Borderlands 2 is out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, so naturally everyone needs tips, guides, unlockables, exploits, etc.
Here are all of the tips and such that I have collected so far.
How to Get to the Hidden Minecraft Area
There is a hidden area in Caustic Caverns that is a big Minecraft easter egg, with Badass Creepers, and some different Minecraft heads and skins for each character.
You can only get to Caustic Caverns once you reach Chapter Nine.
Once you reach Chapter Nine, you can get to Caustic Caverns a couple different ways, both of which are through Sanctuary Hole in Three Horns Divide.
You can either proceed through Sanctuary Hole and you’ll eventually get to Caustic Caverns, or you can take the shortcut. Near the edge of town, look for a large cliff behind a large building that drops into a large hole. Look around this area and you’ll see some ledges you can drop down into to reach Caustic Caverns.
Once in Caustic Caverns, run to the northwest area of the map and look for some tracks with mine carts on them. Travel north on these tracks until the tracks bend left a little, and there is a mine cart with a chest right in front of it on the right side of the tracks, and what looks like a glowing yellow stone to the right of the cart.
Off behind the glowing yellow stone, you’ll see a boulder that has unnaturally straight angles. Jump on top of it, and jump off to the left of it and you’ll see some familiar Minecraft dirt blocks.
Punch through the dirt blocks and you’ll come to a wall of cobblestone and coal looking blocks.
Once you’re through the cobblestone and coal wall, you’ll be greeted with an area of exploding Creepers and Badass Creepers. These guys drop a different Minecraft head and skin for each character, and have a chance to drop rare loot as well.
How to get Unlimited Eridium
Eridium is the rare mineral used for augments, upgrades, and to purchase some of the most powerful weapons in the game.
If you’re in need of a lot of Eridium, then you’re in luck, because there are a couple spots in the game that you can go through as many times as necessary to stock up on Eridium.
In Three Horns Valley, you’ll come across a boss named Bad Maw that drops one piece of Eridium when you beat him.
Kill him, get your Eridium from him, then enter the Bloodshot Stronghold and Save/Quit.
When you come back to your game, go back to Three Horns Valley and kill Bad Maw again.
Another method is to run through all of the chests and lockers in Sanctuary
Repeat this process until you have all of the Eridium you need. It might be a slow process, but it’s reliable and worth it in the long run.
How to Get Golden Keys
Golden keys will let you open the Golden Chest in Sanctuary which gives you two rare weapons or two rare mods.
If you pre-ordered the game, you should have received a golden key. If not, there will be other ways to get golden keys through Gear Box promotions.
Currently, you can sign up for the Gearbox Shift program in the Extras menu to receive one golden key.
Keep an eye on the news feed in the main menus for future promotions that will provide access to golden keys.
Don’t use your golden key right away, hold onto for a second and check out the next tip to use it more than once.
Unlimited Golden Keys Exploit
There is an exploit you can do to use a golden key infinitely, without ever running out, essentially giving you access to an unlimited amount of rare (purple) weapons, items, and mods.
This trick does require that you have access to at least one golden key however, so this won’t get you a free golden key. Use the trick above to get a free golden key if you need one from the Gearbox Shift program.
Basically, whoever has access to the golden key logs onto their profile and starts the game.
Anyone that joins this person in a co-op game will have access to the golden key as well, but it doesn’t use up the golden key on the owners profile, only on this co-op profile.
What this means is that you can simply create an unlimited amount of alternate profiles to join your game, use their golden key, you take the weapons or items, and they log off.
Once the golden key is used on that alternate profile, it’s gone from that profile for good. I tested this as well by quitting the game without saving on the alternate profile, and the golden key was still used up the next time I logged in.
Note: I realized after writing this article that if you open the chest with a level 1 character, it gives you a max of level 7 items, which isn’t overly helpful obviously. However it can help you get the Purple Reign challenge which will net you an easy 166 Badass tokens once you loot 20 purple weapons.
I’m working on an alternate method that will work better.
This was done on an unpatched version of the game, so it may be patched in the future.
Duplication Exploit Using Co-Op
This one is kind of a glitch, but more of a game mechanics exploit really, allowing you to use the co-op system to easily duplicate money, weapons, items, and mods.
The first thing you want to do is to make sure your game is saved with everything you currently have on you. Make sure to do this well away from an auto-save point in the game so you don’t risk saving without your stuff.
Start a co-op game with at least one other person, and trade them everything that you want duplicated.
Do not quit and save, because you want to force the game to quit without saving. On the Xbox 360, press the 360 guide button and go to the dashboard. On the PS3, press the PS button and exit to the dashboard. On PC, just force the game to close.
Open the game and load your save file, and you’ll have all of the stuff you gave away, and your co-op partner will as well.
