A dedicated Borderlands 4 player has killed over 3,000 bosses and spent 150 hours uncovering the drop rates for items in the game. Gearbox Software keeps the item drop rate hidden from fans, but one Borderlands 4 player has done in-depth research and discovered that the chances of gaining specific Legendary items are surprisingly low.
Released earlier this year, Borderlands 4 has been a big hit. Reports indicate that the looter shooter has already sold over 2.5 million copies so far and brought in over $150 million in revenue. Players who reached the endgame, however, have noticed that the title is somewhat stingy when it comes to giving Legendary items.
Gamer Kills Over 3,000 Bosses to Discover Borderlands 4's Disappointingly Low Drop Rate
Siphonicfir shared a helpful spreadsheet describing how often bosses drop Legendary loot in Borderlands 4. In short, the key findings were that the dedicated drop rate for any individual item is about 5%, and the world drop rate is around 4%. Siphonicfir claimed to be confident that each unique piece of gear has an individual drop rate of 5%, so the numbers are essentially affected by whether the enemies have a larger variety of items, which explains why class bosses have far higher overall numbers. While this is not official data, Siphonicfir spent over 150 hours and killed over 3,000 bosses to get it, so it’s likely very accurate.
According to Siphonicfir, the drop rate for dedicated items should be doubled to an overall of 10% instead of 5% to reach the sweet spot. One reason for that is that they believe that this was the rate for Borderlands 2, which was is named the best game in the Borderlands series, and it would prevent gamers from giving up or quitting due to the frustration of not obtaining the items that they need. The fan also believes that class mods should be weighted towards the class that the player is using, as they are equally likely to drop, meaning that 75% of the loot will not be useful.
Even some of the positive reviews of Borderlands 4 pointed out that the current endgame was one of the weakest parts of the experience, so it would certainly be appreciated if Gearbox fixed these perceived problems. While opinions may vary on how low the current item drop rate is, and if it should be tweaked at all, more Legendary gear would likely make the fanbase happier, which could go a long way to improve the endgame of the popular looter shooter. Hopefully, the change will be made sooner rather than later, if Gearbox ever decides to do it.
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
WHERE TO PLAY
Source: IGN