So, you’re back on the loot grind. Borderlands 4 has officially landed on Kairos, and honestly, the trophy list is exactly what you’d expect from Gearbox: a mix of "kill a million things" and "wait, where did Dave the Burrito go?" If you’re looking to snag that shiny Platinum—famously titled Aw Man, Now We Have to Make BL5—you’re in for a solid 80 to 100-hour commitment.
The good news? Nothing is technically missable. You won’t have to restart a 40-hour campaign because you forgot to pet a skag in the first act. But the bad news is the grind. It's real. Especially when you realize you need to reach Level 50 with all four Vault Hunters—Vex, Rafa, Amon, and Harlowe—to unlock specific vehicle parts and achievements.
The Road to Platinum: Kairos Edition
Basically, your journey is split into three phases. First, you play the story. Enjoy it. Don't worry about every tiny side quest yet. Just get to the end. Second, you’ll be cleaning up the world of Kairos. This means finding every location in the Fadefields, Terminus Range, Carcadia Burn, and Dominion City.
Third? The endgame. This is where the Gear Five! trophy comes in. You have to reach Ultimate Vault Hunter Level 5. It’s a scaling difficulty system similar to Mayhem levels, but it feels a bit more like a punch to the gut. At Rank 5, enemies have 350% more health. You’ll need a build that actually works, or you're just going to be tickling bosses with nerf darts.
The Most Frustrating Trophies (and How to Cheat the Grind)
Let's talk about Master of Death and Dance. You need to hit Level 50. Doing this once is fine. Doing it four times? That’s a lot of the same boss fights.
Pro Tip: Once you finish the campaign with your first character, the main menu lets you start new characters at Level 30. Use this. It skips the early-game slog and puts you right at the start of the meatier content.
Then there's Catch-A-Ride. You have to collect all 10 personal vehicles. Some of these are tied to specific character progress. If you’re wondering why you’re stuck at 8/10, it’s probably because you haven't leveled Amon or Harlowe enough to unlock their specific Digirunner mods.
Weird Stuff You'll Probably Miss
Gearbox loves their Easter eggs. You’ll need to find:
- Dave the Burrito: For the Guac is Extra trophy. He’s hidden in a small corner of the Fadefields.
- The Tannis Cutout: A classic. It’s for the Cut That Out trophy.
- Oddman’s Resting Place: This unlocks Rift Incompatible.
- The Legendary Vending Machine: You have to deliver its contents for All Things Vend.
Don't forget to tip Moxxi at the "Bottoms Up!" bar for the Glucose Guardian trophy. It’s cheap, and it makes you feel like a better person. Sorta.
World Events and the "Ruler of Everything" Grind
The Ruler of Everything silver trophy is the real time-sink. You have to complete 53 specific activities. We're talking Order Silos, Safehouses, and those annoying Ripper Drill Sites.
You also need to hit the three big World Events:
- Arena Grande: The Goredello event in Terminus Range.
- Reverse Abduction: The Airship event in the Fadefields.
- Shoot the Moon: The Creep Impact event in Carcadia Burn.
These are "live" world events. They pop up on your map with a specific icon. If you see one, drop everything and go. They aren't always active, and waiting for them to respawn when you're at 99% completion is the absolute worst.
Combat and Manufacturers
You’ll need to complete at least one Gear Challenge and one Manufacturer Challenge. Honestly, just stick with one brand for a while. If you love the new Order weapons, use them until the Brad Equity trophy pops. For the gear challenge, just pick a weapon type—like shotguns—and keep blasting until the game rewards you for it.
👉 See also: Getting Your Hands on a Magic: What Collectors Actually Do
The trophy I Earned This requires you to have Legendary gear in every single slot. This includes your shield, grenade mod, class mod, and artifact. By the time you’re farming for UVH Level 5, you’ll be tripping over Orange loot anyway.
Dealing with the Guardians
The Nothing Left to Guard gold trophy requires you to clear all Guardians in the Primordial Vaults. These are the endgame dungeons. They are tough. If you’re playing solo, make sure your build is tight. Rafa’s Peacebreaker Cannons or Vex’s Phase Phamiliar are great for crowd control here.
The Timekeeper isn't going to make it easy. The final story mission, The Timekeeper’s Order, gives you the Everything Breaks gold trophy. It's a long fight with multiple phases. Bring corrosive damage. Trust me.
Your Next Steps
To make this efficient, stop manually walking everywhere and use your Digirunner. Seriously. The maps in Borderlands 4 are huge.
- Finish the main story first to unlock the Level 30 character skip.
- Focus on one region at a time for the "Discover all locations" trophies so you don't get overwhelmed.
- Keep an eye on the world map for those three specific world events (Goredello, Airship, Creep Impact) while you're doing side quests.
- Save the UVH Level 5 grind for last, once you have a fully kitted-out Level 50 character with a "God-tier" build.
Good luck. You're going to need a lot of ammo and even more patience for Claptrap's missions.