Borderlands 4 weekly update and latest patch notes

Borderlands 4 isn't quite a live service game, but its endgame does heavily revolve around a weekly schedule. This weekly update rotates endgame content, shifts the location of Maurice's Black Market vending machine, and is often when Gearbox reveals and releases key patch notes.

With this in mind, the weekly update is an important date to keep track of, whether you're just entering the endgame or perfecting your builds with a shopping list of gear. Below, I'll go over what's available this week and any major changes so you don't miss out.

Borderlands 4 weekly update

Each week in Borderlands 4, the Big Encore boss, Wildcard Mission, and Black Market vending machine activities change. Since these are endgame activities, you'll have to have completed the campaign before you can access them. These changes go live at the weekly reset time, which is every Thursday at 9 am Pacific.

Here's what's active this week from March 5 to March 12:

• Big Encore boss: Vile Prototype, who is found at Lictor's Black Site in the Windspear area of the Terminus Range region. It has the chance of dropping the Rangefinder and King's Gambit legendary pistols, and the Heavyweight legendary shield.
• Wildcard Mission: Primordial Vault: Terminus Range with the Cold Hearted, Shielded, and Invisible modifiers, and a guaranteed drop of the legendary Finnity XXX-L sniper rifle, a Vladof brand weapon.
• Maurice's Black Market vending machine: In the middle of the Fades District of Dominion. Start at the Sumpview Falls fast travel point in the middle of the Fades District, then walk up the stairs and go slightly south to spot the vending machine at the back of an alley.

The Finnity XXX-L sniper rifle has the Pipin' Hot Barrels special effect, which means it does not consume ammo while overheating. A pretty powerful weapon that acts more like an assault rifle, really, with the added bonus of saving you ammo in its overheated state.

Latest Borderlands 4 patch notes

We're back on the minor update schedule after last week's major changes, but that doesn't mean there's not some important stuff here. Pearlescent gear gets a drop rate change, and some minor quality of life changes are a welcome addition.

Here's the full patch notes for Borderlands this week (March 5 - March 12):

• Updated the Pearlescent Eigenburst to drop at its intended rate
• The scaling on Pearlescent drops in Ultimate Vault Hunter levels has been adjusted
  • Dev Note: We have adjusted how often Pearlescent gear appears at higher Ultimate Vault Hunter levels to meet our goals for this top-tier rarity. The starting drop chance remains the same, but the way it scales as you level up has been tuned.
• Standardized dedicated loot reward chances across all bosses in the base game, Bounty Packs, and Invincible encounters
  • Dev Note: With a new rarity now appearing in the wild, we’ve updated how bosses drop their loot to make things simpler. Bosses in the base game (including Invincibles) and all Bounty Packs now use the same drop rate for their dedicated items. This change does not impact Phosophene drop rates. We are happy to bring this update to your loot hunt! 
• Reduced the health of all Ordonite enemies’ spawned Clones by 25%. The final boss has been unchanged
• Ordonite Cannisters now have more weight to them to create a softer flight and landing. We have also added extra glow to make them easier to see

Last week's Borderlands 4 patch notes

It was major update time last week, with the addition of Pearlescent gear and Bounty Pack 2. Here are the full Borderlands 4 patch notes for the week of February 26 - March 5:

Bounty Pack 2: Legend of the Stone Demon

• Added support for Bounty Pack 2: Legend of the Stone Demon
• Added support for the Bounty Pack 2 Vault Card! 
  • Playing Borderlands 4 with a Vault Card active gives you more loot and XP via Daily and Weekly challenges, and it can be leveled up at your own pace (no time limits or expiring rewards here). You can activate it via the Vault Card screen in your ECHO menu. Vault Card progression works just like leveling up: it's all driven by how much XP you're gaining. By exploring Kairos, killing enemies, and completing quests, you'll fill up your Vault Card progression in addition to your regular XP!
  • This includes 4 new pieces of rerollable gear and 24 new cosmetics to earn!
    • Re-Rollable Vault Card gear includes: 
      • Daedalus Assault Rifle: Mercredi
      • Torgue Shotgun: ARC-TAN
      • Torgue Grenade: Countermeasure
      • Ripper Sniper Rifle: Tank Buster
• NEW Legendary Gear has been added:
  • Maliwan SMG: Broken Wings
  • Vladof Assault Rifle: Bubbles
  • Tediore Shield: Hopscotch
  • Jakobs Shotgun: Doeshot
  • Order Pistol: Roulette
  • Tediore Assault Rifle: Laser Disker (returning from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!)
  • Vladof SMG: Mercurious
  • Torgue Assault Rifle: Fleabag
  • Ripper Shotgun: Hair Trigger
  • Jakobs Pistol: Shalashaska 
    • Shalashaska is available for everyone through the new Ordonite Processor Activity.

Pearlescent Gear

• New Rarity: Pearlescent!
  • Pearlescents are new unique weapons that are incredibly rare.
  • Pearlescent gear introduces a new weapon behavior: Ordonite Infusion, which overrides elements for optimal damage to an enemy's Health type. All Pearlescent gear will have an Ordonite Infusion elemental type in addition to any baseline elemental types, which will be used automatically if it's most effective against your current target.
  • Dev Note: It’s been a long time coming, and we're looking forward to seeing how players use this special gear. We also wanted to let you know some different cases that might not be obvious with how Ordonite Infusion works: 
    • With Maliwan multi-element gear, Ordonite Infusion applies based off of the active element.
    • Ordonite Infusion applies to initial Underbarrel damage, but does not persist for beams or subsequent projectiles.
    • Ordonite Infusion will not change Vex the Siren’s Phase Covenant Trait, which gives her abilities elemental attunement to her weapon, or trigger any related passives to the Ordonite Infusion’s element. 
  • Acquire Pearlescent gear through the Ordonite Processor Activity
• New Activity: Ordonite Processor!
  • Once activated with Eridium, the Ordonite Processor World Activity will spawn multiple waves of enemies, some of which will drop Ordonite. Recycling this Ordonite in the processor will attract Ordonite-corrupted enemies that have a chance to drop the new Pearlescent gear!
  • You can find an Ordonite Processor in a set location within the Fadefields, Carcadia Burn, and Terminus Range.
  • This activity can be repeated as many times as you’d like!
• New Pearlescent Gear: 
  • Tediore Shotgun: Eigenburst
  • Maliwan Sniper Rifle: Conflux
  • Torgue Pistol: Hand Cannon (requires ownership of Bounty Pack 2*)

Progression and Missions

• Skill points will now stay right where you put them when you level up during a co-op session
  • We know it kills the flow of a fight to have to redo your skill tree when you’re not expecting it. We’ve updated how skill points are remembered to keep up the momentum. 
• Badass Phalanx targets are now properly showing up for their Contracts near the Drill Site in the Fadefields
• Phalanx enemies have been spotted and are now appearing for Bounty Contracts at Smackwater in Carcadia Burn
• During "Casting Call" in Carcadia Burn, NPCs will no longer be unreachable when Harlowe the Gravitar uses the Zero-Point Action Skill and throws them. We need them for the next objective!
• The map tracker for your activities and collectibles now shows the right thing during The War on Mercenary Day
• Nighttime in the Terminus Range is now a bit more peaceful with lower ambient volume

Vault Cards & Rewards

• Friends joining a match can now properly buy and use their Vault Card gear
• [EGS Only] DLC outfits and skins will now stay available even after restarting the game on the Epic Game Store
• Vault Card challenges that ask you to "Kill enemies" will now count your progress correctly while playing in a group
• Defeating Order enemies now properly counts toward your "Kill Order" Vault Card progress when playing in a group
• Adjusted some text and icons for better readability on Vault Cards

Gear & Combat

• Asher’s Rise Maliwan Sniper Rifle: We adjusted the critical hit and status effect chances to better match expected combat balance
  • The Slow Burn Augment wasn’t applying proper effects on enemies in the first place, and it was causing more problems with interactions on enemies in Bounty Pack 2.
• You can now swap into your DLC gear even while you are sitting in a vehicle
• Harlowe the Gravitar’s energy effects now look smooth and steady for everyone in the session when using the CHROMA Accelerator and Q-Ball Capstone together
• Updated the Commander Class Mod to award the correct amount of points in Vex’s Infusion passive skill
• Updated the Viking Class Mod to award the correct amount of points in Amon's Reactive Armor passive skill

Splitscreen

• The "Activated" banner and purchase prompts on the Vault Card menu now show up in the correct spot during splitscreen play
• The main player can now successfully stop a travel countdown while playing in splitscreen
• Field of View settings now update for both players when playing together on one screen

User Interface and Experience

• Added a “Clear Notification Pips” button in the Settings menu under “General” in Basic Gameplay to let players clear notification icons (pips), so you won’t have to search through the menus to find them
• The Ultimate Vault Hunter Level selection menu no longer overlaps with other text in the settings menu
• You can now use your mouse cursor to grab the scroll bar in the Customization Menu
• Photo Mode settings now correctly reset when the mode ends automatically
• Improvements to stability and optimization
  • Dev Note: We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.

Borderlands 4 Shift codes: The new key connection.
Borderlands 4 Black Market location: New legendaries, no grind.
Borderlands 4 vault key fragment locations: Crack open Kairos.
Borderlands 4 characters: Meet your new Vault Hunters and find out who's strongest.
Borderlands 4 Harlowe builds: The amped-up Gravitar.
Borderlands 4 Rafa builds: The speed-demon Exo-Soldier.
Borderlands 4 Vex builds: The spooky Siren.
Borderlands 4 Amon builds: The fierce Forgeknight.