Borderlands 3 Eridium continues the franchise tradition, occupying the slot of the game's premium currency and the gatekeeper for players looking to customize their Vault Hunters with cool skins and solid weapons, the latter of which can often help the beginning of a long end-game grind towards the best legendary items available. Borderlands 3 Eridium is the purple substance that can be found scattered across several planets, and can also be dropped in its bar form by enemies on rare occasions or quest givers upon completing tasks - most often by completing ones that reoccur on different worlds.

Eridium was introduced to Borderlands through Borderlands 3, and has since become a staple in-game currency that adds to the game's grind while also presenting progression goals for players who might need some extra incentive along the way. Given that Borderlands has always been about loot in massive quantities, it makes sense that Eridium is often the subject of each game it appears in's farming guides. Players who are able to acquire Borderlands 3 Eridium faster in turn make all their other goals quicker to achieve as well thanks to the weapons the premium currency can help players gather.

Related: Borderlands 3: Which Character Should You Choose?

Essentially, Borderlands 3 Eridium is the same as its always been in terms of functionality, but how to get it has changed for the better. Here's a quick look at the easiest ways to get Eridium in Borderlands 3, and how to spend it so that players have the easiest time mowing down enemies and finding more of that sweet, sweet loot.

Borderlands 3 Characters Which Choose FL4K Moze Zane Amara

How to Farm Borderlands 3 Eridium

Complete Challenges

Early on in the game, this is pretty much the only way to get Borderlands 3 Eridium. There are various challenges scattered across each map that reward Eridium, experience, and money to players who complete them. Of these, the most common early ones are the missions that task players with finding Claptrap parts from dead models of the robot, rare hunts for Sir Hammerlock, and cutting off Children of the Vault communications towers for Moxxi. These don't appear naturally on the map until a player gets close enough to them, so it's worth thoroughly exploring the early game content both for leveling, which helps get characters to the necessary parts of their skill tree to truly unlock their potential, and for Eridium, which can help them look cool doing it or pick up a key weapon heading into a new world.

Kill Anointed Enemies

Anointed enemies are the Borderlands 3 equivalent of rare spawns (moreso than Badass enemies, which appear fairly frequently), and they're also challenging fights with strong rewards for completing them. They can appear at any time, but it takes a while to progress far enough that they become a concern for players. Once they begin cropping up, though, it means they can be found pretty well anywhere (as returning to old planets at higher levels causes more powerful enemies to spawn), and that means good experience, loot, and the potential for Borderlands 3 Eridium drops at any time. This is the least consistent element since it requires spawns to cooperate, but it's also one that doesn't need to be pursued and can instead just be a happy circumstance whenever it occurs.

Play Slots at Mad Moxxi's Bar

This comes highly advised against, but if a player is feeling particularly lucky, there is Eridium up for grabs to those who get a favorable spin of the slot machines in Mad Moxxi's establishment. Just remember - we warned you.

Complete the First Borderlands 3 Vault

This is the important one. Upon completion of the first Borderlands 3 Vault, players will gain access to an artifact that lets them destroy the Eridium crystals scattered across the worlds they've been exploring. They're large purple crystals that are frustratingly indestructible up until that point. The Borderlands 3 Eridium grind becomes much easier once players get the artifact, which simply allows them to melee down the purple crystals for some premium currency. Eridium crystals are everywhere, but they seem to be especially prominent on Pandora, so immediately upon gaining the artifact, it's recommended players interested in farming Borderlands 3 Eridium head back to the starting planet and try to find as much of it as they can.

Borderlands 3

What to Spend Borderlands 3 Eridium On

Believe it or not, there's no tried-and-true efficient methodology behind Borderlands 3 Eridium purchases. That's largely because so much of the premium currency is tied up in cosmetic items that players can simply pick up at their leisure without it impacting their quality of life during the game (beyond, of course, aesthetics and bragging rights with party members). With that said, there's one golden rule that might go against what players believe to be a fundamental element of Borderlands 3 when it comes to loot - don't buy weapons.

While we've mentioned it above as a possibility, and it's certainly an option for players who are somehow starved for an upgrade to an item they like, the fact is that Borderlands 3 is constantly bombarding its players with new loot and cool weapons at nearly every opportunity. Patience will inevitably see players receive a weapon they can use sooner rather than later anyways, and it won't cost them Eridium, which can be a pain to accumulate in amounts that help players get the cosmetics they want right away. Sinking in a resource like Borderlands 3 Eridium into a weapon that will probably be replaced within 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay - seriously, that's how much loot is on offer in this game - feels pretty terrible.

As always, players can decide how they want to spend their Borderlands 3 Eridium for themselves. It's a bit more plentiful in this iteration of the franchise than it has been in the past. With that said, though, cosmetics, despite not being actually useful during gameplay, are probably the best choice for time and efficiency, even if it seems to be the opposite just based on philosophy alone.

Next: Borderlands 3 Review Roundup: Mixed Messages