March 26 is a big day for BOrderlands 4 fans as Gearbox is releasing a major update for the game, adding in plenty of fixes and other general changes, but also releasing the first Story DLC pack called Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned. Over the past few weeks, Gearbox has been giving fans plenty of details surrounding the upcoming Borderlands 4 story DLC, as well as outlining the first post-launch Vault Hunter known as C4SH. Now, that long wait is over as players can finally dive into Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned.
After a somewhat sluggish end to 2025, Borderlands 4 has seemingly managed to recapture that feeling of excitement as fans have seen plenty of new content arrive into the game. So far, fans have gotten a dedicated Photo Mode back in January, as well as the anticipated arrival of the Pearlescent Rarity tier, adding a new loot chase element to the game. February 2026 also saw the arrival of Bounty Pack 2 in Borderlands 4, known as the Legend of the Stone Demon, providing new quests, enemies, and loot to the game. However, for many fans, all eyes have been on March 26 when the first Story Pack, formerly known as an expansion in previous games, would finally arrive.
How to Start Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned in Borderlands 4
Borderlands 4’s first Story Pack has arrived with “Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned”. Here’s how to begin the new DLC.
Content-wise, Borderlands 4 is launching Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, a story-centric DLC pack that takes players to a new location on Kairos called The Whispering Glacier. Naturally, this zone will feature new activities, dynamic events, and hidden collectibles to locate, though for many fans, it’s a chance to experience a brand-new story with many new and returning faces like Ellie, Crazy Earl, Mancubus Bloodtooth, Pickle, and even more if the teases Gearbox has been mentioning are believed. It’s worth noting that the Mad Ellie DLC is considered premium content, so players will need to purchase it separately or download it as part of the Super Deluxe Edition.
How to Start Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned
Once purchased, players will need to first complete the A Lot To Process mission from the main Borderlands 4 campaign. Once complete, head to the Fadefields and into Zadra’s Lab where a new quest can be found. Gearbox also encourages players to be at or above level 13, but it isn’t required.
The other major addition to Borderlands 4 is the brand-new vault hunter called C4SH. While Gearbox revealed C4SH months ago, the studio has recently been showing off the former CasinoBot turned Rogue and all of his dice throwin’, card shuffling, and Eldrich Boon calling skills. Unlike the other 4 Vault Hunters, players can unlock up to 4 augment slots across all three skill trees as C4SH has no capstone abilities.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
However, Gearbox is also adding plenty of free content as well. Fans have been waiting a while, but the March 26 update finally raises the Borderlands 4 level cap by 10 levels, pushing it from 50 to 60. In addition, Gearbox has finally enabled shared progression between characters, meaning any previously found collectibles or unlocked activities, map progress, SDU tokens, Vault Powers, Vehicle skins, or Hover drives are now shared across all. Better yet, players will notice that it automatically takes effect once the update has been installed.
Finally, Borderlands 4‘s March 26 update also brings about plenty of bug fixes and other improvements to the experience. In fact, all the original Borderlands 4 Vault Hunters are seeing a couple adjustments or fixes to various skill-based issues, while some gear is getting some changes as well. Gearbox has also introduced some new settings and features for players to take advantage of as well, including the ability to toggle off progression pop-up updates for Vault Cards and other challenges.
Borderlands 4 March 26 Major Update Patch Notes
Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned*
A malicious cosmic entity threatens Kairos, and madness lingers on the frigid wind. Join forces with the plucky, take-no-mess Ellie—mechanic extraordinaire and daughter of Moxxi—on a quest to destroy an alien monolith and enter the accursed Vault of the Damned.
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Added Support for Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned
- To play this content, players need to own Story Pack 1 and complete the “A Lot to Process” mission in the Fadefields; its content is recommended for Vault Hunters of level 13 or higher. By owning Story Pack 1, you can also roll a new Vault Hunter that skips directly to the Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned content at level 13.
- New map zone, The Whispering Glacier, packed with new story missions, side missions, activities, and collectibles
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New activities
- Dahl Bunker: Scale a treacherous mountain and face one of Dahl’s fiercest soldiers!
- Scav Fuel Site: Test your might against the Scav army as they protect their fuel reserves!
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New collectibles
- Dahl Cache: Dahl’s loss is your gain! Find and open caches of loot around the Whispering Glacier!
