If you normally groan at the prospect of having to play as a tank, then Outriders’ Devastator class is sure to surprise you. Unlike stereotypical tanks, the Devastator can deal some serious damage and is just as deadly alone as it is with a team behind it. Also, since Outriders is coming to Game Pass on the same day as its release, what better time to try out a tank than now?
Learning exactly how best to devastate is an intimidating task, and many players will want to lean into the path that maximizes their Devastator’s potential right off the bat. There’s a lot to learn about Outriders, so read on.
How To Heal As A Devastator
One of the unique gameplay mechanics utilized in Outriders is the healing system. Instead of picking up health or recovering as you cower behind cover, Outriders rewards players for getting kills, and each class regains health in a different way to encourage various styles of play.
As a Devastator, you’ll heal 24% of your maximum health every time you kill an enemy in close proximity to you. This encourages a hyper-aggressive playstyle that rewards you for really getting stuck in and taking on your opponents head-on, as any good tank should. This also means you don’t need to rely on any healer classes, making the Devastator a pretty good solo class. With this in mind, the ideal Devastator build should focus on close-range damage, so the subclass, skills, tactics, and weapons will all aim to make your Devastator a breaching tank.
Strongest Devastator Subclass
All of the Devastator’s subclasses have value, but some are more useful and fun than others. The Warden subclass is the most stereotypical tank class. It focuses on increasing your maximum health and armor and also giving you some pretty decent health regen. While this subclass will make you hard to kill, it won’t do much for your damage output, so you may often find yourself in the middle of the fight and barely able to kill anyone. That’s what makes tank classes feel boring sometimes, so avoid this subclass unless you’re a tank purist.
Seismic Shifter boosts your anomaly power – your skill damage – and skill cooldown, but it still feels a bit lackluster. Also, as Devastator, skills don’t do huge amounts of damage, so you’ll probably want a subclass that focuses on weapon damage more.
That’s where the Vanquisher subclass comes in. Vanquisher gives you bonus weapon damage, increases shotgun weapon damage, gives you a higher chance for shotguns, and decreases the cooldown on your kinetic skills, the ones that get you into the fight quickly and vastly improve your mobility. Vanquisher is the subclass to go for if you want to be a fast-moving heavy hitter who doesn’t need to rely on teammates for support or health regeneration.
Best Devastator Perks
Unmissable Devastator Skills
Skills and subclasses go hand in hand, as each subclass prioritizes one kind of skill to help boost your build. The Vanquisher subclass works best with kinetic and protection skills, which is good as those are some of the best skills available to the Devastator.
Gravity Leap and Boulderdash are two kinetic skills that will massively improve your Devastator’s maneuverability. Gravity Leap shoots you into the air where you can survey the battlefield before crashing back down on an enemy of your choosing, dealing damage and interrupting all opponents in a small area. This skill is great for leaping into combat, or returning to your team if you’ve let too many enemies slip past you. Boulderdash will send you hurtling towards enemies, dealing damage, and interrupting all in your path. You only really need one of these, so go for Gravity Leap, the verticality of it really helps.
Endless Mass is another kinetic skill that encases a target in stone, inflicts Bleed – damage over time as the enemy moves – and pulls nearby enemies into the initial target. This is great for grouping enemies together to hit with other skills or light up with weapons fire.
So that’s two skills down, your final one depends on whether you want to play defense or offense, which could largely be down to how good your team is – if they can hold their own, go offense, if they need some help, play defense.
Reflect Bullets is a protection skill that creates a barrier that catches all enemy fire for ten seconds and then fires it in front of you. It’s great for giving your teammates some cover when there is none. Be warned though, using the skill will immobilize you, so make sure you’re in a good spot when you activate it. Tremor is a seismic skill that creates multiple explosions around you that also drains health from enemies caught in the blasts. This works really well with Endless Mass, or just if you’re in the middle of a load of enemies. If you’re playing solo, Golem is another protection skill that will be useful – it protects you against 65% of incoming damage for eight seconds.
To summarise:
- Offensive teamplay – Gravity Leap, Endless Mass, Tremor
- Defensive teamplay – Swap out Tremor for Reflect Bullets
- Solo play – Swap out Tremor for Golem.
Smartest Devastator Tactics And Tips
Although you’re better off changing up some skills depending on if you’re playing with a team or solo, the best way to play the Devastator will always be the same. You regain health by performing close-range kills, and you have enough health and armor to sponge a lot of damage, so charge right into the fray and start killing enemies.
