Borderlands 4 Buff Patch Delayed to October 2 for Extra Testing

Gearbox has delayed its highly anticipated Borderlands 4 balance update, packed with Vault Hunter buffs, from earlier this week to Thursday, October 2. The studio explained the shift was necessary to allow more time for internal testing and last-minute tuning before release.

This follows the most recent patch on September 18, which delivered around 800MB of stability fixes. That earlier update targeted crashes linked to animation states, audio bugs, collision errors, and GPU-related issues. It also included adjustments to loot behavior, though it left out performance optimizations for PC players. With that groundwork in place, Gearbox is moving into more player-focused changes with the coming patch.

Creative director Graeme Timmins confirmed that this week’s update is dedicated to Vault Hunter buffs, and possibly nothing else. He noted that the size of the balance changes initially prompted a separate update but they eventually fit into the game’s regular Thursday cycle.

"We wanted to tweak a few more things at the end of last week, so we moved our balance patch to our regular Thursday schedule to allow for proper QA testing," said Timmins.

The developer has chosen not to release detailed patch notes in advance. According to Timmins, the reasoning is tied to the ongoing QA process. Specific items may change before the update goes live, and Gearbox is avoiding publishing details that could become outdated by launch.

Player expectations are running high, especially among Amon mains who have been asking for buffs to Forgeknight’s less favored weapons and gear. Other communities, such as Vex players, already see strong representation in recent tweaks but remain open to more additions. The studio has given no confirmation of exactly which Hunters or weapons will be affected, though Timmins hinted that the patch is skewed heavily toward improvements rather than nerfs.

The Thursday patch is unlikely to fix every outstanding issue. Timmins pointed out that the bug preventing inventory from properly marking items as trash will not be resolved this week, though it is already fixed for a future update. Likewise, the lost loot machine failing to prioritize higher-rarity items has been marked for inclusion in a later major patch rather than this balance-focused release.

The approach signals Gearbox’s commitment to a rolling update cycle for Borderlands 4. Stability and bug fixes landed first with the September 18 patch, while class balance is being addressed with this Thursday’s update. Future patches are expected to cover broader system-level problems, including inventory and loot machine reliability.

For now, Gearbox is sticking to a weekly rhythm while making adjustments based on feedback and internal testing. The studio has not outlined whether this Thursday’s patch will begin a sequence of buff-heavy updates or stand as a singular event. Still, the emphasis on Vault Hunter balance suggests the developer is aware of how central class strength is to player engagement.

As Borderlands 4 continues to build its patch history, the October 2 update represents a shift from stabilizing the foundation to enhancing gameplay impact. Whether it delivers the sweeping buffs that fans are anticipating will be clear later this week when the patch officially arrives.