Home > Borderlands 3 > Borderlands 3 Powerful Connections Walkthrough

Borderlands 3 Powerful Connections Walkthrough

Side Mission Not Available? There are several explanations.

1) You’re not far enough in the campaign.

2) It’s a glitch. There will be an exclamation mark on your map indicating the mission giver’s location but sometimes a bug appears that does not present these on your map. In this case, you can use our guide pages to mark your own waypoint for where the quest should be.

Powerful Connections Walkthrough

You can accept ‘Powerful Connections’ as a Side Quest after completing the first mission. You’ll find it by locating the broken Vending Machine (marked by a [!] on your map) near the gate connecting The Droughts and Covenant Pass.

  • Once you’ve accepted it, you can activate it from the menu in your ECHO-3. Once you’ve done so, you can check your map to find a blue Quest Marker nearby, showing you where to go.
  • Follow it, and you’ll discover a breaker box with a missing circuit.
  • Marcus will cut in, telling you what to do. He says that you’ll need to find a Skag Spine. As an optional objective, he also tells you that you can find a Human Spine as well. Lets do both.
  • Checking your map, you’ll see two more Quest Markers. One marks the Human Spine, and the other marks the Skag Spine. It doesn’t matter which one you choose first, but I do recommend doing both of them.
  • At the Skag Spine Quest Marker, you’ll find several small, creepy dog-like creatures without faces. These are Skags. You’ll need to fight off several of them (which gets you loot and EXP) before the ‘boss’ arrives. Marcus will tell you when it’s coming, saying something along the lines of ‘there’s that Electric Skag’.
  • The Electric Skag is more dangerous than the other Skags you’ve been fighting for the past few minutes. This one can shoot balls of electricity, which does a good deal of damage. You’ll need to keep your distance and shoot it dead as quickly as you can, while dodging its attacks.
  • After a few shots, the beast will go down, and you’ll be allowed to take the Skag Spine. You can now either head back to give it to Marcus, or you can continue to the Human Spine Quest Marker (assuming you haven’t already been there).
  • Feel free to run back to the Vending Machines, to sell any unwanted items you’ve looted. You don’t have much space in your inventory, so you may as well profit from it, instead of just dropping the loot and leaving it behind. Just don’t forget to equip the better Weapons and Shields you find!
  • At the Human Spine Quest Marker, you’l find several human enemies (Bandits). These are the same type of enemy that you faced off against in the first mission, so you should be familiar with them already. The Fanatics will come running at you, oblivious to damage they’ve taken until killed. Focus on them first, and then snipe or hunt down the others afterward.
  • It won’t take long before you’ve gotten the Human Spine you need. For me, it dropped from one of the first few enemies that I killed. But, you may want to clear out a bit more of the enemy base, just for practice, EXP, loot, and for fun.
  • Regardless, once you’ve got the Human Spine and you’re ready to move on with the quest, head back to the new Quest Marker, back at the breaker box.
  • Marcus will tell you to throw in the Human Spine. If you did go the extra mile to receive it, you’ll get some extra rewards at the end of the quest.
  • After throwing in the Human Spine, Marcus will then have you throw in the Skag Spine. Marcus will then tell you that the third Vending Machine is now open for your business, and he’ll give you the location of his ‘secret stash’ as well.
  • At this point, the quest may flip from ‘Powerful Connections‘, changing to whatever your main Quest is. Just hop back into the menu on your ECHO-3 and switch it back to see the Quest Marker (marking the ‘secret stash’), which is right next to the newly repaired Vending Machine.
  • Once you reach the secret stash, this Side Quest will officially end, and you’ll automatically get your reward.
  • Hop down into the secret stash area, and you’ll find a box and a locker to loot, as well as a large chest filled with weapons or grenades.
  • Take them, and ascend the ladder again to reach the Vending Machine again. Once again, feel free to sell anything and everything you aren’t going to use.

With this Side Quest complete, you can now return to whichever main mission you were on.

Leave a Comment