Borderlands 4 Unpaid Tab walkthrough

After successfully completing Siege and Destroy in Borderlands 4, get prepared to play both repairman and Ripper slaughterer in the Unpaid Tab mission. It’s the 9th main story mission in the game, and is located in Carcadia Burn. It is all focused on getting to the Ripper Queen, but first, we need to find Zane, and make our way through one of her bases. It’s a lengthy but satisfying quest, where you have to make a very important last-minute choice at the end.

It’s also home to one of the easiest bosses in the game, in Driller Hole. If you’re stumped on what you need to do for Unpaid Tab in Borderlands 4, we’re here to get you through it, every step of the way.

Complete Unpaid Tab walkthrough in Borderlands 4

Mission information

Recommended level: 15-18
Quest giver: Levaine
Location: Carcadia
Time to beat on average: 45 minutes to an hour
Requirements: Complete Siege and Destroy

Mission Objectives

Talk to Leader Yorick, find Core Electrical Relay, Repair Core Electrical Relay, Activate core power
Repair Carcadia and Restore Fast Travel Station, Restore all vending machine systems, restore water
Reach Firedust Bridge, lower first bridge, lower second bridge, destroy beams, reach other side
Find Zane and Reach Zane’s last location, Assist Quent, Talk to Quent, reach old Refinery
Find Zane, Use Intercom, enter old refinery, reach Western Ripper Camp, Reach Eastern Ripper camp, kill camp leaders, take ECHO Logs
Find Zane, enter old refinery, reach side entrance, use intercom
Find Zane, Kill Rippers, Kill Security Jones and reinforcements, hack jamming device, destroy jamming device, reach significant height, crush jamming device
Kill Rippers, reach lower level, find prisoners, find Quent
Kill Rippers, Kill Driller Hole, Save or Lose Quent

1) Talk to Leader Yorick, find Core Electrical Relay, Repair Core Electrical Relay, Activate core power

Whenever you’re ready in Borderlands 4, once Siege and Destroy is complete, you can begin Unpaid Tab but heading back to Carcadia Burn and talking to Leader Yorick. I recommend doing these first two steps of the mission before leaving town; otherwise, it’s a really long drive back.

You've surely seen these Ripper Orbs before in Borderlands 4; just give 'em a few good blasts (Image via 2K Games)

You’re going to do some very simple repair work for Yorick, to get power back in Carcadia Burn. The first two steps are incredibly simple. To find the Core Electrical Relay, just follow the quest marker via ECHO-4 and examine the pipes inside the building.

You’ll find several Ripper Orbs in this room, so blow them up to repair the Core Electrical Relay. When you’re done, pull the switch to Activate Core Power.

2) Repair Carcadia and Restore Fast Travel Station, Restore all vending machine systems, restore water

Alas, Yorick; he really just needs to stop talking! (Image via 2K Games)

The next step of Unpaid Tab in Borderlands 4 is to restore Fast Travel. Follow the quest marker, examine the machine, and flip the switch a few times. This will get Fast Travel working again. Follow the quest marker back inside to restore all the vending machines and water.

One easy flipped switch will turn the vending machines on. Next up, activate ECHO-4 and go turn a trio of valves for the water. This will turn the water back on, and all functionality will be restored in Carcadia; though I’d be happy if I never heard Yorick speak ever again.

3) Reach Firedust Bridge, lower first bridge, lower second bridge, destroy beams, reach other side

This Silo is the fastest way to your next Borderlands 4 mission objective (Image via 2K Games)

Before we can move on in this Borderlands 4 mission, Levaine will reveal that Zane is missing, and before we get going with our quest to take out the Ripper Queen, we need to find him. We’ll have to reach Firedust Bridge first, though. It’s a very long drive though, if you haven’t managed to pick up the Rustical Hurl Order Silo fast travel point. That’s the closest one to the location.

Reach Firedust Bridge, and you’ll need to lower the first bridge but there will almost certainly be Rippers to fight first. Take them out, and follow the quest marker around the bridge. You’ll turn a valve to lower the first bridge.

Then, jump across, and turn the next valve to try and lower the second bridge. This won’t work, so instead, use ECHO-4 to spot the beams holding it in place, and destroy the beams so you can reach the other side.

4) Find Zane and Reach Zane’s last location, Assist Quent, Talk to Quent, reach old Refinery

It's not too far off the beaten path, to get to this Safe House (Image via 2K Games)

After you get to the other side, you’ll start tracking down Zane for Borderlands 4’s Unpaid Tabs mission. You’ll immediately reach Zane’s last location, where you need to Assist Quent by killing some Rippers. They aren’t anything special, so take them down and then talk to Quent.

