Whether you’re solo or starting with a team, choosing your best class in Outriders will shape your experience for the better.
Despite boasting 4 unique classes to choose from – due to the number of hectic, flashy abilities on-screen – Outriders only supports 3-player co-op, making it extra-important that you round off the rough edges of your squad.
Across hands-on preview events and the free demo, we’ve played through all of the available Outriders content close to 10 times – and here’s what we’ve picked up regarding the best classes to start with.
We’ll update this page as more of a meta emerges, and with the release of the full game.
- Outriders Best Classes – Which should you pick?
- Best Outriders Classes for solo players
- Best Outriders classes for co-op players
Outriders Best Classes – Which should you pick?
The experience of Outriders is quite different based on whether you plan to play your class solo or with a team.
Outriders’ campaign is apparently close to 40 hours long, and with 15 uber-hard end-game missions to slog through as well, you’re going to want to make the right choice.
Best Outriders Classes for solo players
Personally, I feel like the Trickster and Devastator are the most suited to solo play.
The Devastator is the tank class in Outriders, and although they’re not the flashiest, their survivability means you can stay alive in all but the most hectic situations.
Making use of rock armor, barriers, and area-of-effect earthquakes to force enemies into an easy-to-manage zone rather than let them overwhelm you, playing as the Devastator feels sturdy, and the most like a traditional 3rd person shooter experience.
On the other hand, the Trickster relies on their incredibly powerful offensive and defensive abilities to quickly defeat enemies with greater mobility than the other classes.
Teamed with a Life Leech weapon to offset their close-range healing, you can survive surprisingly well as a solo Trickster, flitting around the battlefield with your warp abilities to make best use of shotguns and your Anomaly-powered sword swipe.
While your time-slowing bubble ability can be used effectively to trap enemies around you in a tar pit as you systematically take them out, it can also be used as a defensive shield to catch bullets while you take cover, reload, and recharge.
There’s also solo potential in the Technomancer, thanks to their area-of-effect heavy offensive skills and ability to buff their aggro-generating turrets with different kinds of elemental status damage.
However, as Outriders tells you, this class is designed for support and you might find a lot of their later game skills less useful as a solo player – we just won’t know until the full game’s out.
Best Outriders classes for co-op players
The above is not to say that the Pyromancer is a bad class – it’s just when you’re playing on your own, they can feel squishy. Having to constantly line up ability kills while you’re juggling the entire battlefield is tough and you can feel overrun.
However, as part of a team, the Pyromancer is an exciting and eye-catching member, who liberally throws out status-inflicting and debilitating abilities at a wide-array of foes. So in that sense they’re worth a try.
The defensive capabilities of the Devastator also make them a strong member of a team, where they can draw the aggro of enemies and pick them off as they’re worn down by the supporting fire of others.
Similar can be said of the Trickster, who can shield their squad mates with their time bubble. However, having a Trickster without a Devastator might leave you exposed when they want to slink off and reload.
Then, as we mentioned before, the Technomancer is designed as a specific support class and suits a player who wants a less twitch-intensive role on the battlefield.
They’re the only class that can heal their squadmates, and therefore should fill a slot on any co-op team – no questions asked.
This means that you should look to build a varied team of different classes, utilising the long-range Technomancer, and then any two of the other three classes.
That might be a Technomancer, a medium-range Pyromancer, and a close-range Devastator. Or a Technomancer looking after two close-range dealers, ie. a Devastator and a Trickster.
For more on Outriders before the full release, we have an interview with the development studio People Can Fly, here.
While we’ve also broken down how to beat one of the tougher bosses in the Outriders demo: Reiner.
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