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Borderlands 4 Guide

What Is Double Dipping?

Mechanics
Updated on Mar 23, 2026
Mar 23, 2026

Overview

This guide will explain what the term Double Dipping means when talked about in buildcrafting throughout the game. This is great info to know to maximize your damage to the highest potential. This will be important for every vault hunter. I will also list every double dip known and will be added on and changed over time. Most builds that use double dipping stuff will be better than builds without double dipping.

DISCLAIMER: This guide is still a WIP. Things can and will change. I will update this as we find more

What is Double Dipping?

Well for simple terms it means something getting the damage formula twice. The formula on the impact and then the formula of the effect.

An easy way to spot potential double dipping is for things that say "of damage dealt" but you should test every bonus element for double dipping just in case.

Multiplicative Double DIpping

This is when you multiply the formula so it would be Base x Formula 1 x Formula 2.

So lets have an example formula. Amon has the Tail of the Comet skill. This is a double dipping Status Effect skill procced by Ordnance Damage.

The formula would be Base x Ordnance Damage Formula x Status Damage Formula

Let's get more specific with that. So first you will take the formula of the Ordnance that procced Tail of the Comet. This could also be known as Impact. Some Ordnance damage sources have additional formula but I will just do something basic. The formula example is just general and not the whole thing. To know the full damage formula there will be guides on that when they come out and I will link them.

Base x [(1 + ordnance + elemental + damage skills + splash) + {1 + card crit + (2 x crit skills)}] x element match

This is based off of Prismatic's damage formula testing of guns but replacing gun damage w/ ordnance damage. Full ordnance damage formula has not been tested yet. There may be some Ordnance that do not benefit from crit and/or splash.

Then we take the impact and make it the Base for the Status Damage Formula. And we cannot forget to add the damage penalty or boost given with Tail of the Comet. At 5/5 it is 60% of the Impact. At 10/5 it is 120% of the Impact. For this we will go with the 5/5.

Ordnance Impact Damage (Base) x .60 x [(1 + status effect + elemental + damage skills + splash) + {1 + card crit + (2 x crit skills)}] x element match

This is also just basing it on the gun damage formula. I do not know if Tail of the Comet is splash but it can definitely crit with crit chance.

So this makes the whole formula

Base x ([(1 + ordnance + elemental + damage skills + splash) + {1 + card crit + (2 x crit skills)}] x element match) x (.60 x [(1 + status effect + elemental + damage skills + splash) + {1 + card crit + (2 x crit skills)}] x element match).

Yes I know that looks very overwhelming. BUT what you will see is some repeat damage boosts like Elemental, Damage, Splash, Crit, and Element Match. That is those bonuses being Double Dipped. So Tail of the Comet is Double Dipping those bonuses. Ordnance and Status Effect are NOT being Double Dipped.

Additive Double Dipping

So of course every new Borderlands game has to have something cursed so this game we have Additive Double Dipping which is instead of formula x formula its formula + formula.

For example we have Vex w/ Blood Shot and Prismatic Weaponry. Credit to Prismatic, Ratore, and Iserrot99 for testing this and Ratore for writing this for me

BLOOD SHOT

  • Is a powerful post-add damage to Card x Amp based on Vex's current health.,
  • Transforms your base shot into Kinetic Damage, therefore Elemental Match is x1.,
  • Gives you access to Action Skill Damage and Skill Damage on any shot fired with Bloodshot active.
    • This needs further testing with Action Skill/Skill Damage from different sources.,
  • In cases where the base shot is being tagged by Skill Damage/Action Skill Damage (in this case by bloodshot), specific bonus elements that were already boosted by Action Skill/Skill Damage like Prismatic Weaponry will further inherit this Bloodshot tag and result in further application of the same boosts. See below.

BLOOD SHOT AND PRISMATIC WEAPONRY

and possibly any bonus element that benefits from action skill/skill damage

  • Think of the damage types of our damage instances:,

Normal gun shot:

Gun: (gun)

Prismatic Weaponry: (gun + skill + action skill + other bonuses)

If you add bloodshot:

Gun + Bloodshot: (gun + skill + action skill)

Bonus element + Bloodshot: (gun + skill + action skill + other bonuses) + (skill + action skill)

This shows how a Prismatic Weaponry damage instance that was applied from Blood Shot can receive an additive double dip of the skill/action skill damage modifiers

What Double Dips in Borderlands 4

Well first let's go over every with the Vault Hunters. (This list will change with more testing and balance changes)

Amon Skills

Tail of the Comet - ordnance into status skill damage

Blackout - ordnance into status damage

Raging Inferno - action skill into status damage

Bullet Hail - gun into skill

Winter's Kiss - ordnance into skill

Caroming Shard - ordnance into skill or gun -> skill -> skill

Strike the Anvil - action skill into skill

Force of Nature - gun into skill/action skill

Molten Roil - melee/action skill/skill into melee/action skill/skill

Lightning Rod - gun into skill

Harlowe Skills

Neutron Capture - action skill into skill

Vex Skills

Bloodletter - gun/skill into skill

Reverburnations - melee into skill

Blood Shot + Prismatic Weaponry - additive double dipping

Rafa Skills

Per My Last - Action Skill into Skill

Other

Groundbreaker - Action Skill/Gun/Ordnance into Melee Skill


There are some exceptions to the formulas depending on if there are multiple sources.

For example - Mantra is a gun that deals melee damage. It will proc melee and gun skills.

Reverburnations will have the melee formula + gun damage boosts into skill

Force of Nature will be gun formula + melee damage boosts into action skill/skill

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