Borderlands 2 Tips
The tips here are intended for level 32 and below. And if you have already played BL2 a bunch of times, you probably already know most of these things, though I've played over a dozen times and always find something new I didn't know before.
Get the Xbox One Version
If you originally got BL2 for the Xbox 360 and later got an Xbox One, you can get the Xbox One version of BL2 for not much money. The game looks and plays about the same, but there are several advantages to having the One version.
Click here for more info.
So that you don't lose your characters from the 360 version, you can upload them from the 360 to the Cloud and download then to the One. Normally you can only save to the Cloud if you subscribe to Live, but they made an exception for BL2; however, you can only upload from the 360 and only download to the One.
Any extras you got for buying the One version are automatically added to characters you download.
As you should know, every time earned bonuses for your skills on the 360 by completing challenges, they are awarded to all your characters, existing or newly created. These bonuses also carry over to the One via your uploaded characters and are inherited by all your characters on the One.
Most of my bonuses are up to where they add more than 25% to skills like gun damage, shield recharge speed, etc. This is very significant and would have been a big loss if not carried over. The only drawback is that they come as unassigned points - totalling over 700 in my case - and must be assigned to skills one point at a time, which took a long time to do.
You can only upload-download one character at a time. When you download a character, you can save it to your hard drive with a new name. Then you can go back and upload-download another.
The main advantage of doing this if you have characters on the 360 holding powerful weapons, such as legendaries, which you want to carry over. See Building an Armory for more info about doing this.
Another advantage to uploading and downloading characters has to do with needing to win a lot of eridium when you first get to Sanctuary in order to build up your backpack capacities. (See Slot Machine Tips.)
It can take a long time to win a couple of hundred bars of eridium and doing so can get boring. But there are a couple of factors which make it desirable to just invest that time once and then carry it over to the One.
One factor is that BL2's save system does not allow you to make multiple save points which you can go back to and continue from later like you can do with games like Fallout.
Another factor is that reaching Sanctuary has the effect of starting up a new game, especially if you are using the Armory method described here for passing the best weapons and other gear from prior characters to the current ones which you cannot do until you reach Sanctuary.
Before getting the One version, I would dump all my gear upon arriving at Sanctuary and get high-value gear from past characters and sell it to get cash for playing the slots until getting all the backpack upgrades I needed.
Then I got the best gear for my level (at least level 10) from my past ("Armory") characters, then I would start doing missions with a loaded backpack and top gear and weapons.
After getting the One version, I followed the above steps with a new character on the 360, but then I stopped playing that character and uploaded it to the cloud and downloaded it on the One.
Now when I start a new game on the One, I play it as far as Sanctuary, then I switch over to the character downloaded from the 360 and don't have to play the slots and do all the back-and-forth getting the latest gear from my Armory Characters since my downloaded character has already done this.
If you get hit with a sudden desire to play the slots again some time, you can always go back to your upload character on the 360 to play them. In fact, each time you do this you are building up the backpack capacities of the character you upload to the One.
You can use this procedure at any point in the game you wish. For example, early in the game I farm KnuckleDragger to get my level up to 5 and to get the very deadly (for the early levels) Corrosive Hornet. To bypass having to go through that in each new game, you could play that far on the 360 and stop playing that character and upload it to the One.
Then you have two choices. One is to never play that character any further in order to be sure that you would have it to upload each time you start a new game on the One, or you could upload it once and download it on the One 5 or 10 times under different names, such as DownloadAtKnuckleDragger01, ...02, etc. Then you could continue playing the character on the 360.
Of course, either of these procedures assumes that you really like playing BL2 and intend to keep playing it a lot in the future.
A closely related procedure which can be done on either the 360 or the One is to stop advancing a character at whatever point you want to keep repeating. Then start a new game.
For example, I like to do Loot Box Midget farming at Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. You could loot for a while and continue the game and go back later, but once the doors get opened in the LBM area, on future farming runs you have to deal with all the vicious beasts which got let loose which is a pain in the neck. Another problem is that to get back to the LBMs later, you have to run and fight your way there from the start of the W.E.P.
Finally, if you don't have all the add-ons for BL2 for the 360, you get them all for the One version (or at least they came with the package I bought for under $25 from Live).
Close
Search All Loot Containers:
You rarely get gear worth saving from loot containers, but some of the general challenges include points for opening loot boxes, picking up loot, and selling loot and it's easy enough to do. Plus, you get eridium or legendary weapons just often enough to make the effort worthwhile.
Another benefit to opening loot containers, which includes little cardboard boxes and lockers, is that every once in a while a "Loot Box Midget" will pop out and drop a lot of loot when you kill them. They even drop legendary weapons on occasion.
