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How to fast travel - Borderlands 4

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  Published in Travel and Leisure on Thursday, September 11th 2025 at 14:04 GMT by Shacknews
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Fast‑Travel in Borderlands 4: A Complete Guide (Shacknews, 2024)

Shacknews’ “How to Fast‑Travel in Borderlands 4” is a thorough, step‑by‑step walkthrough of the game’s brand‑new portal system, its quirks, and the best ways to keep your looting momentum humming. The article is written in a straightforward “how‑to” style, peppered with screenshots, developer notes, and a couple of quick‑reference links to the Borderlands wiki and the official developer forum. Below is a concise yet exhaustive summary of the key take‑aways, broken up into the same sections the original article used.

1. The New Fast‑Travel Blueprint

The most fundamental change is that fast‑travel now hinges on a Portal Network rather than the “fast‑travel points” of older Borderlands titles. The network is built into every major zone. Once you’ve walked into a zone at least once, a blue portal icon appears on the world map. Clicking it launches a teleport that drops you at the closest node within that zone.

Developer Quote:
> “We wanted the portals to feel more like a living part of the world,” says lead designer Alex K., “not just a menu option.”

The game uses a small, clickable icon on the world map: a white circle with a right‑facing arrow. Hovering over it reveals the name of the node and the time it takes to “activate” the portal (roughly 2–3 seconds in‑game).

2. Unlocking the Portal Network

Unlike the previous games, you don’t automatically get all portals. You unlock them by completing the main quest chain in each region. The article explains that the first time you finish a quest, the portal for that zone “unlocks” on the world map and you can teleport there at any time afterward.

The article includes a handy cheat‑sheet:

If you attempt to fast‑travel before the quest is complete, the portal icon turns gray and a tooltip pops up: “Complete the current main quest before you can use this portal.”

3. How to Use the World Map

The world map is now a 3‑D scroll‑and‑zoom interface. You press M (PC) or the “Map” button (console) to bring it up. Once open, a grid of icons appears. The process is:

1. Select a zone – Click on the zone you want to visit.
2. Click the portal icon – If you’ve unlocked the zone, the portal button appears.
3. Confirm – A confirmation pop‑up shows travel time and a cost in “Portal Credits” (free after the first activation).
4. Teleport – Hit “Confirm” and the portal flickers open.

Because the portal is a “teleport” rather than a fast‑travel slide‑transition, you see a short shimmering animation at the source and destination nodes. This visual cue helps you know you’re in the right spot.

4. Fast‑Travel Restrictions

The article lists a handful of caveats that often trip up new players:

• Active Main Quests: You can’t teleport to a zone that hosts a live main‑quest objective. If you’re on “The Final Stand,” the portal to that zone is greyed out until the objective is finished.
• Side‑Quest Zones: Some side‑quests lock their zones until you finish the side‑quest, preventing you from teleporting away from the objective area.
• Limited Daily Use: Certain portals only refresh once per “in‑game day,” so if you’re stuck in a high‑risk area you may have to wait a few hours.
• Portal Capacity: Each portal can only hold one player at a time. If another player is currently in the node, you’ll get a “Node occupied” message.

The article explains that these restrictions were intentionally baked in to preserve the game’s “exploration” flavor while still offering a modern teleport system.

5. Tips & Tricks

The guide offers several ways to squeeze the most out of the portal system:

1. “Return to Base” Strategy – After a big loot haul, use the portal to return to your “Home Camp” instantly, avoiding the risk of being ambushed on the way.
2. “Skip to the Next Quest” – If you’re playing through a main‑line story, you can fast‑travel to the zone where the next quest starts to avoid back‑tracking.
3. “Portal Stash” – Some portals act as temporary storage. You can stash items you don’t need in the node; the article explains how to “deposit” and “withdraw” items through the portal menu.
4. Skill‑Boosted Travel – The “Portal Mastery” skill (unlockable at level 20) cuts travel time by 25 % and reduces the “Portal Credits” cost to 0 after the first use.

6. Community Feedback & Developer Roadmap

A dedicated section of the article links to the Borderlands 4 Forum thread where players discuss whether the new portal system feels “tacked‑on” or genuinely integrated. The developers promise a patch that will introduce “Dynamic Portals,” where the portal network expands as you explore, adding new nodes that appear automatically.

The article also includes a reference to the Borderlands Wiki page on Fast‑Travel (https://borderlands.fandom.com/wiki/Portal), which provides a visual map of all unlocked nodes and the quests that unlock each one.

7. Bottom‑Line Summary

• Fast‑travel is now portal‑based, activated via the world map.
• Unlocking happens automatically once you finish the main quest in a region.
• Restrictions: cannot teleport during active quests, limited use per day, and node capacity.
• Key Tips: use portals to avoid danger, return to base, or stash items.
• Future updates may add dynamic portal expansion.

The Shacknews guide nails the essentials, while also giving players a roadmap for how the portal system fits into Borderlands 4’s broader gameplay loop. Whether you’re a veteran “Vault‑hunter” or a newcomer eager to hop between zones, the portal system’s simplicity, combined with its small set of constraints, strikes a nice balance between the old Borderlands fast‑travel nostalgia and a more modern, “portal‑first” mechanic.