Borderlands 4 is chock-full of more loot than you’ll know what to do with during your time on Kairos. From ordinance to weapons to shields, the amount of loot you can acquire in just a brief playthrough is staggering. Of course, most of this loot will end up sold to a vending machine or left on the ground for some wandering Psychos to pick up.
However, the same can’t be said for loot that you receive from a Golden Chest. Golden Chests offer extremely rare items in Borderlands 4 that will provide an immediate jolt to your inventory. The chests can only be opened with Golden Keys, which you’ll mostly acquire through active Shift Codes that you redeem. While it might be tempting to immediately open a Golden Chest once you get a Golden Key, that’s not necessarily how you want to use the rare item in Borderlands 4.
Golden Chests have some caveats in Borderlands 4
For starters, Golden Chests are only located in a few, specific locations around Kairos in Borderlands 4, so you can’t open them as soon as you start playing the game. However, after you’ve done a few missions and gotten a decent chunk of playtime in, you’ll come across your first Golden Chest. While you might want to open the chest right away if you have a Golden Key on you, that’s not the most efficient move.
Instead, you want to wait until you’re at a decently high level with your character. This is because when you open a Golden Chest, all of the loot inside is scaled to your current level. So, for example, if you open a Golden Chest at level 10, the weapons, shields, and other items in the chest will be right around that level. While that doesn’t have an impact on you in the short term, you tend to level up fairly quickly below level 20 in Borderlands 4. This means that after a few missions and levels, your Golden Chest items will likely be outmatched by standard ground loot.
The max level in Borderlands 4 is level 50, but you can finish the main story missions at around level 35-40 if you breeze through. So, with that in mind, you’ll ideally want to wait until you’re near the end of the story. Level 30 is a decent starting point to begin using Golden Keys. You’re likely past the halfway point of the story, and levels are harder to attain once you reach this threshold, so your loot stays usable for longer.
Of course, if you truly have the patience and you plan to reach max level, then you can wait until level 50 to use your Golden Keys. This ensures your Golden Chest loot is as powerful as it can be, and you don’t have to worry about overleveling past the usefulness of the loot.
On the other hand, you earned the Golden Keys, and you should use them how you see fit. If you’re struggling at a particular point in Borderlands 4 and feel like you need some extra firepower to get through it, then opening a Golden Chest for rare loot to get you past that hump is a viable option. Golden Keys might be rare, but there will be plenty of them to go around as the life cycle of Borderlands 4 goes on throughout 2025 and into 2026. The same goes for loot acquired via Twitch Drops in Borderlands 4, as those items scale to your level as well.
So, at the end of the day, the optimal time to use Golden Keys is when you’re at a higher level to ensure your loot stays stronger for longer. However, certain situations in Borderlands 4 might call for powerful loot regardless of your current level.
If you’re looking for Borderlands 4 guides to help you through any part of the game, make sure to check out our full guides hub for the game.
