Still here? Good. Here are some tips to level up to 50 efficiently and without much wasted time. 

Prioritize The Campaign

Not only does the campaign pack the biggest and most frequent experience rewards, but playing it unlocks extra abilities and gear slots you’ll want sooner than later. This one’s a given, but you won’t be at the game’s level cap by just doing the campaign. Here’s why…

Keep An Eye Out For Collectibles

While running about the map, be sure to zig-zag and have a look-see around uncharted territory, if only to reveal more of it and in turn more collectibles. Each pumps out a decent experience bonus, so make a pitstop when sensible.

Don’t Find The Collectibles All At Once

More one-off fights and doodads get tossed into each zone after a certain point in the story, so cleaning up a zone early on won’t actually clean up the zone. It’s more efficient to complete everything once it’s all been unlocked to avoid retreading the same ground and wasting precious leveling time.

Save Some Sidequests For Later

Like we said before, all of them will be at level 30 once you finish the main campaign in Normal mode. Some sidequests reward weapons with stats rolled at your current level. Choose the ones you can do first for now, at least the ones at your current level.

To make sure they’re not instantly useless, it’s best to save those sidequests for the path from level 40 to 50. Besides, sidequests will continually match your level once you’ve finished the campaign. Maximize their benefits by saving them for last.

Look For Artifacts With Experience Bonuses

It takes a while to unlock the ability to equip artifacts. Once you do, the opportunity for XP bonuses rears its head. Try your best to prioritize artifact with a percentage bonus to experience. Every bit helps in the slow trek from 30 to 50.

Farm The Endgame Trials

With the campaign wrapped, some infinitely repeatable quests become available. You’ll find the trials at old locations, so scoop them up while cleaning up sidequests and collectibles.

Finishing them quickly yields better rewards, but it’ll take some work. Each trial specializes in different enemy factions and environments, throwing a ton of the toughest goons in the game at you before wrapping with a stubborn boss. Master them for loot and experience.

Have A High-Level Friend On Board

When all else fails, use this tried-and-true tactic from past games; get an overleveled player on-board.

Co-op play with a high-level friend in their campaign will really juice the experience gain, doling out level-ups every few minutes if the gulf between you and them is large enough. Granted, this means you’ll likely see quests and locations you haven’t unlocked yet, so it’s best to save friend-leveling for quickly powering up a second, third, or fourth character.

Just make sure to toggle co-opetition mode on.

Toggle Mayhem Mode

Mayhem Mode is a toggle you can enable or disable at any time to increase the difficulty and ensuing rewards once you’ve finished the campaign. With three levels of difficulty to work through, Mayhem Mode pairs well with the endgame trials as a precursor to a second playthrough in True Vault Hunter Mode.

By then, you’ll be in the same endgame grind like everyone else, which comes equipped with that endless thirst for a higher Guardian Rank and slightly better gear from here into infinity. Or the next DLC.

Go To The Official Discord Channel

Finished the story campaign, but want to power on through? Then go look for group (LFG) in the official Borderlands 3 Discord channel. Once you’ve picked your system in the #get-roles-here page, you can start looking for games on the respective LFG section.

You’ll find lots of people willing to lend a helping hand be it getting loot from the Slaughterstar 3000 gauntlet or just power levelling via Graveborn farming.