A new Borderlands 4 update brings massive weapon buffs as Gearbox readies its second raid boss

New Borderlands 4 update notes deliver big damage buffs on slower firing weapons, with pistols and SMGs also being increased dramatically.

A new Borderlands 4 update just deployed some serious damage buffs across a wide range of its weapon roster. With the Mad Ellie DLC now in the rear-view mirror and the FPS game's second raid boss on the horizon, Gearbox is planning several weeks of balance changes, gear tuning, and even some more dramatic overhauls. To start with, it's focusing on weapon buffs for some of the underperforming options, plus some assistance for energy shields. There are huge damage increases on the table, with the likes of shotguns, pistols, SMGs, and Order-manufactured weapons among the big winners.

A big focal point for the new Borderlands 4 patch notes is ensuring that slower weapons don't fall short due to the bonuses offered by passive skills. "While rapid-fire weapons have benefited greatly from synergistic Vault Hunter passives, we wanted to make sure our hard-hitting weapons also got some love," Gearbox explains. "We're starting with a few of the legendaries that exist in the mid-fire-rate range, then moving to other archetypes like damage over time and splash damage."

The update starts out with some big improvements across entire base-game categories. The damage of Daedalus SMGs is up 17%, Maliwan SMGs 15%, and Tediore pistols 20%. All Order-made weapons now recharge at a faster rate, with their base charge times lowered by approximately one-third. Getting into more specific buffs, the damage numbers continue to climb, affecting the likes of the Hellwalker and Goremaster shotguns, Vamoose sniper, and assault rifles Bloody Lumberjack and Bonnie and Clyde.

The Bully pistol's drone now deals 66% more damage, with half the cooldown time, while Budget Deity fires 66% faster. DLC weapons get especially big boosts. The Unstable Kor shotgun gets a 45% damage increase and a 50% fire rate boost. The Mercredi assault rifle gains 50% damage and 5% fire rate. Other damage buffs see the Reminisce shotgun hit 40% harder, the Falke SMG 12.5% more, and the Laser Cutter up 15%.

One of the only losers in here is the Roulette pistol from Legend of the Stone Demon, although that shouldn't come as a big surprise given recent attention around the strength of its random bonuses. "The Lord Luck roll bonus was initially balanced to have different chances to acquire bonuses like fire rate," Gearbox explains.

"However, we removed the random probability and didn't reduce the matching weighted stat bonus. We're equalizing all the bonuses to make each reload of Roulette still feel impactful, but without overpowering the character and gear build." That means its base damage and fire rate are down 15% and 37.5% respectively, with the fire rate buffs reduced by a whopping 75%.

The other key change in the patch notes relates to shields. Gearbox notes that legendary energy shields have fallen a little behind armor shields due to the latter's damage reduction, so it's introducing capacity increases alongside some other more specific bonuses. Look out for much harder-hitting elemental novas on Firebreak and Extra Medium, a 400% shock damage boost on Sparky, and a colossal 86% capacity boost for the Daedalus Angel shield.

These Borderlands 4 changes are live now. This week's Big Encore Boss is the Rippa Roadbirds, while the Weekly Wildcard is 'A Lot to Process' with fortified, shielded, and experienced modifiers. The reward for clearing it is the Onslaught Vladof SMG. With Subjugator and Thol the Invincibles due to land in a free update on Thursday May 28, it's time to start considering your build for their arrival, and I'm glad to see Gearbox powering up a wider range of options on the road there.