Borderlands 4 Latest Updates | Day 30 Patch And Additional Fixes

In the recent update to Borderlands 4, some loyal players of the series were pleasantly surprised to find the return of Crit Knife. Previously, many players had used this weapon and exploited bugs to achieve a short-term increase in critical hit rate, which affected the game's balance, so the developers removed it.

While the return of this weapon doesn't mean the game bug has disappeared, it has certainly brought the game's balance back somewhat. And with its return, players are now considering how to effectively combine it with other critical-hit items to maximize damage output.

However, it's worth noting that calculating critical hit damage in Borderlands 4 is extremely difficult, and it would be impossible without the clear and thorough guide to the critical hit mechanics provided by EZG to help you. Enough with the small talk, let's get started with the complex calculations!

What Is A Critical Hit?

Based on the developers' definition of critical hits at the time of game release and in-game testing, it can be concluded that when you hit an enemy's weak point, regardless of the weapon used, your attack will trigger a critical hit and gain a critical hit bonus, which is equivalent to increasing gun damage by 100%.

Furthermore, critical hits triggered by non-weak points on targets through the critical hit rate effect will also grant an additional 100% weapon damage bonus, but Asher's Rise Legendary Sniper Rifle does not apply to this effect. In addition, there is Weapon Card Crit.

Weapon Card Crit, also known as Gear Crit, often appears in the descriptions of additional attribute bonuses for weapons in some games, such as Splash Radius and Critical Damage. When this type of critical hit is combined with a regular critical hit bonus, the percentages are additive.

For example, if your weapon has a Gear Crit stat of 52%, then with the regular 100% critical hit bonus, you will ultimately achieve a critical hit rate of 152%! But, it's important to note that achieving this extremely high damage bonus requires hitting the enemy's Weak Spot, which will activate Weapon Card Crit.

At this point, a new problem arises: players can use Crit Chance effect to ensure that critical hits when hitting non-weak spots, grant most of Skill Tree Crit Damage boosts.When these multiple critical hit percentages appear, many players become confused.

Why are some critical hit damage bonuses effective for non-weakness critical hits, while others are ineffective? Why does a critical hit to a weak point deal more damage than a critical hit to a non-weakness? Don't rush, keep reading. Here, we will use a specific weapon as an example to perform a thorough calculation of critical hit capability.

Specific Calculation Method

Here we take a Truck Sniper Rifle as an example, which currently has base damage of 5984 and a Gear Crit of 146% in Borderlands 4. To ensure high versatility, we use Vex class and add Target Prescience specialization, is the most commonly used equipment setup among players, as observed by EasyGaming - EZG.com from the community.

Without any buffs, your character's non-critical damage against non-weak spots, which means body parts other than the head will remain at 5984. However, this situation is unlikely to occur, because your main objective in this game is to kill all enemies and loot a large amount of loot, which can be exchanged for Borderlands 4 Money outside the arena to facilitate a successful withdrawal.

Therefore, when you aim at a weak spot and perform a critical hit, the formula for calculating the total damage you can inflict is:

5984 x (Critical Modifier + Gear Crit) = Damage Dealt

Substituting this into the weapon's equation, we get: 5984 x (2 + 1.46) = 20,704.64. So, assuming both conditions are met, the total damage that Sniper Rifle can unleash is 20,704.64.

When your aiming ability is weak and you can only damage Non-Weak Spot but still land a Crit Hit, the overall damage calculation formula is:

5984 x (Critical Modifier) ​​= Damage Dealt

Substituting this formula into the weapon's formula, we get: 5984 x (2) = 11,968. Therefore, when Crit Hit condition is met, Gear Crit will not be activated, and the overall damage value is approximately 11,968.

Besides the two scenarios mentioned above, many players are accustomed to activating a passive skill during combat to provide a real-time critical hit bonus. Here, Vorpal Fiends was chosen, as it provides 25% Skill Tree Crit Damage. 

Meanwhile, Non-Weak Spot and Crit Hit conditions were kept constant during the experiment. Therefore, the formula for calculating overall damage is:

5984 x [Critical Modifier + (2 x Crit Skill)] = Damage Dealt

Substituting this formula into the weapon formula, we get: 5984 x [2 + (2 x 0.25)] = 14,960. Therefore, the result here is that any gain on Skill Tree Crit Damage can be applied to Crit Chance effects, but Gear Crit is still not activated under Non-Weak Spot conditions and does not participate in this calculation.

Special Exceptions

Currently, most damage in Borderlands 4 have calculated in this way, but there are some exceptions, which are listed here:

A Honed Mind specialization can only be used on enemies through skills like Blood Shot and Dragon’s Breath. Although the developers describe it as Gear Crit, these two skills are not strictly gun shots, so a specialization is needed to help you with them.

