Borderlands 3 Bounty of Blood Update Patch Notes

The Borderlands 3 Bounty of Blood update has arrived and players are finally able to get their hands on the game’s third DLC. With the launch of the DLC, developers have released official Bounty of Blood update patch notes that detail everything that’s been added to the game, along with some weapon tweaks and updates to Mayhem Mode. In this guide, we will give you a quick rundown of the patch, as well as the full update notes.

Borderlands 3 Bounty of Blood DLC Patch Notes | New Content, Mayhem Mode, and More

As you probably expected, the main thing the June 25 Borderlands 3 update did was add support for the Bounty of Blood DLC. Specifically, the update increased the level cap by three points and added three new Guardian Rank skills and increases: Groundbreaker, Dead Man Walking, and Lead or Alive. The Groundbreaker skill will allow melee or slam attacks to trigger an Aftershock, while the Dead Man Walking skill will make your Fight for Your Life meter drain 50% slower when you’re not moving. Lastly, the Lead or Alive skill will automatically reload all of your guns when you enter Fight For Your Life. 

Mayhem Mode also received a bit of love, specifically in the form of damage level scaling. Going forward, damage will be based on the level of Mayhem a player is in and will be scaled specifically to players skills and gear. Aside from this, the Borderlands 3 Bounty of Blood DLC update saw a couple of general fixed and weapon adjustments which are detailed in the full patch notes section below.

Borderlands 3 Bounty of Blood DLC Patch Notes

New Content

• Added support for Borderlands 3’s third campaign add-on: Bounty of Blood!

Due to complications related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, only English and German voice-overs will be available at launch for Borderlands 3’s third campaign add-on Bounty of Blood. Localized subtitles for all supported languages will be available at launch, and localized voice-overs will be added at a later date.

• Increased the level cap by 3 to 60
• Added 3 New Guardian Rank skills and Guardian Rank Increase

– Groundbreaker: Melee or Slam attacks will trigger an Aftershock, dealing 25% of all non-melee damage you have dealt over the last 5 seconds

– Dead Man Walking: While not moving in Fight for Your Life, your meter drains 50% more slowly.

– Lead or Alive: When you enter Fight for Your Life all your guns are automatically reloaded

Stability

• Addressed a reported crash that could sometimes occur during the mission “The Family Jewel” in Floodmoor Basin
• Addressed a reported concern where the game could become unresponsive after alt-tabbing out on PC
• Addressed a reported crash that could sometimes occur when the host backed out to the Main Menu

Mayhem Mode

• Added Mayhem Level damage scaling to melee, slide and slam
• Added Mayhem Level skill damage scaling
• Added Mayhem Level pet damage scaling
• Added Mayhem Level vehicle damage scaling
• Updated several passive skills to properly respect Mayhem Level damage

The damage sources above now scale their damage according to the level of Mayhem you are in. Each type of damage is scaled uniquely to account for how different skills and gear interact with the different types of damage.  This is significant change and we will be monitoring the community’s feedback intently and adjust gear, skills, or damage scaling to ensure that build diversity flourishes. To accommodate this scaling, a few passive skills were updated to use a new form of damage that prevents them from scaling inappropriately.

• Added skill damage as a rollable stat on Class Mods

Class Mods now can roll additional Bonus Skill Damage.  When paired with the base Mayhem Level skill damage scaling, we anticipate builds centered on skills to become viable in late Mayhem.

• Added Mayhem Levels to Grenade Mods

Grenade Mods drop as weapons do in Mayhem, with additional damage relative to the Mayhem Level it was acquired in.

• Enabled all sources of loot to spawn Mayhem Gear

Mayhem Gear can now be acquired from all sources of loot in the game.  Vending machines, chests, mail, mission rewards, and Loot enemies all have a chance to award Mayhem Level weapons and grenades.

• Changed damage source for Remnant, Short Fuse, Indiscriminate, Do Unto Others, and Ties That Bind to address that they “double dip” and scale inappropriately at higher Mayhem levels

As a result of this change, players will notice that Ties That Bind will not scale properly with Action Skill damage. This is a temporary fix that will be addressed in a future update.

• Vehicles now scale damage uniformly instead of just against non-vehicles
• Addressed a reported concern where splitscreen players could sometimes not scroll through the Mayhem 2.0 modifier list
• Addressed a reported concern where Mayhem Modifier Drone Ranger Healing Drones sometimes did not replicate position smoothly for clients
• Addressed a reported concern where the tether from the Boundary Issues Mayhem modifier would sometimes persist after enemies died
• Addressed a reported concern where the Mayhem vehicle damage scalars sometimes did not apply when players were in gunner seats
• Addressed a reported concern where the Laser Fare Mayhem modifier would sometimes generate new laser beams when it took damage
• Added the ability for DigiClone and Iron Bear to support damage scaling

General

• Addressed a reported concern an issue where vehicle health would sometimes be cut off
• Nativized Hotfixes

Hotfixes

To apply hotfixes, wait at the main menu until you see a sign that says “Hotfixes Applied”! If you are experiencing any issues or want to provide feedback, please submit a ticket to support.2k.com.

General

• Melee and Action Skill damage further increased

Weapon Adjustments

We are looking at adjusting manufacturers and weapon types across the board to bring greater parity at the base level between weapons. We are still monitoring balance between Legendary gear but wanted to first address groups of weapons to increase opportunities for weapon builds.

All pistols will see a slight increase with JAKOBS pistols receiving the smallest bump and MALIWAN pistols receiving the largest. As enemy health pools increased, low mag size weapons like pistols became less popular. The damage increase across all pistols should provide more opportunities for builds to equip a pistol to accommodate their other weapon choices.

We also increased damage of all TEDIORE SMG weapons because we believed the damage from the thrown weapon explosion would be an integral part of the loop. However, throwing the weapon was impractical compared to shooting enemies with other SMGs. Now the trade-off to throwing at full magazine versus shooting will be more dramatic.

COV, DAHL, and JAKOBS Assault Rifles were increased to match some of the VLADOF Assault Rifles. We will evaluate VLADOF Assault Rifles in totality after players try the changes to the other manufacturers first.

Finally, we increased the damage of our traditional multi-pellet shotguns. HYPERION, MALIWAN, and JAKOBS all received a damage increase. Some of these shotguns were underperforming compared to fast-firing weapons so now they will pack a greater punch.

• Increased pistol damage across all manufacturers
• Increased damage on Tediore SMGs
• Increased damage on COV, Dahl, and Jakobs Assault Rifles
• Increased damage on Hyperion, Maliwan, and Jakobs shotguns

Bounty of Blood Hotfixes:

These hotfixes are related specifically to the Bounty of Blood campaign add-on. To receive the changes and avoid seeing any of these issues arise, make sure that you have your hotfixes applied at the main menu.

• Removed two straggler townsfolk that were clapping their hands at the wrong time
• Addressed a potential progression blocker where FL4K the Beastmaster was sometimes unable to grab an important ledge
• Stopped Juno from sometimes getting stuck on a walkway
• Addressed instances where cash registers would sometimes float

If you’ve been away from Borderlands 3 for a while and need a refresher, we have some great guides on our website that should help you out. In the links below, you’ll find some of our more recent coverage.

• How to Get An Anointed Yellowcake Rocket Launcher in Borderlands 3
• Borderlands 3: How to Solve the Revenge of the Cartels Mansion Puzzle Guide
• Borderlands 3 Unseen Threat Legendary Guide

What do you think about the Bounty of Blood DLC? Be sure to head on over to our Twitter or Facebook page and let us know!