Borderlands 4’s 'Knife' Build Is Breaking the Game—and Players Love It

Creative Director Graeme Timmins hopped on Twitter to calm the masses. “We’ve seen the discourse about builds that use unintended interactions and/or the knife,” he said. “We’re not going to act on those immediately; instead, we’re looking at our first round of buffs. Those will get addressed, but we’re going to start with underperforming gear/skills first.”

Let’s all read that again. They’re going to buff the weak stuff before they even think about touching our beautiful, broken toys. This is a massive win for the community. Anyone who remembers the early days of Borderlands 3 and Wonderlands will recall the outrage when fan-favorite builds were nerfed into the ground almost immediately after launch. It feels like Gearbox has finally learned its lesson: let people have fun, especially in a PvE game where the only thing you’re hurting is a boss’s feelings.

What’s the Big Deal About “The Knife”?

So, what is this legendary “knife” that has the community in a tizzy? It’s a specific throwing knife that, when combined with the right augments and skills, turns into a god-tier weapon. The most popular version involves the Vampiric Vivisecting Throwing Knife with the Penetrator Augment. Land a hit, and for the next five seconds, all your damage on that target is an automatic critical hit.

Sounds fun, right? Well, it gets better. Or worse, depending on your perspective. Players, particularly those running Vex, have figured out how to stack bleed effects on top of this. Each tick of bleed damage registers as a critical hit, which can then reapply the bleed, creating an infinite loop of exponentially growing damage. The result? You throw one knife, fire one shot, and then sit back and watch as a raid boss’s health bar evaporates in seconds. It’s absurd, it’s hilarious, and for the time being, it’s here to stay.

Why a Buff-First Approach is the Right Move

Let’s be real, a game like Borderlands is all about feeling like an overpowered badass. While some balance is necessary to keep things interesting long-term, bringing the underperforming gear and skills up to par is a much better starting point. It widens the pool of viable builds instead of narrowing it.

Right now, many players feel that characters like Amon are lagging, and tons of legendary weapons feel more like legendary disappointments. A strategic buff to these areas could make the game more diverse and exciting for everyone. It shows that the developers are listening and prioritizing the overall player experience over a knee-jerk reaction to a few hilariously broken builds. It’s a move that builds goodwill, and frankly, it’s just smart game design.

So, What’s Next for Borderlands 4?

While we get to enjoy our insta-kill knives for a bit longer, Gearbox is still hard at work. Performance improvements for PC remain a “top priority,” and console players can look forward to a much-needed FOV slider. They’re also aware of the frustrating performance degradation on consoles, where the game gets laggier the longer you play. The current “solution” of restarting the game every hour is, let’s just say, less than ideal.

And for you explorers out there, Timmins also mentioned he’s got his “eye on” the so-called “cricket jumping” technique that lets players leap across massive sections of the map. So, enjoy your shenanigans while you can, because change is eventually coming.

But for today, we celebrate. We celebrate the buff. We celebrate the developers who understand that sometimes, the most memorable moments in gaming come from the things that are just a little bit broken. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a boss to melt.

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