Outriders best class: which of the four Outriders classes should you pick?
Here's our take on the best Outriders class
Outriders, unlike certain other looter shooters, is an entirely PvP-free affair. While this may be a disappointment to some, the good news is that there are no qualms about giving the player the tools to become hilariously overpowered. No matter which of the four classes in Outriders you pick, you'll have the ability to become godlike with the right setup.
But despite the potential for growth in all four classes, we all know one of them must be labelled the very best class in Outriders. We'll go over the strengths and weaknesses of all four classes below, along with our thoughts on the strongest class in the game right now.
On this page:
- Outriders best class: which class is most powerful?
- Devastator: skills, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
- Pyromancer: skills, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
- Technomancer: skills, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
- Trickster: skills, strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
- Can you change class in Outriders?
Outriders best class: which class is most powerful?
It's not entirely clear-cut which is the best Outriders class, mainly because they all develop in different ways and peak at certain points compared with the other classes. But here's our answer:
The best Outriders class for the early-game and co-op play is the Trickster. The best Outriders class for solo endgame missions is the Technomancer.
We'll talk about each class in more detail below, but it's important to reiterate that all four classes can become extraordinarily powerful so unless you truly want to hit the power ceiling of Outriders, you should probably just try out each class and pick whichever feels most fun for you to play.
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Trickster: strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
For all that the four different class skill trees accommodate a variety of different playstyles, the Trickster still feels like the jack-of-all-trades class. Their abilities range from pure damage to powerful survival and mobility tools. The only instance where the Trickster takes a stance is that it is particularly suited for close-range combat; which is another reason why the Trickster is so powerful, since close quarters combat is very much the focus a lot of the time in Outriders.
To learn how to unlock the Trickster's potential in both solo and co-op, check out our best Outriders Trickster build page.
Trickster skills:
- Temporal Blade: Paralyze and slice enemies in front of you, dealing damage and inflicting Slow and Interrupt to all targets.
- Slow Trap: Create a spacetime Anomaly that inflicts Slow onto enemies and projectiles for 10s.
- Hunt The Prey: Select an enemy and teleport behind them and receive a shield bonus.
- Twisted Rounds: Fill your weapon's magazine with Anomaly-infused bullets that deal significantly more damage to enemies. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons.
- Cyclone Slice: Create a whirlwind of Anomaly blades that deal damage and Interrupt onto enemies within a small radius of you with every hit.
- Borrowed Time: Receive a shield and mark your location for 28s. Triggering the skill again will bend spacetime and teleport you back to the marked spot.
- Venator's Knife: Throw a temporal knife at an enemy. The blade will ricochet between a maximum of 5 enemies within a small radius, dealing damage and marking them. All marked targets will be inflicted with Slow and for 10s the first damage dealt by you will be doubled.
- Time Rift: Create a shockwave that suspends enemies in the air leaving them unable to fight for 3.5s and inflicting Weakness.
Technomancer: strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
The Technomancer may feel slightly underwhelming compared with other classes at first glance, but I believe in the endgame, a maxed out DPS Technomancer setup beats just about anything that the other classes can come up with. The Technomancer heals continuously as long as it is damaging enemies, which means the more you pump into damage, the tankier you become. This is true of all the classes, but the correlation is much more direct with the Technomancer.
The Technomancer is a fantastic class at any range, but it's perhaps strongest at long range - at least until you become powerful enough that most enemies can't even hurt you. If you're interested in how to reach this stage of godlike power, check out our best Outriders Technomancer build page.
Technomancer skills:
- Scrapnel: Throw a proximity device. The explosion deals damage and Interrupts the skills of enemies caught within the blast radius.
- Cryo Turret: Place an automated turret that deals damage and inflicts Freeze onto enemies. The turret's health depletes slowly over time and when it takes damage.
- Pain Launcher: Place a missile launcher and bomb the area in front of you. Each missile deals damage per hit and Interrupts enemy skills.
- Blighted Rounds: Fill your current weapon's magazine with decay-infused bullets that inflict Toxic onto enemies. Enemies within a small radius of the main target also receive Toxic and 50% of the damage. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons.
- Tool Of Destruction: Conjure a Rocket Launcher that can Interrupt enemies or a Minigun that deals damage per shot. The skill will remain active until all ammo is depleted or until you switch weapons.
- Fixing Wave: Release your energy to restore 33% of Health to all players and 50% of Health to your turrets regardless of distance.
- Cold Snap: Drop a gadget to inflict Freeze onto all enemies within a large radius around you.
