on improving what you can do after you finish the main story, adding some awesome new game modes – and they finally delivered on that invincible boss we’ve all been waiting for! Since Borderlands 4 came out back in September, it’s been a huge hit for Gearbox, and it’s easy to see why. It brought back everything we love about the series – tons and tons of loot! – but also introduced some really cool new stuff, like improved ways to move around and a totally seamless open world that’s just begging to be explored.

Many players felt that Borderlands 4 didn’t offer enough engaging content after completing the main story. While Gearbox had added activities like Moxxi’s Big Encore and a New Game+ mode called Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, fans wanted more difficult challenges and better rewards. Fortunately, a recent update released on December 11th delivers exactly that, providing the challenging endgame experience players have been waiting for.

The December 11th update for Borderlands 4 is designed to improve the endgame experience, giving players more activities and rewards after finishing the story and reaching level 50. A key addition is Bloomreaper, a new raid boss encounter. This boss will test players’ skills and speed – faster completion times will result in better loot, including new legendary items and unique class mods that can be farmed repeatedly.

Full Legendary List for Bloomreaper:

Rainmaker – Ripper Sniper Rifle (guaranteed drop for Platinum-tier rewards in UVHM)
Mantra – Maliwan Shotgun
Undershield – Vladof Shield
Urchin – Tediore Ordnance (Grenade)
Jett-Setter – Ripper Ordnance (Heavy Weapon)
Misericorde – Siren Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)
Overdriver – Exo-Soldier Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)
Trooper – Gravitar Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)
Lamplighter – Forgeknight Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)

Beyond the Bloomreaper content, this update introduces a new difficulty level – 6 – to Borderlands 4’s Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. Players who conquer this challenge will earn the Skillcraft firmware. This firmware has three tiers: Tier 1 boosts skill damage by 10%, Tier 2 increases skill critical hit chance by 10%, and Tier 3 adds a 2% damage bonus specifically for skill damage, stacking up to 25 times.

This update introduces “True Mode,” a new endgame difficulty that can be turned on in the game settings. Unlike other endgame options, it doesn’t require completing Ultimate Vault Hunter mode first. True Mode is always balanced for a four-player team, no matter how many people are actually playing. You’ll need to finish the main story to unlock it, and it’s designed to be a serious challenge for players and their character builds. While Gearbox hasn’t said if there will be unique rewards, you can expect to fight much stronger enemies, including those with higher Badass ranks.

Image via Gearbox Software

This update continues Gearbox’s ongoing support for the game, including bug fixes and new content like the recent Horrors of Kairos event. Although some players weren’t thrilled with previous activities, Gearbox showed its appreciation by giving away the How Rush Saved Mercenary Day bounty pack to the community.

Image via Gearbox Software

The community reacted positively to the unexpected change, but many wondered what it meant for players who had bought the Deluxe, Super Deluxe, or Bounty Pack bundles. These bundles included a promised DLC pack that was now being released for free. Gearbox clarified that they will add a fifth Bounty Pack to Borderlands 4 to compensate for the free ‘How Rush Saved Mercenary Day’ DLC.

Borderlands 4 December 11 Patch Notes

Added a new arena: The Bloom
Added Bloomreaper the Invincible
Added support for True Mode, a new difficulty that is always scaled for a party of 4 regardless of the amount of players. The change here ups that balance to provide a greater challenge to those who are ready to take it on. This new difficulty mode is available when a player has completed the campaign.
Added support for UVHM 6
Added new UVHM challenge
Added new Firmware: Skillcraft, only available in UVHM 6.

Skillcraft tiers make your Action Skills even more dangerous to your enemies.

Tier 1: Skill Damage +10%
Tier 2: Skill Critical Chance +10%
Tier 3: Dealing Skill Damage increases Skill Damage Dealt by 2% for 10 seconds. Max 25 Stacks

