By now, Borderlands fans may well have had ample time to get stuck into Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, the first of four planned story DLCs for Borderlands 3. However, the DLC release isn’t actually the game’s last event of 2019. If you haven’t yet seen, Gearbox will be launching a short Borderlands 3 Takedown event tomorrow, on the 31st of December. For just a couple of weeks, the Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite’s matchmaking requirements will be lifted.
The End-of-Year Borderlands 3 Takedown Event
The Borderlands 3 Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite is a free endgame activity which was released earlier this year. The mission, which has a structure similar to an MMO-style raid, features three unique bosses and powerful new enemies; all designed for level 50 players. Because of the Takedown’s extra-high difficulty and restrictive respawning mechanics, the mission has enforced party matchmaking, ensuring that players tackle it in a team of four.
However, tomorrow’s event will temporarily lift this restriction. Instead, until the 16th of January, the Takedown’s difficulty will scale for your party size. This means that you can attempt it solo, or with 2-3 people instead of 4. Of course, it will still be very difficult, and the respawn mechanics could make it extremely challenging for solo play-throughs. However, thanks to the altered scaling, solo runs might well be possible now. If you’ve avoided playing the Takedown because you’re not a fan of playing with strangers online, this event is definitely the time to give it a go.
According to Gearbox, the Maliwan Blacksite is just the first of several planned Takedowns, all of which will follow a similar structure; providing an endgame challenge for players in the style of multi-boss raids. (With unique loot, of course.) It’s unknown whether Gearbox plans to repeat the end-of-year event, but the format does seem easily repeatable. Indeed, the purpose of the event could be to gauge player interest in the Takedown without a 4-player team enforced. If it proves popular, the studio might even make it a standard option for the next one. Whatever the case, the event will be live from tomorrow, so be sure to check it out while you have the chance.