By now, players should be familiar with the leveling system in Borderlands 4. It uses the same, traditional, XP-based mechanic found in previous games, which means players will need to either blast enemies or finish quests if they want to level up quickly.
We'll say it now: there is no way to instantly gain levels in Borderlands 4, nor is there a way to cheese the leveling process. However, there's a trick that you can use to make leveling characters (especially level 30 ones) a little bit easier.
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How to Level Quickly in Borderlands 4
If you're starting from scratch, then your best bet is to just do the main campaign. You should be able to reach the level 40 mark if you focus on doing Borderlands 4's story quests, and you should get a couple more levels if you take time to do some side quests. You'll likely need to do the latter at some point, as enemies in later regions of the game will most probably out-level you if you only do main story quests.
Now, if you're starting a new level 30 character after finishing the campaign at least once, then you won't have any campaign stories to do. Side quests take too long, and just farming mobs doesn't give enough XP to justify the trouble you have to go through. At this point, your best option is to farm bounty contracts from bounty boards.
Borderlands 4: Endgame Leveling with Contracts
The following method works best with endgame characters, though it should also work well for first-time players.
Contracts are exactly what they sound like — side jobs that reward you with Cash, XP, loot, and Eridium in Borderlands 4. Most of these are very easy to complete, especially the ones that ask you to take out specific bounty targets.
You can finish any bounty contract in a heartbeat, provided you have the firepower to blow your target up quickly. It usually takes a minute or two to drive to a target's location, and once the bullets start flying, you should be able to take your target out just as quickly, if not faster.
The trick to leveling up with bounty contracts is to prioritize Vile bounties. Vile enemies are NPCs with crystals growing on their bodies. Contracts against Vile targets offer significantly better rewards, and you have a chance to get legendary gear from the bounty rewards too.
What most players may not know is that bounty board contracts refresh when you reload your game. If you want to farm Vile bounties, do the following:
- Check a bounty board for Vile bounties.
- Grab any available Vile bounty.
- If there are no Vile bounties, take every other contract on the board, then abandon them from your ECHO menu.
- Quit to the main menu, then reload your game.
- Check the bounty board again.
This trick is best done at Safehouses. If you exit while in a Safehouse, you'll reappear at the respawn point in the Safehouse itself. In towns, you usually need to take a short walk to reach the bounty board again. You can keep up to three contracts per bounty board, and if you decide to keep one, only two contracts will refresh when you reload the game.
If you aren't having any luck with Vile bounties, then normal bounties will suffice.
Borderlands 4
- Released
- September 12, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - all platforms
- Prequel(s)
- Borderlands 3, Borderlands 2, Borderlands
- Franchise
- Borderlands
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
- PC Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- September 12, 2025
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- October 3, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- Local Co-Op Support
- Yes
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
