#Vault Hunting 101: Borderlands 2 Basics for New Players
Part 4 of your spoiler-free guide to characters, gear, loot, quests, and skills for your first play-through, covering End of the Line to Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.
Continuing the Normal Vault Hunter Mode (NVHM) play-through from parts 1-3 of this guide. As before, cyan headings denote missions, while other colours denote main sections, gear and weapons, or skills entries. If you find any errors, parts that are unclear, or just have a question, highlight the relevant bit and hit the “quote reply” button to post a message; I’ll try and respond to everything in a timely manner.
Special thanks to the following for comments and corrections: @Gulfwulf, @anon13808724, @Worblehat, @Carlton_Slayer, @kuhchung
###Outline:
##Rising Action
Big. Deep. Breaths.
OK, so now we’re over that shock, it’s time to move on. Head on out through the map transition back to Three Horns Divide. You might as well beat up the bandits at the gate, then grab a vehicle from the Catch-A-Ride. If you picked up Mine All Mine, make for the Fast Travel at Snowbound Crossroads and head back to Tundra Express. Otherwise, make a beeline for the map transition to Three Horns Valley and the Happy Pig Motel.
##Tundra Express (2)
- Side quests:
- Mine All Mine (lvl.14)
- Pretty Good Train Robbery (lvl.14)
###Mine All Mine
Once back in Tundra Express, make for the map marker and the Mount Molehill Mine. Make sure you trigger the New-U save point just outside the gate. Work your way in, and clear all the miners from the camp. Note that some of them will actually burrow underground and pop-up behind you, so keep one eye on your mini-map! Once you’ve cleared the lower area, you’ll hear from Lilith; time to find your way up the conveyor belt to the upper level, avoiding the mashers! Clear the top, grab the echo log, and then jump over the side wall and make for Tiny Tina’s.
Hand in to Tina for free eridium, who will offer you The Pretty Good Train Robbery. This mission yields the blue unique grenade mod, the Fuster Cluck. Whether you take this mission or not, I suggest going to the north-west corner of the map to explore Old Man Johnson’s Farm. If you’ve been checking your map, you’ll have noticed that there’s a second Fast Travel on this map, right in the middle of a varkid-infested run-down farm. You’ll need to get into the barn to shut off the electric fence around the farm house (fighting off Buzzards and varkids as you go), then go down to the farm house basement. Unlocking this second Fast Travel is convenient if you want to come back later to complete map challenges.
##Three Horns Valley (2)
- Main story:
- Rising Action (lvl.17)
- Bright Lights, Flying City (lvl.18)
- Side quests:
- The Ice Man Cometh (lvl.15)
When you get to Happy Pig Motel, there will be a new side quest from Claptrap on the Bulletin Board. This will take you back to clear the last major bandit camp in Three Horns Divide. Only do this side quest if you want to, or want to get the last vault symbol on that map.
When you’re ready to continue the main story, keep going past the Happy Pig Motel and the bandit camp beyond it, then look for a path in the rocks to your right. This will take you to one more bandit camp (surprise!) just outside the map transition to The Fridge. Clear the camp, then go to the gateway. Hand in the mission to advance to Bright Lights, Flying City (lvl.18). There will be some dialogue which you should probably wait for; when it’s all done, take the transition to the next map.
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##The Fridge
When you arrive in The Fridge, you’ll start in a room with the map’s Fast Travel station, and some vending machines. There are two doors out: one takes you into the rest of the map, while the other is a map transition to Fink’s Slaughterhouse (more vending machines). This is one of the sudden-death combat arenas in the game, where you can work your way through five rounds of increasingly difficult waves of enemies. The final round reward for Bandit Slaughter is the blue unique assault rifle, the Hail. If you’re going for mission completion, you could attempt at least the first round now, but it will take you a while to get through all five, and it will level you up further than you are already relative to the main story mission and side quests. Your choice!
Opening the door to the Frigid Cleft will trigger more dialogue, and then it’s rat-fighting time! These are the same enemies that you encountered if you took the Splinter Group mission earlier, but they will be higher level and there will be more types. You’ll find yourself working through an abandoned roadway in a deep, wide crevasse, fighting through both rats and rakk.