Repeat the process a few times and you’ll be rich!
Unlock Veteran Skins
There are some special skins you can unlock in Borderlands 2 called Veteran Skins that are given to long time fans of the series.
Technically you don’t really need to be a long term fan, you just need to have played the original game at least once.
To unlock the Veteran Skins for Borderlands 2, you simply need to have a saved game from the original Borderlands saved onto your system somewhere. I’m guessing it might need to be in the same location as your Borderlands 2 saved game.
You don’t need to beat the game or anything, you just need to have any saved game.
Easy Weapons From Moxxi
If you’re looking for a more “legitimate” way to get easy weapons, then Moxxi has a couple of decent weapons she’ll give you if you tip her right.
If you give Moxxi a tip larger than $10,000, she will give you a weapon. She only gives you two types of weapons (Corrosive Elemental Submachine Gun, or Fire Elemental Submachine Gun), but they’ll have different stats every time.
If you tip her and want to get a different weapon, just fast travel somewhere and back to Sanctuary to try again.
An exploit to this would be to save your game first, then visit her and tip her to get the weapon. If you don’t like it, quit without saving and restore your game to try again.
Easy Weapons & Items Using Slot Machines
One easy way to get nice weapon and item upgrades in the game is by using the slot machines.
All you need to do is have an auto-save near a slot machine. With your auto-save in place, head to a slot machine and spin those wheels. Don’t like what you got? Restore your game and try again until you get some stuff you like.
Some may consider this a game exploit, but I call it “any means necessary”.
Regular and Secret Achievements List for Xbox 360
Here is the list of achievements in Borderlands 2 for the Xbox 360.
The twenty secret achievements you can unlock are listed at the bottom. Enjoy!
Always Improving (25) – Reached level 25
Arctic Explorer (15) – Discovered all named locations in Three Horns, Tundra Express, and Frostburn Canyon
Better Than Money (15) – Purchased 5 items from the black market
Better Than You Were (10) – Reached level 10
Blight Explorer (15) – Discovered all named locations in Eridium Blight, Arid Nexus, and Sawtooth Cauldron
Bounty Hunter (25) – Completed 20 side missions
Build Buster (20) – Killed a Constructor without it ever building another bot
Capped Out…For Now (50) – Reached level 50
Challenge Accepted (30) – Completed level 1 of all non-level-specific challenges with a single character
Cute Loot (15) – Killed a Chubby
Decked Out (25) – Had Purple-rated gear or better equipped in every slot
Definitely An Italian Plumber (15) – Killed Donkey Mong
Did It All (40) – Completed all side missions
Friendship Rules (10) – Revived someone from “Fight for Your Life!” that is on your friends list
Goliath, Meet David (15) – Allowed a Goliath to level up four times before killing him
High-Flying Hurler (10) – Killed a flying enemy with a thrown Tediore weapon
Highlands Explorer (15) – Discovered all named locations in The Highlands, Thousand Cuts, and Wildlife Exploitation Preserve
How Do I Look? (25) – Unlocked 10 customization items
Not Quite Dead (5) – Reached level 5
Phased and Confused (20) – Phaselocked 100 enemies
Sabre Rattler (20) – Killed 100 enemies with the Sabre turret
So Much Blood! (20) – Gunzerked continuously for 90 seconds
Sugar Daddy (10) – Tipped Moxxi $10,000
Token Gesture (20) – Redeemed 25 tokens
Tribute To A Vault Hunter (15) – Got an item from Michael Mamaril
Unseen Predator (20) – Remained in Zero’s Deception mode for ten seconds straight
Up High, Down Low (15) – Gave Claptrap a high five
Urban Explorer (15) – Discovered all named locations in Sanctuary, Opportunity, and Lynchwood
Went Five Rounds (25) – Completed Round 5 of any Circle of Slaughter
World Traveler (50) – Discovered all named locations
Here are the twenty secret achievements you can unlock in Borderlands 2 for the Xbox 360.
A Road Less Traveled (20) – Completed the mission “The Road To Sanctuary”
An Angel’s Wish (25) – Completed the mission “Where Angels Fear To Tread”
An Old Flame (20) – Completed the mission “Hunting The Firehawk”
Bombs Away (20) – Completed the mission “Toil And Trouble”
Can See My House From Here (20) – Completed the mission “Bright Lights, Flying City”
Cool Story, Bro (30) – Defeated Jack
Dragon Slayer (20) – Completed the mission “Best Minion Ever”
Farewell, Old Girl (20) – Completed the mission “Wildlife Preservation”
Feels Like The First Time (10) – Opened the chest at the bus stop in Fyrestone
First One’s Free (10) – Completed the mission “My First Gun”
Got The Band Back Together (20) – Completed the mission “The Once and Future Slab”
Identity Theft (20) – Completed the mission “The Man Who Would Be Jack”
Knowing Is Half The Battle (20) – Completed the mission “Data Mining”
New In Town (20) – Completed the mission “Plan B”
No Man Left Behind (20) – Completed the mission “A Dam Fine Rescue”
Sky’s The Limit (20) – Completed the mission “Rising Action”
Thresher Thrashed (30) – Defeated Terramorphous the Invincible
Well That Was Easy (10) – Completed the mission “Shoot This Guy in the Face”
What does it mean? (15) – I can’t even capture it on my camera
Wilhelm Screamed (20) – Completed the mission “A Train To Catch”
Regular and Secret Trophies List for PS3
Here is the list of trophies in Borderlands 2 for the PS3.
