How To Mayhem In Our Borderlands 3 Beginner Guide Part 2!

Borderlands 3 is in full swing with effect from today, and no doubt many of you are raring to jump back into Pandora and beyond. Now that you’ve created your Vault Hunter using Part 1 of our guide, here’s all you need to know about looting, your home base, and getting around in Borderlands 3!

Loot, loot and more loot

Now that you’ve picked your Vault Hunter, the other headache that will constantly plague you throughout the game is which gun to use. 

As a rule of thumb, just pick the gun with the bigger damage (it’s normally highlighted in green), especially if you’re starting out, regardless of rarity. Snagging a Rare (blue) rarity or higher may make you feel like a god in that particular moment, but soon you’ll want to discard it for that piece of  Uncommon (green) or even Common (white) equipment once you reach higher levels. This also applies to your defensive equipment such as shields and class mods, as you’ll constantly need the extra survival on top of your damage.

The guns also come in different manufacturers, and each manufacturer comes with a specific quirk that sets them apart from the other. These quirks are also integral in certain Vault Hunter builds, so it’s a matter of your personal preference. The gun manufacturers are:

• Atlas – Guns which utilise a lot of “smart” technology, such as homing bullets.
• COV – Guns have unlimited ammo in place of an overheat mechanic.
• Dahl – Guns focused on enhancing accuracy and fire modes when you aim down the sights.
• Hyperion – Guns that spawn a small shield when you aim down the sights, which reduces incoming damage. 
• Jakobs – Guns that fire as fast as you pull the trigger (basically akin to guns in cowboy movies), and deal enhanced critical damage and their bullets ricochet. Typically come with only physical damage.
• Maliwan – Guns that deal purely elemental damage.
• Tediore – Guns that can be thrown like grenades upon reloading.
• Torgue – Guns with EXPLOSIONS!
• Vladof – Guns which trade accuracy for a much higher fire rate.

Also take note that guns in Borderlands 3 sometimes come with an alternate fire mode, giving you effectively up to eight different ways to lay waste to enemies, instead of the usual four.

But of course, throughout your playthrough you’ll find tons of Epic (purple) or Legendary (orange) gear, which typically come with specific mods to the piece of gear that are usually game-changing. For example, there’s a gun that shoots swords, and another gun that drastically reduces your gun damage but allows you to instantly kill enemies if you melee them in the butt. Like your Vault Hunter skills, it’s then a matter of picking which gear suits your playstyle best.

Finally, there are the class mods, that give you enhanced stats, but more importantly, enhanced skills in your skill tree, which gives you another layer in which to customise your playstyle.

As you shoot, kill and loot your way in Borderlands 3, you’ll acquire money with which to spend on better gear at the various Vendors situated around the various planets or Sanctuary 3.0. However, you’ll also occasionally gain Eridium, premium currency that can be spent at Crazy Earl’s at Sanctuary to purchase even more powerful gear (scaled to your current level) that typically come with some of the best modifiers, comparable to that of Legendary gear.

Sanctuary III

Your home base in Borderlands 3, Sanctuary III is a spacefaring bastion, and also what you use to get around the various planets in the game. You’ll find some of the most important NPCs here, as they’ll be sticking with you throughout the story. They also come with their own room, some with specific functions.

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• The Bridge is where you get most of your quests at, and also where you perform your interplanetary travel.
• Marcus’ Firing Range is where you come to do your target practice with the newest pieces of loot you’ve found. You can also upgrade your ammo count, backpack slots and the like here as well.
• Mad Moxxi’s Bar is where you do all your gambling. Not with real-life cash, of course, but to take a stab at getting some Eridium, or even some fat wads of cash to spend on even more things.
• Speaking of Eridium, Crazy Earl the Black Market Owner can be found in the bowels of Sanctuary III. He sells some of the most impressive gear one can find with Eridium, as well as cool cosmetic options for your Vault Hunter.
• Beside Crazy Earl’s is Ellie’s Garage, where you can find all the vehicles you’ve acquired throughout your game, as well as the mods you’ve found for them.
• Sir Hammerlock’s Quarters are where you can view and admire all your trophies from Hunt missions that you acquire throughout the game.
• The Lost Loot vending machine is unique in that it gives you the chance to acquire the loot that you didn’t pick up in previous missions, or simply missed because you didn’t spot them.
• The Golden Chest can only be opened with Golden Keys, which can typically be acquired via the Borderlands 3 social media or events from time to time.
• The Quick Change station is where you can customise your appearance, emotes as well as respec your skill points (for a small fee).

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Catch-A-Ride

Getting around the vast expanses of Borderlands 3 is no small feat, especially if you’re using your, er, feet. As such, the Catch-A-Ride system is your go-to for literally catching a ride to your next quest location. With it, you can spawn a slew of different vehicles, each with different strengths and come with their own specific upgrades. Here are some of the vehicles you can find:

• Outrunner – A speedy, well-balanced light vehicle. 
• Technical – A slightly tougher and slower vehicle.
• Cyclone – The quickest of the three vehicles, but also the squishiest.

Unlike the previous games, the vehicles in Borderlands 3 come with way more customisation than just the overall paint job and the main weapon. You can change virtually everything now, from the types of wheels, to various armours, and even mods that grant you unique bonuses. Talk about Pimp-A-Ride.

These are some of the things you need to know as you get started in your very first playthrough of Borderlands 3. It’s time to strap up and prepare for arguably the most insane ride across the galaxy!