When you come to the part that looks like the deck of a ship (!) with a loot chest at the end, take a peek into Ice Maw Grotto below. Your target is the pathway down the left-side of this valley, but you’ll also notice a large three-legged critter on the ice. It’s possible to avoid fighting this thing if you stick to the left and are careful not to get knocked onto the ice. Should you find yourself out there, however…
###Combat Basics (4) - Crystalisks
These beasts have three main attacks:
- Their bodies deflect bullets, often right back at you
- The can shoot piles of crystal at you, which explode shortly after landing on the ground
- If you’re in close, they will stomp each leg in turn, releasing a nova blast
To take them down, you have to completely remove the glowing crystals from all three legs. You can use any explosive weapon or grenade for this - they resist other elements - or a non-elemental high fire rate gun. You can also melee their leg crystals directly (any character can do this but Zer0 has it easiest; it’s also easier if you have a bladed weapon equipped!)
If you do go the melee route, watch out for the novas, which will both damage you and throw you back. You’ll quickly catch on to the signal prior to this, so you can time your approach for after the stomp. Keep moving so as not to get hit by the explosions from the crystals. Finally, note that when one leg is depleted of crystals, they will turn to put another leg towards you; this can be slow and in the opposite direction, though, so be prepared to see the odd FFYL and respawn tunnel.
Continue to work your way down the left side until you come to a closed gate blocking your path; the control is to your left. Once open, take the elevator down (or jump if you prefer!). There’s some vending machines at the bottom, and the map transition to the Highlands Outwash.
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##Highlands Outwash
You’ll emerge from a cave, and there will be a dramatic entrance above your head. Go down the obvious path to the nearest building, where you will find the inevitable Fast Travel and vending machines. You’ll get some additional dialogue, but now you’ll have to fight your way through the Highlands in order to get back to Sanctuary. On the way, you get to meet two new types of enemies: stalkers and threshers.
###Combat Basics (5) - Stalkers and Threshers
These are probably my personal most hated enemies in the game, and the worst of all are the rabid stalkers. We’ll take them one at a time.
Stalkers: These @#$%^&* can cloak, due to a gland on their tail (critical hit location!) They are very fast, jump frequently, and attack you with their claws and teeth. Needless to say, getting hit by one of these things deals damage and throws your aim off. Pestilential stalkers have an odd glide path to their jump-melee, making them hard to predict; when they land, they release a lingering corrosive cloud, then rapidly go invisible and run away. Another type throws explosive balls at you, and has a rapid spinning melee-charge attack. Oh, and did I mention that due to the gland, they almost always have shields too? Rabid stalkers are the absolute worst though, since they will rush and pin you if possible, and often come in 2’s and 3’s. They also have smaller tails.
You can throw their melee attacks off somewhat by jumping sideways (or over them slightly to the left or right). NEVER BACKPEDAL: you will rapidly get pinned by 2 or 3 jumping, snarling beasts. Well-placed area-of-effect grenades (e.g. Tesla or fire burst) rocket lauchers, and high fire-rate fast reload shock incendiary and/or explosive weapons are the order of the day. Note that if they take damage while cloaking, a faint blue shape will persist for a short while. They will also be visible as red dots on your minimap, although both Gaige’s Deathtrap and Axton’s turret will fail to track them while cloaked. (Homing grenades will also buzz around helplessly 
)
Threshers: These multi-tentacled critters live underground, but can easily pop up underneath you, throwing you into the air. They will slap you hard with their tentacles, often dealing corrosive, fire, or slag in the process. One type called Wormhole Threshers will activate a singularity to pull you into their spikes. The worst are the badass Pyro Threshers since they are large, resist fire, and launch a fire nova whenever they erupt from underground right underneath you.