He got roped into this mission by Zane, and so we need to start working our way over to the Old Refinery. There’s some exploration you can do on the way, though, such as an Evocarium in Tonnage Peel. You can also find a Safe House in The Lowrise, which is a short distance to the northeast of the next quest destination. You can find the location on the screenshot above.

5) Find Zane, Use Intercom, enter old refinery, reach Western Ripper Camp, Reach Eastern Ripper camp, kill camp leaders, take ECHO Logs

It doesn't matter which quest marker you go to first; you have to visit both (Image via 2K Games)

The next step to finding Zane in Borderlands 4’s Unpaid Tabs is to Use the Intercom at the Old Refinery. However, they aren’t letting anyone in that doesn’t know the password. This requires us to go to two Ripper Camps: Western Ripper Camp and Eastern Ripper Camp. Each one has a named enemy to kill that will drop an ECHO Log.

They’re very easy locations to get to, as you can see on the screenshot above. They’re standard Ripper groups, nothing special about them. Just go in, clear out the enemies, and grab the ECHO Logs. This will allow you to finally make your way into the Old Refinery.

6) Find Zane, enter old refinery, reach side entrance, use intercom

Just slaughter these Rippers and get ready to move on! (Image via 2K Games)

Upon heading to the next quest marker for the Old Refinery, before you can reach the side entrance, there’s a huge swarm of Rippers that await you. It’s a nice, long gauntlet of familiar foes, before you can reach the side entrance.

Use the intercom and give the very silly password, and you can be let in. As soon as you get inside, kill the Ripper who was manning the controls. Sorry Lemmy, but we can’t let you rat us out.

7) Find Zane, Kill Rippers, Kill Security Jones and reinforcements, hack jamming device, destroy jamming device, reach significant height, crush jamming device

This hacking thing normally works! Time for some percussive maintenance (Image via 2K Games)

Shortly after entering the Old Refinery for Borderlands 4’s Unpaid Tabs mission, you’ll be set upon by Rippers, so kill any Ripper packs you come across. Just follow the ECHO-4’s path through the base, and take out the enemy groups. You’ll hear from Zane before long, where he’s also killing Rippers!

He didn’t take the death of his Thresher very well, it turns out. Help him take out the Rippers that are around him, as well. This pack is pretty massive, and has at least one Badass in it.

At the end of the waves of enemies, Security Jones will show up, a Ripper with two health bars. If you’ve got some Corrosive or Ignite damage, he’ll drop in no time at all. He’s not even a boss enemy, so just take him down, along with the rest of the reinforcements.

Just give it a good smash (Image via 2K Games)

Trigger your ECHO-4 to reach the Jamming Device. Upon reaching your destination, you’ll need to hack the Jamming Device, which requires you to Grapple Pull a grate open. That will give your ECHO-4 access to a terminal to hack the device. But it won’t quite work. You need to destroy the Jamming Device first.

Use the nearby Grapple Point, which will allow you to also reach significant height. To break the jamming device you need to Ground Slam down onto the glowing part of the machine, seen above. This will crush the jamming device.

8) Kill Rippers, reach lower level, find prisoners, find Quent

It's a very short trip to the final fight of this mission (Image via 2K Games)

Before you can get much further, you’ll have to kill a wave of Rippers. They’re barring your path to the lower levels of this area. They were kind of disappointing, compared to the rest of the groups I fought so far. You’ll be able to enter the lower level of this base for Borderlands 4’s Unpaid Tab quest.

Don’t worry, you’ll have more Rippers to kill as soon as you reach the lower level. You’ll also learn there are prisoners here that are being forcefully made into Rippers. Just keep heading forward through the dungeon, and you’ll find the prisoners. Next up is to find Quent, because the Ripper Queen has him captured, too. He’s not too far up ahead.

9) Kill Rippers, Kill Driller Hole, Save or Lose Quent

Watch out for his missile swarm, but other than that, he's no big threat (Image via 2K Games)

When you get to the final room of the old refinery in Borderlands 4, you’ll have several more Rippers to kill. In addition, the boss of this area, Driller Hole, shows up. He’s honestly a very weak boss. I shredded him in just about a minute with Corrosive damage.

Driller Hole does have one or two powerful shot abilities, but he likely won’t get off many. He can also launch missiles that leave a huge series of corrosive puddles on the ground, so don’t stand in them!

Almost as soon as you finish, you’ll have to either Save or Lose Quent, which we covered here. If you want to save him, you need to turn all the valves on the top of the machine using Grapple, and blow up the red, glowing pipes overhead.

You have a minute to do it, though, so make your choice. After this, Unpaid Tab completes in Borderlands 4, and you’ll receive XP, Cash, Eridium, an SMG, and the SICKO-4 ECHO-4 Frame.

Check out our other Borderlands 4 guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 15 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker