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Welcome, Vault Hunters! Today’s update includes support for the addition of Bloomreaper the Invincible, True Mode, and Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode 6. This comes alongside a variety of improvements across gameplay, summons behavior, gear, visuals. We’ve done a lot of work to boost performance, refine gear, and improve the splitscreen and menu usability in this update. Thank you for the continued feedback and reports that are being sent in. There are more updates on the way! 

Bloomreaper the Invincible

Welcome to The Bloom, home of the rotting parasitic god: Bloomreaper the Invincible. Descend into the sinkhole and take it down before corruption blooms across the world. You’ll be tested on your ability to survive with your movement abilities in addition to your might and firepower. You can read full details in our [u][url="https://borderlands.2k.com/borderlands-4/news/bloomreaper-raid-boss/"]Bloomreaper the Invincible article[/url][/u].

The Bloomreaper raid boss introduces nine new Legendaries you can farm as dedicated drops: five new pieces of gear and four new Class Mods. But the majority of that new loot will only drop if you can beat Bloomreaper quick enough in Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode (UVHM), the amped-up difficulty setting you can learn about in our [i][u][url="https://borderlands.2k.com/borderlands-4/news/endgame-overview/"]Borderlands 4[/url][/u][/i][u][url="https://borderlands.2k.com/borderlands-4/news/endgame-overview/"] endgame explainer[/url][/u].

This introduces a timer for your raid run, so do your best to deal death as rapidly as possible. When this ferocious flora finally bites the dust, you'll be rewarded with a chest full of loot including tiers of bonus rewards. Depending on your completion time, the Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum-tier rewards you get from this chest will be increasingly powerful. You'll be able to clearly see how much time you have left to hit a certain tier via your mission tracker.

• Added a new arena: The Bloom

• Added Bloomreaper the Invincible 

• Added new Legendary gear to Bloomreaper’s dedicated loot pool:

  [list]

• Rainmaker - Ripper Sniper Rifle [b](guaranteed drop for Platinum-tier rewards in UVHM)[/b]

• Mantra - Maliwan Shotgun

• Undershield - Vladof Shield

• Urchin - Tediore Ordnance (Grenade)

• Jett-Setter - Ripper Ordnance (Heavy Weapon)

• Misericorde - Siren Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)

• Overdriver - Exo-Soldier Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)

• Trooper - Gravitar Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)

• Lamplighter - Forgeknight Class Mod (can only drop for Silver-tier or higher rewards in UVHM)

True Mode

Dev Note: We wanted to provide a greater challenge to players who have spent the time to perfect their mightiest builds. True Mode scales up all enemies as if you were playing in a 4-player party, regardless of your current party size. That means your opponents will be tougher to take down, far more numerous, and have more Badass elites among their ranks.

True Mode is found in the Session Settings menu and works independently of Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, allowing Vault Hunters to have the most control over their difficulty. 

• Added support for True Mode, a new difficulty that is always scaled for a party of 4 regardless of the amount of players. The change here ups that balance to provide a greater challenge to those who are ready to take it on. This new difficulty mode is available when a player has completed the campaign.

Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode 6

It is time for a greater challenge.

• Added support for UVHM 6

• Added new UVHM challenge

• Added new Firmware: Skillcraft, only available in UVHM 6. 

[b]Skillcraft[/b] tiers make your Action Skills even more dangerous to your enemies. 

• Tier 1: Skill Damage +10%

• Tier 2: Skill Critical Chance +10%

• Tier 3: Dealing Skill Damage increases Skill Damage Dealt by 2% for 10 seconds. Max 25 Stacks

Change Notes

Gameplay

• The-Not-So-Immortal Boneface is no longer immortal due to an unintended regeneration boost during [i]The Old Scrape[/i]

• Improved mission flow in [i]Abduction Injunction[/i] so the “Kill Order Captors” step continues instead of failing to progress if enemies did not appear

• Bandit bounties now appear correctly in the Fade District

• Lost Loot now keeps SDU upgrades after a Save/Load

• Buying items in vending machines is now more reliable

• Backpack Upgrade SDUs no longer reset after opening a vending machine 

• Mimicron fight no longer continues running after a player fast travels out of the arena during multiplayer

• Axemaul now attacks players normally when fighting from the Big Encore Machine 

• The [i]Kratchman[/i] now continues chasing players, even if they’re on top of a box 

• Destroyed Generators no longer affect aim assist during [i]A Lot to Process[/i] 

• “Kill enemies with Maliwan guns and gear” now progresses correctly when using the [i]Converging Kickballer[/i]

• Vault Card challenge “Kill enemies with Vladof guns and gear” now counts kills from Midnight Defiance’s additional projectiles

