Admittedly, all classes and roles in Outriders are good. In fact, there isn’t necessarily a single class or role in this looter-shooter that’s better than the others. However, as is always the case, certain classes are better suited for a particular playstyle. For this very reason, we recommend trying to find out which Outriders classes and roles fit your preferences the best.
What Are The Different Outriders Classes and Roles?
There are four different classes in Outriders for players to choose from. There’s the Trickster, Devastator, Pyromancer, and Technomancer. Even though there’s some overlap in what kind of role a particular class is better suited for, each class is distinct enough that they all handle a variety of situations differently. Here’s a quick breakdown of what each class can do in Outriders and what kind of role/s they excel in.
Pyromancer (Spellcaster)
The Pyromancer in Outriders has access to four different skills. Namely, this is the Thermal Bomb, Ash blast, Heatwave, and Healing. Because of its skillset, the Pyromancer excels at medium-range combat. They’re particularly great at setting groups of enemies on fire. They’re also pretty self-efficient. Their Healing skill lets them recover health whenever they take out any marked foe.
Trickster (Assassin)
The Pyromancer is probably the Outriders class that feels familiar to a lot. Its skill set, which includes Temporal Slice, Slow Trap, Hunt the Prey, and Healing, all blend together to create a standard assassin-type role that excels in teleporting behind foes and killing them before they know what hit them, similar to the Wraith champion in Apex Legends.
Devastator (Tank)
The Devastator is Outriders’ version of a tank. Its skills, Earthquake, Golem, Gravity Jump, and Healing, all revolve around sustainability. This is done either by staying alive despite taking enormous amounts of damage or keeping the rest of the party alive with your Healing.
Technomancer (Support)
Unlike in other games where the support class is usually pretty dependent on playing with others, the Technomancer is pretty self-sufficient. The Technomancer has the most number of skills out of any class in Outriders, with a total of 6. The skills include Fixing Wave, Pain Launcher, Tool of Destruction, Cold Snap, Blighted Turret, and of course, Healing. What makes the Technomancer unique is that the class has no problem taking out waves of enemies on his own. But, at the same time, when with a party of players, the Technomancer can provide a lot of support from the backlines.
What Is The Best Outriders Class for Solo Players?
Earlier in the onset of the article, we mentioned that there is no best Outriders class, and we stand by that. What makes the different Outriders classes great is that they don’t all fit into the stereotypical RPG roles. Case in point, the Trickster, which is pretty much the game’s equivalent of a “glass cannon”, is pretty self-sufficient. This is perhaps also why the Tricker has become so popular among solo players in Outriders. Because of their Hunt the Prey skill, Tricksters can either warp behind the enemy lines to take out snipers and warp out in case of danger. While it’s not the only skill in Outriders that lets you move around the battlefield faster, it has the shortest cooldown (11 seconds vs the 20 seconds of the Gravity Leap of the Devastator class), so you’re much more agile. In addition to this, the Slow Trap lets you slow down any incoming fire inside an enclosed area for 10 seconds, which, if used properly, has both offensive and defensive purposes. Then, with the use of the Temporal Blade, the Trickstar can easily kill enemies in one fell swoop all the while healing themselves in the process.
Can You Solo The Game With Other Outriders Classes?
The amazing thing about Outriders is that all the character classes can solo the entire game even though they achieve this in different ways. For example, the Pyromancer is Outriders’ take on the standard spellcaster role and it’s able to do it magnificently. All the Pyromancer’s skills have relatively short cooldowns, so players shouldn’t have much trouble clearing out enemies, whether it’s in close combat or in larger areas. However, Pyromancers can and will struggle if they find themselves surrounded too quickly. Even though Pyromancers can heal themselves, they’ll have to use mark enemies first, which complicates things when you find yourself in an unfortunate situation. On the other hand, Technomancers struggle against crowds of enemies even more. True, the many maps you’ll get a chance to play in Outriders (at least, so far in the demo) are often very large. This gives Technomancers plenty of freedom and room to work from afar. But, in certain situations where they’ll have to face enemies, especially captains and bosses, from up close, Technomancers will struggle. In the case of the Devastator class, you’re essentially a more tanky Trickster with a heavier emphasis on Area of Effect (AoE) damage from up close and personal. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. You’ll still heal simply by jumping into the thick of things and taking enemies out. However, you can’t exactly move around as often as you’d probably want to, so it’s best to keep that relative lack of mobility in mind.
What’s The Best Co-Op Team in Outriders?
Because you can only play as a three-man party in Outriders, you can’t exactly have a party that includes all four classes. This means that you’ll have to leave one out, and in an ideal scenario, it’ll have to be either the Pyromancer or the Trickster. The Technomancer is the quintessential support, so your party should have one. Plus, it’s the only class in Outriders that can heal other players. Meanwhile, a Devastator guarantees that there’s always someone there to soak up the damage and get into the thick of things. This then leaves you with the damage dealer of the squad. The Trickster and the Pyromancer achieve these goals differently, so it’s best to choose wisely. One important thing to note though is that the Trickster class tends to move around the map a lot. This can make the battlefield a little bit too chaotic. This can also put everyone else, especially the Technomancer, at risk. In comparison, the Pyromancer does most of its damage from the mid-range, so you’ll have someone to clean up the mess while the Devastator soaks up the damage.
Conclusion
The good thing about Outriders is that the game doesn’t necessarily pigeon-hole the classes into specific roles. This means that you can literally play any class and create any squad of three however you please. This gives you far more freedom to experiment than in other games, even if Outriders is technically still in its demo phase. So, feel free to play any class and tweak it to your own liking. Who knows? Even though you prefer to get up close and personal, you might be able to alter your Devastator to be more mobile or your Trickster to be more disruptive in battles.
