Welcome back to the Gearbox DevCast! In this episode, hosts Andrew Reiner and April Johnson are joined by Lead Designer David Ruiz to unpack what goes into making a punishing, but ultimately rewarding, endgame experience in Borderlands 4. 

Under the microscope in this edition of the DevCast is our upcoming free endgame boss encounter, known as Raid 2. We will explore how player feedback from the previous raid boss, Bloomreaper, informed what players will encounter: a brutal tag-team fight against Subjugator and Thol. Ruiz and the team created an encounter where they’ve given you, the player, control over where and how you wage battle based on who you kill first. 

Make your choice and alter reality itself to either head first to a grappling-heavy "Heaven" or a claustrophobic "Hell." No matter what, this fight will push your builds to their absolute limits.

We’re also talking about:

• Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode 7 (UVHM7) and its Tiered Time Trials

• New weapons such as the Lockjaw assault rifle and Jailbroken Gatling SMG

• Taking questions from the community about the highly anticipated Shared Progression toggle 

• We’re sharing the release date and names for Bounty Pack 3 and the Takedown!

Chapters:

01:08 – Introducing Lead Designer David Ruiz

02:00 – What is a Raid in Borderlands 4?

03:10 – Design Philosophy: What we learning from Raid 1

04:26 – A Closer Look at the Bosses of Raid 2: Subjugator, Thol, and the Mechanics of “Heaven” vs. “Hell”

06:33 – Multi-Stage Madness: Phase 1 to Phase 3 

07:47 – Examining Min-Max: Understanding how, and if, to re-spec

08:42 – Preview of New Loot: Lockjaw & Jailbroken Gatling

09:38 – Pearlescent World Drops 

10:22 – Everything in the Free Update for May 28

10:50 – Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode 7 & Tiered Time Trials Explained

11:48 – New Firmware Alert! Introducing "Active Fire"

12:12 – Community Q&A

13:29 – Bounty Pack 3 and Takedown

Make sure to subscribe for more insights from developers as well as to receive official updates from Gearbox.

Join the conversation! Let us know what questions you have in the comments that we can tackle in future DevCast episodes, or tag us on social media with #GearboxDevcast! 

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