• “Adjust for Coriolis” Sniper Rifle challenge now tracks kills from more than 50 meters away

• Maliwan elemental challenges now give the correct amount of progress and no longer grant double credit for applying elemental states

• Daily and weekly Vault Card challenges now refresh properly when they expire 

• Removed Phosphene challenges from Legendaries that were not meant to have them (Sweet Embrace and Cold Shoulder) 

• The “Search for Hints \[0/5]” objective in No-Escape Room now completes correctly even if hints were found early

• Improved digistruct tunnel transitions so players don’t get stuck after dashing into portals 

• Updated ECHO Location guidance in several missions such that the path appears consistently and points the player in the right direction

Gear

Dev Note: We are aware of a reported issue causing Vault Card progress to be lost in multiplayer. We’re currently tracking and will provide updates on the [i][u][url="https://support.borderlands.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/43238641357075-Borderlands-4-Live-Issues"]Borderlands[/url][/u][/i][u][url="https://support.borderlands.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/43238641357075-Borderlands-4-Live-Issues"] Support Website Issue Tracker[/url][/u] when we have them.

• Reduced how far the Repulsor Augment could launch enemies, as it could cause mission blockers.

• Vehicle rockets and missiles no longer launch enemies long distances

• Updated Vladof Legendary Midnight Defiance Sniper Rifle with the Jakobs licensed part to more reliably ricochet projectiles on critical hits

• Level 3 Bullets to Spare Firmware now works correctly with COV magazines 

• Maliwan Sniper Rifles with Singularity Grenade Launcher underbarrels have been corrected to impact enemies rather than passing through them

• The Tediore Legendary Pistol Budget Deity no longer shows unintended homing behavior

• Tediore Legendary Pistol Inscriber now counts the Timekeeper’s Radiant Shield correctly to prevent extra projectiles spawning 

• Torgue sticky projectiles now explode after auto-reloading the Tediore Legendary Anarchy Shotgun when transitioning between areas

• The Order Legendary Rooker Sniper Rifle now plays proper airborne SFX while in flight  

• Bullet impact decals now fade as normally instead of staying “hot” indefinitely

• VFX for the Daedalus Legendary Missilaser now appear instantly when fired

• Torgue Legendary Shield Firewerks missiles now spawn more reliably after defeating enemies

• Nova damage has been adjusted to increase as intended from stacks of Resolve from the Order Legendary Shield Cindershelly

• Prevented the Legendary Shield Super Soldier from regenerating Heavy Ordnance charges with the Power Play passive

• Elemental attribute details on gear cards now display as intended when comparing gear of the same element

• Updated Ripper Legendary Hellfire SMG to correctly apply its intended damage increase

• Order Legendary Rooker Sniper Rifle now spawns the correct amount of needles

• Vault Card challenge “Loot or Purchase 5 Ordnance” will now increase progress as intended with Heavy Weapons

• Updated the Vault Card Weekly Challenge “Loot or Purchase 10/15 Legendaries” to persist when save/loading

Vault Hunters

• Prevented an exploit that unlocked Vault Hunter skills earlier than intended 

• New characters no longer inherit SDU points from previous characters[u] [/u]

• Amon and Rafa’s elemental stats now show the correct values when skipping the prologue

• Shield Boi from the Tediore Legendary Principal has been updated to allow Rafa Aphophis Lance skill and Vex Incarnate skill to fire through it normally

Trouble, Reapers, and Forge Weapon Changes

Dev Note: Companions aren’t quite hitting the benchmark that we would like them to be performing at, so we’re starting with making them more reliable in a variety of ways. We’ll be keeping an eye on how various summons are performing and make more adjustments as necessary.

• Trouble now has a "Blink Melee Attack" that will occur every 12 seconds if too far from the target, causing them to immediately teleport and attack. This should make Trouble much more responsive in the heat of combat

• Trouble, Reapers, and Forge Weapons have also gained increased Damage Radius to make them reliably damage enemies

Amon

• Tempered Pyre deals ~20% more damage

• Tempered Ice deals ~23% more damage

• Tempered Lightning deals  ~13% more damage

Harlowe

• Updated Harlowe’s [i]Potential Transference[/i] Capstone to allow the Adrenaline Pump Repkit to trigger as intended when Second Wind is earned in multiplayer sessions

Rafa

• Updated “Per My Last” to prevent it from unintentionally behaving as an Overdrive skill 

• The Daedalus Legendary Rogue Luty Madlad SMG now interacts properly with the Exo-Soldier Action Skill [i]APOPHIS Lance[/i]. Previously, the weapon could stop consuming ammo and firing despite showing the firing animation

