Borderlands 3: Guardian Rank Guide and How It Works

The Guardian Rank in Borderlands 3 is similar to how Badass work in Borderlands 2, but there are a few new changes to the overall design.

Borderlands 3 wants to keep you going, even when you finish the game’s main campaign. A way the developers have done so is with the concept of Guardian Ranks. You’re going to unlock these when you finish the main campaign story, and these are going to unlock. Here’s what they do.

Guardian Rank Guide for Borderlands 3

They work similarly to the Badass Ranks, for those who played Borderlands 2. However, unlike Badass Ranks, Guardian Ranks unlock after you’ve completed the game’s main story. With Badass Ranks, you could place points you got from achievements, and by playing the game whenever you got them. Despite this minor change, they work the same. Guardian Ranks are points you can put into a list of passives, giving you better overall stats when doing specific actions.

When you reach the end of the game, you’re going to get a brand new bar on top of your experience points one. This new bar is the Guardian Rank bar, and it’s going to fill up similarly to the experience points, except it’s going to give you Guardian Tokens, which are what you’re going to use to level up the various Guardian Rank trees.

There are three different trees in the Guardian Ranks: Enforcer, Survivor, and Hunter. Here are the various passives for each one:

Enforcer:

• Critical Damage
• Grenade Damage
• Gun Damage
• Gun Fire Rate
• Melee Damage
• Vehicle Damage

Survivor:

• FFYL (Fight For Your Life) Duration
• FFYL (Fight For Your Life) Movement Speed
• Max Health
• Shield Capacity
• Shield Recharge Delay
• Shield Recharge Rate

Hunter:

• Accuracy
• Action Skill Cooldown
• Luck (Rare Drop Rate)
• Recoil Reduction
• Reload Speed

Each of the passives is going to give your character increased skills in combat, protecting themselves, and even loot drops. Those who forget to drop points into the Luck passive under Hunter are not playing a Borderlands game correctly.

You have the option to place your Guardian Rank points all over the place, not focusing on an individual tree. However, you’re going to miss out on some buffs if you go with this method. To properly optimize this system, you’re going to want to focus on a particular tree and steadily put points into one of the three options. When you put in enough points, you’re going to receive an overall passive to increase your character’s skills dramatically. You’re going to receive bonuses for placing 10, 15, 25, 35, 50, and 75 tokens into a single tree.

When you beat the game, find the appropriate tree that’s going to fit your character and your overall playstyle. Doing so is going to drive your overall progression at the end of the game. Good luck, Vault Hunters.