Borderlands 4's Newest Raid Boss Fight Is The Content We Needed At Launch

Assuming you've reached endgame in Borderlands 4 by completing the main campaign, you can find this challenge at any major hub in the game. Simply go to a bounty board, and you'll eb able to start it via a very heartwarming monologue by Claptrap.

The boss brings with it a potential pattern, as the fight takes place within one of the Fadefields' submaps, where these disciples of the Timekeeper reside. In the 'lore' of the game, it's told to the player that these foes are still standing, having never been bested by an opponent. That's where we come in...

I will be the first to come out and say that I personally feel Bloomreaper The Invincible (the previously released Raid Boss for UVH6 Difficulty) was an absolute trainwreck. It put too much focus on the grapple mechanics of the game, and resulted in a fight which had you chasing after the boss, as you try not to get one tapped by the overscaled enemies in the arena.

Going into the fight, I will say right off the bat that I feel Subjugator (as I'll be referring to it as) feels like a rather noisy fight in terms of the overall combat design. Many mechanics feel poorly explained, with some of the more consequential ones being almost crucial to know. An example of this are the large minions on the corners of the arena, who will constantly hit you with novas unless taken out.

While this is going on, you have dangerous order spheres hovering above, regenerating the health of Subjugator himself. I don't feel as though these explanations need to be spoonfed to the player, but the pace of the encounter leaves almost no time to discover these naturally. Rather, I found myself wrapping my head around most mechanics through repeated attempts. Ultimately, it's up to you as a player to decide if this feels satisfying or not.

This isn't the case everywhere however. One thing I would like to compliment the team at Gearbox on is the improvement made with this update, in which the player is directly told via enemy health bars just how to bring them down. Many times you'll see a bar that reads "cryo heals" and know in the moment that you'd better swap damage type for a few seconds.

Provided you're able to get further enough into this daring encounter, you'll be tasked with a choice between life or delayed death. Either take out the devious sidekick of Subjugator: Thol The Invincible, or finish off the Subjugator there and then.

Choosing to kill Thol will have the Subjugator force you into what he calls The Abyss for a sky powered fight that will include floating platforms, flying heads, and a literal ray of scorched earth that will obliterate even the most powerful builds.

Killing Subjugator first however, will have Thol drag you down into what's essentially your own personal room in hell. Down here, he'll get mighty large, and mighty powerful as he summons henchmen of his own to help finish you off.

I definitely prefer the pacing of the Thol final showdown, as it reminds me of the old school bullet sponge invincible fights. That being said, the arena for Subjugator and the attack variety feels a lot more advanced for Borderlands as opposed to what older players from Borderlands 2 are perhaps used to.

Both fights are a ton of fun though, and a legitimate challenge for even the toughest builds! I will however say that while the idea of a dual boss fight is really interesting as a concept, I think doing it again in the future would strip this fight of some of its key identity.

This is a tough question, as for many people (myself included) the ship has already sailed on pulling Borderlands 4 out of the fire. We're now 9 Months out from launch, and this is somehow just the second true endgame activity we've actually had added to the game, if you don't count the Ordonite Processor world event.

That's... Bad. It feels like for the longest time, Gearbox have been trying to focus on making the best experience possible for Borderlands, but only extending it to the end of the story. What fans want is right here, and they want it at launch.

What's most important in the moment however, is just how good this content is. I enjoyed my time with it a lot, and for once actually felt like it took raid bosses to a new level, unlike the previously mentioned Bloomreaper. It also brings along with it a host of new Pearlescent items (only 1 is dedicated to this fight, though) and a brand new arsenal of Legendary Loot. If that's your thing, you'll like this.

It doesn't re-invent the wheel. It's not supposed to. It's mindless boss killing fun meant to enrage you as you push for the coveted platinum trophy. Maybe it's too late for this kind of thing, and maybe you have better things to do. Or maybe, you need to boot up for the first time in a while and kick Subjugator & Thol's asses.

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Why not also check out some of our other Articles? I've left a few below!

See: Subjugator and Thol the Invincible Boss Guide & All Loot (Raid 2)

See: Borderlands 4: All Legendary Weapons and Licensed Parts

See: All Mad Ellie DLC Items Mechanics, Licenses & Best Rolls