Pretty much all threshers have multiple eyes that are critical hit location; some of the larger ones with more tentacles also have glowing joints that you can knock out for second winds. Tactics are much the same as with stalkers: keep moving, strip any shields, and ***burn them with fire!!!***
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###Bright Lights, Flying City
Resuming the main story, work your way along the river valley and then up between the yellow Hyperion buildings, where you’ll also encounter loaders and surveyors. Loot the stalker goo piles along the way, as well as the various boxes and chests. Once you’re ready, descend to the Hyperion Extraction Plant for more dialogue. You’ll need to clear out the Hyperion personnel and robots but, once you’ve done that, follow the hints to get across to the other side of the water.
There’s a very large gate you are obviously meant to pass through; approaching it will open the gate, but also reveal a Constructor and accompanying loaders. I generally try to run through the gate and go to the right, where the New-U save point is located. Alternatively, double-back to the below the transfer crane and exploit the cover there. If you go through the gate, take out the robots right beside you first. Concentrate fire on the Constructor just as you did when rescuing Roland. If you picked up Tina’s Teapot, you should be able to make fairly quick work of the constructor and avoid most of its combat phases.
The heat-seekers and missiles can be a pain, but you can avoid them if you hug close to the wall beside the gate during the salvo; pop out while the Constructor is reloading and blast away. You can avoide the laser beams in the same way. Once it’s dead, Jim, nip back around the gate and scavange as much ammo as you can before making your way to the map marker inside the Orbital Receiving and Processing centre.
If you think that the beacon looks mighty suspcious, sitting right out in the open like that, you’re obviously getting the hang of this game! Time for the Gluttinous Thresher… Oh, and some loaders, because you’ll want cannon-fodder to second-wind off (or just make your life more complicated.) If you have a fire launcher and a shock weapon, it’s possible to complete this very quickly.
If you’re having trouble, use the buildings and crates to the south for cover; it is possible to avoid the tentacles in certain spots. You can also lure it back to the entrance where you fought the constructor and again use the boxes for cover. Once you’re done, clean up and head to the map transition to The Highlands.
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##Overlook
Once in The Highlands, keep right to hit the nearest Catch-A-Ride. From there, peel out left down the hill, across a bridge, veer right and cross through the river, then turn right onto the main road and follow it through the tunnel. Hang sharp left as you come out of the tunnel: you’ll find The Holy Spirits Bar on your left and the town of Overlook straight ahead. You’ll need to leave your vehicle to get into the town; take your time and explore, and hit the vending machines before you follow the next mission instruation, as this will trigger a long fight. You’ll want primarily corrosive gear equipped, with some shock available.
Once you’re ready, place the beacon and take up position. The first wave will arrive mainly at the gate below you, but some loaders will also come up the rear of the buildings on the left. I usually hang at the corner of the main square and snipe as many as possible before they start closing in. You can also try hiding behind the buildings on the right, but you risk going over the cliff or getting stuck in FFYL without anything in sight. Try and conserve your rockets for the Constructors and WAR loaders (although there is an ammo machine on the south-east side of the square). If the beacon gets damaged, ignore all the dire warnings and clear the wave first. There will be three waves in total.
Once everything is done, take your time to grab all the loot and revist the vending machines. The bulletin board will also have a couple of missions for you at this point:
-
Arms Dealing (lvl.18): relic or shield
-
Stalker of Stalkers (lvl.18): shotgun or shield
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##Sanctuary (3)
Once back in Sanctuary, head upstairs in the Crimson Raider’s HQ for some dialogue between Roland and Lilith, then turn the mission in to Roland. This gets you the Storage Deck Upgrade for your fourth weapon slot and advance the story mission to [color=cyan]Wildlife Preservation. More dialogue! Missions galore! I’ve indicated on the following list which side quests I particularly like on account of specific rewards 
- Sir Hammerlock:
-
Slap-Happy (lvl.20) in Highlands Outwash: blue unique Tediore shotgun the Octo
-
Perfectly Peaceful (lvl.19-30) in Caustic Caverns: eridium DO NOT accept this if you want the Safe & Sound mission reward at a higher level
- also discoverable: Minecart Mischief (lvl.19)
- Tannis,
-
Hidden Journals (lvl.16) in The Highlands: eridium
- unlocks Torture Chairs (lvl.25) (but ignore the level requirement!)
