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The Beginner’s Guide to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on NVIDIA SHIELD

Play it now on SHIELD Android TV

The Beginner’s Guide to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on NVIDIA SHIELD
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Now available on Android exclusively for NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the latest entry in the award-winning franchise that centres on Handsome Jack as he leads a quartet of characters on a dangerous new mission to defeat the Lost Legion and save the planet.

The following guide will tell you everything you need to know to get started in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel on SHIELD, which features visuals and gameplay optimised to take full advantage of SHIELD Android TV's Tegra X1 processor.

Warning: the following article contains some spoilers.

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The Story

In this chapter of the ongoing Borderlands saga the action takes place not on Pandora but the off-world on Pandora's moon, Elpis.

Four vault hunters have travelled to Elpis at the behest of Handsome Jack in order to take over a station there that has been overrun by enemy factions.

The Characters

Athena – otherwise known as The Gladiator, she has the ability to generate a temporary shield that reduces any damage inflicted on her.


The shield can be upgraded to turn it into a weapon that she can throw at enemies. Athena is the Captain America of the game, if you will.

Nisha – she first appeared in Borderlands 2 and can increase weapons damage and speed as well as being able to heal and generate shields.

Claptrap – this unusual robot character has the equally unusual ability to generate random effects that, depending on the circumstances, will either help or hinder the party. A bit of a mixed blessing, then.

Wilhelm – he's a mercenary who over the course of the game develops various technological enhancements. He is able to summon drones that perform both offensive and defensive roles.

Low Gravity and Oxygen

Elpis is a moon and as such has much lower gravity than Pandora and this leads to some interesting gameplay quirks.

On the one hand it enables you to perform huge double jumps which, when used in conjunction with the various jump pads scattered around enables you to reach high up places that would otherwise be inaccessible. And there's a lot of lovely loot to be found if you search for it including money, ammo, health kits, weapons and the like.

The low gravity also enables you to engage in more elaborate forms of combat, jumping high to take on flying enemies, strategically leaping over bad guys to attack them from behind and so on.

However, you have a limited supply of oxygen, which depletes more quickly each time you jump. You can replenish oxygen by finding air vents, bubbles and tanks but when in a combat situation always have one eye on your oxygen supply.

Weapons and Combat

This is a multi-layered aspect of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. There are several main weapon types: rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, shotguns, rocket launchers and laser weapons. Each of these has its own strengths and weaknesses be that rapid fire, power or range.

In addition there's an elemental aspect to a weapon's capabilities and these are Shock, which provides an electrical attack, Incendiary which is fire based, Corrosive, Explosive and Cryo.

It's important to experiment against enemies with these weapons and enhancements as they have wildly varying effects on different types of enemies.

Corrosive weapons, for example, are great for degrading heavily armored assailants, whereas Cryo, or ice, weapons can slow down fast-moving attackers.

Levelling Up

There are many ways of levelling up rapidly. But there are a few good, general rules of thumb when it comes to getting stronger and developing your characters.

Explore every nook and cranny for loot. The more you find, the better equipped you will be.

Keep fighting. Every victory, however small, is a route to XP. And where possible, don't run from enemies of a higher experience level.

Obviously taking on bad guys who are well out of your league is a mistake, but take out a few opponents who are technically stronger than you reaps great rewards.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is now available to download on SHIELD Android TV via Google Play for $14.99.