If You're Doing Borderlands 4's Side Quests First, You're Making a Huge Mistake

Borderlands 4 gets a lot of things right, which is great news considering it’s essentially a reboot of the series in disguise. But one of the biggest elements it has needed to really zero in on is its endgame, as the series has fallen short in that area in the past with very shallow reasons to keep going after the credits roll. That being said, it has offered players a sense of progression after the main story for each game with mechanics like Badass Ranks and Guardian Ranks, giving players ongoing bonuses and upgrades even after the campaign is over. Borderlands 4 implements something similar with Specializations.

Like its spiritual predecessors, Specializations rely heavily on players gaining XP, as they function as a separate progression system from Borderlands 4‘s standard leveling. As such, players who want to take advantage of the system are left with little choice but to find the most optimal route forward for gaining XP, lest they end up grinding away by merely killing enemies for the small amount of XP they offer upon death. However, there is a much better method for farming endgame XP built into Borderlands 4, and it comes with even more benefits than just that.

Borderlands 4’s Mission Replay System Makes Specializations Easier

Why Specializations Change How XP Really Works

Borderlands 4‘s Specializations only come online once players finish the game’s main campaign, which means every ounce of XP earned suddenly means a lot more. Character levels eventually max out, but Specializations require an endless amount of XP if players want to benefit from them. Inadvertently, that makes purple-tier and orange-tier quest rewards more valuable after the credits roll than they ever were before. What once might have felt like nothing more than optional activities are then all but necessary for late-game builds.

At first glance, it might seem as though completing these before the end of Borderlands 4‘s campaign would result in players missing out on XP rewards that would have contributed toward Specializations if they were completed later rather than sooner. Instead, players might target repeatable bounties for post-game XP, but the small amount these activities provide would make the grind almost unbearable, as it would involve doing Borderlands 4‘s more mundane activities over and over. However, thanks to the game’s replayable mission feature, players can gain XP through more interesting methods.

How Replayable Quests Turn the Grind Into Progress

Rather than grinding bounties repeatedly for Specialization XP in Borderlands 4‘s post-game, players can replay main and side missions for the same XP rewards they initially offered via the Replay section of the Missions tab in the in-game menu. Not all missions are replayable, but as it turns out, the missions that are replayable generally offer higher-tier XP rewards than those that aren’t. On top of that, the cash and weapon rewards offered by these missions are still available as well, making for a more rewarding and engaging way to increase endgame XP in Borderlands 4.

This feature, in all reality, is a game changer for the post-game grind. Without even being a live-service game, Borderlands 4 increases its longevity by offering players a better way to enhance their endgame builds by making the most of their time and potentially having more fun than they might have with little more than bounties to complete. It’s an easy-to-miss feature too, since it’s tucked away in the menu and not immediately noticeable, but at least it’s there. And it’s just a big plus that many of Borderlands 4‘s side quests are excellent and worth doing more than once.