-
Doctor’s Orders (lvl.19) in the WEP: relic or pistol
- Marcus
-
Safe and Sound (lvl.19-30) in Sanctuary Hole/Caustic Caverns: relic or the unique shotgun, Miss Moxxi’s Heartbreaker DO NOT accept if you want the reward at a higher level.
- Bulletin board:
- Ellie’s Clan War: Starting the War (lvl.18) in The Dust: weapon
- Mordecai’s The Good, the Bad, and the Mordecai (lvl.13) in The Dust: the relic Moxxi’s Endowment
- also unlocks access to Mobley and Gettle, repeatable spawns who each have a chance to drop a legendary item (the Veruc AR and White Death sniper, respectively.)
- Marshall Friedmen:
-
Won’t Get Fooled Again (lvl.16) in Sanctuary: unique Jakob’s pistol the Law
- Claptrap:
-
Claptrap’s Birthday Bash (lvl.16) in Sanctuary: weapon
- Scooter:
-
Swallowed Whole (lvl.19 in The Fridge: cash & XP
-
The Cold Shoulder (lvl.19) in The Fridge: skin
- unlocks another discoverable mission: Look for the echo!
-
The Overlooked: Medicine Man (lvl.18) in Overlock: skin
- unlocks related missions Shields Up (shield or SMG) and This Is Only A Test (Torgue shield the Deadly Bloom)
In addition, if you didn’t take the two side quests in The Dust earlier, these will now be level 19 (although you can let them level up all the way to 30 if you want to.) The missions in Caustic Caverns will also level up if you don’t accept them now, meaning that you can get the quest rewards at a higher level if you wait.
A few additional notes:
-
Perfectly Peaceful, Minecart Mischief, and Safe and Sound can conveniently be done simultaneously; to get the Heartbreaker, turn the mission in to Moxxi, not Marcus.
- I would only do the mission to get Moxxi’s Endowment if you are really struggling in your first play-through, and feel the need to level up faster.
-
Swallowed Whole and The Cold Shoulder can also be done together easily.
-
Stalker of Stalkers, The Overlooked, and Hidden Journals are convenient to do simultaneously; I often do the map challenges and Slap-Happy with them.
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##Caustic Caverns
Since you’ll probably want to do at least one of the side quests in Caustic Caverns, here’s a short description of one method for doing all three efficiently at the same time. There will be one more side quest that will bring you here, but it won’t unlock until later and you’ll probably want the reward from Perfectly Peaceful sooner rather than later in NVHM because it’s seriously awesome! Make sure you pick up both Safe and Sound and Perfectly Peaceful before leaving Sanctuary for Three Horns Divide.
###Safe and Sound:
Take a vehicle from beside the Fast Travel back to where Sanctuary was, and pass through the map transition to Sanctuary Hole. There’s a New-U save point and vending machines just inside the gate. You’ll need to go left just past these and start threading your way up through the wreckage. The rough terrain and frequent rebar and girders sticking out all over make this hard, since your character will often get stuck on a piece of terrain. This is particularly annoying when under fire! If this happens you’ll have to back up slightly and jump forward or sideways. Eventually, you’ll work your way through an elevator, a building, and another elevator until you reach the map transition for Caustic Caverns. Head on through, where you’ll find yourself inside a chamber with a Fast Travel and more vending machines.
Open the door into Oozing Discharge and take out the varkids. (Yes, those things again; remember that the pod up to evolve, so keep your eays and eyes open!) The first echo for Perfectly Peaceful is past the large dump truck in front of you, just before the footbridge across the corrosive ooze, to the left. You’ll have to detour across the corrosive ooze; jump from island to island, fighting off the crystalisks that spawn along the way. Head towards the waypoint up a hill, through a cave, and out the other side to find Marcus’ safe. You’ll need to defeat the repeatable boss Blue, who has a chance to drop the legendary shield the Fabled Tortoise. Go around the headland and back across the corrosive ooze to the hut you can see on the far side at Rumbling Shore. Make sure you trigger the New-U save point inside the hut and grab the ammo, then switch mission.