Shoot Critter Piles:
When driving around, shoot critter piles to see what comes out. Every once in a while you will get eridium. You will have to get out to pick up eridium or gear, but if it is cash, ammo, or even mission objectives, you can just drive over them to pick them up.
If it is white and didn't come up when driven over, it is usually ammo that you are already maxed out on or cheap white weapons. I don't consider it worth making frequent stops to find out which.
Another time to shoot critter piles is when you are overlooking a large area with lots of critter piles spread around. With sniper ammo to spare, you want to just shoot the piles to see if anything non-white pops up.
If It Has Flies, It Has Loot:
You sometimes see pods hanging down. Some of them have flies around them and others don't. The ones with the flies contain loot. Shoot to burst them and get the loot to drop.
In a couple of places you may see cages hanging down with a body inside, the usual green tint, and flies buzzing around. For some reason, these usually have to be shot multiple times (or once with a very powerful weapon) to get them to drop anything, and then whatever they drop is not worth the rounds you used to shoot them. I don't recall ever getting eridium from a cage.
Shoot Barrels:
Shooting barrels (caustic, explosive, shock, fire) is the most efficient way (i.e.: requires less ammo) to kill nearby enemies, especially if they are behind cover, plus you get Challenge points for doing so.
Shooting fuel tanks will also cause explosions which will kill enemies, but they have another benefit I've never seen mentioned -- they almost always send out loot when they explode, including the occasional bar of eridium. So even if not in a battle, always shoot fuels tanks, large and small, and from a safe distance, of course.
Shoot Birds (Rakks):
Rakks can do a lot of damage by swooping down on you from all directions, and if you are trying to fight bandits at the time, they are just something else to worry about.
So when you see rakks flying around an area, it is usually a good idea to get a spot with your back to a wall, then fire at them to get them to come at you. Coming from one direction, they are easy to kill and can get you quite a few points, especially in the early parts of the game. You can put out the Commando's turret or Mechromancer's robot to kill the birds for you if you are playing either of those characters.
Optional Missions:
At some point you probably should play all the optional missions. The artists of 2K have done a fantastic job of creating Pandora. Slow down, take your time, explore, enjoy and appreciate it all. Optional missions are the best way to do that. In fact, it's usually interesting, fun, and worthwhile to explore areas even if they don't involve even the optional missions. These will be pointed out in the walkthrough as we go.
On subsequent playthroughs, you can skip most of the optional missions, especially those you just didn't enjoy. There are usually other ways to level up and get loot, but there are some rare times when you may be forced to complete some optional missions in order to level up enough to continue the main missions. And there are some optional missions which are little trouble and not out of your way, so you may as well do those.
However, every few games I'll play all the optional missions because by then they have become fun again.
Another type of optional mission is a sub-part of a mission which is listed in blue under the mission shown on your HUD. (There may be multiple sub-parts.) You get extra leveling points for completing those. For example, in the Assassinate The Assassins mission, you get bonus leveling points if you use the particular type of weapon specified for each different assassin. For the same mission, there is a Challenge (kill all the assassins in a specified period of time) for which you can get Challenge points. See the Challenges page.
Sub-missions must be completed before a mission is completed to get credit for them, but you can return to an area at any time (assuming that you have saved and quit in the interim) to replay the mission and sub-missions or to complete challenges for the area. Of course, it is more efficient to complete area challenges while you are already in the area, plus it is beneficial to get the upgrades as soon as possible, but for some very difficult sub-missions and challenges, it is reasonable to come back when you are at a higher level.
Farm Named Enemies:
Almost all enemies with names ("Bosses") drop more loot, including eridium, and give more XP. They almost all also have about a 5% chance of dropping a rare legendary weapon of a particular type.
After you kill a Boss as part of a mission, you can Save-Quit-Continue to kill them again (and again) until you get the legendary weapon they drop. Most of the farming runs take just 1-3 minutes to complete, and even the runs in which you do not get the Legendary, you will normally get other loot, often including eridium, and earn XP needed to level up.
In fact, in a couple of places which are pointed out in the walkthrough, you can kill the enemies over and over mainly to level up and/or get eridium even when no legendary weapons are involved.
Play the Slot Machines:
As soon as you get to Sanctuary, play the slot machines until you have won enough eridium to increase the number of weapons and amount of ammo you can carry.
Vending Machines:
Vending Machines in BL1 often had stuff worth buying. In dozens of games, I don't recall ever finding gear in a vending machine worth buying, especially since I started using the armory.
This means that other than ammo, which you usually will find plenty of laying around, the only things you have to spend money on are the slot machines. An exception is that on higher levels (above 40 or so) the cost of rockets goes up so much that if a mission is coming up where you may need to restock rockets, you have to be sure to save back plenty of money when playing slots. Even then, if you have the Sham shield and either the KerBlaster rifle or Logan's Gun (see Legendary Weapons), you can use them to generate rockets for free.
