Best Borderlands games

29 ELO points separate Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! from Borderlands 3 at the top of the Borderlands ranking, after 145 duels.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! leads with 1267 ELO points and a perfect 100% win rate across 6 duels, putting it 29 points ahead of Borderlands 3 at 1238 ELO. The surprise lies lower in the ranking: Borderlands 2, often considered the franchise peak, sits at rank 3 with 1181 ELO and a 33% win rate over 6 duels. The biggest gap in the ranking appears between Borderlands 2 and the original Borderlands, separated by 67 ELO points. The first game in the series finishes last at 1114 ELO with a 0% win rate over 4 duels, suggesting the community has moved on from where it all started. The modest sample sizes mean these rankings could shift dramatically with more votes, particularly for Borderlands 3 which has faced only 4 duels so far.

This ranking reflects 145 duels submitted by 34 players across 4 contenders, last updated on 12 October 2026. The tight race at the top and the wide spread across the franchise show how divided opinions remain on which Borderlands game deserves the crown. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your vote and shape this ranking with your own preferences.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →