[Outriders] Best class for new players
So you’ve picked yourself up a copy of Outriders (or downloaded it like a normal person), and you’re scratching your head wondering which class to pick. You don’t want to look like a moron in front of your buddies just because you chose the wrong class. Fear not, this article is written just for you! I will rank the classes from easiest to hardest, I will then rationalize my choices so that you can rest well assured that I’m not simply talking out of my ass.
Technomancer
Technomancer is the easiest class in the game and it isn’t even close. The Technomancer is your typical shooter class, it allows the player to sit back and shoot the bad guys, very noob friendly. Each class in the game has a healing mechanic, something that they need to do the recover lost HP, Technomancer simply needs to damage an enemy to heal. Because of this, Technomancer dominates in every stage of the game.
In early game, you won’t find yourself struggling to put out damage or survive like the other classes. You simply sit back and click a few heads, it’s that simple.
In the “Mid Game” which would refer to the later half of the campaign where you fight a bunch of bosses. Technomancer, due to it’s simple healing mechanic, high damage output, and ease of use handles these bosses extremely well.
In the end game, Technomancers dominate due to how easy it is to build them. I spent 30+ hours on a Trickster and never quite got it to the point where I was comfortable. I then moved on to Pyromancer and spent another 60+ building it and could barely run a Challenge Tier (CT) 14 Expedition on bronze, my Technomancer after one day of playing got to the point where I could comfortably solo 13s, and run team 14s with a silver rating. The day after that I was farming CT15 golds with very little effort. Technomancers aren’t nearly as picky as some of the other classes in terms of damage output, it takes very little effort to out damage other classes.
Recommended Skill Tree
Top Tree (Pestilence) is the best by far, not even a competition. You receive such raw damage from this tree, to the point where I currently hit 500 Thousand damage per individual bullet with a Three Round Burst Rifle, meaning that each burst can put out roughly 1.5 Million damage.
This build is considered a “Cheese Build” by most players. This means that it takes very little effort for very high reward, they aren’t wrong, yet the fact that it is a cheese build is pretty irrelevant. Don’t let people shame you for rocking the meta, everyone does it. The meta is there for a reason, some people try to act like they are too good to need it while those that choose to use it are trash.
If you are not confident in your abilities, this is the character for you. Whether you’re slaying out solo, or decimating waves of enemies in a team, Technomancer has some of the highest damage potential out of any class, it’s biggest downside is that it can be very squishy, especially if you gear it for pure damage like I did and completely disregard health, armor, defense and so much more. The best way to counter this is to kill everything before it can kill you, it’s just that easy.
Trickster
When the Outriders demo initially launched, everyone I knew was a Trickster main. It was seemingly the most overpowered class in the game since it worked extremely well in every scenario that the demo had to offer. It still is a very powerful class despite the nerfs it received to the top tree.
Trickster’s game play revolves around getting in the enemies face and blasting them away with a shotgun. This is due to it’s unique healing ability, enemies killed within close range return a portion of your health. It can be a very balls to the wall type of playstyle, to the point where if you slip up even in the slightest it can mean death. Now, when I say this I am assuming that you are at the highest World Tier possible, if not, ignore what I said. Despite this, Tricksters have some of the highest burst damage in the game, which is very nice for things like Alpha Perforos, Captains, Brood Mothers, or any other type of mini boss that you may face during your stay on Enoch.
The early game can be easy so long as you can get close without putting yourself in front of too many enemies. Some of the early bosses can be a pain since you rely on kills to heal yourself and the boss fights are 1v1s. There is a Tier-1 Weapon Mod called “Essence Thief” that heals the user every time they shoot an enemy with a 1s cool down. Does this sound familiar? With this mod you are essentially adopting the Technomancers method of self healing, which also means you will receive double the healing for the price of one. Aside from the boss fights, early game is very easy so long as you have an appropriate level shotgun to help you through the campaign.
Mid game is very stressful as a Trickster, especially if you don’t have the mod that I mention earlier, Essence Thief. There are a fair amount of bosses that can be a real pain in the ass, this is also around the time when you are introduced to enemies that put shields around themselves. These can be very frustrating when you rely on kills to stay alive. They only take a shot or two depending on what you use, but sometimes that can be the difference between life and death in a game like Outriders.
End game Tricksters are huge if they are played correctly, end game activities have a large amount of mini bosses that trickster can destroy very quickly. They also take aggro by doing so which helps immensely in a team setting. Trickster are fairy easy to gear for and don’t require extensive builds to be useful, if you are wanting to farm CT15 Expeditions you must have a build, but until you get there most generic gear will suffice.
Recommended Skill Tree
Top Tree (Assassin) has some of the best DPS potential, this build utilizes the Anomaly Rounds, Venanator’s Knife for the debuff, and a movement ability. For the movement ability, you can use Hunt the Prey to teleport behind them or you can use Borrowed Time to set a spawn point that you can teleport to after a certain amount of time. Warning: Hunt the Prey doesn’t work properly when trying to play in a group that you are not hosting, it often leaves you unable to move for a second or two which is almost guaranteed death. This build can even get you to the point to where you are seeing MASSIVE numbers per shot with a Shotgun, so long as you have the right buffs and debuffs. A content creator by the name of Moxsy even managed kill the final expedition boss in one shot with the correct setup.
