Trial of Discipline

Master the Borderlands 3 Trial of Discipline! Learn strategies for defeating the Arbalest of Discipline, completing optional objectives, and getting the best loot.

Alright, so you've finished the main story and you're ready to tackle the Eridian Proving Grounds. The Trial of Discipline is one of these challenges, and it's a good one to get a feel for how these work. You'll be heading back into familiar-ish areas to fight waves of enemies and a boss. Let's get you through it!

First things first, you'll need to have completed the mission Discover the Trial of Discipline. Once that's done, head to Precipice Anchor and find the Overseer. They're the one who kicks things off.

What are Eridian Proving Grounds?

Think of these as endgame challenges. After beating the main story, you'll find pedestals scattered around the galaxy that unlock these. Each Proving Ground throws you into a variation of a past zone, where you'll need to clear out enemies across a couple of areas before facing a boss. They're designed to test your build and gear.

General Tips for the Trial

• Have a Good Build: Seriously, this makes a huge difference. If you want to snag those optional objectives, especially the time-based ones, you'll want a build that can dish out massive damage, ideally one-shotting most enemies.
• Upgrade SDUs: You're going to be using a lot of ammo and grenades, especially against the tougher Badass and Heavy enemies. Make sure your ammo and grenade capacity is maxed out by upgrading your SDUs.
• Level Up Your Survivor Tree: If you haven't already, farm up some Guardian Rank Tokens. Getting the Resilient perk from the Survivor tree is a lifesaver. It lets you revive from Fight For Your Life with full health and shields, which can save you a lot of frustration.

Enter the Trial

Once you've accepted the challenge from the Overseer, step into the arena. Get ready to fight!

Kill All Enemies / Continue Trial

As soon as you enter, you'll be swarmed. Expect a lot of Badass and Heavy Maliwan Soldiers. Your priority should be taking down these high-damage threats first. The best way to do this is to use elemental weapons they're weak against, combine it with your Action Skill when it's ready, and don't forget your grenades. Keep moving and use cover!

Find the Fallen Guardian (Optional Objective)

While you're clearing out the areas, keep an eye out near the forcefield walls at the end of each section. A Fallen Guardian can sometimes spawn there. If you manage to take it down, it drops some nice loot and cash. It's worth looking for!

Optional Objectives

You'll see a few optional objectives during this trial. They usually include things like:

• Find the Fallen Guardian (Optional)
• Complete Trial without Dying (Optional)
• Kill Boss with 25:00 Remaining (Optional)
• Kill Boss with 20:00 Remaining (Optional)

Don't stress too much if you can't get them all, especially if your build isn't perfectly optimized yet. They mainly give you extra cash and XP. Focus on surviving and completing the main objective first.

Boss: Arbalest of Discipline

After you've cleared out all the regular enemies, you'll drop down into the boss arena to face the Arbalest of Discipline. This mech looks pretty imposing, but it has a clear weak spot.

Strategy: Stay towards the back center of the arena. This gives you the most room to dodge the projectiles the mech fires at you. Your main target is its power core, located right in the center of its chest. Keep unloading bullets into that core. It has two health bars, so just keep up the pressure until it's defeated.

Open the Chest

Once the Arbalest is down, head over to the chest at the end of the arena. Open it up, grab your loot, and you'll have successfully completed the Trial of Discipline!