The twenty secret trophies you can unlock are listed at the bottom. Enjoy!
Always Improving (Silver) – Reached level 25
Arctic Explorer (Bronze) – Discovered all named locations in Three Horns, Tundra Express, and Frostburn Canyon
Better Than Money (Bronze) – Purchased 5 items from the black market
Better Than You Were (Bronze) – Reached level 10
Blight Explorer (Bronze) – Discovered all named locations in Eridium Blight, Arid Nexus, and Sawtooth Cauldron
Borderland Defender Round Two (Platinum) – Unlocked all Borderlands 2 trophies
Bounty Hunter (Bronze) – Completed 20 side missions
Build Buster (Bronze) – Killed a Constructor without it ever building another bot
Capped Out…For Now (Silver) – Reached level 50
Challenge Accepted (Gold) – Completed level 1 of all non-level-specific challenges with a single character
Cute Loot (Bronze) – Killed a Chubby
Decked Out (Bronze) – Had Purple-rated gear or better equipped in every slot
Definitely An Italian Plumber (Bronze) – Killed Donkey Mong
Did It All (Silver) – Completed all side missions
Friendship Rules (Bronze) – Revived someone from “Fight for Your Life!” that is on your friends list
Goliath, Meet David (Bronze) – Allowed a Goliath to level up four times before killing him
High-Flying Hurler (Bronze) – Killed a flying enemy with a thrown Tediore weapon
Highlands Explorer (Bronze) – Discovered all named locations in The Highlands, Thousand Cuts, and Wildlife Exploitation Preserve
How Do I Look? (Bronze) – Unlocked 10 customization items
Not Quite Dead (Bronze) – Reached level 5
Phased and Confused (Bronze) – Phaselocked 100 enemies
Sabre Rattler (Bronze) – Killed 100 enemies with the Sabre turret
So Much Blood! (Bronze) – Gunzerked continuously for 90 seconds
Sugar Daddy (Bronze) – Tipped Moxxi $10,000
Token Gesture (Bronze) – Redeemed 25 tokens
Tribute To A Vault Hunter (Bronze) – Got an item from Michael Mamaril
Unseen Predator (Bronze) – Remained in Zero’s Deception mode for ten seconds straight
Up High, Down Low (Bronze) – Gave Claptrap a high five
Urban Explorer (Bronze) – Discovered all named locations in Sanctuary, Opportunity, and Lynchwood
Went Five Rounds (Bronze) – Completed Round 5 of any Circle of Slaughter
World Traveler (Silver) – Discovered all named locations
Here are the twenty secret trophies you can unlock in Borderlands 2 for the PS3.
A Road Less Traveled (Bronze) – Completed the mission “The Road To Sanctuary”
An Angel’s Wish (Silver) – Completed the mission “Where Angels Fear To Tread”
An Old Flame (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Hunting The Firehawk”
Bombs Away (Silver) – Completed the mission “Toil And Trouble”
Can See My House From Here (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Bright Lights, Flying City”
Cool Story, Bro (Gold) – Defeated Jack
Dragon Slayer (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Best Minion Ever”
Farewell, Old Girl (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Wildlife Preservation”
Feels Like The First Time (Bronze) – Opened the chest at the bus stop in Fyrestone
First One’s Free (Bronze) – Completed the mission “My First Gun”
Got The Band Back Together (Bronze) – Completed the mission “The Once and Future Slab”
Identity Theft (Silver) – Completed the mission “The Man Who Would Be Jack”
Knowing Is Half The Battle (Silver) – Completed the mission “Data Mining”
New In Town (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Plan B”
No Man Left Behind (Bronze) – Completed the mission “A Dam Fine Rescue”
Sky’s The Limit (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Rising Action”
Thresher Thrashed (Silver) – Defeated Terramorphous the Invincible
Well That Was Easy (Bronze) – Completed the mission “Shoot This Guy in the Face”
What does it mean? (Bronze) – I can’t even capture it on my camera
Wilhelm Screamed (Bronze) – Completed the mission “A Train To Catch”
