Similar to its predecessor, Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter with elements drawn from role-playing video games. Four playable character classes are available in the base game, each with their own unique Action Skill: Axton, "the Commando", can summon a turret to provide offensive support. Maya, "the Siren", can "phaselock" enemies by trapping them in a sphere of energy for a few seconds. Zer0, "the Assassin", can temporarily become invisible and spawn a hologram decoy to distract enemies. Salvador, "the Gunzerker", can use his titular ability to temporarily dual-wield weapons. Action Skills have a cooldown time during which the player must wait before they can use the skill again.[6] Similarly to the original, completing the main story campaign unlocks "True Vault Hunter Mode", a New Game Plus which increases the difficulty of the game by making enemies stronger, improves the probability of finding rare and higher-quality items, and allows the player's character to reach level 50.[7]
Weapons can be bought from vendors, picked up from fallen enemies, and found inside containers.[8][9] The game features six weapon types—pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and rocket launchers—with a procedurally generated loot system capable of generating numerous variations of these and other gear.[10] The in-game manufacturers of the weapons provide them with distinct characteristics.[11] Each weapon also has different stats and properties, such as producing different damage and having varying accuracy, fire rate, reload speed, and magazine size. A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item.[8] Some weapons are infused with additional elemental effects that deal extra damage to enemies.[12] In addition, players can collect mods which would alter the stats of grenades and Action Skill,[8] and Relics, which are rare items that can change any gameplay aspect.[13] Players need to manage their inventory regularly as they cannot equip all the weapons they have collected.[8]
The player is protected by a shield, which can automatically regenerate from damage. If the shield is destroyed, the player's health would start to deplete. Insta-Health vials can be picked up to restore health.[8] If they lose all their health, they enter a downed state and must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind". Otherwise, they will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed.[14] As the player completes missions and kills enemies, they gain corresponding rewards such as experience points (XP) and new weapons. Once they gain enough XPs, they level up, which unlocks new skill points to upgrade abilities.[8] Each Vault Hunter can progress in three different skill trees after unlocking the basic class-specific Action Skill.[15] In addition, levelling up increases the maximum health capacity and unlocks new weapons, some of which cannot be used until the player reaches a certain level.[8]
As the player explores and completes missions, new areas of the game world are unlocked. The game has a semi open world structure, as the world is divided into several sections which can be freely explored.[16] In each area, different non-playable characters are encountered who provide side missions for the players.[17] Players can spawn vehicles in order to quickly traverse some areas.[18] The in-game currency can be collected from loot drops, loot containers, completing missions, and selling unwanted equipment, and can be used to purchase items from vending machines. Players can also gather Eridium bars, a new currency for purchasing storage upgrades and other premium items.[8] A major addition to the game is the "Badass Rank" system; completing various in-game challenges award points, which convert into tokens that can be redeemed to increase the base stats of the player's characters. When exploring the world, players can access certain New-U stations in order to fast travel, and Quick-Change machines allow players to customize their avatar's look, clothing and name.
The game supports four-player cooperative multiplayer, though the PlayStation Vita version only supports two players. As more players join a session, the game's difficulty increases along with the loot rewards. Players can trade items and cash, or can duel for the agreed-upon stakes. The game also features split-screen multiplayer.
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