###Perfectly Peaceful:
Fight through the threshers and enter the Infested Warehouse (more varkids!)for the second echo; run straight ahead from the entrance and check the second pillar on your right-hand side. Continue straight through and out the far side, and trigger the New-U save point inside a second hut ahead of you, then go to the ! marker downhill to the left to grab the echo that triggers Minecart Mischief. Go back up to the hut (more ammo inside) then turn left and run along the north shore to Guardian Ruins (more crystalisks!). Turn left (south) down towards the rail tracks and work your way along the clifftop to the right until you see a grave below you near the edge of the map. Jump down to grab the third echo, then fight your way up hill under the tracks and bear left to come back up on top of them.
###Minecart Mischief:
Head west along tracks to the minecart waypoint at far end of the tracks. (There’s an easter egg area just to the north-west of this spot). Push the cart along the track until you reach airlock 1, open it, then pass through the tunnel. You’ll have plenty of threshers, crystalisks and varkids along the way. Enter a long tunnel at airlock 2 and keep fighting/pushing your way in. There’s a door on your left just before airlock 3 which opens to a small chamber with lockers and a vending machine.
Pass through airlock 3 into the lower section of the Infested Warehouse. Push the minecart and contents until they drop onto a conveyor belt. Pull the lever to activate the belt and crusher, and defend yourself! Once the process is complete, pick up the pieces and turn in at the ? marker. Note: If you get knocked down onto the conveyor, jump down to the lowest level and head to the right for a ladder to bring you back up again.
Perfectly Peaceful Resumed:
Explore the upper level for loot, then head down to the lowest level. Take the door to a passage that leads into Dahl Deep Core 06. BEFORE you pick up the fourth echo, poke your head ourside into the Nether Hive to complete the optional challenge to kill spiderants. Once you’re done and have the last echo, ascend the ladder all the way up and exit through the gift shop, er, courtyard to get back to the Fast Travel and Sanctuary. Turn in Perfectly Peaceful to Sir Hammerlock. To get the Heartbreaker, turn the Safe and Sound in to Moxxi.
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##Wildlife Exploitation Preserve
Once you’ve taken the map transition from The Highlands (near the Isotope Reclamation Tower) to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, you’ll find yourself at the map’s Fast Travel and vending machines. Once you’re ready, start pushing down the path ahead of you. You’ll encounter a bunch of stalkers; once you’ve cleared them out with extreme prejudice, head up the rock ramp to the right of the main path, and follow the trail up and around to Casa de Mordecai. You’ll trigger some dialogue and get a mission update; take a look at the map beside Mordecai, then talk to him to advance the mission.
Jump your way down. If you’re doing the map challenges, you’ll want to head up to the lighthouse; otherwise, just head on down to the shipping yard. You’ll need to hit the door button, but it won’t work and so Mordecai comes up with another plan. At this point, you can either go along with the plan (just injure the loaders without killing them) or simply destroy everything: if you don’t get the door open after a certain time, the event you’re waiting for triggers anyway (plus, you get more XP this way.) If you’re trying the first route, make sure you land your critical hits to take their arms off so you take less damage, and keep moving!
Next, work your way through massive numbers of Hyperion staff and robots in the Preserve Dockyard unti you reach the Preserve proper. You’ll drop down into the first pen, fight your way through a bunch of skags, and then run up a pipe into the first building.
CAUTION: If you have accepted Doctor’s Orders - and particularly if you are trying to complete all the BAR challenges - I strongly recommend that you DO NOT pick up the quest echo recording just inside the entrance, and be very careful to pick up items from the adjacent ammo crate one at a time (rather than as a “collect all”). You’ll see why later… Also note that, should you be in some-one else’s game, it is considered bad form to pick these echoes up without asking them first. This is not actually that important in NVHM, but it becomes very important in subsequent play-throughs!