- Blighted Turret: Place an automated turret that deals damage and inflicts Toxic onto enemies. The turret's health depletes slowly over time and when it takes damage.
Devastator: strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
The Devastator is, for all intents and purposes, the "tank" class. Again, the lines become blurred because all the classes can get so powerful that they almost never die; but the Devastator's ability to survive kicks into gear far earlier than the rest thanks to abilities such as Golem and Reflect Bullets. Much like the Trickster, the Devastator is built for close-quarters combat, as its health regeneration is tied to the deaths of enemies within close range. It's also a great class for co-op play, because you can fill its mod slots and skills with abilities that buff the entire team, and it makes sense to place those powers on your tankiest team member.
Learn all about what makes a truly powerful Devastator with our best Outriders Devastator build page.
Devastator skills:
- Earthquake: Release a shockwave to deal damage and Interrupt all enemies in front of you.
- Golem: Fortify yourself against 65% of incoming damage for 8s.
- Gravity Leap: Leap into the air and strike your targets from above, dealing damage and Interrupting enemies within a small radius of the area you land in.
- Reflect Bullets: Create a barrier that captures all enemy projectiles and accumulates damage. After 10s of triggering the skill, the accumulated damage is reflected back to enemies in front of you. The barrier also protects against melee attacks by reflecting some damage back.
- Impale: Select a target to Interrupt their skills, inflict Bleed, and deal damage. If the damage is lethal, the enemy will be impaled, creating a zone that grants a powerful bonus to Armor and Health regeneration to all allies in range for 9 seconds.
- Tremor: Create a series of explosions around you, each dealing damage and draining Health from enemies within a medium radius around you.
- Boulderdash: Charge forward to Interrupt all enemies in your path and deal damage. At the end of the charge, you will smash the ground and deal damage to all enemies in a small radius around you.
- Endless Mass: Encase a target in stone, inflicting Bleed and pulling enemies within a small radius towards the initial target. The stone will then explode, dealing damage to all enemies within a small radius around the target.
Pyromancer: strengths, weaknesses, and playstyle
The Pyromancer is perhaps the hardest class to get to grips with in Outriders, which may be intriguing to some or a deterrent to others. Like its fellow 'mancer, the Pyromancer class allows you to stay at a distance, and affords you some flexibility when it comes to dealing damage with weapons or with powerful abilities. And, as with all the classes, a top-tier, fully-levelled-up Pyro can decimates swathes of enemies in the blink of an eye. The only reason the Pyromancer falls a little short of the strength of the rest is that its healing mechanic (recover HP whenever enemies marked by your abilities are killed) is more situational and less easy to benefit from than the others. This is also why I'd highly recommend using the Pyromancer for co-op more than solo missions - though of course you can still do either.
For more information on the Pyromancer and how to make them as strong as possible, check out our best Outriders Pyromancer build page.
Pyromancer skills:
- Heatwave: Summon a fiery wave that deals damage and inflicts Burn to all enemies in its path.
- Feed The Flames: Pull an enemy toward you, dealing damage, draining Health, and inflicting Ash.
- Thermal Bomb: Select an enemy to Burn, Interrupt and deal damage to. If killed while still afflicted by the skill, the enemy will explode, dealing damage in a large radius.
- Overheat: Deals a little damage to all enemies in a large radius and Interrupt their skills. Enemies afflicted with Burn receive additional damage and the Burn will be consumed.
- Volcanic Rounds: Fill your current weapon's magazine with Anomaly-infused bullets that will inflict Burn within a small radius and pierce targets, damaging enemies behind them. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons.
- Ash Blast: Create an Anomaly blast to inflict Ash on all enemies in a large radius around you.
- F.A.S.E.R Beam: Fire an energy beam that deals damage that benefits from 150% of Status Power, inflicting Burn and causing Interrupt.
- Eruption: Create a volcanic eruption beneath the selected enemy, dealing damage to them, and all enemies within a small radius around the target.
Can you change class in Outriders?
The short answer is: no, you cannot change your character's class in Outriders once you've settled on one class. You choose your class at the end of the game's Prologue, and after that point you're stuck with whatever you choose.
Fortunately, you can have multiple characters set up at once on a single account, and you can switch between them at will. So if you fancy trying out all four classes, you can do just that. None of the characters will share story or mission progress, but if you want to share items between different characters you can do that by placing the items in your stash.
That concludes our rundown of the four Outriders classes and our take on the best Outriders class right now. If you're looking to boost your character's strength and progress then you may also want to take a look at our page on World Tier farming in Outriders.