[UPDATE: Gearbox has delayed the October 16 patch to October 23, meaning Vex's Infinite Bleed Build nerf has been delayed. Ain't gonna lie, I'm claiming a little credit there. I'm joking, I'm joking. It's a bummer the buffs in that update are delayed, but we'll find out on October 23 what that entails. The original story follows.]
With each Borderlands 4 patch, Gearbox Software continues to highlight what's coming the next week to build anticipation for it. In my case, it's currently dread. The recent list of Borderlands 4 changes revealed that the October 16 patch would "focus on Class Mods, Repkits, Shields, and Firmware being tuned to provide greater viability for melee builds, and account for deficiencies in other specific Vault Hunter builds. We will also address unintended interactions in certain Vault Hunter skills and make adjustments to overperforming gear."
Everyone who knows about Vex's Infinite Bleed Build in Borderlands 4 knows that it is the "unintended interactions" that Gearbox is addressing, among possible others, on October 16. I run this build in Borderlands 4, and I do think it probably needs to be adjusted. That said, I'm afraid of how far it'll go because I would really, really love it if my Bleed build was still viable after the nerf. I know part of these adjustments is to make other Vex builds more appealing, but the gameplay loop with the Bleed build really just hits for me. And my friends and I put in a lot of work to even get it. It may be a broken build, but my friends and I earned it—a fact that I think needs to be taken into account.
Finding My Infinite Bleed Build
Let's set the stage. My buddies and I have been playing a four-player co-op game since Borderlands 4's launch. Obviously, I'm Vex, and we have everyone. We'll probably fight once C4SH launches because we are all interested in the DLC Vault Hunter. But anyway, we've been playing every weekend since launch because that's really the only time we have. Indicative of our age, we intended to play from 2pm to midnight that first Saturday, but we did tap out around 10 pm. Since then, we've managed to beat the core game, we've grinded for tons of hours on gear, and we've unlocked Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode 2. We're probably ready for UVHM5 and just need to unlock it, but we're still clearing up side quests and, for the most part, have a jolly time about it all.
About halfway through the Borderlands 4 campaign, we all started looking at builds we could be working on. That led us to several boss grinds, so much so that I know poor Driller Hole hates to see us coming. It was around this time that the Infinite Bleed Build became popular, and it caught my attention primarily because of the Throwing Knives. I'm a simple man. I love Throwing Knives, and I had already been running Throwing Knives that created black holes. I knew Driller Hole's red chests were more likely to drop them, so I convinced my friends to grind him more. But he didn't drop them. We went to Splashzone and didn't find them. I've seen several comments, at that time and since then, that suggest players have made it to UHVM5 without ever finding a Penetrator Knife. I guess I got lucky because it did eventually drop while grinding somewhere for something, but my friends and I collectively, actively contributed at least 10 hours to finding the Knife. Of course, I had to spec my build, and we had to unlock specialization points for me to get Contamination.
The Knife is the crux of the build; the entire thing basically depends on it. However, that doesn't mean it isn't serious luck and work. I spent hours looking for it, we spent hours getting to level 50 and unlocking Specialization levels, and I had to work to get Contamination (which involved me resetting my level). I get it should be adjusted, but I worked just as hard for it as my friends did for their builds. I can clearly destroy a boss, even if my build isn't perfect (my class mod only gives +2 to Bloodletter and I know there's a +4 out there), but I don't think that I'm much stronger than them.
How to Make the Infinite Bleed Build
- Find Throwing Knives with the Penetration Augment
- Find a strong weapon that deals a lot of damage at once (I rock a Hot Slugger).
- Amp Repkits and Shields make it even stronger
- Max out the Bloodletter Skill + Increase it through Class Mods
- The Contamination Specialization is highly recommended
- The Result: amp up, throw knife, shoot, watch the light go out of their eyes.
- Any other choices are optional.
While this build is powerful, it's worth mentioning that it's not universal. It's a boss melter. It's not worth the setup when facing mobs, and the more agile bosses are a pain to fully hit with—Shadowpelt, for example.
Harlowe? Melts groups with their build. In fact, my friend's Harlowe is so broken that his build broke Borderlands 4—using his active ability with a certain Class Mod (or something) would create a massive lag spike for us. He had to respec once we figured this out. Rafa? Dude is throwing fish grenades that deal melee damage and dropping everything, including himself. Amon? I actually don't really know what he does with his build, but over the weekend, I bought him a legendary Bottled Lightning out of a Vending Machine that deals twice the damage of his original. We're busted, really, but that's why we're having fun.
Mourning My Infinite Bleed Build
This past weekend was my last chance to play Vex's Infinite Bleed Build before the upcoming patch, as life demands our attention until then, but boy, was it a weekend. It actually started last weekend with Harlowe.
Rafa is our typical host, and every so often, Borderlands 4 crashes on us. It's got performance issues, but most of the time, it's whatever. It crashed. We reset, but this one time last weekend was different. Through one of the many performance issues and bugs in Borderlands 4, Harlowe loaded into Rafa's world without their skill points, specialization points, or SDUs. He could spend his skill points, but his specialization points and SDUs were just gone. He was understandably frustrated when this happened, so we spent the rest of the weekend playing Labyrinthine (if you need a horror game, that's a solid recommendation from me).
At one point, we had him host so we could do some SDU activities in his world.
Well, this weekend, we had him drop all his gear (level 50) so he could start a new character in Borderlands 4. He returned as a level 30 Harlowe, so of course, we needed to level him as fast as we could. We ran around doing Drill Sites as we continued our side quest grind, with a few boss grinds mixed in there as well (hi!). As of this writing, we have like 5 side quests in Dominion City to finish, and that's it. As you may guess, a Level 30 Harlowe in a level 50 world on UVHM2 is an experience. He couldn't hurt anything, he was screaming and running around, and he was basically our medic. I mean, I did play some Battlefield 6 this weekend too, but I didn't have to ask where my Harlowe medic was. It's all he could do in our broken, busted world. In our session on Saturday, we got him from Level 30 to Level 40.
But our world is so busted. The enemies are so powerful and part of that fun is knowing how much we can crush mobs and run through bosses. We are each so busted, everything is so powerful, and the biggest laughs and hilarious moments come out of the ridiculousness of our combat. We still laugh every time "Oof! Painful!" Pops on a Boss' health bar for a split second. On Sunday, we spent more time in Phasmophobia's Crimson Eye Halloween event than we did in Borderlands 4, but we did get him to level 43-44.
Every boss we faced, every little side grind we did, I sat there with my Vex, melted these bosses, and said, "Is this it? Is this the last boss I melt?" The reality is, I don't want to swap off the build. I'm sure I can find another one, grind for whatever I need (if I need anything, my bank is stuffed), and enjoy it all the same. But I don't know. The use of my summons for mobs, the use of my knife for bosses, all of it tickles some idiosyncrasy in me that could spend another hundred+ hours on this single character/build. Yes, it trivializes content. Yes, it should probably be adjusted. But yes, it should still be as viable as my friends, which I do not think I am that much stronger than. I melt a boss in 2-3 seconds; they melt them in 5-6.
Using the build, even if it was never intended to be a build, should be my choice. If I want to trivialize content because of how funny we find it, that should be an option in my mind. I don't know if it will be nerfed into oblivion. Certainly, the Infinite Bleed Build's popularity is one of many considerations. I've enjoyed it this long, and I just want to enjoy it for the rest of my game too.
I'm really hoping the adjustment/nerf isn't too bad, but we'll see on October 16, I reckon.
Borderlands 4
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 12, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
