Getting Past the Moon Madness in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel
The Pre-Sequel is the most divisive entry in the series for a reason. The zero-G movement system, the skill tree depth, and the mission structure all force you to play differently than you would in Borderlands 2 or even the original. If you are jumping in cold, you will struggle. I spent about forty hours on my third playthrough before I stopped making the same mistakes over and over. This guide covers the systems that actually matter and the ones you can mostly ignore. Zero-gravity combat looks flashy but it is mechanically straightforward once you stop treating it like a platformer. The core loop is simple: you gain altitude, line up your shots, and manage your thruster fuel. Most players waste fuel by hovering aimlessly or trying to strafe mid-air the way they would on solid ground. You need to think in three dimensions when targeting. Enemies have predictable hitboxes regardless of where they are positioned vertically. I ran into a specific problem early on with my first Sledge-hunting build. I was using a shield regen skill combined with a rapid-fire SMG, expecting to kite enemies in the air. The game's thruster burn rate in Moxxi's Heist of the Weapons of Mass Destruction is significantly faster than on the main moon surface. My skill point allocation was not accounting for the cooldown penalty, so I would hover into enemy fire, burn out my thrusters, and drop straight down. The workaround was shifting one talent point from the shield regen tree into the aerial control tree and switching to a weapon with a higher base damage but slower fire rate. It took me until my fifth attempt against Sledge to figure that out.
The skill trees each have a distinct identity. Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty is largely a support and buff tree. Commandant Aimon's Iron Clad involves heavy armor and shield mechanics. Lady Hammerlock's Wild Skills focuses on ranged damage and crit multipliers. Moxxi's Headhunter centers on elemental damage and status effects. Scooter's Innovation covers tech and turret-based builds. The key insight most beginners miss is that you do not need to max out a single tree. Spreading points across two complementary trees, especially between Hammerlock and Moxxi, gives you better versatility than dumping everything into one. The skill point economy in this game rewards hybrid builds more than pure specialization.
Weapon Scaling and Eridium Trading
Eridium is the currency that makes or breaks your build. You collect it from blue glowing rocks scattered across Herakles and from rare drops. The vendor in the Moonport who trades Eridium for items will let you convert weapons and artifacts, but the conversion rate is not fixed. Some items convert at favorable rates while others barely return anything useful. Pro tip: Before you ever spend Eridium on a vendor trade, check the item's rarity and elemental affinity first. Common non-elemental weapons usually convert poorly. Rare or legendary weapons with dual elements convert better. I learned this after wasting nearly two hundred Eridium on a bunch of uncommon silver weapons that returned almost nothing. Keep a mental note of which vendors offer the best conversion rates for your current playthrough. The weapon drop tables in The Pre-Sequel are weighted differently than in other Borderlands games. Certain vendors, like the ones located near the Crater area and the New Haven district, have slightly better odds for rare items. The drop rate for legendary weapons sits at approximately 0.5 to 1 percent from normal enemies, which is lower than Borderlands 2. This means grinding for a specific gun takes longer. Plan your runs around that reality.
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Mission Selection and Level Scaling
The level scaling system in The Pre-Sequel is not linear. Missions scale to your character level, but some side quests scale faster than others. Main story missions in areas like the Herakles Crater and the Luna Sea region scale moderately. Side missions from characters like Commander Zardax and Tumba the Warrior scale aggressively, which can throw off your progression if you are not paying attention. I recommend focusing on the main campaign for the first twenty levels. After that, pick side missions based on your gear needs rather than just doing them in alphabetical order. The mission called "The Lost DC-13" in the Calypso Manufacturing zone is particularly valuable because it rewards rare artifact drops. The mission "Crew Expendable" in the Herakles Gateway area provides excellent experience and weapon loot. Do those early in your playthrough before you invest too heavily in a specific loadout.
Artifact and Shield Management
Artifacts in The Pre-Sequel are not cosmetic. Each one grants a passive bonus and sometimes an active ability. The artifact slots are limited, and the bonuses compound when you equip multiple artifacts from the same set. The Crassus Defense Grid and the Tundra's Embrace sets are the most useful for general gameplay. I avoid equipping artifacts that boost skills I am not actively using. Wasting an artifact slot on an irrelevant bonus slows down your overall build efficiency. Shield choice matters more than weapon choice in many situations. The Transgressor and the Antithesis shields are strong because they reward aggressive play. The Antithesis converts kill energy into shield recharge, which works well with the skill trees mentioned earlier. I used to stack shield recharge skills without considering the shield's inherent properties. That approach failed against enemies with high shield pierce damage. Instead, match your shield type to your play style. Sniper builds benefit from shields with higher max capacity. Elemental builds work better with shields that resist specific damage types.
Endgame Considerations
The endgame content in The Pre-Sequel centers on The Destroyer, a boss fight that requires coordination and proper gear. The arena has limited cover and the boss changes attack patterns based on your position. A common mistake is to rely solely on distance. The boss has long-range attacks that punish camping. Stay mobile but not reckless. Use the zero-G thrusters to reposition rather than to fly in circles. After defeating The Destroyer, you unlock harder difficulty modes. The True Vault Hunter Mode increases enemy health and damage significantly. It also improves legendary drop rates by roughly 15 to 20 percent. The second True Vault Hunter Mode increases the rates further but introduces new enemy variants with additional elemental resistances. These variants can negate builds that rely on single-element damage. If you notice your elemental damage numbers dropping significantly against certain enemies, mix in non-elemental weapons or adjust your elemental affinity. The game does not have a traditional endgame grind like some modern loot shooters. The content loop revolves around replaying missions for better drops, experimenting with builds, and clearing higher difficulties. There is no daily mission system or seasonal content. If you are looking for a long-term retention hook, this game will not provide it. The content runs about twenty to thirty hours for a complete playthrough on the first difficulty. Subsequent playthroughs with different builds can extend that to forty or fifty hours. That is a reasonable length for a focused action RPG.
Final Notes on Optimization
Performance optimization on this game varies by platform. On PC, the game benefits from a stable frame rate above sixty fps because the zero-G movement relies on quick reflexes. Input lag above thirty milliseconds becomes noticeable during aerial combat. If you are playing on console, the game runs at thirty fps on standard mode and sixty fps on performance mode. The visual fidelity difference is minor. Choose performance mode unless you are playing on a large display where the graphical differences matter more. Save often. The autosave feature in The Pre-Sequel triggers at mission completion points and boss defeats, but it does not save continuously during missions. I lost approximately three hours of progression once because I pushed too far into a high-level zone without manually saving. The game will not warn you. Set a habit of saving before engaging any boss or entering a new combat arena. This small step prevents unnecessary frustration.