Gameplay

The-Not-So-Immortal Boneface is no longer immortal due to an unintended regeneration boost during The Old Scrape
Improved mission flow in Abduction Injunction so the “Kill Order Captors” step continues instead of failing to progress if enemies did not appear
Bandit bounties now appear correctly in the Fade District
Lost Loot now keeps SDU upgrades after a Save/Load
Buying items in vending machines is now more reliable
Backpack Upgrade SDUs no longer reset after opening a vending machine
Mimicron fight no longer continues running after a player fast travels out of the arena during multiplayer
Axemaul now attacks players normally when fighting from the Big Encore Machine
The Kratchman now continues chasing players, even if they’re on top of a box
Destroyed Generators no longer affect aim assist during A Lot to Process
“Kill enemies with Maliwan guns and gear” now progresses correctly when using the Converging Kickballer
Vault Card challenge “Kill enemies with Vladof guns and gear” now counts kills from Midnight Defiance’s additional projectiles
“Adjust for Coriolis” Sniper Rifle challenge now tracks kills from more than 50 meters away
Maliwan elemental challenges now give the correct amount of progress and no longer grant double credit for applying elemental states
Daily and weekly Vault Card challenges now refresh properly when they expire
Removed Phosphene challenges from Legendaries that were not meant to have them (Sweet Embrace and Cold Shoulder)
The “Search for Hints [0/5]” objective in No-Escape Room now completes correctly even if hints were found early
Improved digistruct tunnel transitions so players don’t get stuck after dashing into portals
Updated ECHO Location guidance in several missions such that the path appears consistently and points the player in the right direction

Gear

We’re looking into a problem some players are experiencing where their Vault Card progress isn’t saving correctly in multiplayer. We’ll share updates on the official Borderlands Support website when we have more information.

Reduced how far the Repulsor Augment could launch enemies, as it could cause mission blockers.
Vehicle rockets and missiles no longer launch enemies long distances
Updated Vladof Legendary Midnight Defiance Sniper Rifle with the Jakobs licensed part to more reliably ricochet projectiles on critical hits
Level 3 Bullets to Spare Firmware now works correctly with COV magazines
Maliwan Sniper Rifles with Singularity Grenade Launcher underbarrels have been corrected to impact enemies rather than passing through them
The Tediore Legendary Pistol Budget Deity no longer shows unintended homing behavior
Tediore Legendary Pistol Inscriber now counts the Timekeeper’s Radiant Shield correctly to prevent extra projectiles spawning
Torgue sticky projectiles now explode after auto-reloading the Tediore Legendary Anarchy Shotgun when transitioning between areas
The Order Legendary Rooker Sniper Rifle now plays proper airborne SFX while in flight
Bullet impact decals now fade as normally instead of staying “hot” indefinitely
VFX for the Daedalus Legendary Missilaser now appear instantly when fired
Torgue Legendary Shield Firewerks missiles now spawn more reliably after defeating enemies
Nova damage has been adjusted to increase as intended from stacks of Resolve from the Order Legendary Shield Cindershelly
Prevented the Legendary Shield Super Soldier from regenerating Heavy Ordnance charges with the Power Play passive
Elemental attribute details on gear cards now display as intended when comparing gear of the same element
Updated Ripper Legendary Hellfire SMG to correctly apply its intended damage increase
Order Legendary Rooker Sniper Rifle now spawns the correct amount of needles
Vault Card challenge “Loot or Purchase 5 Ordnance” will now increase progress as intended with Heavy Weapons
Updated the Vault Card Weekly Challenge “Loot or Purchase 10/15 Legendaries” to persist when save/loading

Vault Hunters

Prevented an exploit that unlocked Vault Hunter skills earlier than intended
New characters no longer inherit SDU points from previous characters
Amon and Rafa’s elemental stats now show the correct values when skipping the prologue
Shield Boi from the Tediore Legendary Principal has been updated to allow Rafa Aphophis Lance skill and Vex Incarnate skill to fire through it normally

Trouble, Reapers, and Forge Weapon Changes

We’ve noticed that companions aren’t performing as well as we’d like, so we’re focusing on improving their reliability. We’ll be monitoring their performance and making further adjustments as needed.

Trouble now has a “Blink Melee Attack” that will occur every 12 seconds if too far from the target, causing them to immediately teleport and attack. This should make Trouble much more responsive in the heat of combat
Trouble, Reapers, and Forge Weapons have also gained increased Damage Radius to make them reliably damage enemies

Amon

Tempered Pyre deals ~20% more damage
Tempered Ice deals ~23% more damage
Tempered Lightning deals ~13% more damage

Harlowe

Updated Harlowe’s Potential Transference Capstone to allow the Adrenaline Pump Repkit to trigger as intended when Second Wind is earned in multiplayer sessions

Rafa

Updated “Per My Last” to prevent it from unintentionally behaving as an Overdrive skill
The Daedalus Legendary Rogue Luty Madlad SMG now interacts properly with the Exo-Soldier Action Skill APOPHIS Lance. Previously, the weapon could stop consuming ammo and firing despite showing the firing animation

Vex

Troubles ranged attacks now also benefit from Melee Damage
Blink Strike deals ~14% more damage
Violent Outburst deals ~11% more damage
Hexus Nexus deals ~14% more damage

