Health

Low health warning

Health determines how much damage characters can sustain after their shields are depleted.

Overview

In general terms, health is represented as a value that is proportionate to the level of a character, gradually increasing as the character progresses in level. Enemies also have similar health values, although these can vary widely from small, weak creatures with low health, to more robust end bosses with greatly enhanced pools of health. Damage inflicted by enemies, or harmful interactions with the environment, will subtract from a character's health value until the point of death. In the case of player characters, reducing the health level to zero merely inflicts the crippled condition, which offers a small window of opportunity to survive.

A player character's own health level is displayed on the HUD in the bottom left of the screen. When this level drops below 50%, the unfilled part of the health-bar will flash. After it drops below 40%, a red exclamation mark will flash above the health bar. The health level of allies and enemies can be viewed when they are bracketed in the HUD's targeting reticle. The status of allies' remaining health is also displayed in the top left corner of the HUD, and will provide a similar low health warning when they sustain significant harm.

Maximum health

Borderlands

New characters begin the game with 100 health. Each time the character levels up, it gains another 15 points to its total health. This allows the character to achieve an unmodified total of 1000 health at level 61, for characters with access to The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. As of Patch 1.4.1, which increases the level cap by eight levels, a level 69 character will have an unmodified health of 1120.

Additionally, some classes have a Class MOD and/or one or more skills that can add extra health.

• Brick has the largest number of ways, and the most effective, to increase his maximum health. Aside from his Hardened skill, he can use either a Berserker or Titan class mods to improve on his own health, or a Centurion or Skirmisher class mod to increase the whole party's health (including his own).
• Roland can increase his maximum health through the Fitness skill.
• Mordecai's only skill or Class MOD that can increase his maximum health is through the use of a Truxican Wrestler Class MOD obtained from one of the Loot Midgets in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx.
• Lilith does not have skills or Class MODs to increase her maximum health.

Furthermore, Torgue-manufactured shields provide a bonus to maximum health when equipped.

• Torgue Tough Guy shields provide a 30% bonus to health
• Torgue Muscleman shields provide a 40% bonus to health
• Torgue Macho shields provide a 60% bonus to health

As with many other bonuses and buffs in the game, the bonuses described above stack additively, rather than in a compounding manner.For example, a +60% bonus from a skill, a 39% bonus from a Class MOD, and a 40% bonus from a shield will effectively give a Level 69 character 2676 health (+60% +39% +40% = +139% health. 1120 * 239% = 2676.8 ).

Strategically, when planning character builds, maximum health has an even larger effect than simply the total amount of abuse a character can take before dying. This is because many health recovery and survivability-related skills and abilities are based on a percentage of maximum health, including Berserk, Blood Sport, Die Hard, Aid Station, Stat, Inner Glow and Riotous Remedy. Thus, increases to maximum health also improve the rate of healing with these skills, exponentially increasing a character's durability.

Borderlands 2

Base health appears to follow the exponential function

Health = floor(80 * 1.13level)

In other words, each level increases your base Health by 13% relative to the previous level. Equivalently, your base Health doubles every 5.67 levels.

Health regeneration

Aside from improving a character's maximum health, it's also important to ensure it isn't lost completely. There are many ways to restore lost health.

Healing Kits and Insta-Health Vials can be either found, or bought from a Medical Vending Machine. Healing Kits can be carried in a character's inventory and used in between battles, while Insta-Health Vials are consumed immediately when they are picked up or bought. In Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, there is a larger variant of the Insta-Health Vial, that heals for more.

Shields made by Tediore always have a health-regenerating function (the exception being the Tediore starter shields that a player must buy at the start of the game, during the Fix'er Upper mission). Furthermore, Wee Wee's Super Booster has very fast health regeneration similar to a Tediore Panacea shield, and the Rose will regenerate 33% of the character's maximum health when the shield is depleted.

Transfusion Grenade Mods have a vampiric effect, emitting homing wisps that steal health from enemies and gift them back to the character who threw it, or the character's closest allies to the grenade's targets.

Additionally, all classes have skills and/or class mods (COMs) to regenerate health.

• Mordecai can gain health from enemies attacked by his Bloodwing with points in the skill Out For Blood, or he can get health regeneration upon killing each enemy with points in the Riotous Remedy skill. Scavenger COMs generated with Material 2 will have team health regeneration, while a Survivor COM will always do so.
• Roland can apply healing to himself and his nearby allies with his turret through the use of Aid Station, or he can heal himself and his nearby allies after a kill with Stat. When using Cauterize, he can heal allies by shooting them, but not himself. A Tactician COM with Material 2 will have team health regeneration.
• Lilith's only skill or COM that provides healing is by using Phasewalk while having points invested in Inner Glow.
• Brick will gain strong health regeneration while Berserk, and can increase that by killing enemies during Berserk and having points in Blood Sport. Also, both the Centurion and Titan COMs of the appropriate Material will confer team health regeneration and standard health regeneration, respectively.

Notes

• Bonus maximum health from class mods and shields is not filled up when a game is joined. Upon entering, the character will appear to be lightly 'wounded' and will need to 'replenish' the extra health to bring it up to its boosted total.
• Shields manufactured by Torgue always increase the wearer's maximum health.
• Shields manufactured by Tediore always provide health regeneration (except the low-level basic shields from the Fyrestone Med Vendor at the very beginning of the game).
• Levelling up will fully restore a character's health to its new maximum health limit.

Crippled

Main article: Crippled

Death

7% Fee (left), fee waived (right)

If a character is crippled but unable to get a second wind, this will result in death. When this occurs, the character is teleported to the most recent New-U Station and restored for seven percent of its money as a reconstruction fee. If his or her remaining wealth is less than seven dollars however, the fee is waived.

Exiting a map by falling off the known map, entering a kill-zone, or being hit by a car will result in an instant death bypassing all normal considerations of health depletion. Such kill-zones may be as little as a step down onto a lower elevation in some cases. Death by falling incurs the usual reconstruction fee, although T-Bone Junction noticeably presents an exception to this rule.