I have set Borderlands 3 down for the time being, but if you have not played the game to date, there really is no better time to jump in than now with so much content released for the game, and Gearbox gearing up for year 2 with the first half of its content drops, including a new skill tree which players did not have access to for the base game and year 1 DLCs.
I would love the chance to go back and play everything for the first time with the fourth tree accessible, but in lieu of that, I thought I would just write a list of my favorite Borderlands 3 DLCs and content drops, including the base game, so you know what to check out or maybe what to skip.
1. Bounty of Blood DLC
It took a while, but I genuinely think that this is the best bit of content Borderlands 3 has produced to date. I loved the map areas of Gehenna and it easily had the best selection of guns out of any DLC to date, ones that I still farm to this day every time a new level cap raise happens or new anointments are added.
I think they did a great job with its villain, Butcher Rose, a character I want to see more of in the future, and I think we might, given the ending. This was also an expansion that toned down the slapstick comedy to a certain extent, which I always appreciate.
2. Love, Guns and Tentacles DLC
Again, the Lovecraftian atmosphere created here was fantastic, and we had a ton of truly new enemies in this DLC with the main cult, which was refreshing and probably the best new batch the game ever got, far more than just reskinned psychos.
The guns were solid, the central love story between Hammerlock and Jakobs was a good jumping off point, and we got to see Gaige again. And once more, the comedy dial was scaled back a bit so it wasn’t too goofy.
3. Mad Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot
The first DLC was amazing conceptually with Moxxi staging a heist of Jack’s floating casino. Great zones here, and it was nice to get loader bots back as enemies. I will say the loot was a bit underwhelming, as was the main villain, the crime boss who took over the facility in Jack’s absence, even if he was present through holograms.
4. Borderlands 3 Base Campaign – COV
I firmly believe that these three DLCs were better than the base campaign, but I suppose there’s a bit of bias here given all the patches that hit the game after launch. The loot was okay, and there were only a few standouts before a lot of buffs, though these days, there are many powerhouses that still come from the base campaign and general world loot pool.
I think the biggest problem that everyone cites is the story, whether you hated the two main villains, Troy and Tyreen, or too-important characters like Ava. The deaths didn’t quite hit the way they were supposed to, but I did enjoy getting to know our own vault hunters through a lot more voicework than in past games. And obviously this is the “largest” section of the game and it does have many good moments and interesting zones.
5. Revenge of the Cartels
I debated whether even to put this in here, but Revenge of the Cartels, despite being a free, limited time event and not permanent DLC, was very good. Not only was the structure of the event fantastic as you farmed different mini-bosses from enemy factions for loot, but the loot itself was some of the best in the game’s history, and people are still using underleveled OPQs and Yellowcakes to this day because of how good they were. The best thing we could see in year 2 is the return of this event with upgraded, max level versions of its old loot.
6. Psycho Krieg DLC
I thought we were gearing up for the biggest DLC of them all with this final entry, but it turned out to be the smallest, and weirdest. It was…fine, but exploring Krieg’s mind was not quite as cool as I hoped, and I didn’t really like the psychedelic zones of mostly recycled assets or any of the boss fights (that damn train, and that damn final bullet sponge boss). I can’t remember any of the loot I was really chasing. This simply was just not that good compared to the others.
7. Arms Race
If we are separating out Arms Race as an activity from the new skill tree, it obviously just can’t compare with any of these others. While it does have some very solid new loot, I maintain it was a mistake to introduce an activity into Borderlands 3 that negates not just all your loot, but even your skills, making each character feel identical and each run fairly boring as you use disposable loot to find gear and extract it, fighting the same enemy clusters and boss every time. Perhaps if more is added to this in time it could be better, but for now, it’s got loot and not much else.
That’s my ranking order, what’s yours?
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels Herokiller and Herokiller 2, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.
