The Borderlands franchise has never been one to rest on its laurels. Each entry has progressively built upon its predecessors, promising more and more ways to shoot and loot an endless supply of guns, each with their own unique firing modes and effects. With the impending arrival of Borderlands 4, one wonders not only what kinds of guns fans will be able to get their hands on, but what types of gear will be returning from previous entries.
The series has proven before that it’s not afraid to leave certain types of guns and status effects in the past. Laser guns and the cryo status effect were absent from Borderlands 3 after debuting in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and manufacturer Atlas was completely absent from the second and third games in the franchise. This leads to an incredibly hot button discussion for Borderlands fans: should the slag status effect return in Borderlands 4? First introduced as a debuff status effect in Borderlands 2, it hasn’t made a comeback to the series since, and it might be best if it stayed that way.
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Borderlands 4 Needs to Leave Slag in the Past
Slag Dictated The Meta Of Borderlands 2
The biggest reason slag should sit out Borderlands 4 is probably the reason it was absent in both games that have come out since its debut; players were sick of it dominating the meta and limiting their builds, especially in endgame scenarios. In Borderlands 2’s first and second playthroughs, slag was a fun debuff players could mess around with to massively increase their damage output. It was one option among many that could be tinkered with to create whatever type of build/experience the player wanted.
Come Ultimate Vault Hunter mode, however, slag became less of an option and more of a mandatory inclusion. Enemies were buffed so heavily and had such aggressive health and regen that slag became a necessity for just about every build in the game. Without it, even trash mobs of bandits and skags were going to overwhelm even the most talented vault hunter. Entire builds had to revolve around this one mechanic, and it severely limited what players could use in the game. Their fourth gun slot became almost exclusively reserved for Moxxi’s Grog Nozzle, an infamously powerful slag pistol that had the highest elemental effect chance in the game. Any skills that gave characters slag abilities became non-negotiable additions to a players’ skill tree.
While such specific, strict builds are more understandable when trying to solo one of Borderlands 2‘s raid bosses or while going for the OP8 challenge, it should not have been such a heavy requirement for normal play in UVHM. Any mechanic that limits build diversity is a bad choice for the health of the game, and it seems the Borderlands community would mostly agree, as there were almost no dissenting voices when the elemental debuff did not return in subsequent sequels.
Slag Wasn’t Terribly Interesting Compared to Other Types of Elements
Slag is the only elemental damage type in Borderlands that does not provide bonus damage on its own. Fire, cryo, corrosion, electrical, and radiation all provide DoT damage to the target, while explosive provides bonus damage in the form of its namesake. Slag, on its own, did nothing, but instead required follow up from other non-slag weapons. By its nature, all it did was make other, more interesting weapons and elemental types better at their respective jobs.
Slag was fun as a gimmick, but ultimately all it really did was make players wish they could just rely on the guns they actually wanted to use. Dropping it in favor of a more interesting element like cryo or radiation was the right decision, as these elements introduced new ways to play without leaning on crutch weapons to debuff enemies before actually getting to start combat with them.
Slag Being Left Out Paves the Way for More Interesting Innovations
Slag was introduced in Borderlands 2 and has not appeared in either of the series’ other entries since. Instead, players were treated to a new elemental type in each game; cryo in the Pre-Sequel and radiation in Borderlands 3. These elemental types were untested waters, and more importantly, added something new to the mix of Borderlands, which is over a decade old now.
Gearbox has struck gold with the Borderlands formula. The gameplay loop is so satisfying as to keep players coming back time and again. Changing the script too much from entry to entry would be disastrous. Instead, small, but potent additions to the series, like new elemental types, is the best way to keep the series fresh and vibrant without straying too far from the series’ core identity.
Slag Is Too Heavily Tied to the Narrative of Borderlands 2 To Return
In reality, slag didn’t debut until Borderlands 2 because the developers hadn’t thought of it yet. But in-universe, the substance’s sudden arrival was attributed to the actions of Handsome Jack and the Hyperion corporation. The unethical eridium experiments conducted by the villainous company produced slag as a chemical runoff; its function as an elemental damage type was a useful, if unintended, byproduct that Jack was happy to capitalize on.
Borderlands has struggled to move on from Handsome Jack. Nobody denies Jack’s status as one of the greatest villains in gaming, but to continue forward, the series needs to finally move on from his story. Continuing to lean into slag is the series leaving one foot in the Hyperion era. Nevermind the fact that the substance shouldn’t exist anymore since Hyperion abandoned their eridium experiments and their activities on Pandora; slag’s continued presence in the Borderlands series would be nothing more than lingering on the ghost of games past.
See if you have what it takes to go down in history as a legendary Vault Hunter as you search for secret alien treasure, blasting everything in sight.
Looter Shooter
Action
Adventure
RPG
- Franchise
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Borderlands
- Released
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2025