Borderlands 4’s October 23 Patch Notes Are Still a Total Doomsday Scenario for Me

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Okay, I’ll be honest – when Gearbox announced they were pushing the nerfs to the Vex Infinite Bleed build back to October 23rd, I actually breathed a sigh of relief. I immediately messaged my friends, basically yelling that my favorite build wasn’t getting touched for another week. Now we’re almost there, and honestly, I’m still not sure a nerf is even needed. This weekend actually showed me the build isn’t nearly as overpowered as some people claim. I’m really hoping Gearbox doesn’t just completely destroy it with these changes – that’s my biggest worry right now.

My friend and I have been playing *Borderlands 4* pretty consistently, usually every weekend – though we didn’t have as much time to play last weekend. I’m writing about our experiences again, following up on what I shared last week. We’re trying to unlock all the achievements and trophies, and I realized my usual character build wasn’t very effective in certain situations. Let me give you an update on what we’ve been up to…

  • Alongside a little mid-week play, my friend’s Harlowe got back to level 50 after a BL4 bug wiped his SDUs and Specializations (He had to make a new character).
  • We finally wrapped up all the sidequests in Borderlands 4.
  • We also unlocked UVHM5 after playing on UVHM2 for the past couple of weekends.
  • We also knocked out the Bounties achievement/trophy.
  • We also worked on Gear Challenges by farming Foundry Freaks with Armored Bods.

Currently, we’re missing only a few achievements/trophies: Catch-a-Ride, the Gear and Manufacturer challenges, and Dave the Burrito. We’re still working on completing them, but we’ve discovered that finishing Catch-a-Ride requires reaching level 50 with all Vault Hunters. Despite this, my Vex’s powerful build didn’t make the game significantly easier over the weekend.

I’m okay losing the Infinite Bleed Build, but I don’t want to lose the Bleed Build.

Vex’s Infinite Bleed Build is a One Trick Pony

The popular Vex build that causes continuous bleeding is definitely overpowered, and the way it combines critical hits with the Bloodletter weapon wasn’t the developers’ intention. However, unexpected and unintended strategies often create some of the most fun and interesting gameplay experiences – that’s just how games evolve! While a fix is probably necessary, the biggest issue is a lack of clear communication. I’d be fine with the build being toned down, as long as it remains a functional strategy even if it’s no longer ‘infinite.’ My main worry is that the core gameplay loop will be completely broken. Let’s quickly recap what this Bleed Build actually involves.

  • The Throwing Knife with a Penetrator Augment is mandatory for the build. However, this is basic world loot in Borderlands 4, with players reporting dozens of hours (if not outright making it to UVHM5) without ever seeing one. My buddies and I (so in a four-player co-op game) looked for it for at least 10+ hours.
  • After that, there’s a certain skill selection for Vex focused around Bloodletter and crits.
  • You want a strong one-shot weapon to stack the Bleed build damage with. Some folks run a certain class mod + a sniper rifle; I run a Hot Slugger + Rending Psion Class Mod. (I haven’t even found the +4 Bloodletter mod that I know exists).
  • I also use an Amp Shield, an Amp Repkit, and have a Jakobs Enhancement.
  • This is enough to make the Bleed trigger every now and then, but players will want the Contamination Specialization to really make it click.

Putting this build together takes a good amount of effort and time. I can’t recall if it took us one or two weekends, but we all worked hard to get the specific setups we wanted. The build is definitely powerful, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But what I really enjoy is how fun it is to play. I’ve always liked Throwing Knives, ever since I started playing *Borderlands 4*, and being able to combine that with a Jakobs gun – which I think is the best in the game – is a huge plus for me.

How I react to the change really depends on what it does. I’m okay with a nerf in many situations, but I don’t want this particular playstyle to be removed just for the sake of having more build options. I’m not sure if that’s the intention, and we simply don’t know what the plan is. As long as I can still be effective, I’ll be satisfied. I can definitely use other Vex builds, but I enjoy this one regardless of how powerful it is – I just want it to still be a good option. Honestly, my friends and I can easily beat any challenge even without me. Our combined builds already clear bosses very quickly, and I just help speed things up when I can.

