Borderlands 4 Devs Embrace OP Builds With Buffs, Not Nerfs — Players Are Thrilled

Borderlands 4 has been out for not even two weeks and players have already broken it in that beautiful looter-shooter way: knives doing wild things, goofy speedrun tech, and one vault hunter in particular turning heads. Normally, this is when the nerf hammer shows up. Not this time — at least not yet.

Buffs first, nerfs later (maybe)

Creative director Graeme Timmins posted an update on September 23, 2025, and the headline is simple: Gearbox is not racing to nerf the spicy builds people are posting. The team is prioritizing buffs to the weak stuff first.

"We have seen the discourse about builds that use unintended interactions and/or the knife. We are not going to act on those immediately; instead, we are looking at our first round of buffs. Those will get addressed but we are going to start with underperforming gear/skills first."

Translation: if your setup looks hilariously overpowered right now, enjoy it. The studio is aware, but it is starting by lifting the floor before it lowers the ceiling. That does not mean nerfs are off the table forever — Timmins is pretty clear they could happen — just not the first order of business.

What set this off

Two weeks of player testing has surfaced a bunch of wild combos, some using 'unintended interactions' and yes, the knife. Vex is getting the loudest hype — people are already calling Vex the strongest vault hunter the series has ever seen — and there are early speedrun strategies popping up that look like comedy sketches in gun form. If you are into the inside baseball of looters, it is the usual cycle: find the busted stuff, post the clips, pray the patch notes do not kill the fun.

The gist

• Borderlands 4 players have quickly found some extremely powerful builds, including knife-based shenanigans and hard-hitting Vex setups.
• On 9/23/25, creative director Graeme Timmins said Gearbox will not immediately nerf those builds.
• First wave of changes will be buffs aimed at underperforming gear and skills.
• Nerfs are still possible later, but not the current focus.
• This approach is a conscious pivot from past launches (BL3 and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands) that drew flak for early, heavy nerfs.

Players are into it

The community reaction is basically a sigh of relief. Folks are praising the devs for prioritizing fun in a non-competitive PvE game, and the chorus of 'buffs before nerfs' is loud. One fan put it perfectly: in this genre, builds are supposed to get broken — then the answer is tougher content and even more ridiculous loot. That sentiment tracks with how these games live and breathe.

Even creators who lived through the launch-day nerf storms before are cheering. YouTuber Moxsy called this direction a big win, pointing out how aggressive early nerfs in Wonderlands and BL3 stirred up a lot of frustration at the time. This feels like the studio learning from that history.

Where this likely goes

Short term, expect buffs to the weak links across gear and skill trees. Medium term, some of the most absurd interactions will probably get tuned — if not for balance, then for sanity. That is just reality. But starting with buffs is the right call for a PvE looter, and honestly, it keeps the early-game honeymoon fun instead of punitive.

Also worth noting: early reception on the game itself has been strong, with plenty of reviewers calling it an excellent looter shooter. If Gearbox keeps the patch philosophy player-friendly, Borderlands 4 has a shot at being one of the series greats.