The latest expansion for Borderlands 4, Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, is out now with new Vault Hunter C4SH and new story missions. Along with that, there are also several QoL updates, including Shared Character Progression, meaning you don’t need to remove the fog of war or complete the campaign again when making a new character.
The expansion takes place in a new location called The Whisphering Glacier, where a creepy megalith is making everyone hear things and go mad. This guide will walk you through how to start and complete the intro quest ‘On Icebound Shores Abandoned’ for the Mad Ellie DLC in Borderlands 4.
How to start On Icebound Shores Abandoned in Borderlands 4
You can start the new BL4 DLC as soon as you complete ‘A Lot to Process’ and reach ‘Zadra’s Backup Plan’. There you’ll find a structure interacting with which will trigger ‘An Invitation’ quest and lead you to a cutscene where Mad Moxxi receives an invitation, after which you’ll get teleported to The Whisphering Glacier. Alternatively, when you’re making a new character, there’ll be a new option to start a level 13 character directly from the quest.
Note: You need to own Borderlands 4Story Pack 1 to access the quest and C4SH.
Search for Ellie
The story kicks off with a letter to Moxxi about Ellie’s whereabouts, and you’ll help Moxxi find her. If you started the expansion directly, it’ll land you directly into the mission on The Whisphering Glacier. Follow along the Icebound Shores until you reach the Scav Cantonment filled with enemies.
Clear the enemies in the area, then defeat their leader to progress. The fight with Bogan the Butcher isn’t a big spectacle, as he’s just an elite enemy and not a full-fledged boss. I was able to take him down in a few shots from above a container.
Free Prisoner
After you defeat Bogan, head inside the building to find Davis Pickle, all grown up and locked inside a cage. If you don’t know the character, he’s from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Davis will reveal that he’s also trying to find Ellie and that her escape pod landed nearby.
Follow Davis to the location of the dropped pods and search for Ellie. Along the way, you’ll face more enemies and also find a cameo from beloved NPC, Crazy Earl. On the final Pod, you’ll find an audio log from Ellie, but no clue about her location. Right after, you’ll get into an ambush, followed by a weird flashback that’ll lead to ‘Frozen’ Pickle.
Explore the Glacier
Just before Pickle gets trapped in ice, he’ll guide you towards a door. Head in the direction he’s pointing and defeat all the creatures in the area. Then align yourself to the floating fragment to unveil the door he was talking about.
Upon entering, it’ll land you in a bar owned by Mancubus Bloodtooth. If you’re meeting him for the first time, worry not, he’s not an enemy, and the bar is a new safe zone. You’ll also find that he is the one from whom C4SH won the Deck of Kansai.
Find Pickle’s Room for Ellie’s Log
After your conversation, head left to find Pickle’s Room and look for another one of Ellie’s Logs inside a locker beside his bed. Before that, you can also talk to a few other NPCs regarding Ellie. Unfortunately, none of them will be of any help, which explains why it’s optional.
The log will tell you that Ellie was headed to the megalith after she started hearing voices. Talk to Mancubus again, and he’ll lead you out of the establishment and complete ‘On Icebound Shores Abandoned’.
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Edited by Mayank Singh Rathour