I won't lie: when it was revealed that Borderlands 4 developer Gearbox Software was delaying the nerf to Vex's Infinite Bleed Build to October 23, I let out a sigh of relief. I also text my group chat: "MY BUILD WASN'T NERFED, THE NERF WAS DELAYED A WEEK." And here we are, nearing that week, and I still cannot 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, ultimately, it depends on what Gearbox does with this build, but nerfing it into oblivion is my biggest fear.
Borderlands 4 has found a pretty permanent position in my friend's video game rotation, at least semi-permanent. We play every weekend, although this past weekend we didn't get as much time as usual. Such is life. But I wrote about my Borderlands 4 experiences last weekend, and here I am to do so again. Ultimately, as we try to wrap up all the achievements/trophies, my "broken" build was no help in specific circumstances. To recap what we did,
- Alongside a little mid-week play, my friend's Harlowe got back to level 50 after a BL4 bug wiped his SDUs and Specializations (He had to make a new character).
- We finally wrapped up all the sidequests in Borderlands 4.
- We also unlocked UVHM5 after playing on UVHM2 for the past couple of weekends.
- We also knocked 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 for Catch-a-Ride, the Gear and Manufacturer challenges, and Dave the Burrito. We'll continue working on it, but as we looked into Catch-a-Ride, we realized—as you may know—that you have to hit level 50 with every Vault Hunter to finish it. And despite this, my Vex's "broken" build did little to "trivialize" content this past weekend.
I'm okay losing the Infinite Bleed Build, but I don't want to lose the Bleed Build.
Vex's Infinite Bleed Build is a One Trick Pony
Is Vex's Infinite Bleed Build broken? Yeah, absolutely. Is the combination of the Crit Knife and Bloodletter unintended? Yes. But some of the best things in gaming are unintended or unexpected; that's called emergent game design. Should it be fixed? Yeah, sure. My biggest problem is that we don't have communications and expectations. All I need to be told is that Vex's Infinite Bleed Build will still be viable post-nerf, even if it is no longer "infinite." That makes sense, but my biggest concern is that the gameplay loop isn't going to work anymore. It's no secret, but let's talk about what that Bleed Build is.
- The Throwing Knife with a Penetrator Augment is mandatory for the build. However, this is basic world loot in Borderlands 4, with players reporting dozens of hours (if not outright making it to UVHM5) without ever seeing one. My buddies and I (so in a four-player co-op game) looked for it for at least 10+ hours.
- After that, there's a certain skill selection for Vex focused around B loodletter and crits.
- You want a strong one-shot weapon to stack the Bleed build damage with. Some folks run a certain class mod + a sniper rifle; I run a Hot Slugger + Rending Psion Class Mod. (I haven't even found the +4 Bloodletter mod that I know exists).
- I also use an Amp Shield, an Amp Repkit, and have a Jakobs Enhancement.
- This is enough to make the Bleed trigger every now and then, but players will want the Contamination Specialization to really make it click.
All in all, it takes some decent grinding to get all this put together. I don't remember if we managed to find it in one weekend or two, but we were all grinding for our builds that we wanted to make. Sure, the power is a big draw for this build; I'm not going to lie about that. But the gameplay loop is so satisfying. I love Throwing Knives, in general, and have used one since jumping into Borderlands 4—the fact that I could use a build, with a Jakobs gun on top of it (the best manufacturer in Borderlands 4), really speaks to me.
Ultimately, it depends on what the nerf does. I can live with it in several scenarios, but in the name of "build diversity," I don't see why this specific gameplay loop has to die. Maybe that's not the plan, but the point is, we don't know the plan. If I am still viable, I am going to 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 trivialize content without me factored in. Our builds, collectively, can run through any boss in a matter of seconds. I speed that up...when I can.
The thing is, the build is not so broken that it's universally trivializing the game, and it's not like it's easy to obtain. If that were the case, Borderlands 4's patches would have already fixed this. It's good against bosses, specifically bigger bosses. Players, at least I, have to amp up, hit the target with the knife, and then pop them a couple of times (maybe that's overkill). That's it, that's it simplified. But if it's not grinding a boss, its usage is unreliable at best.
My Vex Infinite Bleed Build Didn't Help Much This Weekend
Let's talk about it. We did a few Driller Site grinds over the past weekend, and while I am useful against those bosses, I don't really care to use my Bleed Build against mobs. If there's an annoying bigger enemy, sure, pop it out and bleed 'em. But the setup takes a few seconds, which is precious in Borderlands 4's combat. I'll just run Vex's Reapers + Spectres and use another weapon in these scenarios because it makes more sense. Armored Bod is my primary aside from Hot Slugger right now because, ya know, gear challenges.
Grinding bosses is where I shine, helping my friends get their loot without spending, hopefully, hours looking for new and improved gear. But it wasn't my ability to one-shot bosses that got my buddy's Harlowe back to 50, not mostly. Luckily, we were still working on side quests, so that's where most of his experience came from. Yes, it helped against bosses in any Borderlands 4 side quest we wrapped up, but mobs? Nah. Everything we did, I had my role; when it was time, I unleashed my Infinite Bleed Build. But I didn't use it for most of this weekend, as it is one-trick pony build, and I never felt more useless than when we realized what we had to do for the Catch-a-Ride achievement.
Catch-a-Ride Right Off The Infinite Bleed Build
The Catch-a-Ride achievement requires players to get every character to level 50. I have a level 41 Harlowe that I've been playing with my wife, but that means making Amon and Rafa and getting them to level 50. Jumping to level 30 should make this easy, right? Right...As players know, the best level farms in Borderlands 4 are Driller Sites and Vile Bounties. In neither case am I all that effective at "trivializing" content, and we're still trying to figure out how to mix/match the level 50s with level 30s to do this efficiently (we spent the least time on this). When we get to the bosses in Driller Sites, if I am not grinding out weapon challenges, sure. But that means fighting through it all the same, against mobs, which makes little sense for me to try to Bleed all the time.
Vile Bounties? Vile enemies in general? You can't bleed them. I mean, yes, after I break all the Ordonite, but Vex is not the most effective at that. My Rafa buddy uses slippies to defeat them quick, but my build won't work, so I have to swap weapons to face them. Vex's Bleed build is broken, but it is not universally broken. I have a clear party role: grinding bosses. Beyond that, it's just playing the game as intended, and having a good time with my buddies on top of that.
I'm okay losing the Infinite Bleed Build, but I don't want to lose the Bleed Build. I understand everything Gearbox has said about build diversity and trivializing content, and I understand this is anecdotal versus Gearbox's player data. I also understand I could make my build stronger if I wanted, but I push back that any build should die in the name of 'build diversity" and that Vex's bleed build "trivializes" all content. I'd go so far as to argue that trivializing content is the best part of Borderlands games, as I do recall the Conference Call + Bee shield days. Namely, I suppose, Gearbox doesn't want any build trivializing upcoming Invincible bosses, and I mean, sure, fix the infinite part—just don't break the build in the other direction? Either way, all of 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 loop. I suppose I'll find out on October 23, or in more likelihood, this coming weekend when my friends and I have time to play again.
Borderlands 4
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
