By John Schutt

Copyright shacknews

Leveling your character to reach endgame is and has always been the main goal of a Borderlands playthrough, and Borderlands 4 is no different. In the latest title, leveling up is simple, easy, and rewarding. Here are five of the best ways and places to farm XP in Borderlands 4.

The best XP farms to level up fast in Borderlands 4

Optimizing your leveling in Borderlands 4 is only really important after you beat the campaign, and thankfully, most of the best XP farms also appear in the post-game as well. Which you choose depends on how much of a grind you want the leveling experience to be, and how much patience you have for doing the same thing dozens of times.

The easiest XP farm

If you want a more casual XP farm that’s also more narratively fulfilling, do side quests. All the side quests. When you do them isn’t as important, either. Completing the side content as you discover it during the campaign and exploration tends to provide a more comfortable leveling experience.

There are also a lot of side quest-locked bosses, like Leader Willem, that drop amazing Legendaries even before endgame, and even one of them can change the whole course of a playthrough. Sure, you’ll need to refarm for a higher-level version later, but never underestimate how much impact just one Legendary drop can have.

The fastest XP farm

For the fastest and least involved XP farm in Borderlands 4, you want Vile Bounties. You need to wait until you complete the campaign and enter Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode. Once you do, you can take on these special Contracts that ask you to hunt down enemies festooned with Vile crystals.

Vile Bounty farming is fast primarily because, even with their increased health, as you work toward a more complete build, killing the enemies won’t take more than fifteen seconds. You’ll spend more of your time going from Bounty to Bounty than actually fighting.

With that in mind, you’ll want to ensure you minimize your farming downtime. The best way to do that is to stick to the Fadefields and pop between its Safehouses and the Launchpad Faction Town. I’ve found that most bounties in the opening area of the game are never more than 400-500 meters from their board.

I don’t much care for the Terminus Range Bounties, as they’re often too far away or hidden up on difficult-to-reach cliffs. Carcadia Burn is better, but for best results, the western Fadefields should be your go-to.

If you come across a bounty board without a single Vile Bounty, you can always turn to that old Borderlands standby: quit and reload. Doing so refreshes the board, and there’s a chance you can get more Vile Bounties.

Remember, you can only hold five Contracts at a time, but if you load up with all five in the same area, you can clear all of them and refresh for maximum gains.

The most rewarding XP farms

The next three XP farms are all at the Ripper Drill Site world activities. They’re all good farms for a few reasons.

Clearing all the enemy waves and the boss(es) is a hefty chunk of XP, more than 10% of the level 49 bar.
All three activity bosses have fantastic Legendary drops in their loot pools, and you have a non-zero chance of additional Legendaries or strong Epic options to fill out a build.
All three are easy to reach and restart, ensuring minimal downtime between runs.

I’ve listed three here for the sake of variety, and while these are all strong options, if you tire of completing these three encounters ad nauseam, the other Ripper Drill bosses are a fine choice. It won’t be quite as efficient an XP farm, but it will add some spice to things.

The Pitted Stain: Fadefields

The first Ripper Drill Site you can likely access is a place called The Pitted Stain, where you’ll face off against the Foundry Freaks, a trio of Ripper bosses and their trash mob retinue. The fight is chaotic and tough to regulate, but the Freaks all spawn at the same location, so if your build can melt them, you can clear the encounter almost before it begins.

You’ll find the Pitted Stain in the eastern Fadefields area called Idolator’s Noose. The Drill is in the far southwest of the zone, near the coast. After clearing it once, all you need to do is walk out the front gate to access the Moxxi’s Big Encore machine to go again.

The Lowering March: Terminus Range

The second Ripper Drill XP farm you should focus on is in the northwestern Terminus Range. After you clear the first few waves of mobs, the Battle Wagon will appear. It’s a massive beast fitted with an equally large saddle filled with rippers.

The Battle Wagon is as slow and ponderous as you’d expect of a target of its size, but its crit spots are a bit awkward to hit. Mag dumping is easy here, so weapons like The Bod or the Rainbow Vomit will work wonders. Like the Pitted Stain, the Moxxi’s Big Encore machine is right next to the main exit, making farming this world activity a breeze.

Saw’s Clench: Carcadia Burn

This Ripper Drill Site, in the north of Carcadia Burn, is my least favorite. The three bosses you need to face are smaller, flying targets that move around erratically and take your eyes off other threats. The Moxxi’s Big Encore machine is also more cumbersome to reach again, as you either need to go all the way around or do some clunky platforming to go over the scrap heap.

The fact that you’re fighting three bosses is almost preferable to something like the Battle Wagon, as you have three chances for a Legendary drop, which could be the Wombo Combo. If you have a build cooking that can cut through the three annoying bosses here, your biggest time sink might just be restarting the fight.

Doing side missions will be my leveling strategy of choice, but ideally, you have a healthy mix of all of these methods. If you absolutely must have the most efficient XP farm in Borderlands 4, Vile Bounties are your best friend, and if you want a strong chance at some good Legendaries, doing Ripper Drill bosses is the way to go.

For more on Borderlands 4, check out our dedicated game page.