You're finally hitting your stride. Your build is clicking, the loot is actually decent for once, and you’ve just reached the fifth main mission on the planet Kairos. Then, it happens. You need to talk to Zadra, but she’s just standing there. Staring. Doing absolutely nothing. No prompt, no dialogue, just a brick wall of a bug that has become the single most frustrating part of the early game.
One fell swoop borderlands 4 was supposed to be a high-stakes heist-style mission where you sabotage Sol’s production facility and steal an airship. Instead, for about 30% of the player base, it’s a progress-stopping nightmare. Honestly, it’s kind of a shame because the mission itself is actually a blast when it works. You’re grappling through vents, throwing canisters at armored brutes, and ejecting thermal capacitors while an airship literally explodes around you.
But if you’re reading this, you probably don’t care about the plot. You’re likely stuck in Zadra’s HQ or staring at an immune armored door that won't budge.
The One Fell Swoop Softlock: What’s Actually Happening?
Basically, the game’s scripting for this mission is incredibly fragile. Most people run into the "Talk to Zadra" bug right after the "Meet Zadra" objective pops up. You walk over to her, and the interact prompt is just... gone. She has no collision. You can walk right through her like a ghost.
This usually happens if you quit the game or crash while a specific piece of dialogue is playing, or if you fast travel away at the exact wrong microsecond. Gearbox has been patching the game like crazy since the September 12 launch, but as of early 2026, this specific trigger still trips people up. It’s not just a "restart your console" kind of fix, either.
Another sticking point is the armored door. A lot of players get here and start dumping magazines into it. Nothing happens. You’ll see "Immune" pop up over and over. You aren't supposed to shoot it—well, not with your guns. You have to find a specific canister nearby and chuck it at the door to strip the armor first. It’s a mechanic the game tries to teach you here, but in the chaos of a firefight, it’s easy to miss.
How to Fix the "Talk to Zadra" Bug Without Losing Your Mind
If you're stuck and Zadra is ignoring you, don't delete your save. There are a couple of community-discovered workarounds that actually work. They're weird, but they work.
The "New Character" Shortcut
This is the most reliable fix. It sounds like a lot of work, but you can do it in five minutes:
- Back out to the Main Menu.
- Create a New Vault Hunter.
- Choose the option to Skip the Prologue (this drops you right into the action).
- As soon as you gain control of the new character and the first cutscene finishes, quit back to the menu.
- Load your original, bugged character.
For some reason, this resets the global mission flags. When you load back in, Zadra should suddenly find her voice and the quest will progress.
The Fast Travel Reset
If the new character trick doesn't work, try leaving the zone entirely. Fast travel to a completely different map—somewhere like the Arch of Inceptus. Once you're there, run around for a minute, then fast travel back to Zadra’s Backup Plan. Sometimes forcing the map to completely deload and reload is enough to kick the NPC script back into gear.
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Mission Walkthrough: Don't Get Stuck Again
Once you actually get past Zadra, the mission moves fast. You’re heading to Sol’s production facility. Pro tip: when you reach the big gate, three heavy enemies will come out. You don't actually have to kill them. If you’re playing on a higher difficulty or just want to speedrun, you can slide-jump right past them and into the facility.
The Sabotage Sequence:
You’ll need to hack a console to lower a golden barricade. Inside, you’ll find the Synth Processor. Don't just stand there shooting the guards. Focus the core of the processor. It has a surprisingly large health pool, but once it goes, the guards stop spawning.
The Airship Escape:
This is the "One Fell Swoop" part of the name. You’ll eventually reach a rooftop and use your grappling hook to board an airship. Inside, you have to eject thermal capacitors. There’s a button, but after you hit it, you still need to shoot the three critical systems.
Watch the Timer:
Once those systems are toast, a 30-second countdown starts. This isn't one of those "fake" game timers where you have all day. If you aren't out of that ship when the clock hits zero, you're going to see the respawn screen. Jump out into the yellow beam.
Why One Fell Swoop Matters for the 2026 Meta
It’s easy to get annoyed with the bugs, but this mission is actually a major turning point for your character's power level. It unlocks the Outbounders HQ as a permanent hub, which is where you’ll eventually find Rush and the mission boards for the newer 2026 DLCs like Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned.
More importantly, finishing this quest is a prerequisite for unlocking the Ordnance Skill slots on certain builds. If you’re playing as C4SH (the gambler bot from the first Story Pack), you really want this mission done so you can start optimizing your luck-based procs.
Next Steps for Your Playthrough:
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If you’ve managed to bypass the bugs and finish the mission, your next move should be heading back to the Outbounders HQ to talk to Rush. Doing this immediately unlocks the first set of Weekly Wildcard Missions. These are currently the best way to farm for the new Pearlescent gear that was added in the Q1 2026 update. Check your ECHO-4 map for the green icon in the Fadefields to start the "Rush the Gate" follow-up quest.