Upon completing the main story of Borderlands 3, you’ll unlock new gameplay modes and significantly tougher challenges. One of these is Chaos Mode, which allows you to reap experience points and loot in abundance.
Once you’ve finished the main campaign of Borderlands 3, a new terminal will appear on Sanctuary 3, offering three additional difficulty levels: Chaos 1, 2, or 3. By activating one of these modes, you’ll increase the difficulty while significantly boosting the rewards: enemies will possess greater health, shields, and armor, among other enhancements. You will gain more cash, Eridium, experience points, and have a higher chance of discovering superior loot. Our tests have shown that legendary items drop quite frequently in Chaos 3. However, be aware that you’ll need to have access to Sanctuary once more to reach the Chaos mode terminal if you decide to start a new campaign in the Ultimate Hunter mode.
Chaos Mode: Increased Difficulty and Loot
By consulting the green button next to the altar, you can view the additional benefits and dangers that accompany your current Chaos mode. Here are the key changes. As you can see, the difficulty increase is exponential.
Chaos 1
Loot Quality: +100%
Experience: +10%
Eridium and Cash: +30%
Enemy Health: +15%
Enemy Shield and Armor: +250%
Chaos 2
- Loot Quality: +300%
- Experience: +30%
- Eridium and Cash: +60%
- Enemy Health: +75%
- Enemy Shield and Armor: +100%
Chaos 3
- Loot Quality: +500%
- Experience: +50%
- Eridium and Cash: +100%
- Enemy Health: +150%
- Enemy Shield and Armor: +200%
Chaos Mode: Special Enemies
In addition to the stat changes, you will also encounter more brutal and elite enemies. Some quests and fights will transform into deadly gauntlets. However, you might sometimes stumble upon elite gear, which grants bonuses to your action skills and can be specific to a particular Vault Hunter. This means that it’s essential for optimizing your character in the endgame.
Beyond just tougher enemies, Chaos mode also applies mods to the planets you visit, which will force you to adapt your playstyle accordingly. For instance, with the affix “Defendarius”, enemies have a 5% chance to reflect projectiles. The “Fireproof” mod will reduce incendiary damage by 15%. You may need to hunt for ways to adjust your gameplay strategy accordingly.
For more details on endgame content, check out our dedicated guide.
