Borderlands 2 Basics – Game Interfaces

When you dive into Borderlands 2, you'll quickly realize there's a lot of stuff flying about the screen and a lot to keep track of as you're battling it out with the literally hundreds of enemy types using any one of millions of weapons.

To help you keep all these distractions down a dull roar, here's an overview of the most important game interfaces, the in-game action interface otherwise known in video game parlance as the Heads Up Display (HUD) and the Inventory Screen.

We'll start with the...

The Heads-Up Display (The HUD)

Here's a screenshot of the player shooting down a Bullymong, an early game enemy...

Alright now let's go over what's happening on the screen:

1. Shield — This is your special rechargeable shield that protects you against enemy attacks. As you take hits, your shield depletes. When the shield bottoms out, enemy attacks start affecting your health bar. All different kinds of shields can be found or purchased and have varying attributes. (Back to screenshot)
2. Health Bar — Damage from enemy attacks depletes your health bar when your shield is empty (or if you don't have a shield). By default, the health bar does not recharge. You can fill it up using Health Now! packs which are either found as loot or purchased from Zed's Meds vending machines. Later in the game, Transfusion grenades can be equipped and thrown at an enemy to recover health. The Assassin character can also equip a Survivor Class Mod which gradually recovers health all the time.
3. Character Level and XP progress — Current character level and the XP progress bar to show how much XP is required to level up to the next level. (Back to screenshot)
4. Ammo Count — The smaller number on the left is how much ammo is currently left in the weapon's magazine. The larger number on the right is how much spare ammo remains which is drawn from every time the weapon is reloaded. (Back to screenshot)
5. Critical Hit Indicator — Every enemy has one or more weak spots which when attacked will yield heavy bonus damage. The big red Critical hit indicator appears whenever you successfully make a critical hit. (Back to screenshot)
6. Enemy Name and Health/Shield Bars — Whenever you target an enemy with your weapon's crosshair, its name will appear along with the current state of its health bar and shield (if applicable). (Back to screenshot)
7. Damage Indicators — How much damage your weapon is currently inflicting. White damage numbers means you're doing normal damage. Orange damage numbers means you're doing burn damage. Green damage numbers equal corrosive damage. Blue damage numbers equal shock damage. (Back to screenshot)
8. Mini map — Helps you quickly locate stuff without having to access the main map. Enemies appear as red dots on the mini map which is very useful during an intense battle. (Back to screenshot)
9. Current Activated Mission and Objectives — You can activate a mission by clicking on its title in the Logs screen. Objectives marked with a (+) plus sign in the checkbox are optional. (Back to screenshot)