Crippled

When a character is reduced to 0 health, he/she will scream and fall to the knees, a state referred to in Borderlands as "Crippled".

== While crippled, accuracy with all weapons is greatly reduced and players are unable to access their ECHO screens, throw grenades or move - any Action Skill (except for Bloodwing) will disengage at the time of death (although characters are still able to melee adjacent enemies). During this time the targeting reticule will sway, increasing the difficulty of scoring critical hits. Characters will also begin to "bleed out", indicated by a red meter that replaces the heath/shield bar. As the timer runs down, vision will gradually fade and accuracy decreases even further.

A distinct advantage for the crippled character lies in their temporary invulnerability. All attacks striking a crippled character cannot inflict further damage while that character is already effectively dying. In co-operative games other players can exploit this fact tactically by treating a crippled character as a decoy, or as a physical barrier to hide behind while they fight or position their characters to revive their fallen teammate.

Second Wind
There are three possible actions players can take when their characters are crippled:
 * Successfully killing an enemy while crippled will earn a Second Wind, allowing the crippled character to re-enter gameplay with critical health and a full shield. This can be achieved both by direct damage, or from damage over time inflicted by the crippled character.
 * If playing cooperatively, a teammate can revive the crippled character. This also earns a Second Wind and rewards 100 experience points to the assisting character, which do not contribute to weapon proficiency.
 * Holding down the Action key, or if crippled characters bleed out, will cause the crippled character to revive at the last activated New-U Station with full heath and shields. When a character is revived at a New-U Station they must pay a fee of 7% of their total wealth - though the fee is waived if the character has less than $7.

When crippled characters are successful in achieving a Second Wind, then they will get back up with 25% of their health and a fully recharged shield. Damage dealt by all guns is also increased for a few seconds. The Diehard skill increases the percentage of health that Brick can gain from a Second Wind, as well as the time he has before dying.

Small enemies can be difficult to eliminate to receive a second wind as they are generally fast and often avoid attacks. This is particularly troublesome when using slower single-shot weapons. Large enemies often take too long to kill to receive a second wind, making Badass or Badmutha enemies impractical targets for gaining a Second Wind unless they are nearly dead already.

Becoming crippled again, soon after earning a Second Wind, will result in a shorter bleed out timer.

Reviving
The act of reviving a teammate involves moving into close range of a crippled character and using the activation button, as if the target character was the same as any other interactive object in the game. The button must be held down while the revival attempt is in progress and will show a green status bar to both the player in control of the crippled character and the player in control of the reviving character. The reviving player is free to move around the entire close proximity of the crippled character, even so far as to look directly away from the victim or crouch behind them to use their body as a shield. However, attempting to shoot while reviving, or moving too far will stop the process altogether. Reviving a teammate takes five seconds. While the revival is in progress, the bleed out timer of the crippled character will remain locked in a paused state. Interrupting the revival before it is complete will cause the bleed out timer to resume counting down to the point of death. If successful, the revived character receives a second wind and the reviving character receives 100 experience points.

Second Wind
Crippling interrupts Phaselock, Gunzerking, and Zer0's simulacrum. Sabre Turret & Deathtrap endure while character is crippled.