- Eldritch Phonograph: Re-form the fractured record pieces and play them on the Eldritch Phonograph to gain dark knowledge.
- Vault of the Damned Symbols: Revenants and madmen have scratched symbols across the glacier. Find them all!
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New dynamic events:
- Ice Fishing: Toss dynamite into a viable Ice Fishing location and see what pops out! Happy blasting!
- Nightmare Rift: Try your luck against randomly selected bosses in an eldritch nightmare!
- Two new major boss fights, 16 minibosses, and new enemy types
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NEW Legendary gear, obtained through gameplay:
- Vladof Grenade: Barb’ara
- Jakobs Grenade: Bismuth-Tipped Daggers
- Jakobs RepKit: Blood Moon
- Maliwan Shield: Elpis Star
- Ripper SMG: Falke
- Jakobs Sniper Rifle: Fearstalker
- Maliwan SMG: Flash Cyclone
- Torgue Heavy Weapon: Heimdahl
- Vladof Sniper Rifle: Hemorrhage
- Daedalus Shield: Honey Badger
- Maliwan Heavy Weapon: Ichor
- Torgue Shotgun: Unstable Kor
- Vladof Assault Rifle: Laser Cutter
- Daedalus SMG: Prowler
- Maliwan Shotgun: Reminisce
- Torgue Pistol: Scoot’N’Shoot
- Order Pistol: Sunspot
- NEW Classmods, one for each Vault Hunter
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NEW Pearlescent Weapons, available only in Story Pack 1:
- Order Assault Rifle: Crow-funded
- Ripper Shotgun: [Name contains spoilers]
- Daedalus Pistol: Soul Survivor
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31 new cosmetic items
- 2 Vault Hunter Heads usable by all Vault Hunters
- 4 Vault Hunter Skins usable by all Vault Hunters
- 8 Vault Hunter Heads usable by C4SH
- 2 Vault Hunter Bodies usable by C4SH (base + alternate)
- 4 Weapon Skins
- 4 Vehicle Skins
- 3 ECHO-4 Drone Skins
- 3 ECHO-4 Drone Attachments
- 1 ECHO-4 Frame
New Vault Hunter:
C4SH the Rogue
C4SH is a CasinoBot with a new lease on life. After winning a high-stakes card game, he gained a magical deck that imbues him with eldritch boons. This would be a cursed trophy for most people, but for a robot who has been able to game the solar system’s casinos and battlefields with statistical knowledge, he finally knows what unpredictability feels like. For the first time, he feels human. This drives him to play nothing safe, always bet on himself, and take as many risks as possible.
As the first of two new Vault Hunters coming to Borderlands 4 via paid Story Packs, C4SH is playable across the entire game. You can experience everything on Kairos using C4SH’s unique set of skills, all while hearing how fascinated he is by anything dependent on chance!
- Added support for C4SH the Rogue
- C4SH has been added to Character Select
- Includes 8 unlockable Vault Hunter Heads usable by C4SH
- Includes 2 Vault Hunter Bodies usable by C4SH (base + alternate)
Free Content:
The following updates are free to all Borderlands 4 players, regardless of whether they own Story Pack 1 or not:
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The Level Cap has been increased 10 levels, to a max level of 60
- This long-awaited increase has finally arrived. We’re looking forward to seeing how you take advantage of these additional levels across characters.
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Shared Character Progression
- Collectibles, Activities, Big Map Progress, SDU tokens, Vault Powers, Vehicle skins and Hover Drives are all part of the Shared Character Progression available in this update.
- No action is needed for this, and it automatically applies to all of your characters! If you’ve found different collectibles on different characters, those will all combine.
- In Multiplayer, players will only have the map discovered for the areas they themselves have explored.
- Deleting all character saves does not reset progress. After deleting all previous characters, a new character will still have all previous map progress.
- Note that revealed Fast Travel locations still need campaign progress to take advantage of them.
General Changes:
Bounty Pack 2: Legend of the Stone Demon**
- Added a new Fast Travel station near the bosses in the Cursed Mine for quicker trips
- Improved the ECHOlocation guide to better lead you through The Fadefields and the Cursed Mine
- Players can no longer hide in “safe spots” to avoid damage during the Bore-Tex, Chiselbella, and Sturmdang fights
- Vault Hunters can no longer use the Acid Drop augment to accidentally (or on purpose!) leave the Sturmdrang boss arena
- You can now restart a boss fight in Legend of the Stone Demon while your friends are still in the loot room
- Chiselbella will now stay inside her arena when frozen, and will no longer get stuck in the wall so you can keep fighting
- The Meathead “Tiny Bigs” and Ordonite enemy “Reactive Crystallized Psycho” will now move correctly in multiplayer
- Enemies in Bore-tex boss fight have learned how to use the door and will now come out of the correct side of their spawn points
- Enemies near the red chest before the duo minibosses now spawn correctly regardless of which entrance you use to enter the area
- Pangopups will no longer get stuck on rocks when you are trying to enter the Cursed Mine
- Gun Auger’s visual effects now show up in the right spot when they get a buff
- Ordonite enemies in the Cursed Mine now play their proper death animations
- Removed several invisible walls and “map holes” in the Cursed Mine and Terminus Range
- Fixed a spot where players could get stuck in a swimming animation near the waterfall
- Snow weather will now show up for both players in split-screen during the holiday missions in The Fadefields
- Interact callouts are more apparent during Bounty Pack 2 missions
- You can no longer walk or shoot through the arches in the Cursed Mine; they are now solid as they should be
- Removed a duplicate set of doors near the Transhumanist Shop that was cluttering up the fight
- Standing on the metal pots in Chiselbella’s arena is now safe and will no longer cause unexpected damage
- We put gravity back to work on a cardboard box near the river in the The Demon’s Domain so it no longer floats in the air
- Addressed various instances of missing or invisible collision and textures on enemy spawn locations
- Your camera will now stay outside of the rocks when you are gliding near the waterfalls
- Distance waterfalls have stopped glowing when you look away from them
- Calder’s eyes now move much more naturally when you’re talking to him in Legend of the Stone Demon, making him look much more focused
Vault Hunter Changes
Harlowe the Gravitar
- Neutral Capture Augment now works correctly with the Break the Ice skill
- Harlowe can now properly slam enemies even if they are already stunned
Rafa the Exo-Soldier
- Peacebreaker Cannons now fire faster when you put points into Deft Hands
- Rafa’s Parting Gift Augment now only marks enemies during the Action Skill as intended
- Blowout skill now correctly creates Corrosive projectiles when you land a critical hit on target dummies
Vex the Siren
- The Commander Class Mod can now grant more than 3 points to the Infusion skill
- Vex’s Haruspex and Pincushion skills now scale with melee, allowing them to pick up bonuses from the Groundbreaker Specialization skill and Vladof Shield Heavyweight
Amon the Forgeknight:
- Throwing your Forged weapons now works every time, and they no longer repeat their “equip” animation when you try to use them
Gear Changes
- Tediore AR Chuck: Assault Rifle challenges now count your progress when using the Legendary Assault Rifle Chuck
- Tediore Grenade Urchin: Updated audio of the light projectiles
- Tediore Licensed Part Shooting Legs: Your thrown guns will no longer disappear when reloading with “Shooting Legs” during the Bloomreaper boss fight
- Jakobs Grenade Spinning Blade: The Spinning Blade grenade now returns to you properly, even when hitting Corrupted enemies or Crystals
- Jakobs Penetrator Augment: Indicator no longer shows inconsistent visuals when shooting enemies
- Maliwan Shotgun Kickballer: The Primed Potency Enhancement effect now correctly boosts the Kickballer shotgun
- Daedalus Shotgun Missilaser: This gun’s firing sounds are now easier to hear during loud battles
- Loot beams for rare Pearlescent items will no longer be hidden under the floor
- Visual effects for grenades and Tediore throwables now show up correctly on water in multiplayer
Gameplay
- Arjay now stays in the fight when up against Rafa’s Arc-Knives
- Vault Hunters will no longer lose their hands or weapons when grabbing items while swapping guns
- Players who travel from The Fadefields to Upper Dominion will now save their location correctly and won’t accidentally find themselves back in the main part of Dominion when playing alone
- Weapons will no longer disappear after replaying a mission
- Action Skill animations now play at the correct times during the Elpis mission in the Phase Dimension
- You will no longer get stuck on a loading screen if a travel request is canceled while you are near a map exit in multiplayer
- Your camera will now stay in the right spot when you swap to a Heavy Weapon immediately after using a Grapple Point—no more clipping through your big guns!
- Your Vault Hunter will now hold their gun the right way if you swap weapons just before climbing a ladder or a wall. This also keeps your visual effects lined up where they belong!
- Waypoints now point to the correct location when you switch tracked missions while heading to Bloomreaper
- Accepting Electroshock Therapy: The Second Session in The Fadefields and then restarting the game now correctly shows your next goal and waypoint on the map
- The snow now falls correctly for everyone in splitscreen during the “War on Mercenary Day” mission in The Fadefields
Vault Cards and Challenges:
- New Feature: Added an option to turn off progress pop-ups for challenges and Vault Cards
- The Vault Card menu now correctly updates if you no longer have access to certain content
- Console players will no longer lose rewards they have already claimed from their Vault Cards
- Vault Card weekly and daily challenges for How Rush Saved Mercenary Day and Legend of the Stone Demon now show up correctly for everyone, including splitscreen players
- Ordonite enemies no longer count towards “Kill X Vile Enemies” challenges
- The “A Friend in Needles” challenge now correctly counts your progress when you heal your friends using area-of-effect (AOE) healing powers
Splitscreen:
- Addressed a reported issue where progress could be lost if a player quit to the menu with another player in character selection
- Secondary players in splitscreen will no longer have their characters disappear when joining a new game with a primary player on a fresh account
- Only the host can now change the True Mode settings, preventing accidental changes while you’re in the middle of a game
- Flipping an item card to see its details now only happens for the player who clicked it, instead of flipping for both players at once
- Sound now works correctly for a second player joining a game on PS5 with a new save
- Other screens will no longer accidentally overlap the pause menu when interacting with objects in the world
Audio & Visual
- In the Bloomreaper fight, added a fade track to the audio transitioning from gameplay and the cinematic
- Vex’s “Make It Rein” head cosmetic now behaves better with physics
- Waterfall Physics: Jumping back into the waterfall after the water slide no longer leaves you floating in the air or stuck in a swimming animation
- New audio language settings now take effect immediately when you switch player profiles
- We polished how guns look when you swap them so they always appear in high detail
- Fixed a messy texture that would sometimes appear on the loading screen when you respawn during the Chiselbella fight
- Your screen will no longer stay blurry if you join a friend’s game while your status menu is open
- We updated the loading screen tips about carrying items to make sure the info is current
- Players in a multiplayer game can no longer change settings that have been disabled by the host
- Vex the Siren’s Pincushion skill now correctly shows how much damage it does in the menu
- Fixed some grammar and spelling in Harlowe’s newest skill descriptions
- The mission icons on reward chests now match the icons in your Mission Log, so you always know exactly which quest you’re turning in
- The Mission Log now places waypoints in the correct spot for Raid missions
- The “New Item” indicators in your inventory now disappear properly after you use the “Claim All Rewards” button
- Left-clicking a character in the main menu now correctly selects them instead of trying to open a store page
- Players with Bounty Pack 2 entitlements no longer see certain prompts when party members do not own Bounty Pack 2
- We cleaned up the Options menu so the text no longer overlaps in the Main or Pause menus
- Removed some extra, confusing icons that appeared on the Big Map near the Demonhold station
- Disconnecting your controller after skipping the introduction will no longer cause the game to stay on a loading screen forever
Photo Mode Updates
- Visibility Settings: Turning off the visibility for enemies, bosses, and summons now works instantly, even for creatures that just spawned
- NPC clothing and accessories now look much better and stay in place when you pause the game in Photo Mode
- Visual Effects: Smoke, sparks, and other visual effects now disappear correctly when you hide characters in Photo Mode
- Fire, water, smoke, and glass now correctly follow your “Depth of Field” settings in Photo Mode, making your action shots look even more professional
- Vehicle Hiding: Other players’ vehicles now disappear properly when you set “Player” visibility to “Off” in a multiplayer photo session
- UI & Stats: Player stats and other menu details now hide correctly when you toggle the UI off for that perfect screenshot
Player Experience:
- We improved the way cloud saves are handled to prevent errors when saving over an old file
- Players will now only be matched with others who own the same content. This keeps everyone together and prevents players from being sent back to the Main Menu because they don’t have access to paid DLC content
- Fixed a hitch that prevented players from selecting new skins while the game was loading
- Additional optimization to various HUD bars
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Improvements to stability and optimization
- Dev Note: We are continuing to investigate and will make further improvements to stability and performance.
- Released
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September 12, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
