The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

Well, buddy, let me walk you through the world of Borderlands 3 and its glorious arsenal of weapons. Now, if you’re all about explosive chaos, grenades are your best friend. These bad boys come with their own mods, pack a punch, and can clear out entire groups of baddies. Plus, they’re great for characters like Zane, who can leverage them for some serious buff action.


In the game Borderlands 3, Storage Deck Upgrades (SDUs) dictate how much equipment and ammunition you can store. Unfortunately, these upgrades are quite costly as they become progressively more expensive with each level-up. To fully upgrade an SDU means spending millions of Borderlands currency.

Given the variety of SDUs up for sale and limited funds at your disposal, it’s crucial to identify which SDUs offer the greatest value. While maximizing each SDU in the game is ultimately your goal, here are some priority suggestions for initial unlocking.

On Sanctuary III’s upper level, Marcus’ Ammunition Shop is where you can acquire SDUs. He won’t be accessible until you’ve finished some initial missions in the main storyline. After completing Borderlands 3, though, you can create a fully-leveled character and bypass the tutorial directly.

Backpack SDUs

Become a Loot Hoarder

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

Maxing out backpack SDUs should be your first priority in Borderlands 3. They increase your inventory space, allowing you to carry more weapons, mods, and other items during missions. Like every other Borderlands game; the more loot you can carry, the more you can sell at vending machines for money to buy more SDUs. This is how you farm a ton of money in BL3. If you are not looting and selling first at the start of your playthrough, you will have a hard time unlocking all the upgrades by the time you reach the end-game missions.

Bank SDUs

Share Your Loot Between Characters

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

While new players might ignore purchasing bank SDUs for some of the other upgrades, increasing your bank slots should always be an important priority. They allow you to store more items in the bank vault, becoming a secondary backpack shared between all characters on the same account. If you find a legendary weapon for Amara while playing as Zane, for example, you can save it in the bank for your second BL3 playthrough.

Bank SDUs are the only upgrades that carry over to new characters. The other SDUs must be purchased all over again for every new playthrough.

Assault Rifle And SMG SDUs

Feed Your ARs and SMGs

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

In the final stages of Borderlands 3, many character builds predominantly utilize assault rifles and submachine guns to swiftly eliminate enemies. These weapon classes typically boast high firing speeds, but this advantage comes at a cost as they frequently incorporate ammo-consuming modifications. Consequently, they can quickly deplete ammunition, particularly when confronted with Mayhem 10 opponents or tough bosses that require multiple attacks to defeat.

Make sure your character in Borderlands 3 always has plenty of ammunition by activating as many Assault Rifle and SMG Stockpile Units (SDUs) as you can.

Grenade And Lost Loot SDUs

Boost Your Early-Mid Game

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

In Borderlands 3, you’ve got the option to customize your action skill with numerous augmentations. However, it might take approximately 30-40 hours to progress two skill trees for your preferred action skill enhancements. Consequently, during the initial dozen or so hours of gameplay, you’ll primarily depend on your grenades.

Don’t underestimate them. Grenades have their unique modifications and cause significant explosive harm. Certain special grenades can wipe out entire enemy squads. They are also beneficial for certain characters, such as Zane, whose Digi-Clone action skill uses up grenades to enhance your damage, health, firing rate, reload speed, and skill duration. Early investment in grenade SDUs can help you sustain that boost several times during a battle.

Regarding boosting your loot from the Lost Loot vending machine, it maintains the same importance as grenades. At the early stages, increase the items slightly but avoid excessive accumulation. Having some weapons to sell for additional funds whenever you revisit Sanctuary during the main storyline is acceptable.

Shotgun And Sniper Rifle SDUs

For When You Take It Personally

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

If you don’t modify your Borderlands 3 gameplay, you’ll discover that shotguns and sniper rifles consistently have the least ammo available. Given their single-shot nature, they can often be outperformed by other weapon types in encounters with large enemy groups. Consequently, you might not prioritize carrying extra ammunition for your shotgun or sniper rifle. However, it’s worth noting that these weapons are incredibly powerful, capable of dealing some of the highest damage in the game with devastating headshots and body blasts.

Shotguns are particularly effective against Maliwan troops; consider structuring your Vault Hunter character to emphasize powerful shotguns such as the Hellwalker, which resembles Doom’s weapon. Conversely, snipers can annihilate enemies with a well-placed headshot and can be devastating even against heavily armored bosses if you equip mods that allow for rapid-fire handling similar to an assault rifle.

In other words, it’s crucial to ensure you carry a sufficient amount of ammunition with you. So, don’t hesitate to invest in the initial stages of your shotgun and sniper rifle Special Defense Units (SDUs) using your savings.

Pistol SDUs

Just Enough Clips for a Wild West Shootout

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

In the game Borderlands 3, pistols stand out as exceptionally versatile weapons. The type of pistol you prefer, based on the weapon manufacturer in BL3, can function like a sniper rifle for long-range headshots, inflict damage up close like a mini-submachine gun, or spray enemies with bullets similar to an SMG. You’ll rarely find yourself short on ammo, especially if you’re accurate with a Jakobs pistol. However, Maliwan pistols can quickly deplete your ammo supply for each enemy encountered. Therefore, it’s wise to carry some pistol Shield Deployable Units (SDUs) as needed. The importance of this depends on how you’re developing your character in the game.

Heavy Weapon SDUs

Send Explosive Airmails

The Best SDUs to Unlock First in Borderlands 3

In Borderlands 3, the rocket launcher isn’t particularly impressive until you encounter Mayhem’s versions of the Plaguebearer or Backburner. The rocket launcher works effectively with Moze’s area-of-effect abilities. Due to its limited usage in specific situations, heavy weapon Shield of Destruction Upgrades (SDUs) often rank low on players’ priority lists.

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2024-09-08 15:03