Borderlands 3 Maliwan Takedown is now available! Spoiler alert: it's pretty tough. If you've got no idea what to expect, we've prepared a short Maliwan Takedown review to fill you in. Here, you'll find all you need to know on how to start the mission, what the objectives are, what the rewards are, and just how friggin' difficult all that stuff is.

Firstly, it's worth pointing out that this is endgame content. Not only does Borderlands 3 Maliwan Takedown bombard you with powerful enemies right off the bat, but it also introduces a new respawn mechanic. One that's more limiting and more punishing than the default. It's also perfectly appropriate for a pinnacle activity, however! Gearbox themselves recommend for you to play Maliwan Takedown with a full squad of max-level Vault Hunters. The new matchmaking feature is a great help in this regard.

Will that be enough to contend with the first Borderlands 3 Takedown activity? Possibly, but not necessarily! Let us go into more detail below.

How to start the Maliwan Takedown in Borderlands 3?

Starting your first Maliwan Takedown playthrough is easy! All you need to do is board the Sanctuary and look for a new yellow exclamation sign on the right side of the ship, close to where Marcus the gun-runner is situated. Interacting with the new console will patch you into contact with Promethea's Lorelei, who will, in turn, send you to an entirely new game area. That's the Maliwan Blacksite, of course.

This part of the quest will auto-complete as soon as you take a drop-pod to the Blacksite, and you'll be free to try your hand at true Borderlands 3 endgame.

You can access the Takedown console pretty early on, but you really shouldn't. We heartily recommend you steer clear of the Maliwan Blacksite until you're a well-equipped level 50 Vault Hunter. On a similar note, avoid playing at Mayhem 4 unless you've got a full squad of very competent players. Things can go wrong in a split-second, and you'll get overrun extremely quickly!

Mayhem 3 with matchmade multiplayer should work great, though. At least, it does from what we've seen so far.

Maliwan Takedown Activity Review

While it may sound similar to the recent Borderlands 3 Bloody Harvest event on paper, the Maliwan Blacksite Takedown is a wholly different beast. We've mentioned altered respawn mechanics above, and that's as good a starting point for the explanation as any. The main reason why you'll want to take at least one more player with you is that dying resets your progress. Completely!

If an enemy kills you during the Blacksite Takedown, you'll either have to activate Second Wind, or have another player pick you up. Failing that, it's back to the beginning for you. Since this activity throws some really hard-hitting enemies at you, you'll almost always be in danger. It takes about 30-45 minutes to complete the Maliwan Blacksite, so get ready for a nerve-wracking hour or so, if you're going about it solo or under-equipped.

One small comfort is that players can auto-respawn at two points! First is just after the mid-activity boss, and the second is after the final boss. This means you can participate in the final loot drop, which matters the most. It's pretty damn hard still, however.

Depending on your affinity for difficulty, you will be happy/sad to hear that Maliwan Blacksite isn't nearly as complex as a Destiny 2 Raid. Here, objectives follow one after another in a simple fashion, and you just need to complete them exactly as it says on the tin. Instead, the difficulty comes from enemy encounters and the bosses themselves. If you want to be a competent Takedown runner, you're going to have to min-max no matter what.

One good bit of advice is for you to take Shock and Corrosive weapons. Since you'll be dealing with Maliwan combat proxies, that's what will get you the most bang for your buck!

What are the Maliwan Takedown Rewards?

According to the developers, there's plenty of new loot available as part of the Borderlands 3 Maliwan Takedown rewards. We've got no idea what it all might be, however. "Loot that drops exclusively in the Takedown at the Maliwan Blacksite includes new weapons, shields, a Vault Hunter skin, an ECHO skin, and even a Room Decoration to make you the envy of everyone else aboard Sanctuary III."A whole lot of stuff, then, but it will take a while to grab it all.

Since the Maliwan Blacksiteis extremely replayable, this does tell us that the developers have a solid vision for the endgame portion of Borderlands 3. Phenomenal news, that, because harder enemies with bigger health pools can't carry endgame alone.

We hope our Maliwan Takedown Review helps you in your quest to get through this pinnacle activity, and that your loot drops will be rich and plentiful. Since this is just the first Takedown we've seen so far, we can only wonder what the next step is for Gearbox, far as endgame goes.

As for the regular content, there's the upcoming Moxxi's Raid on the Handsome Jackpot DLC, coming next month! Exciting times ahead, for sure.