Sci-fi video games often spell the death of the prototypical rogue. The concept of a character that stayed in the shadows, deals massive backstab damage, and then runs off into the night is considered more of a medieval tactic than a strategy of the future. Thankfully for gamers who love this playstyle, Outriders has decided not to give up on the idea and gives players the Assassin Trickster.
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There is something so satisfying about sticking a shotgun into the back of an unsuspecting enemy and pulling the trigger. Experts are absolutely all-in on this not only because it is a fun way to play, but because of its raw effectiveness against bosses. However, there are a bunch of rookies that see this style in action yet are unsuccessful in mimicking the performance in practice. This is a breakdown of what the best Assassins are doing and how to become the best force of physical damage in all of Enoch.
Updated on July 30th, 2021 by Hodey Johns: It's hard to think of any games that have been updated and altered more than Outriders has in the first few months. The relationship between developer and community has been rocky at best, but communication is clear and active. This guide has been updated to reflect the latest balances. It's clear that the endgame goal is based on conquering high world tiers in a party. Therefore, a section has been added regarding how to properly play the character in a group so that players can have a clear idea of how this particular role should function after putting all of the pieces together.
- Outrider Executioner: Activating a Movement skill increases weapon damage by 50% for eight seconds.
- Disruptive Firepower: Activating a Deception skill increases weapon damage by 50% for eight seconds.
- Scion of the Power: When a Damage skill ends, weapon damage is increased by 50% for eight seconds.
Barring enlisting the help of friends in the game to carry the Assassin through, the nodes can make or break this build entirely. There is not much wiggle room here and even some awesome nodes like a Death Probability has to give way to even more incredible nodes. The Equilibrium and Singularity nodes are avoided as well since mods and armor set bonuses are a more effective means of reducing cooldowns.
This build will stick to the Assassin tree with the exception of Leap of Quietus which will increase armor-piercing by 25% for ten seconds after using a Movement skill. This stacks with the armor-piercing from the Ace of Trumps nodes and the three major nodes that increase weapon damage by 50% apiece.
Outrider Executioner, Disruptive Firepower, and Scion of Power all combine to add 150% damage for eight seconds when stacked up. This is, of course, an unreal advantage over other physical damage classes.
- Temporal Blade: Enemies in front of the Trickster are damaged, interrupted, and inflicted by Slow.
- Hunt the Prey: Teleports the Trickster behind an enemy and provides the Trickster with a shield.
- Venator's Knife: Throws a knife that ricochets between up to five enemies. These enemies are Marked and the next shot against them will do double damage and inflict Slow.
In order to get the 150% damage bonus, the Trickster needs to select a skill from each of the Movement, Deception, and Damage types. While many builds try to make use of Twisted Rounds, that ability adds Anomaly damage to the Trickster's shots and this build focuses on physical damage. The other issue is that Scion of the Power only works after the Damage skill has ended, meaning that Twisted Rounds actually delays the necessary 50% damage increase. Temporal Blade is the superior Damage type option because it can be cast quickly and players can get back to the shooting.
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Venerator's Knife will receive a bunch of mods that come along with the legendary armor set, but it doesn't need much help to become a naturally powerful ability for the Assassin. Double damage alone will be a death blow to most minions and the bosses will not enjoy the Slow status effect.
The signature move here is Hunt the Prey due to its mobility. The shield is rather negligible, but it will provide just enough survivability to prevent death on higher World Tiers. Like the Venerator's Knife, the end-of-game armor set will give this skill some freebie mods.
- Cut Loose: Temporal Blade's cooldown is reduced.
- Instant Reload: Hunt the Prey uses instantly replenish the equipped weapon's magazine.
- Radiation Jump: Hunt the Prey inflicts Vulnerable to the target that is jumped to.
- Misery: Increases the Duration of Venator's Knife
- No Escape: Increases the ricochet range of Venator's Knife.
This build is, thankfully, not overly dependent on mods, so any player trying to learn about where and how to craft will have some time before needing to mess around with the mods. Skills act as support to the physical damage and because the Assassin doesn't have any bonuses to Anomaly Power, trying to amp up the damage of any skill is generally the same as leaving the slot empty or unused.
The most important mod of the lot is Cut Loose because it reduces the cooldown on the build's Damage skill. While the other two skills have short cooldowns to keep up their 50% damage boosts, all three Damage skills have rather long cooldowns of nineteen to twenty seconds. Thankfully, this skill is only a mod away from fixing that problem.
All of the Hunt the Prey mods will give the build some value as this move will end up being spammed after acquiring the correct legendary armor set. Venator's Knife does not need its damage increased, but increasing the range and duration
Shotguns: The High Roller, Body Snatcher
Pistols: Torment And Agony
This build is all about the shotgun. There is a great lineup of legendary shotguns, but the Assassin's talents help it hone in on a few specific weapons. Players have learned to hate the highest damage-per-shell guns because of how often they need to be reloaded. With the Instant Reload mod, Assassins won't need to reload, so the sole disadvantage completely evaporates.
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The High Roller and Body Snatcher a the biggest of the big blasts with only three shells per clip, giving the Assassin a tremendous boost to damage. The High Roller has a mod that allows players to roll to reload in case enemies refuse to die. Killing shots also make all further shots critical for a while. The Body Snatcher teleports enemies to the location where the previous enemy died to set up really easy Hunt the Prey dashes and gives killing shots some life regeneration.
- Ugake Otarah Set: Hunt the Prey does not have a cooldown when teleporting behind enemies that have been hit with Venator's Knife.
This is the set that makes the entire build shine. Without it, the rotation is clunky and survivability is limited. Being able to use Hunt the Prey several times in a row gives the Assassin an inside track on being the best physical damage dealer in the game.
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Better still, the set comes with mods that are fantastic for both Hunt the Prey and Venator's Knife. There are two extra mod slots to customize with crafting and doing so will ice the cake on this incredible build.
Bad news first: This is a Trickster damage build that doesn't utilize ammo power. As a result, opposing players will automatically be suspicious of the Assassin's ability to keep up with top-tier DPS. Good news: The Trickster does amazingly in groups.
The Assassin is a champ when it comes to applying slows and marks. Therefore, this is the primary responsibility of the Assassin in a group. Keep enemies nice and slow for allies, who will score easier critical hits thanks to these debuffs.
Perhaps most importantly, the Assassin has a built-in interrupt which is rare for most other classes. This can be used during big boss fights. Whenever a large enemy is queuing up their signature damage ability, toss the Temporal blade at them. This interrupt saves lives and vastly improves the survivability of any group.
Lastly, dead friends don't do damage. This Trickster build has just enough survivability that it's possible to survive in positions that would kill anyone except a dedicated tank. Groups that ditch their Assassin in the pursuit of "more damage" will regret it more often than not after wiping a few dozen times.
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