This class may not be as easy as a Technomancer, but they are by no means any worse than them.
Devastator
Devastator is similar to Trickster, it is just much weaker, which makes it harder to use effectively. Devastator has the same healing mechanic as the Trickster, killing enemies in close range returns health. Unfortunately that means that it is compared to Trickster since they are similar.
Despite being comparable to the Trickster, this class is very different. While the Devastator focuses on close ranged combat, they focus on survival rather than raw damage. Devastators tank damage and Tricksters deal massive amounts of damage in a short time. For a solo player this can be an issue especially when it comes to the timed activities, you want to deal damage rather than take it. In a team setting a Devastator can be very helpful, if they can manage to take and hold aggro. The issue is that enemies tend to attack whomever they feel like attacking rather than the person shooting them in the back.
Early game this class fairs well since it can take a lot of abuse and the enemies don’t do much in the way of damage. This class suffers during boss fights for the same reason Tricksters to, they need kills to heal and their is only one enemy to kill, the boss.
Mid game is where Devastator starts to become truly abysmal, they don’t have the damage to kill and they take too much damage to sustain. Unless you keep your World Tier at 1 for the duration of the campaign, you’re in for a rough time.
End game is where this character truly dies. Now, this character can be taken through some of the most challenging content this game has to offer. You just have to suffer through hours and hours of grinding for the perfect gear. Even with the perfect build Challenge Tier 15 Expeditions are still brutally painful. Anyone that I’ve ever come across that started the game as a Devastator main has gone to Technomancer or Trickster.
That’s not to say, don’t play this character. If you have your heart set on playing a Devastator, just keep in mind that it will be a bit of a slog to get to the end game and that there will be times that you feel truly under powered.
Recommended Skill Tree
Bottom Tree (Seismic Shifter) is the most viable throughout all stages of the game. This tree focuses on two major aspects of gameplay, Survival and inflicting bleed to enemies. Bleed even boosts your ability to survive with the Blood Donation node.
I would never recommend this class to a noob, unless they are dead set on playing a tank character. Although this class may be fun for early game, it is ruined by the fact that it becomes so painful during end game.
Pyromancer
This class is amazing, easily a contender for strongest class in the game. That being said, I would NEVER recommend it to a new player. This should not be your introduction to the game since the play revolves around how well you utilize your abilities. Pyromancer’s main source of healing comes from killing enemies affected by your fire abilities, the secondary healing source comes from hurting enemies with your abilities.
Pyromancers are huge in both solo play and team play. They utilize their abilities to deal large amounts of damage to enemies with abilities. The reason I say that noobs should avoid this class at the start is because this class is so far from traditional shooter gameplay, it requires the player to be disciplined with their cooldowns. This character is a high risk, high reward play style that requires the player to be used to the game to some degree.
On top of that, Pyromancer is the most gear specific class in the game. Meaning that in order to reach the highest tier of expedition, your gear has to be perfect. Every mod, every attribute, and every Legendary needs to be carefully chosen to perfect your build. Otherwise you will end up being carried through a vast amount of the end game content. I would consider learning the game before trying to learn Pyromancer. If for some reason you think that I’m full of shit and want to jump into the game and immediately start burning your enemies to a crisp like the Human Torch, here’s what you have to look forward to.
Early game is brutal due to two major reasons. First heal ability is very difficult pull off, which makes the early boss very difficult. Sure, you have an ability that allows you to heal every 12 or so seconds, but that’s 12 full seconds without the ability to heal. Second, your abilities aren’t all that effective since your gear is going to be all over the place in terms of mods.
Mid game is just as frustrating, there are more bosses to frustrate the hell out of you, yet your mods will more than likely be catered to the skill you are using. Other than that the game is still pretty rough.
End game, once your build is starting to come together, it feels pretty good. But, that doesn’t mean much. Without proper tier 3 mods and the right legendaries you will be running lower Challenge Tiers until you can get the right gear. Expect a long grind to get to the Challenge Tier 15 expeditions, but, when you get there it will be very worth it. As you sling fire and spam your abilities when they’re off cool down you’ll feel like a god.
Recommended Skill Tree
Bottom Tree (Tempest) revolves around making your abilities stronger, and the main strategy of Pyromancer is to fully utilize your fire. Bottom tree, if built correctly, is great at taking out groups of mobs and single targets. With the added bonus of having a self resurrection option, the only class to have a self revive in solo play. It’s nice, but that doesn’t change the fact that the class is very difficult to play and get real value out of.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, pick what you want. I just hope that this guide has assisted you in making the decision easier. Lets recap:
Technomancer: Basic shooter character, super easy to build and super easy to use.
Trickster: Easy to use with risky gameplay, very annoying in coop due to lag.
Devastator: Can tank damage, but is not very viable in the end game due to how it is structured.
Pyromancer: Hard to get through campaign/World Tiers, Tough to build, but worth the effort.
