Honestly I'm a completionist at heart and Borderlands 4 has one of the more reasonable achievement lists I've seen from Gearbox — none of the achievements require you to beat the game on the hardest difficulty or complete absurd challenges like "kill 10,000 enemies with a white-rarity weapon" that BL3 had, the achievement list is well-balanced between story progression combat challenges and collectible hunting, here's the full list of all 48 achievements with tips for unlocking each one quickly
Achievement Breakdown
There are 48 achievements in the base game (plus 12 additional achievements from the DLCs), the base game achievements break down into roughly: 12 story achievements that unlock naturally through the campaign, 8 combat/challenge achievements that require specific kill types or combat feats, 6 collectible achievements for finding logs chests and named locations, 4 class-specific achievements for using each Vault Hunter's action skill in specific ways, 4 coop achievements for playing with friends, 3 endgame achievements for completing Mayhem Takedowns and Circles of Slaughter, and 11 miscellaneous achievements for various activities
Story Achievements (Auto-Unlock)
These 12 achievements are unlocked simply by progressing through the main story and you cannot miss them even on a casual playthrough:
| Achievement | Unlock Condition | Gamerscore |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome to Pandora | Complete the Droughts tutorial section | 20 |
| Sanctuary Bound | Reach Sanctuary III for the first time | 20 |
| Vault Hunter Initiate | Unlock your first action skill augment | 20 |
| Promethea Rising | Complete the Promethea story arc | 30 |
| Eden-6 Explorer | Complete the Eden-6 story arc | 30 |
| Nekrotafeyo Secrets | Complete the Nekrotafeyo story arc | 30 |
| Family Reunion | Complete the Vault Hunter's personal story quest | 30 |
| Vault Conqueror | Complete the main story campaign | 50 |
| True Vault Hunter | Complete True Vault Hunter Mode (any VH) | 40 |
| Mayhem Maestro | Complete any activity on Mayhem 10 or higher | 40 |
| Circle Complete | Complete any Circle of Slaughter (all 5 rounds) | 30 |
| Takedown Specialist | Complete either Takedown on any difficulty | 50 |
Tricky Achievements and How to Get Them
Most achievements are straightforward but there are a handful that might trip you up without the right approach:
"Kill Clip" — Kill 5 enemies with a single magazine without reloading
This is easy on Moze with a Bottomless Mags build since you can shoot for 30+ seconds without reloading, but if you're on any other Vault Hunter use a high-magazine Vladof assault rifle or a Tediore weapon with the "shoot until empty then throw" reload mechanic, the Tediore method counts the shots before the throw so you can get the achievement naturally by just emptying a Tediore SMG into a crowd.
"Elemental Mastery" — Kill an enemy with each element type within 30 seconds
This requires you to have weapons of all 5 elements (fire, shock, corrosive, cryo, radiation) equipped and switch between them to get a kill with each within 30 seconds, the easiest place to get this is the Slaughter Shaft where there are enough weak enemies in a confined area, or you can use the Fight For Your Life mechanic to keep a single enemy alive while switching weapons. Slot all 5 elements, find a group of basic bandits, and cycle through your weapons.
"Tinkerer" — Craft 25 weapons at the Gunsmith Workshop
This requires progression through the Gunsmith's Apprentice side quest chain to unlock the crafting bench, after that you just need to craft 25 weapons which requires Salvaged Parts, you can farm parts by breaking down unwanted purple+ rarity weapons at the salvage station, the fastest method is to farm Graveward for legendaries and break down everything that isn't a god roll.
"Friendship Rules" — Complete a Takedown with a full 4-player party without anyone going down
This is the hardest achievement in the game and the one that will probably take you the longest, the best strategy is to do the Maliwan Blacksite (easier than Guardian Takedown) on Mayhem 1 with a coordinated group using Transformer shields, communication is key — assign roles, call out enemy positions, and have a dedicated revive plan for emergencies. There's no shame in dropping to Mayhem 1 for this achievement because the difficulty scaling doesn't affect the achievement unlock.
Collectible Achievements
"Typhon's Legacy" — Find all 38 Typhon Logs
This is the most time-consuming collectible achievement in the game and it requires visiting every named location on every planet. Use the in-game map to track your progress per planet. The logs on Nekrotafeyo are the hardest to find because the map is the largest and most vertical. Check our Typhon Drops guide for exact locations of every log.
"Fast Traveler" — Discover all fast travel locations
This achievement requires you to physically visit every fast travel station on every planet. Many of them are hidden behind side quests or exploration off the main story path. Refer to our fast travel guide for a complete list. The most commonly missed station is the Pyre of Stars on Promethea which requires progressing through the DLC area.
"Chest Hoarder" — Open 100 red chests
This accumulates across all your characters so you don't need to do it on a single save, the fastest method is the Voracious Canopy red chest run where you can get 6 chests in 3 minutes, that's about 50 minutes of chest runs for the achievement. Combine this with the Typhon Log farming on Eden-6 since they share the same planet.
Class-Specific Achievements
Each Vault Hunter has one unique achievement that requires using their action skill in a specific way, these are easier to unlock during normal gameplay than you might think:
C4SH: "Turret Master" — Have 3 turrets active simultaneously (requires the Dual Turret augment and a cooldown reduction build, toss your turret pick it up before it expires toss again and the third comes from the augment). Vex: "Phase Walker" — Phase through 5 enemies in a single Phasewalk activation (requires the Phasewalker augment and a group of tightly-packed enemies). Rafa: "Beastmaster's Call" — Have your pet revive you 3 times in a single fight (requires the pet revive skill and a tough boss that downs you repeatedly). Amon: "Enforcer" — Kill 10 enemies within 10 seconds of deploying your shield (use the shield's damage augment and a high-damage weapon, Slaughter Shaft is ideal).
DLC Achievements
Each of the four story DLCs adds 3 achievements for a total of 12 additional achievements and 250 extra Gamerscore, these are generally easier than the base game's hardest achievements and include things like completing the DLC story, defeating the DLC boss on Mayhem 11, and finding all collectibles in the DLC area. For 100% completion on Xbox you need 1,350 Gamerscore base + 250 DLC = 1,600 total
Platinum Trophy Strategy (PlayStation)
To get the Platinum trophy on PlayStation you need all base game trophies (48 total), the hardest trophies are "Friendship Rules" (Takedown with no downs) and "Elemental Mastery" (all 5 elements in 30 seconds), plan to get these last after you have a fully optimized build, the rest can be obtained during normal gameplay or with a few hours of focused grinding
Honestly the BL4 achievement list is one of the most reasonable Gearbox has ever made and a 100% completion is achievable within 80-120 hours of play, the only achievement that truly requires luck is "Elemental Mastery" if you don't have all element types available, and "Friendship Rules" which requires finding three competent teammates, everything else is just a matter of playing the game thoroughly and chasing collectibles with our guides