Borderlands 4 Patch Brings Major Buffs to All Vault Hunters

Gearbox has rolled out the first major balance patch for Borderlands 4, and it’s one that fans have been eagerly awaiting.

The update doesn’t just tinker around the edges – it pushes meaningful buffs to every Vault Hunter in the game, while also laying the groundwork for a more diverse and sustainable build system in the months ahead.

From the beginning, Gearbox has promised that Borderlands 4 would empower players to create their own unique Vault Hunter builds. The latest patch is a clear step in that direction. The studio explained that its focus was on improving underperforming skills, creating new synergies, and ensuring each character felt viable both in casual play and in the endgame grind.

The most noticeable adjustments come for Amon, widely considered the weakest Vault Hunter at launch. With this patch, his toolkit has been significantly improved, making him a more competitive option alongside fan favorites like Rafa, Vex, and Harlowe. Many players had described Amon as underwhelming, so these buffs feel like a long-overdue rework that should finally bring him into the spotlight.

Other characters weren’t left behind. Rafa’s melee-focused builds now have stronger scaling in the endgame, while Vex’s summoned allies received tweaks to help them contribute more meaningfully in higher-tier content. Meanwhile, Harlowe’s Stasis ability has been refined to ensure that players who invested in this tree feel their choice pays off. This is particularly important because Harlowe has been a divisive character – some fans praising her potential while others reporting stability issues that made her almost unplayable.

Interestingly, Gearbox is not touching the overpowered builds just yet. The studio acknowledged that some ‘unintended interactions’ remain in the game, but the current philosophy is to elevate weaker builds rather than immediately nerf the strong ones. However, Gearbox made it clear that these powerful exploits will eventually be addressed, since they limit true build diversity and trivialize challenging encounters. Future patches will likely adjust Class Mods, Rep Kits, Shields, and Firmware to open up more strategic choices without relying on broken synergies.

Beyond balance, the patch also improves performance. A key fix automatically clears outdated shaders when the game updates, addressing the stuttering and frame drops that plagued PC players after the last patch. It’s a small but welcome quality-of-life change that ensures smoother gameplay for those pushing the game on higher-end rigs.

The patch notes themselves are extensive, covering action skills, passives, augments, and capstones across multiple Vault Hunters. Builds like Vexcalation and Here Comes Trouble got tweaks that should make them more appealing, while some niche skills – such as APOPHIS Lance and Scourge – received thoughtful tuning that could surprise players experimenting with unconventional loadouts.

Gearbox closed its update with a tease: this is only the beginning of a long post-launch roadmap. More updates, more balance passes, and entirely new content are coming throughout the year. For a community already obsessed with theorycrafting and min-maxing, the message is clear – Borderlands 4 is just getting started.