Duping has been patched out of Borderlands 3 — or at least, the most convenient methods for duping have been patched you. There’s still one method that works, and if you’re looking for a way to share your Legendary Weapons with your friends online or in split-screen coop, this is the definitive method. It 100% works, but you’ll need a few extra steps to accomplish those copies.
Borderlands 3 is not an always-online game. Even with patches, it’s simply impossible to block every single exploit players discover online, and this particular exploit has existed since the beginning of gaming itself — reloading old saves. The game isn’t competitive either, so a little cheating for a solo player just looking to have a little fun? I don’t think that’s a problem. Now let’s get to the real meat of this article — scroll down to learn the simple, straightforward method for duping in Borderlands 3.
More Borderlands 3 guides:
- Borderlands 3: 10 Tips & Tricks To Become A True Vault Hunter| Beginner’s Guide
- Borderlands 3: The Best Unique Guns & How To Find Them | Easter Eggs & Secrets Guide
- Borderlands 3: All SHiFT Codes List | How To Get Golden Keys
- Borderlands 3: Vault Insider Program Codes List | VIP Guide
- Borderlands 3: How To Get More Legendary Weapons | Rare Gun Tips & Tricks
- Borderlands 3: How To Fix Low FPS, Stuttering, White Screen & More | PC & Console Tweaks Guide
How To Dupe Weapons In Borderlands 3 | Infinite Guns Guide
This is currently the only known method for copying guns in Borderlands 3. Other methods have been patched out, but this method is a lot harder to remove.
Duping is just a term for copying weapons — it’s short for ‘duplicate’. With this method, you’ll be able to make endless copies of the same weapon. Seeing as weapons are often completely random, it makes sense you might want to dupe a gun to share with your friends online.
- How To Dupe – The Basics
- Make a backup of your Borderlands 3 save file. You can use USB or cloud backup.
- Drop or trade the gun / item you want to duplicate to a coop partner.
- Exit the game, then transfer your backup save and overwrite your current save file.
- Load back into the game, and you’ll find your gun / item has been restored!
That’s the basic version. You’ll want to keep a few things in mind here — make sure to backup the save file before trading away your gun / item you want to dupe. Make sure your backup has the gun / item in your inventory!
After that, you can load into a game with an online or split-screen coop partner. There are two modes in the game — personally, I use the old-school style that lets you drop guns on the ground so your partner can pick them up. Once your trade away the gun, let an autosave happen so your partner continues to have the gun.
Then you can exit the game and upload your backup file. You’ll be transported slightly into the past so you can regain your lost gun and your partner can keep their file, so they get a gun too. It’s simple, it’s straightforward, but it’s also a little annoying and time consuming.
The developers at Gearbox have never really had issues with duping before, and all the previous games in the series have their own methods. There might be even more ingenious methods for duping in the future — with a community this voracious, it’s bound to happen.