This particular build isn’t completely game-breaking, and it’s not even easy to get. If it were, the developers would have already addressed it in an update for *Borderlands 4*. It’s really effective against large bosses – I usually need to power up, land a critical hit, and then finish them off with a few more shots, though that might be more than necessary. That’s basically how it works. However, outside of boss fights, it’s not very dependable.

My Vex Infinite Bleed Build Didn’t Help Much This Weekend

I’ve been testing a few different builds with the Driller Site challenges. While I can handle the bosses well, I don’t like using my Bleed build on regular enemies. It’s okay for tougher single enemies, but setting it up takes too long, and every second counts in Borderlands 4’s fast-paced fights. I prefer using Vex’s Reapers and Spectres with another weapon instead – it’s just more efficient. Right now, I’m mainly using Armored Bod alongside Hot Slugger to complete the gear challenges.

I’m really good at quickly defeating bosses, and I enjoy helping my friends get better gear without wasting hours on the hunt. While I *can* defeat bosses instantly, that wasn’t the main way I helped my friend Harlowe level up to 50. We were mostly completing side quests, which gave him the majority of his experience. Beating bosses in those side quests definitely helped, but regular enemies didn’t really pose a challenge. I always had a specific role, unleashing my powerful ‘Infinite Bleed Build’ when needed. However, I didn’t get to use it much this weekend because it’s a very specialized build, and I felt pretty helpless when we started working on the ‘Catch-a-Ride’ achievement and realized it wasn’t very effective.

Catch-a-Ride Right Off The Infinite Bleed Build

Okay, so I’m trying to get the Catch-a-Ride achievement, which means leveling up *every* character to 50. I’ve got Harlowe at 41 already, which is cool because I’ve been playing her with my wife. But that means I still need to create Amon and Rafa and grind them up too. I was hoping I could fast-track them to level 30 and then it would be a quick push to 50, but… yeah, it’s not that simple. Everyone says the best places to level up in *Borderlands 4* are Driller Sites and Vile Bounties, but honestly, I’m not great at making those feel easy. We’re still trying to figure out how to team up with our level 50 characters and my level 30s to do this efficiently – it’s taking way longer than I thought. When we hit the bosses in Driller Sites, it’s okay if I’m actually working on weapon challenges, but otherwise, slogging through all the enemies just doesn’t seem worth trying to constantly apply Bleed effects, you know?

Dealing with tough enemies like Vile Bounties is tricky because you can’t make them bleed easily. While I *can* eventually break their defenses, my current Vex build isn’t very efficient at it. My friend Rafa uses a different setup that works quickly, but I need to switch weapons to fight them effectively. Basically, Vex’s bleed-focused build isn’t completely useless, but it’s not the best option for everything. My main job in the group is taking down bosses, and otherwise, I just enjoy playing the game and having fun with my friends.

I’m fine with removing the overpowered aspects of the Infinite Bleed Build, but I’d really like to keep the standard Bleed Build as it is. I get that Gearbox wants to ensure a variety of viable builds and prevent any single build from making the game too easy, and I know my experience is just one person’s opinion compared to their data. I could probably make my build even stronger, but I don’t think any build should be completely removed just for the sake of ‘build diversity.’ Plus, I think making content easy is actually a fun part of *Borderlands* – I remember how powerful some builds were back in the Conference Call + Bee shield days. I suspect Gearbox is worried about this build making the new, very difficult bosses too easy, and fixing the infinite part sounds reasonable. However, I hope they don’t overcorrect and ruin the entire build. I’ll probably find out what happens on October 23rd, or more likely, when my friends and I get a chance to play again this weekend.

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2025-10-20 16:35