RPGs thrive off of class skills and powerful items for their core gameplay loop. Borderlands 3 is no exception, taking the idea of looting and shooting to the highest extreme.
Before you can blast your way through the highest levels of content to obtain hundreds of legendaries, you are going to need all of your skill points for your character. Leveling can be a long and arduous process in any video game, which is why leveling up quickly can be tempting for many gamers. Ranging from boss farming to cooperative play, here are 10 ways you can level up faster in Borderlands 3.
10 Complete the Main Story
While the main story won’t get you to the level cap of 50, Borderlands 3 requires you to complete the main story to utilize all of its features.
Mainly, your weapon slots and miscellaneous slots like artifacts are tied behind campaign progression. Since this game is so focused on farming epic loot, you’ll want to be able to equip as many items as you can as fast as you can. If you skip side missions, the campaign doesn’t take too long to complete, either.
9 Finish Side Missions After the Story
Side missions are different in Borderlands 3 than other Borderlands titles. In Borderlands 2, for example, side missions were set to a certain level and gave set experience.
Not in Borderlands 3. In this game, side missions scale to your level once the main campaign is finished. This means that the best way to earn experience in the main game is to ignore side missions until you beat the story, then do as many side missions as you see fit to benefit from the scaling rewards.
8 Farm Bosses
Bosses in Borderlands 3 give a large number of experience points to accelerate leveling. If you feel that you need a few more skill points to finish the next area, consider farming bosses for a couple of levels.
Experience gains are good with any boss you slay, but most players have taken to farming the Graveward boss in Mayhem mode to get absurd amounts of XP. He is rather easy to kill compared to other bosses as well. If you can’t fight Graveward or don’t want to, you can always farm a boss you are comfortable with to gain a few levels.
7 Work on Challenges
Challenges are special objectives in Borderlands 3 that are found on various planets. These can range from finding dead Claptrap units to killing certain enemies.
These challenges can grant a nice experience bonus on your journey if you partake in them. Since you’ll be skipping side missions until you complete the main story, it is a good idea to complete challenges and find collectibles on your way to story objectives.
6 Do a True Vault Hunter Playthrough
True Vault Hunter Mode returns from Borderlands 2 and The Pre Sequel. This mode is effectively a new game plus option, offering more loot and experience at the cost of harder enemies.
You get to carry all of your items, skills, and levels with you as you make the transition to TVHM, so it is recommended you play through this mode once you’ve beaten the normal mode and completed a few side missions. Enemies will scale to your level in this mode, so make sure you are always upgrading your gear and allocating skill points before progressing to new zones.
5 Use XP Enhancing Gear
Some rarer items in Borderlands 3 can offer XP bonuses when equipped. This modifier is exceedingly rare to find on artifacts and class mods, but it is worth your item slot if you do find one.
Those who have purchased the deluxe version of Borderlands 3 will have also received a shield and experience booster item in their mailbox. This boost only works until level 10, so make sure you claim this item as soon as you can and use it until the boost wears off. The XP boosts might be small, but the time it saves, in the long run, is well worth it.
4 Play Mayhem
Unlike Borderlands 2, the third installment has switched from OP modes to Mayhem levels instead. Mayhem makes the game much harder but drastically increases loot and XP gains.
Mayhem can be increased up to tier 4, with each tier granting more modifiers for players to deal with alongside increased loot and XP rewards. These modifiers can range from dealing less weapon damage to having short ability cooldowns. As long as your build can handle it, mayhem mode is one of the best ways to earn XP at a rapid rate.
3 Co-op
Having friends to play the game alongside you can increase how quickly you complete content. Having more firepower means bosses can go down faster and quests can be finished quicker.
Having friends play other vault hunters isn’t a bad idea since each person will be covering a different playstyle or role in the group. Vault hunters like Moze thrive off of grenades and explosive area damage while Zane is more focused on having kill skills always active to stay competitive. Make sure everyone plays to their strengths and you will reach the level cap in no time.
2 Play With Higher Level Friends
Speaking of playing with friends, it is possible for higher-leveled friends to power level your character to level cap if you just want to get the leveling process over with.
Have your friends or party begin a Mayhem 3 or 4 match on True Vault Hunter Mode. You can join them with a new character and reap massive experience rewards as they kill everything and complete quests. If you are OK with cheesing and not completing any content, this is undoubtedly the fastest way to level in Borderlands 3.
1 Grind Gear
The final tip doesn’t have anything to do with experience itself but it matters more than everything else. You need to constantly upgrade your gear so you can complete content as fast as you can.
Better items mean you can kill targets faster and absorb more damage before going down. If you can kill bosses and enemies faster with better gear, you are going to finish the game’s content faster and, therefore, level up faster. If nothing else, you should always be on the lookout for amazing gear to speed up your leveling process.
NEXT: 5 RPG Mechanics That Changed The Genre (& 5 That Are Outdated)
