The newest update for Borderlands 4 reintroduces the crit knife, letting players land guaranteed critical hits – though it now takes more skill to activate. This is the second update in a row to focus on this somewhat controversial game feature.
In Borderlands 4, a “crit knife” refers to any throwing knife equipped with the Penetrator Augment. Initially, this perk ensured that all damage dealt to a target was a critical hit for five seconds. Combined with damage-boosting effects, these knives could quickly eliminate most enemies. A patch on October 23rd aimed to balance this by changing the perk to increase critical hit chance by 30% for five seconds, instead of guaranteeing critical hits. However, a bug caused the knife to set the crit chance to 30%—not increase it. Because many advanced player builds already have a crit chance exceeding 30%, this change didn’t just weaken the knives; it actually reduced damage output for some players.
Borderlands 4 Brings Back the 100% Crit Knife, Though It’s Not Exactly the Same
The latest update for Borderlands 4 on October 30th has altered the crit knife again. According to YouTuber Lazy_Data, hitting an enemy with a knife throw now correctly applies the 30% critical hit bonus from the Penetrator Augment. Interestingly, this bonus stacks with each hit: three successful throws increase your critical hit chance to 90%, and four guarantee critical hits for five seconds. While different from how it originally worked, the crit knife is still very powerful, though it might take a little more effort to maximize its damage and quickly defeat enemies with a stream of critical hits.
The New Crit Knife May Not Be Long for This World
The description for the Penetrator Augment still says that hitting an enemy has a 30% chance to deal a critical hit for 5 seconds. This doesn’t indicate whether the effect can build up with repeated hits. The recent update on October 30th addressed a bug where a previous change mistakenly set all attacks to a 30% critical hit chance, but it didn’t clarify if the Penetrator Augment’s effect is stackable.
The update released on October 23rd simply lowered the critical hit chance of the Jakobs crit knife to 30%, and didn’t mention anything about how multiple knives would work together. This means the way the knife currently functions might be a mistake, and the developers could change it in a future update.
Given that Gearbox has been discussing balance adjustments for a while, and even made a playful video about a previous change, it seems likely there will be further tweaks. The recent return of the 100% critical hit chance – even with a slightly different setup – suggests this powerful item isn’t fully balanced yet and its story isn’t over.
Read More
- Gold Rate Forecast
- 12 Saddest Backstories in My Hero Academia, Ranked
- SILENT BUT DEADLY: Top 8 Stealth Weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 You Need Now
- Brent Oil Forecast
- The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion Remastered Guide – How To Sell Stolen Goods
- Silver Rate Forecast
- Oblivion Remastered: How to Restock Shops
- Top 8 UFC 5 Perks Every Fighter Should Use
- Obi-Wan Star Cards: Ranked
- Monster Hunter Wilds Tempered Gore Magala Guide: How To Defeat, Weaknesses, and More
2025-10-31 15:06