Borderlands 4’s first major DLC, Story Pack 1: Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, launches on March 26, bringing a new Vault Hunter, a new region, new gear, and the long-requested shared progression feature. For anyone who has been following the game’s roadmap, this is the DLC that was promised for Q1 2026, and Gearbox is delivering on schedule.
The star of Story Pack 1 is C4SH the Rogue, the first of two new Vault Hunters coming to Borderlands 4 through paid Story Packs. C4SH is a CasinoBot who won a magical deck of cards in a high-stakes game, and his kit is built around the fantasy of going for broke as a devil-may-care gambler. One of his Action Skills, Sleight of Hand, has him drawing cards from a randomized deck and throwing them to unleash powerful spells. As someone who put a ton of time into the base game’s Vault Hunters, I’m all in on the RNG-driven chaos of C4SH. Gearbox will fully reveal his gameplay, skill trees, and three Action Skills on Monday, March 24. C4SH is playable across the entire game, not just the DLC content, so you can take him through the full campaign from the start.
The DLC takes players to The Whispering Glacier, a frozen region of Kairos centered around a corrupted, labyrinthine fortress ruled by the Black Knight Titan. Think colossal Eridium shards piercing frozen ground, rivers of blood, and pulsating growths of flesh that can be destroyed to unlock new areas and puzzles. Borderlands fans will recognize some returning faces, including Moxxi, Ellie, Mancubus, Pickle, and Crazy Earl, as well as enemies like Kraggons and Scavs from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Two major boss fights and 16 minibosses populate the region, along with DAHL Legion soldiers who abandoned their posts on Elpis.
In terms of loot, Story Pack 1 adds three new Pearlescent weapons, 18 pieces of Legendary gear, and 28 cosmetics. There’s also a new World Boss mechanic where communing with eldritch trees warps you to a nightmarish dimension for a random boss encounter. To access The Whispering Glacier, you’ll need to complete the “A Lot to Process” mission in the Fadefields, and the content is recommended for level 13 or higher. If you own Story Pack 1, you can also roll a new Vault Hunter that skips directly to the DLC content at level 13.
Alongside the DLC, a free Major Update introduces shared progression, so new characters on the same account will gain access to map progression, SDU tokens, Hover Drives, cosmetics, and activity progression. That’s been one of the community’s most requested features, and it’s a welcome addition for anyone who wants to run through the game again with C4SH without redoing everything from scratch. Cross-platform saves are still in the works for a later update.
Story Pack 1 is included in the Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition and the Vault Hunter Pack, or it can be purchased individually. Gearbox has plenty more planned for 2026, including additional raids, Bounty Packs 3 through 5, and a second Story Pack with another new Vault Hunter. The Fishing Skill is also coming in April, because it wouldn’t be a modern game without fishing. As I said in my Borderlands 4 review, if you’ve got longtime vault-hunting friends, there’s still plenty of lootin’, shootin’, and laughin’ to be had, and C4SH looks like he’ll add a whole new layer of chaos to the formula.
