How to unlock all Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode ranks in Borderlands 4

Borderlands 4 has some pretty shabby UI, from its clunky inventory to lots of visual clutter, but the Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode unlock challenges take the cake. UVHM is an endgame feature that cranks up the difficulty, and despite it being the main goal once you beat the campaign, there's no clear path to progress through the ranks.

You'll unlock UVH 1 automatically once you complete the campaign and the short introductory Ultimate Vault Hunter missions, which involve learning about Firmware, tracking down Maurice's Black Market location, and beating a Wildcard Mission. It's heavily tutorialised, but once that's out of the way, you're left to your own devices. So, here's exactly what you need to do to unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter 2 and beyond.

How to unlock all Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode ranks in Borderlands 4

There are currently five Ultimate Vault Hunter ranks for you to progress through, with at least one more coming in the first Invincible Boss free content update at the end of the year.

To reach a new Ultimate Vault Hunter rank, you need to complete the associated handful of challenges and then beat a Wildcard Mission given to you by Lilith. You can track your progress in the Challenges tab of the Missions menu, though again, it's not obvious what you actually need to tick off.

In between each rank, I recommend working on your builds, farming for new gear and levelling up your specialisations, especially as you'll unlock new Firmware as you rank up. Each UVH rank increases the difficulty, and Wildcard Missions can already be tricky, so you'll need the leg up.

Ultimate Vault Hunter 1

You'll unlock Ultimate Vault Hunter 1 by finishing the main campaign and completing the following tutorialised follow-up missions:

1. Ultimate Vault Hunter: Zane's Firmware
2. Ultimate Vault Hunter: Maurice's Bounty
3. Ultimate Vault Hunter: Big Encore
4. Ultimate Vault Hunter: Wildcard Missions

Once you've unlocked the UVHM system, you can enable, disable, or increase your level via the Session Settings when you pause the game.

From this point onwards, all Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode challenges must be completed on the highest rank you've unlocked so far. So, you need to remain on UVH 1 to unlock rank 2, UVH 2 to unlock rank 3, and so on.

Ultimate Vault Hunter 2

To reach UVH 2, you need to complete the following challenges:

• Song's Over: Kill Bramlesong in the Bittervein abandoned Auger mine in Stoneblood Forest, Terminus Range.
• Bio Break: Kill Bio-Bulkhead in the Synthetic Nave in Dissected Plateau, Fadefields.
• Omega 86'd: Kill Bio Armoured Thresher, the final boss of the One Gassy Issue side mission. You can start this by speaking to Beth in the north of the Lakeside Properties area in the Fades District of Dominion.
• No Points Awarded: Kill Sydney Pointylegs in The Prospects Ripper drill site east of Horace's Oversight in Hungering Plain, Fadefields.

Then, you need to speak to Lilith to start the Rush The Gate Wildcard Mission. Complete it to tick off the Ultimater Vault Hunter challenge and unlock UVH 2.

Ultimate Vault Hunter 3

In UVH 2, you'll have to complete the following challenges to unlock UVH 3:

• Now Who's Gonna Watch This Core: Kill Core Observer in the Blacklime Bunker, west of Horace's Oversight and Shut-Eye Keep safehouse, in The Howl, Fadefields.
• Pelted: Kill Shadowpelt in the Whistler's Maw abandoned Auger mine, east of The Goredello, north of Reliquary silo, in Cuspid Climb, Terminus Range.
• So I Felt Like: Kill Rocken Roller in the Trinket Crevass abandoned Auger mine, near the centre of the Ruined Sumplands, Carcadia Burn.
• Blasted Furnace: Kill Frank the Furnace (one of the Foundry Freaks) in The Pitted Stain Ripper drill site in Idolator's Noose, Fadefields.

Beat these, and then return to Lilith yet again to do the His Vile Sanctum Wildcard Mission to complete the More Ultimater Vault Hunter challenge and officially progress to UVH 3.

Ultimate Vault Hunter 4

You need to beat the following challenges in UVH 3 to access the next Wildcard Mission and reach UVH 4:

• Draggin' Wagon: Kill Battle Wagon in The Lowering March Ripper drill site in central Stoneblood Forest, north of Snowy Wells safehouse, Terminus Range.
• But What If…You Were the Fake?: Kill Mimicron in the Tipping Point Order bunker near Wyclef's Reprieve in Idolator's Noose, Fadefields.
• Who Named This Guy: Kill The Immortal Boneface in The Old Scrape Ripper drill site near the Reliquary silo in Cuspid Climb, Terminus Range.
• Bloom Boom: Kill Skull Orchid in the Embossed Fault abandoned Auger mine south of Rustical Hurl silo in Grindstone of the Worthy, Carcadia Burn.

Return to Lilith to do the Her Flaming Vision Wildcard mission and complete it to beat the Even More Ultimater Vault Hunter challenge and unlock UVH 4.

Ultimate Vault Hunter 5

To unlock the final rank, UVH 5, you need to beat the following challenges, which are all amped up versions of the vaults (which you must've already completed, so use our vault key fragment locations guide if you haven't):

• The Inception: Complete the Primordial Vault: Fadefields.
• The Origin: Complete the Primordial Vault: Terminus Range.
• The Base: Complete the Primordial Vault: Carcadia Burn.

Once those three challenges have been completed, return to Lilith for a final time to take on The Timekeeper's Order Wildcard Mission and progress into Ultimate Vault Hunter 5. This will also mark off the final challenge, Super Ultimater Vault Hunter.