What is Ordinance in Borderlands 4?

Borderlands 4 is an evolution of the beloved looter shooter Gearbox franchise, bringing a suite of new mechanics to the table. From all-new Vault Hunters with never-before-seen skills, to tweaks to weapon systems and loot rarity drop rates, it looks to be the biggest series entry to date. One such new inclusion is a mechanic known as Ordinance.

It aims to solve the age-old Borderlands problem of lugging around heavy weaponry like rocket launchers in combat. Here are the full details.

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How does Ordinance work in Borderlands 4?

Playing with big guns just got more fun (Image via 2K)

Simply put, Ordinance is a dedicated slot for heavy weapons such as grenades and RPGs. In all previous mainline games, these weapon types would take up precious weapon slots. They were primarily used for clearing hordes or in advanced tech with regard to boss clearing runs.

As such, many players found them optional but nevertheless carried them around in case of an emergency. Going down in the Fight For Your Life mode is not uncommon at harder difficulties, and such heavy weaponry can allow getting a Second Wind, as they made it easy to get a kill when downed.

This time, however, Ordinance lets players equip their rocket launchers and similar gear like cannons and machine guns to this slot, which operates on a cooldown. This doesn't just leave the standard weapon slots open for other weapons, but also lets players use heavy weapons in a pinch without having to cycle through weapon slots.

Interestingly, it does not seem like Ordinance-equipped gear will consume ammo. As seen in the Borderlands 4 State of Play Deep Dive video, the equipped Ordinance gun has an infinite magazine in the bottom right corner of the screen. This should also encourage players not to be stingy with their heavy weapon ammo and use these weapons as and when desired.

Borderlands 4 launches on September 12, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S platforms. It will also arrive on the Nintendo Switch 2 at a later date.