The next area is infested with stalkers, rakk, loaders, and more skags. There’s a couple of ways to go here: either straight up the middle, or off to the right to climb the rocks and take the road across the top. You’ll end up in a big mob-fight at the top end either way, but taking the road gives you a little more time if you’re working on your sniper skills. If you’re doing the map challenges, you will want to go down to the right first regardless. On your way up through this region, you’ll get an echo message from Tannis that adds an optional objective to collect slag samples along the way. You can pick these up as you go; just make sure they’re the slag samples and not the Doctor’s Orders echo recordins.
POTENTIAL GLITCH: I’ve seen a number of people get this mission glitched because they took a “short-cut” from this area over the top of the waterfall. Do NOT attempt this on the main story quest - you have been warned!
Push the green button to open the door on the second building, and head inside. Depending on which version of the game you have, you may see the map transition to the Natural Selection Annex, which houses the Creature Slaughter (lvl.22) arena. Round 5 of this gives the unique rocket launcher, Miss Moxxi’s Creamer. The lobby also has a full set of vending machines, so it’s a useful area to duck into and restock.
Clear the building of loaders and stalkers, pushing through the building and the wrecked centrifuge to the plateau beyond. You’ll face lots of loaders and stalkers here; once you clear the key waves, the door of the third building will open to allow a super badass loader to emerge. My personal tactic is to immediately run up onto the plateau on the right as I emerge from the centrifuge. This gives a great view of the whole area, allowing you to see EXP Loaders coming. It’s a good spot to pick off enemies as the loaders and stalkers fight each other, and you can back down if you need to take cover. Another tactic is to use the large plants for cover. Use whatever you have to disable and take down the super badass loader, which clears your way to the Specimen Maintenance building with the holding pens.
Head inside and to the right, follow the marker/prompts into the relevant pen, and pick up the mission item. There’ll be more dialogue, and then you’ll have another critter brawl on your hands. Once things are clear, explore the rooms. The one to the left (as you emerge from the story mission pen) contains four boxes, one of which contains the second Doctor’s Orders echo. Once your action skill is ready to go, and your weapons are all reloaded, carefully open the first box to get a Loot Midget. Kill it, pick up the loot ***being careful not to pick up the echo***, and repeat. You will generally get as many Loot Midgets as there are unclaimed Doctor’s Orders echoes (occasionally one less). One of them just coughed up a legendary Pandemic for me while doing this guide! Now you know why we wanted to save those echoes!
Alright, more stalkers, then up and across to some skags and in to building number four. Head on in, and just follow the only route through the mass of Hyperion personnel and robots. Keep an eye out for slag samples along the way - there are some in specific locations, while others can be dropped by the enemies. At one point, you’ll head up a metal stair case to a long corridor. There is a glowing switch on the end of a row of crates just ahead; activating this will release stalkers to fight everyone else - just in case you wanted a few more of them around! When you’re ready, go right to the end of the building and take the elevator down to the Observation Wing
This next bit is, in terms of story, one of my least favourite parts of the game. Frankly, I think the writer spent too much time reading Harry Potter or something… Anyway: when you first drop down there will be some dialogue and, when you move far enough forward, the big-reveal cut-scene. This will be followed by more dialogue: DO NOT trigger your action skill or start firing until the dialogue has completed - it will not hurt your target until Roland has finished speaking to you.
The fight involves four phases (one for each element) with frequent elemental attacks, dive-bombs, etc. You’ll need to either keep moving or find cover. Mordecai gives call-outs periodically so you know what’s coming, so keep an ear open. You can either stay under the elevator you came down, hang out on the large circular doors at the far end, or work your way around the crates. If it takes you a while to get this done, Mordecai will drop supplies at the curved end of the arena. Unfortunately, these tend to glitch slightly below the surface, so you’ll need to pick them up yourself - no auto-pickup here
Once the fight is over, grab the mission item, head through the doors that just opened, and beat it back to the Fast Travel to Sanctuary. You’ll need to visit Claptrap before turning the mission in to Roland. This will advance the main story to The Once and Future Slab (lvl.20) as well as unlocking Mordecai’s side quests Rakkaholics Anonymous (lvl.19) and Animal Rights (lvl.19).
Time for another break - phew!
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Continued in Part 5: Thousand Cuts to Control Core Angel
