Borderlands 4's October 23rd patch notes are still a total doomsday scenario to me

I'm not going to lie: when it was revealed that Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox Software delayed the nerf to Vex's Infinite Bleed Build until October 23, I let out a sigh of relief. I also text my group chat: “MY BUILDING WAS NOT NERFED, THE NERF WAS DELAYED A WEEK.” And here we are, approaching that week, and I still can't be convinced that a nerf is even that necessary. If anything, this past weekend convinced me that the build isn't THAT broken. I guess it ultimately depends on what Gearbox does with this build, but geeking it into oblivion is my biggest fear.

Borderlands 4 has found a fairly permanent position in my friend's video game rotation, at least semi-permanent. We play every weekend, although last weekend we didn't get as much time as usual. Such is life. But I wrote about mine Borderlands 4 experiences last weekend, and here I am going to do it again. In the end, when we try to finish all achievements/trophies, my “broken” build was no help in specific circumstances. To summarize what we did,

• Aside from a small mid-week game, my friend's Harlowe got back to level 50 after one BL4 bug wiped his SDUs and specializations (he had to make a new character).

• We finally finished all the side quests Borderlands 4.

• We also unlocked UVHM5 after playing on UVHM2 the past few weekends.

• We also busted out the Bounties achievement/trophy.

• We also worked on Gear Challenges by farming Foundry Freaks with Armored Bods.

As it stands, we have all the achievements/trophies except the Catch-a-Ride, the Gear and Manufacturer challenges, and Dave the Burrito. We will continue to work on it, but when we looked at Catch-a-Ride we realized – as you may know – that you need to reach level 50 with each Vault Hunter to finish it. And despite this, my Vex's “broken” build did little to “trivialize” content this past weekend.

Vex's Infinite Bleed Build is a One Trick pony

Is Vex's Infinite Bleed Build broken? Yes, absolutely. Is the combination of Crit Knife and Bloodletter accidental? Yes. But some of the best things in gaming are accidental or unexpected; it's called emergent game design. Should it be fixed? Of course. My biggest problem is that we don't have communications and expectations. All I need to know is that Vex's Infinite Bleed Build will still be viable after the nerf, even if it is no longer “infinite”. It makes sense, but my biggest concern is that the game loop won't work anymore. It's no secret, but let's talk about what that Bleed Build is.

• The Throwing knife with penetrator reinforcement is mandatory for construction. However, this is fundamental world change Borderlands 4with players reporting dozens of hours (if not directly making it to UVHM5) without ever seeing one. My buddies and I (so in a four player co-op game) searched for it for at least 10+ hours.

• After that there is a certain selection of skills for Vex focused around Bloodlets and crits.

• You want a strong one-shot weapon to stack the Bleed build damage with. Some people run a certain class of mod + a sniper rifle; I drive a Hot Slugger + Rending Psion Class Mod. (I haven't even found the +4 Bloodletter mod that I know exists).

• I also use one Amp Shield, an Amp Rep Kitand have one Jacob's Enhancement.

• This is enough to get Bleed to trigger every now and then, but players will want it Pollution specialization to really make it click.

All in all, it takes a fair bit of grinding to pull this all together. I don't remember if we managed to find it in a weekend or two, but we were grinding for our builds that we wanted to do. Sure, power is a big draw for this build; I'm not going to lie about it. But the game loop is so satisfying. I love throwing knives in general and have been using one since I jumped in Borderlands 4— the fact that I could use a build with a Jakobs gun on top (the best manufacturer in Borderlands 4), really speaks to me.

Ultimately it depends on what the nerf does. I can live with that in several scenarios, but in the name of “building diversity” I don't see why this particular game loop has to die. That may not be the plan, but the point is that we don't know the plan. If I am still viable, I will be happy. I can use other Vex builds, sure, but I like this one regardless of the power; I just want to be viable (sorry, trying to be clear here). In most scenarios, my friends and I already downplay content without even realizing it. Our builds, together, can go through any boss in seconds. I rush it…when I can.

Thing is, the build isn't so broken that it universally trivializes the game, and it's not that easy to get. If that were the case, Borderlands 4s patches would have already fixed this. It's good against bosses, especially bigger bosses. Players, at least me, have to step up, hit the target with the knife and then hit them a couple of times (maybe that's overkill). That's it, that's it simplified. However, unless it grinds a boss, its use is unreliable at best.

My Vex Infinite Bleed Build didn't help much this weekend

Let's talk about it. We did some Driller Site grinds this past weekend, and while I'm useful against these bosses, I don't really care about using my Bleed Build against mobs. If there's an annoying bigger enemy, sure, shoot it out and bleed them. But the installation takes a few seconds, which is valuable Borderlands 4s battle. I just run Vex's Reapers + Spectres and use a different weapon in these scenarios because it makes more sense. Armored Bod is my primary besides Hot Slugger right now for, you know, gear challenges.

Grinding bosses is where I shine, helping my friends get their loot without spending, hopefully, hours hunting for new and improved gear. But it wasn't my ability to be a solo boss that got my friend Harlowe back to 50, not mostly. Fortunately, we were still working on side quests, so that's where most of his experience came from. Yes, it helped against bosses in someone Borderlands 4 side quests we finished, but mobs? Nah. Everything we did, I had my role; when the time came, I unleashed my Infinite Bleed Build. But I didn't use it for most of this weekend because it's pony built with a trick, and I never felt more useless than when we realized what we needed to do for the Catch-a-Ride achievement.

Catch-a-Ride directly from the Infinite Bleed building

The Catch-a-Ride achievement requires players to get each character to level 50. I have a level 41 Harlowe that I've been playing with my wife, but that means doing Amon and Rafa and getting them to level 50. Jumping to level 30 should make this easy, right? Exactly…As players know, the best level goes in Borderlands 4 are Driller Sites and Vile Bounties. In neither case am I that efficient at “trivializing” content, and we're still trying to figure out how to mix/match level 50 with level 30 to do this effectively (we spent the least amount of time on this). When we get to the bosses in Driller Sites, if I don't grind out weapon challenges, sure. But that means I have to fight through it all, against mobs, which makes a bit of sense for me to try to bleed all the time.

Nasty Bounties? Despicable enemies in general? You can't bleed them. I mean, yeah, after I mine all the Ordonite, but Vex isn't the most effective at it. My Rafa buddy uses slippies to quickly defeat them, but my build doesn't work, so I have to switch weapons to face them. Vex's Bleed build is broken, but it's not universally broken. I have a clear party role: grinding bosses. Other than that, just play the game as intended, and also have a good time with my friends.

I'm okay with losing Infinite Bleed Buildbut I don't want to lose it Bleed Build. I understand everything Gearbox has said about building diversity and trivializing content, and I understand this is anecdotal compared to Gearbox's player data. I also understand that I could make my build stronger if I wanted to, but I push back that all builds should die in the name of “build diversity” and that Vex's bleed build “trivializes” all content. I would go so far as to argue that trivializing content is the best part of Borderlands games, as I remember the Conference Call + Bee shield days. Namely, I guess Gearbox doesn't want a build that trivializes upcoming Invincible bosses, and I mean, sure, fix the infinite part – just don't break the build the other way? Anyway, all this is to say: Vex's Bleed build is broken, it should probably be fixed, but I hope the nerf doesn't kill the core gameplay. I guess I'll find out on October 23rd, or more likely, next weekend when me and my friends have time to play again.

Released

September 12, 2025

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, User Interaction