Splitscreen Improvements

Improved several splitscreen UI elements, including ECHO Log readability and news article sizing
Enhanced Vault Card usability in splitscreen
Splitscreen settings now persist after closing the game
Improved instructions for reconnecting to online play
Travel countdown notifications now show consistently for all splitscreen players

Visual/Audio Changes

Reduced cases where the screen distorts before cinematics begin
Character animations now switch correctly between ladder climbing and swimming in Belton’s Bore
Oddman’s body no longer appears after replaying Exit Through the Rift Shop with a different choice
Adjusted animations for enemies holding various weapons
Updated various incorrect, missing, or low-resolution models and textures
Corrected background display when using the Black Market Vending Machine in Carcadia Burn
Updated areas where loot could get stuck, including Bramblesong and the final ramp in How Rush Saved Mercenary Day
Updated multiple locations where collision, clipping, or out-of-bounds paths could occur
Two non-functional ECHO Logs no longer appear after completing The Weird Way Home
Enemies no longer disappear behind the metal door during Genone’s fight in The Yawning Yard
Ensured doors in How Rush Saved Mercenary Day display with correct green lights when unlocked
Improved visuals for Amon’s VH-2015 body customization so there are no visible gaps when viewed by other players in multiplayer
Vault Card ticket amounts now refresh properly after the first purchase
Updated various audio behaviors
Updated how combat music reevaluates critical threats properly when entering fresh combat

UI/Text

“Buy” and “Buyback” tabs in Vending IO now display the correct, different items
Item Cards in vending machines no longer compare to unknown items
Item level and value information now always show when comparing items in vending screens
Improved stability and display consistency across all Vending Machine menus
Added tooltips to the skills on Class Mods in Item Inspect to show what each skill does
Improved weapon wheel speed and hold sensitivity
Locked SHiFT rewards are now hidden in customization menus
Improvements to ECHO Logs include functional sort buttons, dropdowns that close naturally, clear selection highlighting, and sort/filter preferences that persist between when leaving and re-entering the menu
Key prompts now function correctly when switching widgets inside the News section of the pause menu
The “Flip Card” prompt now appears consistently across item comparison menu
Corrected some cases preventing the prompt to send loot to the bank to now appear and be functional in the Inventory menu
Improved Vault Card visual consistency
Updated various UI visuals and icons for alignment, consistency, and clarity
Updated localization, various text descriptions, subtitle timings, and text alignment across the game
Updated Credits

Player Experience Improvements

Reduced a reported rare black-screen situation on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 after the vault loading screen
Improved framerate when using a Torgue Shotgun with the Flameblast underbarrel
Minor Update download now stops correctly when signing out during the download
Titles with Windows usernames containing special characters now restart correctly after installing a Minor Update

A note from the dev team:

For the last few months, our team has been working hard to make Borderlands 4 run as smoothly as possible. Since launch, we’ve found several ways to significantly improve performance – boosting framerates and reducing stuttering – all without lowering the game’s visual quality. These improvements come from both changes we’ve made to the game’s code and content, and from updates to Epic’s Unreal Engine. You can find more specifics below.

We’ve made good progress, but there’s still more work ahead. We’re committed to continually improving performance in the months to come, and we’re grateful for your feedback and understanding!

Improved the performance cost of many UI elements (menus, HUD, and overlays) without lowering visual quality
The game now uses Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO), which allows the executable to run more efficiently and brings large CPU performance gains
Encouraged smoother gameplay by reducing gameplay hitches caused by shader and PSO (Pipeline State Object) compilation
Optimized grass, shrubs, and other foliage by updating their meshes and materials, reducing the cost of drawing them on screen
Added several GPU optimizations pulled in from newer versions of Unreal Engine
Improved the performance of the Lumen lighting system
Improved the performance of foliage reflections and water
Additional performance improvements for minimum-spec PCs in areas with grass, dynamic shadows, and wind effects
In-engine cinematics now run at higher framerates, instead of being capped at 30 FPS
Adjusted AI/NPC spawn counts in certain areas so enemies and NPCs no longer spawn in higher numbers than intended, improving both performance and gameplay flow
Removal of unnecessary extra lights, especially lights used for supporting volumetric clouds.
Improvements to Physics and Niagara to reduce memory leaks and Out-of-Memory crashes
Improvements to Cloth initialization to reduce load and spawn cost time.
Added new graphics options that lets players turn off shadows, volumetric clouds, and fog, offering better performance flexibility
Improved how VRAM is used by reorganizing texture and mesh memory pools, allowing the game to keep better visual quality at lower graphics settings without hurting performance
General stability improvements

2025-12-12 22:08