Vex

• Troubles ranged attacks now also benefit from Melee Damage

• Blink Strike deals ~14% more damage

• Violent Outburst deals ~11% more damage

• Hexus Nexus deals ~14% more damage

Visual/Audio Changes

• Reduced cases where the screen distorts before cinematics begin

• Character animations now switch correctly between ladder climbing and swimming in Belton’s Bore 

• Oddman’s body no longer appears after replaying [i]Exit Through the Rift Shop[/i] with a different choice

• Adjusted animations for enemies holding various weapons

• Updated various incorrect, missing, or low-resolution models and textures 

• Corrected background display when using the Black Market Vending Machine in Carcadia Burn 

• Updated areas where loot could get stuck, including Bramblesong and the final ramp in How Rush Saved Mercenary Day

• Updated multiple locations where collision, clipping, or out-of-bounds paths could occur

• Two non-functional ECHO Logs no longer appear after completing [i]The Weird Way Home[/i]

• Enemies no longer disappear behind the metal door during Genone’s fight in [i]The Yawning Yard[/i]

• Ensured doors in How Rush Saved Mercenary Day display with correct green lights when unlocked

• Improved visuals for Amon’s VH-2015 body customization so there are no visible gaps when viewed by other players in multiplayer

• Vault Card ticket amounts now refresh properly after the first purchase

• Updated various audio behaviors

• Updated how combat music reevaluates critical threats properly when entering fresh combat

UI/Text

• “Buy” and “Buyback” tabs in Vending IO now display the correct, different items

• Item Cards in vending machines no longer compare to unknown items

• Item level and value information now always show when comparing items in vending screens

• Improved stability and display consistency across all Vending Machine menus

• Added tooltips to the skills on Class Mods in Item Inspect to show what each skill does

• Improved weapon wheel speed and hold sensitivity

• Locked SHiFT rewards are now hidden in customization menus

• Improvements to ECHO Logs include functional sort buttons, dropdowns that close naturally, clear selection highlighting, and sort/filter preferences that persist between when leaving and re-entering the menu

• Key prompts now function correctly when switching widgets inside the News section of the pause menu

• The “Flip Card” prompt now appears consistently across item comparison menu

• Corrected some cases preventing the prompt to send loot to the bank to now appear and be functional in the Inventory menu

• Improved Vault Card visual consistency

• Updated various UI visuals and icons for alignment, consistency, and clarity

• Updated localization, various text descriptions, subtitle timings, and text alignment across the game

• Updated Credits

Player Experience Improvements 

• Improved framerate when using a Torgue Shotgun with the Flameblast underbarrel 

• Minor Update download now stops correctly when signing out during the download

• Titles with Windows usernames containing special characters now restart correctly after installing a Minor Update

[b]A note from the dev team:[/b]

Over the past few months, the team has been investigating how to deliver the best runtime performance possible with [i]Borderlands 4[/i]. Since launching, we've discovered a number of fixes that deliver noticeable framerate boosts and reduce stuttering without making sacrifices in visual quality. Some of the fixes are improvements to our code or content; other fixes come from later versions of Epic's Unreal Engine. See below for more details.

However, we still have much more to do here. We're in this for the long haul, and over the coming months we'll roll out even more performance improvements. We appreciate the community's feedback, and your patience!

• Improved the performance cost of many UI elements (menus, HUD, and overlays) without lowering visual quality

• The game now uses Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO), which allows the executable to run more efficiently and brings large CPU performance gains

• Encouraged smoother gameplay by reducing gameplay hitches caused by shader and PSO (Pipeline State Object) compilation

• Optimized grass, shrubs, and other foliage by updating their meshes and materials, reducing the cost of drawing them on screen

• Added several GPU optimizations pulled in from newer versions of Unreal Engine

• Improved the performance of the Lumen lighting system

• Improved the performance of foliage reflections and water

• Additional performance improvements for minimum-spec PCs in areas with grass, dynamic shadows, and wind effects

• In-engine cinematics now run at higher framerates, instead of being capped at 30 FPS 

• Adjusted AI/NPC spawn counts in certain areas so enemies and NPCs no longer spawn in higher numbers than intended, improving both performance and gameplay flow

• Removal of unnecessary extra lights, especially lights used for supporting volumetric clouds.

• Improvements to Physics and Niagara to reduce memory leaks and Out-of-Memory crashes

• Improvements to Cloth initialization to reduce load and spawn cost time.

• Added new graphics options that lets players turn off shadows, volumetric clouds, and fog, offering better performance flexibility

• Improved how VRAM is used by reorganizing texture and mesh memory pools, allowing the game to keep better visual quality at lower graphics settings without hurting performance

• General stability improvements