Furthermore, critical hits triggered by Jakobs Grenades are also considered Crit Chance crits, meaning they cannot benefit from or stack with regular Gear Crits. Additionally, Deadeye firmware’s Critical Damage is considered Gear Crit and similarly does not receive Critical Hits bonuses.

Stacking Strategy

Based on the above explanation of the mechanics and the introduction of special exceptions, here are some strategies for stacking critical strike damage in the game. First and foremost, aim for weak spots as much as possible.

If your accuracy is particularly low, try maximizing your weapon damage and other usually stacking bonuses. This will reduce the impact of Gear Crit chance on your overall DPS.

In summary, the calculation of critical hit damage in Borderlands 4 isn’t particularly difficult; it’s just that the various elements mixed together can be confusing. This concludes our detailed explanation of the critical hit mechanics in the game. We hope it helps you complete more combat missions in your future explorations. Enjoy the game!

In the previous Borderlands series of games, Sirens has always been one of the best classes chosen by the most players, and this tradition is also the case in the recently launched Borderlands 4. Vex is the resident Siren in this new game, so both newcomers and veterans prefer to start their exploration with this character.

However, it must be pointed out that Borderlands 4 is an action-playing game, so while focusing on shooting, you should also select some appropriate skills, weapons, and gear for it during the exploration process to make your character more combat-effective.

Since there are currently many build options available to you in the game, in order to save you the time and effort of trying them one by one, here are some options for the best Vex build, including skills, weapons, and gear. Of course, these can be modified according to your play style, and everything is based on your gaming convenience.

Skills

The first type of option we’d like to introduce is skills. Based on player feedback, allowing Vex to fully utilize elemental and status effect damage is the easiest way to build a strong skill tree. Although both effects can be achieved by using any of 3 Action Skills, it is highly recommended that you make corresponding adjustments based on the weapons you choose later.

For example, if you are using corrosive damage-dealing weapons, then Dead Ringer Action Skill and some skills in its tree are perfect pairings with such weapons because they maximize the potential of status effect damage.

The best skills recommended for you on Dead Ringer skill tree are Portents of Suffering and Prismatic Ichor, which are more suitable for early game content for emphasizing and enhancing Status Effect damage; Blight Attunement and Necrosis, which can enhance your Corrosive emphasis in the endgame.

Don’t forget to use Wither as your Augment and place Grim Reaper in your Capstone skill slot, both of which can further enhance your status effect damage. In the endgame, unlock as many Killer branches as possible, with Killer, Contamination, Compounding Afflictions, and Overkill being worth your special attention.

If you want Status Effect boosts, consider digging into other skill trees. For example Incarnate’s Bloodletter skill is a good option. It should be noted that since this skill tree may be different from Vex’s in terms of exploration style or combat style, if you want to make it more suitable for your needs, remember to invest more Borderlands 4 Money in it to upgrade it.

Weapons

Once you’ve settled on your skill choices, your weapon options are pretty obvious: Ripper or Maliwan Corrosive guns, both of which deal significant elemental and status effect damage, and maximize the scaling of Vex’s Corrosive effects. However, since the drop rate of these two weapons in the game is relatively low, you need to farm as many times as possible in zones that can provide you with weapon item rewards.

In terms of priority, Ripper SMGs are the first choice. Although the Ripper shotgun, pistol, and sniper rifle have high strength in looting and shooting, they are not perfectly adapted to every battle, that is, their versatility is not that high, so they can be used as your auxiliary weapons. Or if possible, Heavy Weapon Ordnance, which can cause Corrosive damage, is also an option worth trying.

By the way, Corrisive elements of Vex builds will quickly deplete the enemy’s health, so generally speaking, regular firearms are enough to make you powerful. However, in some special cases, such as when you encounter an enemy that is immune or has high health, it is recommended that you convert one of them into an alternative weapon with a different status effect.

Gear

As for the Gear options introduced to you at the end, generally speaking, try to choose those that can synergize with other build options such as weapons or skills, such as Ripper Enhancement or Maliwan Enhancement, which can complement any weapon you end up using.

Additionally, you should try to pick Class Mods that improve your skills, such as those that greatly enhance Portents of Suffering, Blight Attunement, and Necrosis. While your Repkit and Armor Shield won’t have a huge impact on the effectiveness of your build, they shouldn’t be chosen haphazardly.

You should focus on Repkits with Elemental Affinity and/or Status Effect-boosting features, as well as shields that make your elemental resistances stronger. As well as Phase Clone Minions, it will be more suitable for use in single-player games, because they can act as turrets to provide support and can also be used to irritate enemies in encounters and transfer damage that would otherwise be inflicted on you to them, giving you some breathing space during the campaign.

The above are the various recommended options for the best Vex builds in Borderlands 4. Hopefully, with their help, you can complete the entire campaign faster and get more loot and experience points to achieve a rise in the rankings and gain honor. I wish you happy gaming!