The looter shooter genre has become tremendously popular in recent years, with some fantastic titles helping to popularize the concept. FPS games have been huge since Doom, but the idea of complementing the intense blasting action with the inherent gamer need for rewards and loot was inspired.

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There’s no question that Gearbox’s Borderlands franchise has become one of the biggest names in looter shooters, with its characteristic ‘lootsplosions’ constantly offering the promise of fantastic gear such as a prized Legendary. The latest installment, Borderlands 3, offers an intriguing new type of locked chest that only crafty and observant players will be able to open. Here’s the lowdown on these chests.

10 They Can Be A Real Pain To Find

Borderlands 3 screenshot Typhon Dead Drop

The first thing players will need to know about these chests is that they aren’t for impatient players. If you’re a gamer who simply follows waypoints from story mission to story mission, these chests may not be for you.

Borderlands 3 many not have the most open and sprawling world maps in gaming, but its areas are large enough, and some locked chests hidden fiendishly enough, that it can be very frustrating to locate them all (as with the red chests). Finding them is only half the battle, too.

9 The ‘T’ Stands For Typhon Dead Drop

Borderlands 3's Typhon DeLeon

On locating one of these enigmatic chests, the player will notice that they have an elaborate ‘T’ emblazoned on them. What does this mean? It’s a reference to Typhon, or Typhon DeLeon.

In Borderlands 3, even the short-lived NPCs make for fascinating characters, and DeLeon is no exception. He’s renowned as the first Vault Hunter, so it only makes sense that his Dead Drops would contain some rather nifty gear. How do players get their hands on said gear, though? Let’s take a look.

8 They’re Not ‘Locked’ In The Conventional Way

Borderlands 3 screenshot Typhon Log

As Typhon Dead Drops are locked, enterprising players would naturally assume that a corresponding key would need to be found to get inside. That’s how the laws of physics and/or locked things tend to work in both the gaming and real worlds, right?

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This is true, of course, but Borderlands isn’t big on logic and Typhon Dead Drops can’t be opened with mere keys. Instead, they can only be opened by finding a different kind of elusive collectible: Typhon Logs.

7 A Typhon Log Is Worth The Slog

screenshot Borderlands 3 Typhon Log The Droughts

There’s one way in which the series does adhere to gaming convention: it provides much of its extra lore and exposition by means of collectible files. In franchises like Dark Souls, players miss out on a lot of worldbuilding information and interesting tidbits about characters if they don’t go the extra mile here, and Borderlands 3’s Typhon Logs are definitely worth hunting down too.

Veterans of the series will be familiar with fetch quests that require locating and listening to a selection of audio logs, and that’s what must be done here: each new location is home to three Typhon Logs, and only after finding each trio can the player access the content of the corresponding Dead Drop.

6 They Contain One-Time Loot

Borderlands 3's weapon menu Agonizer 1500 Rocket Launcher

Another facet of Borderlands that fans will be familiar with is the concept of farming bosses and minibosses over and over, in the hope that they’ll drop some coveted gear. Certain bosses have increased chances of dropping particular Legendaries and such, while others even hold weapons that can only be collected from them (such as Pain & Terror/The Agonizer 9000’s exclusive Agonizer 1500 rocket launcher, pictured here).

The locked chests of Borderlands 3, however, don’t give multiple chances. Once a Dead Drop is opened, it can’t be reset, meaning that each character only gets that chest once.

5 The Loot Inside Is Instanced But Can Be Traded

Borderlands 3 screenshot trade interface

As experienced looter shooter players will know, these titles are often heavy on co-op, which can present a problem when it comes to the loot that’s being wantonly sprayed everywhere. You want that powerful sniper rifle? So did your friend, and they got to it first. All’s fair in Vault Hunting and war.

With these concerns in mind, the idea of instanced gear was introduced. With this system, individual players get their own specific ‘instances’ of loot, meaning that you can’t take your allies’ and they can’t swipe yours. This system is optional in Borderlands 3, but it’s very nice in the case of Typhon Dead Drops. Should you wish to give another player something sweet and shiny from that chest, though, direct trades are still possible.

4 Those Classic Golden Chests Are Also Still Available

Borderlands 3 Golden Key Golden Chest

While the Dead Drops are the big new lootable addition to the series, Borderlands 3 hasn’t forsaken the familiar Golden Chest. These iconic chests have featured in every game in the series (as of the Game of the Year edition of Borderlands) and there’s one to be found in the latest game too.

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Borderlands’ Golden Chests are found in Fyrestone and New Haven, while Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel have just one each (in Sanctuary and Concordia respectively). Borderlands 3’s Golden Chest can be found on the spacecraft Sanctuary III. As always, this chest can be opened only by the very rare Golden Keys (which are shared between player profiles).

3 They Contain Some Very Nice Gear

Borderlands 3 screenshot Typhon Dead Drop unlocked

Needless to say, the contents of a Golden Chest or Typhon Dead Drop are just a shade more exclusive than your run-of-the-mill mob drops. As such, you won’t be picking up these sorts of items from a humble raider you happened across in the badlands.

These special chests contain some of the very finest loot. Purple weapons and relics are a common sight in Golden Chests, while Dead Drop items will be a cut above as well. It’s the least players can expect after going to the trouble of finding them. Even so, you should try to resist the temptation to dive straight in and open them.

2 It Might Be Best Not To Open Them At First

Borderlands 3 Zane Typhon Log

With the high caliber of the equipment that awaits inside, it probably goes against every loot-gathering instinct in a player’s body to hold off on opening these special chests. After all, Borderlands players want to be the most formidable Gunzerker around (or whichever class they happen to be playing as), don’t they?

That’s true, of course, but there’s something very important to keep in mind: while Golden Chests can be opened as many times as the player finds Golden Keys, the same is not true of Dead Drops. The contents are closely tied to the player’s current level, too, meaning that the best results may come from opening the chest much later. It all depends how much mileage gamers are planning to get from the character they’re currently playing.

1 None Of Them Are Missable

Borderlands 3 screenshot Zane Typhon Dead Drop

If you are opting to save the contents of the special locked chests, this should be reassurance: none of the Typhon Logs or their associated Dead Drops are missable.

Borderlands 3 makes it nice and easy to jet between planets and return to particular areas. This means that the player is free to take care of other story or side missions, level up and return to these mini-quests later. Don’t worry, that loot will be right there waiting for you. As long as you manage to find it!

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