About This Guide

Welcome to Pandora or, for those returning from a respite in another land, welcome home. Five years have passed since Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick fought their way across the arid wastes in search of fortune, fame, and loot! Five years since the Vault nearly took their lives while offering so little in return. Pandora has changed considerably while you were away. As Atlas withered and died, the Hyperion Corporation, led by a man named Handsome Jack, prospered. No longer content being a meager firearms manufacturer, the Hyperion Corporation has become the planet’s largest company, one more powerful than any government had ever dreamt of being. And with great power comes great rebellion. But now we’re getting ahead of ourselves…

A new Vault has been discovered on Pandora, one that will open only to those who possess the right key. This guide is that key—your key. With it you possess the tactical knowledge necessary to overcome the Hyperion Corporation, take down Handsome Jack, and wrest control of the Vault in the name of humanity. It’s also so much more. The journey to this most recently discovered Vault is far longer and more arduous than the last. It is one that will take you to dozens of locations, avail you to more than a hundred challenging missions, and threaten your life countless times. The road is going to be bumpy.

In compiling this ultimate guide to all things Borderlands 2, our authors spent over six weeks on-site at Gearbox’s development studios working round the clock to mine this massive game—and the developer’s brains—for every morsel of information they could find. From interviewing the game’s lead designers to having lunch with the voice of Claptrap, they left no stone unturned. Here are just a few of the topics covered:

Learn all you need to know about the basics of surviving the hostile conditions on Pandora in our chapter.

Everything you could ever hope to know about each of the six character classes can be found in the chapter. Here you’ll find high-level strategies and build suggestions for each class, for both solo and cooperative play, as well as in-depth discussions of each of the dozens of skills.

The massive section contains a comprehensive walkthrough for the game’s 18 story missions, along with a full A-to-Z directory for all 114 optional missions in our section. This chapter is loaded with maps detailing the location of every collectible and Cult of the Vault symbol, proven strategies for the four base classes, and developer commentary. We’ve also expanded the walkthrough to provide complete coverage of all four DLC campaigns.

is the official catalog to the game’s celebrated weapons system. Every aspect of the robust loot generation system is explained here, including tactics for all elemental types, manufacturer traits, and weapon classes. This chapter peels the covers back on Pandora’s millions of guns, revealing the best of what it has to offer and showing you how to get it (or at least hinting at some of what’s available).

Pandora is filled with countless enemies, both human and otherwise, each of which have been poked, prodded, and dissected (all in the name of science, of course). The results of which can be found in an expansive bestiary that compiles strategies, illustrations, and vital statistics for well over 300 enemies.

Finally, eveals all kinds of goodies and Easter eggs! You’ll also find a quick reference to all Challenges and Achievements/Trophies, along with a customizable skins/heads/cars gallery.

Happy Vault Hunting, friends…