When should I do the DLCs?

[Dio Aloke]

I never played the DLCs when they came and now I want to try them. When should I do them? After the campaign? What level should I be?

[Logan]

You play them after main campaigns if you go by storyline. Level? The weakest one (Dr.Ned) requires 15th, the best (Armory) 35th so...

[Sombrero]

I would love to know as well. Because I remember from experience that the first game was particularly bad when it comes to DLC and levels.

Basically from what I remember doing it after the main campaign in normal difficulty make them way too easy and un-rewarding but you can't do it from the start either. There's like a sweet spot or something (but then the main campaign becomes too easy).

I may misremember but I'm pretty sure it's a big issue. This gets better in higher difficulties because then everything scales to max level but on normal it's quite difficult to keep everything at your level and enjoy everything on one playthrough sadly.

[kanonkessen]

I would recommend playing the game in that order :

Playthrough 1, kill the end game boss (~lvl 36)
Playthrough 2, kill the end game boss (around lvl 50-52)
DLC3 (Armory of General Knoxx) which does not scale to your level, finish it and xp to level 69 (max level)
DLC1 Zombie
DLC4 ClapTrap last to wrap up the story.

DLC2 (Moxxie's Underdome) can be played whenever you want

If you don't want to do the second playthrough, do DLC1 & 3 in whatever order after the main campain, and DLC4 Claptrap last. Monsters will be hugely underleveled compared to you though.

[Sombrero]

Originally posted by kanonkessen:

I would recommend playing the game in that order :

Playthrough 1, kill the end game boss (~lvl 36)
Playthrough 2, kill the end game boss (around lvl 50-52)
DLC3 (Armory of General Knoxx) which does not scale to your level, finish it and xp to level 69 (max level)
DLC1 Zombie
DLC4 ClapTrap last to wrap up the story.

DLC2 (Moxxie's Underdome) can be played whenever you want

If you don't want to do the second playthrough, do DLC1 & 3 in whatever order after the main campain, and DLC4 Claptrap last. Monsters will be hugely underleveled compared to you though.

Thanks a lot. I think I'll follow your advices. I did remember on my last playthrough ages ago that I entered the zombie DLC and was so much higher level than everything.

I wish the remaster would fix that and have a scaling system on DLC.

[Dio Aloke]

Thanks for the replies! I'm planning to play all the games, so I don't think I'll do a 2nd playthrough

[Sombrero]

Originally posted by Dio Aloke:

Thanks for the replies! I'm planning to play all the games, so I don't think I'll do a 2nd playthrough

If you do only one playthrough you won't be max level and won't have the full experience of the game either. The first playthrough isn't that long either the game is meant to be played several "times". I get where you're coming from but it's a bit silly to miss out on endgame content because you want to rush to the other games.

[Dio Aloke]

I get what you're saying Sombrero. I almost never did co-op too which is one of the focus of the game, but I wonder if there's still people playing it... and at what level of skill

[LoliNoxTan]

I'll also do one playthrough. I remember playing the game to death on the 360 when it first released, but I never got around to the DLC

[=Axton=]

So we should not play them in chronological order?
https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Add-on_content
The store page says Knoxx adds 10 more levels, so wouldn't that need to be done before you max out in PT1?
Sorry it's been a while I forget how this worked, maybe there is no way to beat them in PT1 because of the level 50 cap(?)

[RS Faria]

Originally posted by =Axton=:

So we should not play them in chronological order?
https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Add-on_content
The store page says Knoxx adds 10 more levels, so wouldn't that need to be done before you max out in PT1?
Sorry it's been a while I forget how this worked, maybe there is no way to beat them in PT1 because of the level 50 cap(?)

The extra levels are added to the game, as a whole.. You'll get them, whatever the path you choose.. And, there's 4 extra skill points, that are given in Moxxi's and Claptrap's DLCs, one per playthrough..

[X-Vector]

Originally posted by =Axton=:

So we should not play them in chronological order?
https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Add-on_content

That's the order of release, the chronological story order is as follows: https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Borderlands_Official_Timeline

Originally posted by Sombrero:

The first playthrough isn't that long either the game is meant to be played several "times".

Depends on the player.

I'm 48 hours in on my first playthrough (as Mordecai) and I just got past Baron Flynt.
That means total playing time will probably end up around 55 hours.
Considering I own all three Borderlands games (plus Enhanced) and I'm typically interested in all characters apart from brute force melee types, that means 11x55 = 605 hours for PT1 alone.
Double that for PT2 and I'd have to spend 1200 hours to play all classes twice before even starting the DLC missions.

Of course everyone's free to mix it up a little and focus on finishing a specific character first (which I plan to do) and subsequent playthroughs will likely be more streamlined, but it'd still a sizeable time investment if I would want to do it all or even 'just' most of it.