The Eridium Store:
It is very important to (1) get as much eridium as you can and (2) use it to buy backpack upgrades as soon as you can because it doesn't matter how powerful a weapon you have if you are out of ammo or if you don't have room in your backpack to carry it.
Following is the order in which I upgrade my backpack. I get the eridium for buying the upgrades by playing slot machiness, as explained on the Slots page.
Everytime I win enough eridium to buy the next upgrade of backpack slots (not to be confused with "slots" as in "slot mahcines"), I do so right away until I'm at 27 slots. This takes 40 bars of eridium. Then I start getting the ammo upgrades below:
| Weapon |
Rounds |
Erid. |
| Rifle | 840 | 40 |
| Launcher | 27 | 60 |
| Sniper | 108 | 60 |
| Grenade | 7 | 40 |
This is a total of 240 bars of eridium, including the backpack slots. I'm usually at level 9 when I get to Sanctuary the first time, so a try at slots costs $133. The higher your level, the more it costs, yet the odds of an eridium payout are the same at every level, so it is cheaper to get the 240 bars of eridium by playing slots right away.
If you have reached level 50+ in a previous game, you can load that character, have him play slots just to win some high-dollar weapons (at least $7k each), and pass those to you through Claptrap's Secret Stash. Four level 50 weapons can get you $30k-$40k. See the slots page for more info.
Selecting a Character:
Common Features - All characters can use all weapons. Each has a different bonus feature ("Skill"), such as the turret for the Commando, which will be discussed below, but you don't get your Skill until you make it to level 5. So for levels 1-4, all characters play the game the same.
The Commando's turret Skill gives him a huge advantage over other characters (except for Mechromancer) because he can throw down the turret and take cover while it fights, although in most cases you will want to help it kill the enemies because it usually can't kill them all and it is easier for you to kill them while they are fighting with the turret. The turret also has a unique advantage in that if you pick it up before it times out, the cool-down time will be decreased accordingly so that you can deploy it again sooner.
The Mecromancer's robot Skill ("Deathtrap") is even better than a turret because it can move around and go after enemies who are at a distance and/or behind cover and follow you into battle. The robot's basic weapons are a melee attack and shooting electric bolts. Another advantage of the turret and robot are that enemies may attack them instead of you, giving you time to counterattack.
The Siren's Skill is the ability to lift an enemy into the air in a ball. This makes them much easier to attack. For example, an enemy can't rush you nor shoot at you when suspended, and if they have a physical shield, it no longer protects them. It also seems as if the game doesn't send as many enemies at you at once if you are a Siren. Because of these factors, playing the game as a Siren seems to be the easiest mode, though the Mecromancer is a close second.
The Gunzerker can fire two weapons at once. BL2 videos on Youtube often feature a Gunzerker, but it is at a real disadvantage at times compared to having a robot or turret to help out. A turret or robot killing enemies also helps conserve your own ammo, so Gunzerker and the Assassin also have the drawback of needing to carry more ammo.
The Assassin can make himself invisible.
I've tried playing these last three types but didn't care for their skills nor their skill trees, but plenty of people like them. If you are playing on a team, then there are advantage to team members using different characters.
Character Skill Trees
Any branch of the skill tree is probably good as long as you pretty much stay with it (at least through level 30). The reason for sticking with a branch is that they each have a really awesome feature near the bottom. But you probably can't go too far wrong whatever you want to do.
One exception to sticking with a branch is that if there is an upgrade which restores health, I will take that first no matter which branch of the skill tree I intend to focus on. The alternative is to always be looking for health vials or getting killed when I couldn't find any. The Mechromancer's tree has an option to regenerate health slowly whenever the weapon in use has a full cartridge. If you are using a legendary Infinity weapon, you are constantly regenerating health. You needn't invest more than 1 in the skill; that's enough to get your health built back up in about the same time it takes the robot to cool down.
And while talking about Mechromancer - I never touch its right skill tree branch. All the enhancements in it will improve some things and make other things worse at the same time. I stay with the right side of the left branch until I reach the bottom, then move to the middle branch.
Some mods such as for increased rifle damage, also increase features in your character's skill tree. Most features have a maximum of 5 level-up points you can put into them, but the mod enhancements put points in addition to the ones you have put, meaning a feature may get more than 5 points.
However, if the feature is not in a branch of the tree you are developing, it won't take effect because such enhancements require that you have put at least one level-up point into the feature.
To see which features are being enhanced, you can equip the mod and then check the tree to see which features are outlined in blue, which indicates they have been enhanced.
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