Looking for a new reason to dive back into Borderlands 3? Just picked it up through the new-console upgrade program? Need epic loot? For the next three weeks, Gearbox Software and 2K Games will be running a series of “Arms Race” events in the game across all supported platforms.
The Arms Race will take the form of three week-long mini-events from now until 11 February 2021, providing players will access to potentially the very best of loot. Here is what 2K Games had to say about the event:
Arms Race is a roguelike experience that’s fast-paced, challenging, and consistently remixed by randomized elements. You’re stripped of all your gear, passive abilities, and Actions Skills and dropped into a new zone where you’ll have to get loot or die trying. The action takes place throughout the Stormblind Complex: an expansive, decommissioned DAHL military base. As soon as you drop onto the island, you’re racing against the clock to grab the best gear you can find and get it to an extraction point before you’re obliterated by the encroaching storm.
If you hope to extract the very best Legendary loot that drops exclusively in Arms Race, you’ll need to gear up and face off against Heavyweight Harker, the final boss of the Stormblind Complex. You can resurrect fallen co-op allies at designated respawn points, but if no one’s around to revive you, your run is over and any loot you failed to extract is gone forever.
The events are available to players who meet one of the two conditions:
- Owners of the Designer’s Cut Add-on
- Owners of the Season Pass 2 which includes Designer’s Cut in addition to a range of cosmetic content and add-ons.
These are required as the Designer’s Cut mode is what includes the base Arms Race mode in it. Each event will be different from the last, offering different conditions for map exploration, enemy loot drops and the availability of chests and air drops. You can read about each below:
Week 1 – Clear Skies
Week one kicks off January 21 at 9AM Pacific Time with the Clear Skies mini-event, during which the encroaching storm will take longer to close in. That means you’ll be able to safely explore even more of the map in a single run. In addition, all enemy types are more likely drop rare gear when killed during this event, so be sure to take down every enemy in sight.
Week 2 – Extra Extra Extraction
Incoming! With the Extra Extra Extraction mini-event starting January 28 at 9AM Pacific Time, Air Drops will have a greatly increased chance to drop DAHL Chests, creating more opportunities to score Arms Race-exclusive gear. Plus, extraction stations will offer additional slots, allowing you to extract even more gear out of Arms Race.
Week 3 – Gear Rush
The third mini-event, Gear Rush, launches February 4 at 9AM Pacific Time. During the Gear Rush mini-event, Rare Chests are more likely to appear in Arms Race, and the Green DAHL chests located at major points of interest in the Stormblind Complex have an increased chance to contain Arms Race-exclusive gear. But make sure you don’t spend too long admiring the gear you find because the Murdercane will be closing in at a quicker pace.
Borderlands 3 is now available to purchase on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Google Stadia and Windows PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store). Next-gen upgrades are also available for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
