Are there difficulty levels in this game?

[Solar71]

Hey guys.
I'm playing the game in single player with no DLC's, just the vanilla game.
I could not find anywhere a difficulty setting.
Am i just not looking in the correct places?
Thanks

PS: Do you guys turn off the perks to make the game harder?
Thanks again

[『Ｃｒａｗｌｉｎｇ Ｃｈａｏｓ』]

There aren't any difficult levels for new characters, you are automatically playing on "normal mode", once you beat the game, you can go through the whole game again on the True Vault Hunter Mode (Or keep playing Normal, you can change this whenever when selecting your character), if you bought the Ultimate Vault Hunter DLCs you can get a third difficulty setting (UVHM), this is the latest difficulty.

Some players prefer to deactivate their perks, even if it's a small boost I prefeer to keep them.

[Waste_of_skin]

As XXYYXX said, there are no difficulty settings.

When you complete the main story the first time with a character, you unlock a second playthrough named True Vault Hunter Mode (TVHM), for that character. TVHM has all of the same maps and missions, but at a higher level, and the enemies are tougher.

When you complete the main story in TVHM, you unlock a third (and final) playthrough named Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode (UVHM). Once again, it's all of the same maps and missions at a higher level, but the enemies are much tougher, and they always scale to your level (the first two playthroughs don't really scale to your level, so you'll probably be over-leveled for some things at times). UVHM also has a "reset" option that can be used at any time. That erases all UVHM mission progress for that character (in the main game and all DLC), so you start UVHM over, but with your current level, gear, etc. So, you can repeat things in UVHM as many times as you like.

UVHM is free. You don't need to buy any DLC for that. The Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Packs increase your level cap (the base cap is 50, and each Pack adds 11 levels), but they aren't required to play in UVHM. You'll just be limited to level 50 without them.

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/True_Vault_Hunter_Mode

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Ultimate_Vault_Hunter_Mode

If you really want to change the difficulty, I've seen some BL2 mods mentioned, and I guess some of them may let you effectively increase or decrease the difficulty, but BL2 is not made to be modded, so installing any real mods takes some work.

If you specifically want to increase the difficulty, there is a program out there that lets you trick the game into thinking that more people are playing, putting it into co-op mode, where enemies are tougher. Using that program doesn't require any modifications to the game, but it has at least one down side -- Using it means that you can't pause the game (because you can't pause in co-op games).

[Solar71]

thanks you guys. I think im almost done with my first play through.
not sure. but im level 27, so i think im close.
Thanks again!!!

[Starbug]

No fixed character level based difficulty but approx easy, medium and hard goes as follows :

NVHM - Levels 1-29
TVHM - Levels 30-50
UVHM - Levels 50-80 (Inc. the overpowered levels)

[Astro_80 (WASH YOUR HANDS!)]

Originally posted by Solar71:

Hey guys.
I'm playing the game in single player with no DLC's, just the vanilla game.
I could not find anywhere a difficulty setting.
Am i just not looking in the correct places?
Thanks

PS: Do you guys turn off the perks to make the game harder?
Thanks again

tl;dr

First Playthrough - Easy Mode learning the game and it's mechanics etc.
Second Playtrhough (TVHM) - Put what you've learned in the first playthrough into practice
Third Playthrough (UVHM) - Like the second playthrough with significantly tougher challenge, also the use of Slag is a must.

Beyond that, you will need to unlock OP levels 1-8 via Digistruct Peak. This is an addiitional challenge if you feel like it.

[Solar71]

wow this sounds like its gonna be really fun...
Thanks you guys.
PS : im thinking of getting those 2 new characters.
The little girl and the crazy looking guy.
Are those fun to play?
What are they like?
thanks again

[Waste_of_skin]

If you're looking for more of a challenge, then Astro_80 raises a good point with the OP (OverPower) levels. They are effectively character levels 73 - 80 (OP1 = 73, up to OP8 = 80), and you can use OP level gear, but your actual character level stays at 72. This means that you don't get any more skill points for the OP levels, and the enemies get progressively tougher. An enemy that is 3 or more levels above you takes reduced damage, and the larger the gap, the bigger the reduction. At OP8, tougher enemies will be level 82, and while you can use OP8 (level 80) gear, you're still technically level 72, so your damage against them is greatly reduced.

As for the new characters, you can read about their skills here:

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Gaige

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Krieg

[Solar71]

Originally posted by Waste_of_skin:

If you're looking for more of a challenge, then Astro_80 raises a good point with the OP (OverPower) levels. They are effectively character levels 73 - 80 (OP1 = 73, up to OP8 = 80), and you can use OP level gear, but your actual character level stays at 72. This means that you don't get any more skill points for the OP levels, and the enemies get progressively tougher. An enemy that is 3 or more levels above you takes reduced damage, and the larger the gap, the bigger the reduction. At OP8, tougher enemies will be level 82, and while you can use OP8 (level 80) gear, you're still technically level 72, so your damage against them is greatly reduced.

As for the new characters, you can read about their skills here:

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Gaige

https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Krieg

That's awesome actually. Thanks for the info. Im looking forward to it :)

[nanikidbandit.gg]

Originally posted by Solar71:

wow this sounds like its gonna be really fun...
Thanks you guys.
PS : im thinking of getting those 2 new characters.
The little girl and the crazy looking guy.
Are those fun to play?
What are they like?
thanks again

definitely, The "crazy looking guy" is named Phycho/Krieg and the other girl is named Gaige, the mechromancer.

[deepdive0777]

If you ever get to UVHM difficulty not hard enough will be the least of your problems.

[ThatsItIm0ut]

Pretty sure OP has figured this out by now....

Thread started february 2019......

[deepdive0777]

Originally posted by ThatsItIm0ut:

Pretty sure OP has figured this out by now....

Thread started february 2019......

My bad

[76561199418627359]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.