Use Endless Mass to group enemies close together so you can hit them with Tremor and deal huge damage to all of them and heal any damage you took getting into the fight. You can then mop up any survivors with your weapon and use Gravity Leap to either push deeper into the fight or pull back to your team if they need some close support. If you’re rocking Reflect Bullets instead of Tremor, then make sure to keep an eye on your teammates and use Gravity Leap to get back to them quickly if they need a hand.
If you have a Pyromancer on your team, then you should hold off on using your skills until they’ve had a chance to mark and Burn some of the battlefield. This will leave enemies weakened and you’ll have a much higher chance of finishing them off quickly. If not, go to town and tear the place up yourself.
Most Useful Devastator Weapons
As the Vanquisher subclass has some shotgun-specific boons – increasing their damage and drop chance – and since you’re meant to get as up close and personal with the enemies as possible, shotguns should be your weapon of choice. They’ll allow you to do big damage to opponents quickly, which will be essential for ensuring your survivability.
The Vanquisher subclass also has access to the Assualt Master ability, which increases damage done by assault rifles, LMGs, submachine guns, and double guns, so any of these would make a good secondary weapon. LMGs are better at medium range, so maybe go for an assault rifle. These will be useful both when you’re close to your team and at a medium distance from the enemy, and when you’re pushing forwards. Of course, if you want to feel like Rambo then go ahead and use an LMG.
Ideal Devastator Mods
Mods are passive skills – like perks – that can be found on weapons and armor. Disassembling an item with a certain mod will allow you to unlock it and rebuild it into items you craft. Once you unlock a mod you’re free to use it as often as you like, so get experimenting. Weapon mods are available to all classes, while most armor mods are class-specific. Below are some of the best mods for weapons and armor available to the Devastator. While you’re obviously free to use whatever you like, the mods outlined below offer the best synergy with the build already created.
Weapon Mods
- Clip Combustion causes a shockwave around you when you reload, so this is best for your short-range weapons – it’ll give you some breathing room when you’re right in the middle of the fray.
- Fireworks causes your shots to deal explosive damage in a small radius, perfect for dealing damage to enemies after you’ve used Endless Mass to get them all together.
- Bomb’s Ahead turns enemies into anomaly bombs when you land a kill shot on them – another mod that works well with groups of enemies.
- Crematorium would be great on a shotgun, as killing shots create explosions that inflict Ash on enemies within a seven-meter radius – a great mod for allowing some space when in the middle of a fight, as ash renders enemies immobile for a short time.
- Gale of Protection: killing shots will stir up a gale that stops bullets for five seconds. This will help both you and your teammates.
- Perpetuum Mobile fills your magazine if you land a killing shot when your magazine is at 30% or less, perfect for instantly reloading shotguns or keeping LMGs and assault rifles firing.
- Body Snatcher is a hilarious mod. If you land a killing shot on an enemy another will be teleported to its place, enabling you to fire on it without having to move. This can also help pull enemies away from your team and towards you, perfect for a tank class.
All of these mods are great and suit different types of play. If you’re more aggressive, go for Body Snatcher and Perpetuum Mobile, if you’ll be near your team more, Gale of Protection and Clip Combustion will help everyone out.
Armor Mods
- Give Me More grants one additional Tremor explosion, giving the skill a little boost that the Vanquisher subclass is lacking for seismic skills.
- Mosh Pit inflicts vulnerable on enemies hit with Endless Mass – vulnerable makes them take more damage, so you’ll be able to clean up more quickly.
- Life Absorption causes Gravity Leap to heal you for 100% of the damage you deal, turning the skill into an excellent retreat and counterattack move. If you’re low on health but your team is in trouble, this will allow you to get straight back into the fight without missing a beat.
- Wide Horizons increases the radius of Endless Mass by 25%, making it a bit more endless and helping you to control the battlefield even more.
- Human Comet grants a damage increase to Gravity Leap. Combine this with Life Absorption and you’ve got a fantastic damage dealing and healing pairing.
These armor mods will allow you to really make the most of your skills while also inflicting some status effects on your enemies. Other armor mods impact the other skills, but these mods best benefit the skills recommended for teamplay with this build.
Next: I Really Need Outriders To Not Suck
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Issy is an avid film lover, writer, and game-player based in the UK. He combines his love of film and games in his writing, trying to find as many connections between the two mediums as possible. When he’s not writing, playing, or watching, Issy loves to DJ and look after his growing collection of houseplants, as they make him feel more adult.
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