Borderlands 4: Akela Island Occupied Sector Full Walkthrough

Akela Island is one of two Occupied Sectors added with the FL4K and the Last Resort story pack, and it is short enough to finish in a single run once you know the route. The whole activity is a linear cave push that ends in an arena fight against Drilla Killa, and beating that boss is what flips the sector from contested to cleared.

Quick answer: Travel to Akela Island, the westernmost island in Bagheera Range, enter the cave, fight through to the arena at the end, then summon and kill Drilla Killa to complete the Occupied Sector and unlock the boss for farming.

Akela Island Occupied Sector location and rewards

Open the map and zoom in on the far west side of Bagheera Range. Akela Island is the last landmass out that way, and the Occupied Sector icon sits directly on it. Providence Island has two of these sectors in total, so make sure you are looking at the western one rather than Pyroclast Grotto.

Detail	Value
Activity type	Occupied Sector
Location	Akela Island, westernmost island in Bagheera Range
Boss	Drilla Killa
Enemies on the route	Caustic Pulper, Farshot
Completion trigger	Kill Drilla Killa in the end arena
Unlock	Drilla Killa becomes farmable for dedicated drops

Cave route: entrance to boss arena

The path through the island is one continuous corridor. There are no switches to hit and no side routes to hunt down, so the only thing that slows you down is the enemy density in the middle stretch.

Head to the cave mouth on Akela Island and get your loadout sorted before you go in. An SMG handles the mixed infantry inside well, and topping up your magazine at the entrance saves you a reload during the first fight.

Reload prompt on screen while approaching the Akela Island cave entrance — Reloading on the approach to the Akela Island cave entrance. Image: Gearbox Software

Move into the cave and keep pushing deeper. There are glowing pickups scattered on the floor near the entrance, so grab anything useful on the way past rather than doubling back later.

Clear the first enemy group. Caustic Pulpers and Farshots hold the platforms and connecting bridges in this section, and the Farshots will pick at you from range while you cross, so deal with them before you commit to open walkways.

Continue to the metal sliding door at the far end of the cavern. It opens on its own as you approach, and behind it is a ruined indoor structure that marks the halfway point.

Player aiming at the closed sliding gate partway through the Akela Island cave — The inner gate partway through the cave opens automatically as you walk up to it. Image: Gearbox Software

Follow the wooden walkway that runs alongside the blue stream. Sliding and jumping through this stretch is faster than walking it, and it leads straight into the arena where the boss encounter is staged.

Drilla Killa boss fight

Drilla Killa does not spawn on its own. You have to summon the boss once you are inside the arena, at which point the objective updates to “Kill the boss” and the fight locks in. Use the moment before summoning to refill ammo and reposition.

Kill the boss objective displayed during the Akela Island Occupied Sector fight — The Occupied Sector objective switches to “Kill the boss” once Drilla Killa is summoned. Image: Gearbox Software

The arena is not a solo duel. A Recommissioned Splicopter joins in and works the airspace above the fight, and it is easy to lose track of while you are focused on the ground. Drop it when it commits to a hover, then go back to the boss.

Aiming down sights at a Recommissioned Splicopter during the Drilla Killa fight — A Recommissioned Splicopter adds air pressure during the Drilla Killa encounter. Image: Gearbox Software

Tip: keep circling the outer edge of the arena rather than trading shots from cover. The extra space makes it much easier to keep both the boss and the air support in front of you.

How to confirm the Occupied Sector is complete

Drilla Killa has a named boss health bar at the top of the screen for the duration of the fight. When that bar empties and the boss dies, the Occupied Sector objective resolves and the activity is finished. There is nothing else to activate or turn in afterwards.

Drilla Killa boss health bar shown at the top of the screen mid-fight — Drilla Killa’s health bar tracks the fight; the sector completes when it empties. Image: Gearbox Software

The most common reason the sector does not register as cleared is simply that the boss was never summoned. Clearing the cave enemies on the way in does nothing by itself, so if you sprinted to the arena and left again, go back and trigger the encounter.

Once Drilla Killa is down, the boss is unlocked for repeat runs and can be farmed for its dedicated drops, which is the real payoff for clearing the sector in the first place. The other Occupied Sector at Pyroclast Grotto works the same way and unlocks Black Grin, so it is worth clearing both if you are building a farming rotation on Providence Island.