Borderlands – Tips for 40+ and DLC

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I've been playing this with my girlfriend and it was really fun up to about level 35. We got some of the DLCs but find that all of them don't quite scale properly. We were kicking ass the entire time up until now.

We have been using purple or better weapons from the golden key chest. We make sure to slag things as well. I play as a commando and she plays as a siren.

We can barely scratch badasses and they take tons and tons of ammo to take down.

Any tips or advice?

Best Answer

As noted in the answers to my question about DLC and levels, the DLCs scale to your level to a certain extent. If you were steamrolling in the main game in your low-to-mid 30's, but are having problems with Hammerlock or Tiny Tina's DLCs, chances are good that the enemies are just closer to your level now than they were before. You've already listed the things I would do in this case - go roll on the Golden Key box, focus on slag first, etc.

If you've beaten "Normal" and then jumped into the DLCs, are you sure you're still on your Normal playthrough? Since you can start the DLCs any time, it's possible you went into True Vault Hunter Mode and then immediately went for the DLCs, which are meant to be played after the main campaign. Worth a double check, at least.

As another Normal/TVHM note, you can go play TVHM for a few levels and the drop back into Normal for the DLCs again. The DLCs on the first playthrough won't scale to your level past the mid 30's, so you can outlevel them and then return to them to steamroll.

Some DLC specific notes:

  • If you're playing Torgue and trying to repeat the tier 3 levels on some of his quests (notably Bar Room Blitz) - check the level - these are maxed out and almost certainly impossible on your first playthrough.
  • Hammerlock's Hunt is a really tough DLC all around. The elemental Witch Doctors are a real pain, even if you've leveled up properly.
  • Similarly, some enemies and boss fights can be super challenging in Tiny Tina's DLC. Some enemies regenerate, and there are many quests that require a lot of endurance.

As a Commando/Siren combo, there are some specific things you can do to survive better. The Siren should probably focus on survivability and elemental damage, with things like Res, higher elemental chance, and faster Phaselock cooldowns. Meanwhile, use the Commando's turret to tank, and have the Commando hide between turret deployments. If the turret is tanking and the Siren hangs back to hand out emergency Res'es, you can make slow progress even when the enemies are tough.

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