Borderlands 4’s World Bosses Take a Good Premise Too Far

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Boss battles in the *Borderlands* series have always been inconsistent. Some, like Crawmerax the Invincible and The Warrior, are truly memorable and demand teamwork and well-coordinated skills. Others are fairly simple, easily defeated with basic movement and shooting. However, the bosses in the upcoming *Borderlands 4* seem to be leaning more towards the challenging, cooperative style.

Despite still having some frustratingly easy fights, *Borderlands 4* generally improves on its boss battles, especially within the main storyline. Most main story bosses present players with unique challenges that require quick thinking and adaptation, reminiscent of classic raid bosses. However, the quality of bosses isn’t consistent throughout the game. While the world bosses have interesting ideas, they don’t quite live up to their potential in terms of gameplay.

There’s a Strong Concept Behind Borderlands 4’s World Bosses

While playing *Borderlands 4*, you’ll sometimes come across a glowing, see-through blue dome. Stepping inside will trigger a challenging boss fight with a randomly selected enemy, offering a classic *Borderlands* experience. If you win, you’ll get valuable, high-level rewards.

Randomly encountering powerful bosses while exploring the open world feels perfectly suited to the *Borderlands* series. Spotting a boss’s energy dome is always thrilling, and these battles are consistently tough but satisfying. *Borderlands 4* already offers a lot of replay value, and these roaming bosses make the open world even more engaging.

One Big Issue Holds Borderlands 4’s World Bosses Back From Greatness

There’s a significant problem with how world bosses are designed in *Borderlands 4* that instantly ruins the experience. If a player is knocked outside the boss’s arena during the fight, the battle ends right away, no matter how much progress they’ve made or damage they’ve dealt.

To make things even more frustrating, defeated bosses don’t respawn. Plus, the powerful bosses in Borderlands 4 often use attacks that launch players with incredible force, almost always sending them flying outside the playable area.

Gearbox probably included the ability to fall out of the arena during boss fights in *Borderlands 4* to create a more urgent and intense experience. However, it doesn’t actually work that way in the game.

The excitement of battling a boss quickly fades when players worry about accidentally losing all their hard work. It’s easy to make a small mistake and touch outside the boss’s designated area, and when that happens, players usually just feel frustrated.

Just a Few Tweaks Could Change The Conversation Around Borderlands 4’s World Bosses

World bosses in *Borderlands 4* are currently a bit annoying, but they have the potential to be amazing. A few simple changes could make all the difference. Instead of instantly ending a boss fight when a player leaves the boss arena, the game could give them 10 seconds to return. This would create some tension and give players a chance to recover without being overly punishing.

For challenging world bosses in *Borderlands 4*, the game could use a phase system where bosses regain health if players fall out of the arena. At the very least, *Borderlands 4* should let players restart a boss fight from the beginning instead of making it vanish instantly when they fail.

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2025-09-18 12:35