Stuck at Borderlands 4’s elevator? Grab the tiny bolt from a dead ripper to unlock it
Stuck at the elevator during Borderlands 4’s opening quest? You’re not alone — the game doesn’t spell out the exact item you need. Fortunately, the fix is simple: grab a bolt from a dead ripper and the elevator clears right up.
How to get clearance for the elevator in Borderlands 4
During the Recruitment Drive quest you’ll be told to take over the broadcast tower and make it a Safehouse. After finishing most secondary objectives, you’ll reach the tower’s top and find the elevator locked until you get clearance. The game doesn’t show a quest marker for this item, so it’s easy to miss.
To get clearance, go to the elevator and look just in front of it. There’s a dead ripper on the floor; you need to remove a bolt from the back of its neck. Move close enough until the “Take” prompt appears on screen, then pick up the bolt. Once the bolt is in your inventory, you can call the elevator and continue the quest — including another conversation with Claptrap.
Image: Gearbox Software/2K Games via Polygon
Quick tips
– You must be close to the corpse for the “Take” prompt to appear.
– The bolt is a key item and won’t be used up by anything else before the elevator.
– This step happens near the end of the tower sequence, after most side objectives are done.
