Arms Race is a new game mode that was introduced to Borderlands 3 during the Designer’s Cut, which can be purchased individually or in a group with Season Pass 2. Along with Arms Race came several opportunities to get legendary gear and if you want to know how to win the Arms Race and get some AMAZING LOOT, take a look at this guide.
How does Arms Race work?
Arms Race works very similar to many Battle Royale games, where you land on a part of the map without any equipment and try to survive.
But that’s where some Borderlands specialties come in. Throughout the game you will be able to search for some Red Chests and obtain some legendary items.
As your map gradually shrinks, you will arm yourself until you are ready to face the Boss in the center of the map.
If you manage to beat the Boss, you can send some equipment to be used outside of Arms Race mode.
7 Steps to win Arms Race
Pick up your starter gear
As soon as you enter Arms Race, you will spawn in a random part of the map. Near this location will always be a chest with common weapons that will help you start the game.
It’s normal for new players to end up missing this box, but be careful there aren’t many places to get items right at the beginning of the game.
HINTS:
- One of the advantages of playing in single-player is that you can pause the game to analyze the map and your equipment.
- Remember that in this mode you will have no skills or guardian rank. A shield will be essential for your survival.
Loot the red chests
As soon as you get your first gear, move to where the chests that appear on your map are. They will serve both to offer you high-quality gear and therefore increase your chance of surviving the Arms Race, but also to offer you legendary items that you can take back to your bank.
Each of the locations with chests works as a small mini-game, where waves of opponents will come and you will need to defeat them. After the waves finish, you will have access to the chests.
HINTS:
- Once the game starts, pause and analyze the map. The map will start to close around the edges, so be prepared to go to the farther chests first.
Get as many weapons as you can
You won’t always be lucky in chests, still keep as much gear with you as possible.
There will still be some vending machines scattered around the map that will allow you to dump that bad gear and maybe, with a little luck, you can buy some legendary items.
Keep an eye for airdrops
During the match you will get a few different notifications, mostly related to Murdercane shrinking the map. But there will also be Airdrops, which are different ways for you to acquire more loot.
Each Airloot can contain vending machines and chests, offering from common to legendary items. But they will always be with enemies around looking to defend the loot.
Extract, but keep weapons to win
By beating the Arms Race boss you will be able to transfer some weapons to your bank, however this is not the only way.
Throughout the game there will be some locations that allow equipment extraction, but with a very limited number of transfers.
But it is worth remembering that once transferred, you will lose access to that weapon. So avoid doing this with what could be the key to your victory.
Prepare for the boss fight
When you don’t have any chests to get or you run out of Airdrops, it’s time to start preparing to face the boss.
He will be in the center of the map, to face him you will have to fall into an entrance to the bunker. But before that you will have two vending machines to stock up on ammo and health.
Also prepare your weapons for the best damage against the boss. It will have three life bars: Shield, Armor and Health. Before entering, see which elemental weapons are best for each stage. Each life bar means a different boss stage, but in every stage there will always be additional forces called by the boss. Remember to always leave some opponents alive in case you need a second wind.
