Borderlands 4: How to Unlock Providence Island

Providence Island doesn’t open up on its own. Borderlands 4’s second story pack, FL4K and the Last Resort, drops a single mission start marker into an area you’ve almost certainly already cleared, and the island only appears on your map after you climb into an escape pod and crash on it. The whole trip takes a couple of minutes once you know where to walk.

Quick answer: Fast travel to Heart of the Mountain in the Terminus Range region of Kairos, accept FL4K and the Last Resort at the glowing transmission terminal inside the wrecked ship, then board the Providence 15 escape pod through the door marked Providence Island.

What you need before the mission appears

The mission marker is tied to DLC ownership, not to campaign progress. If you don’t own the story pack, no terminal spawns and nothing shows up on the Kairos map.

Requirement	Detail
DLC	Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort ($19.99), included with the Super Deluxe edition
Release	September 10th, 2026, alongside the 1.10 update
Platforms	PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X\|S, PC
Start region	Terminus Range, Kairos
Start location	Heart of the Mountain
Mission name	FL4K and the Last Resort

Note: Loveless the Hacker, the new playable Vault Hunter, is a separate $9.99 purchase and has nothing to do with unlocking the island. You can reach Providence Island on any Vault Hunter you already play.

How to reach the FL4K and the Last Resort mission terminal

Open the Kairos world map and zoom into the Terminus Range region until Heart of the Mountain fills the screen. The DLC start icon sits inside that area, close to Cuspid Climb if you’re orienting yourself from the surrounding landmarks.

Fast travel in and head across the snow toward the wrecked ship structure. The mission start is a glowing holographic communication station tucked inside the ruined hull, so look for the light rather than a character.

Interact with the terminal to bring up the FL4K and the Last Resort mission card, then confirm the prompt (E on PC) to Accept & Track it. FL4K starts talking over the radio as soon as the mission is picked up, and the “Main Mission Accepted” banner flashes on screen.

Main Mission Accepted banner confirming FL4K and the Last Resort has been picked up — The Main Mission Accepted banner for FL4K and the Last Resort confirms the story pack has started. Image: Gearbox Software

Follow the tracked waypoint up the ramp inside the ship and into the adjacent tunnel. The doorway you want is labeled Providence Island and leads to the Providence 15 escape pod.

Step through the door. A title sequence plays over a red-sun landscape with the FL4K AND THE LAST RESORT logo, and control returns to you inside the pod after the landing.

Getting out of the pod at Vinechoked Canopy

You come round inside the crashed pod in Vinechoked Canopy, on Providence Island itself, and pick up 100 XP for the landing. The mission log switches over to The Skag and the Robot with a single objective, exit the pod.

Interior of the crashed pod at Vinechoked Canopy with a wall console in the crosshair — Inside the pod at Vinechoked Canopy, with a wall console in the crosshair after the crash landing. Image: Gearbox Software

The hatch is locked when you land. Walk to the wheel mechanism on the pod door and hold the interact prompt to turn it, which unlocks the hatch and swings it open.

Exit pod objective highlighted as the player approaches the locked hatch — The Exit pod objective stays highlighted until you turn the wheel on the hatch. Image: Gearbox Software

Step outside into the jungle. Enemy chatter kicks in somewhere in the trees almost immediately, so expect a fight before you get far from the landing site.

Aiming out through the open pod hatch into the Vinechoked Canopy jungle — Aiming out of the open hatch into Vinechoked Canopy. Image: Gearbox Software

How to confirm Providence Island is unlocked

There’s no unlock notification to watch for. Open the map once you’re outside the pod, and Providence Island will be listed as its own zone with Vinechoked Canopy uncovered around your position and the active mission marker showing. If the map still only offers Kairos regions, you haven’t left the pod yet.

From there the mission moves you on to the Find the vault hunter objective, which pushes you through the caves and deeper into the island’s jungle.

Moving through a cave on Providence Island under the Find the vault hunter objective — The Find the vault hunter objective leads out of Vinechoked Canopy and through the caves. Image: Gearbox Software

If the mission marker never shows up

Two things stop the terminal from appearing. The first is entitlement, so check that Story Pack 2 is actually installed and licensed on the account you’re playing on, especially if you own the Super Deluxe edition through a different store account. The second is the patch itself, since the story pack ships with the 1.10 update and the mission won’t spawn on an older client.

Restart the game fully after the update downloads. That also clears the connection errors that tend to show up in matchmaking right after a major patch. If the mission is still missing with the DLC installed and the game updated, open a ticket with 2K Support.

Once the island is on your map, it stays there, and the escape pod route becomes a one-time trip rather than something you repeat. Providence Island runs on its own set of side missions too, and clearing every one of them awards the Tourism of Duty achievement, so it’s worth sweeping the zone properly rather than beelining the story.