Outriders: The Best Build For The Warden Devastator

Outriders Warden Devastator Build Collage Casting Earthquakes

For those who have experienced the end-game excitement in Outriders, it's no secret that the Warden Devastator is the most difficult component of the party to find. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that the demand for them is high; it's the best tank in the game right now and beating the high World Tiers requires the best. So as soon as a Warden Devastator looks for a party, they instantly find one.

The second reason is more of a downer; it's very difficult to find a Warden Devastator because most of them can't level up on their own. While some say that the Devastator is the best solo class in the game (and they may be right), it takes a very long time to finish the campaign and, without the right guidance, they sometimes fall behind the enemies in terms of damage dealing. With a few pointers, it's time to give this class build a few tips so that more of them make it to the late game where they excel.

Updated on August 3rd, 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.

Heirloom Armor: When an enemy dies in close range, gain 20% of their armor for 10 seconds.
Mighty Tank: Increase firepower and Anomaly power by 10% of the Warden's armor.
Into The Fray: When a kinetic skill ends, increase damage mitigation by 15% for 10 seconds.

Starting with the smaller nodes, the most important ones give armor and resistance. Armor will become damage at several stages of this build, so ignore most of the offensive nodes as they won't be able to boost damage as much as the defensive nodes. Make sure to pick up the small node called Through the Mob as it increases armor by 7% for every enemy in range. Dip ever slightly into the Vanquisher tree to get Perpetual Motion which will decrease the cooldown on Boulderdash, the Warden's core skill later.

With the big nodes, Heirloom Armor is even more ridiculous than it sounds. Players who have been battle-tested by higher World Tiers know that enemies end up getting disproportionately high armor, so stealing their armor gives Wardens the feeling of being a mini-boss. Because a kinetic skill will be spammed, Into the Fray's 15% damage mitigation will also be a permanent buff. And, of course, the last node on the tree, Mighty Tank, increases damage based on armor quantity.

Boulderdash: Charge forward, dealing damage and interrupting all enemies in the way. At the end of the charge, deal damage in a small area of effect.
Reflect Bullets: Put up a force field in front of the Devastator that stops bullets in mid-air. By either recasting Reflect Bullets or allowing the effect to expire, all bullets will fire on enemies that the Devastator is facing.
Earthquake: Deals damage and interrupts enemies in a short area in front of the Devastator.

To address the elephant in the room: How can this be a tank build without Golem? Frankly, Golem's 65% damage reduction is alright, but blocking 100% of bullets and then returning them as damage is much better. It requires some positioning, true, and there are some enemies who do exclusively melee damage, but any Devastator soaking up shots likely won't live long, even with a 65% reduction in damage for a few seconds.

This build is all about Boulderdash and spamming that move every second that it is off of cooldown. Thanks to mods, nodes, and armor bonuses, this will greatly increase the Devastator's damage and ability to absorb hits. The interrupt with each charge destroys bosses that channel any kind of spell.

The Earthquake is largely along for the ride, but it's got some range, so it can interrupt tougher enemies from a safer distance than Boulderdash in case the risk of rushing in is too great.

Primal Armor: Double armor for a short period of time after using Boulderdash.
Primal Chain: Each enemy damaged by Boulderdash increases Boulderdash's damage.
Primal Rage: Reduce Boulderdash's cooldown.
Extra Time & Increased Duration: Increase the duration of Reflect Bullets.
Panzer Drain: Hitting an enemy with Earthquake steals 33% of its armor.

Obviously, due to how core Boulderdash is to the build, getting as many mods for that ability as possible will become vitally important. Class builds can be awful or incredible. The Warden can be either one of those things depending on how much the player has invested in their primary skill.

Extra Time and Increased Duration can make Reflect Bullets last for a very long time. This can be used as a sanctuary in the thick of combat, true, but don't forget how this will amp up the damage as well by virtue of catching more bullets.

Earthquake has three armor-boosting mods and all of them are good, but Panzer Drain is the best with its 33% armor steal. Against bosses, this can render the Warden very close to immune and gives them a damage advantage that makes foes on the top World Tiers quake (pun intended) with fear.

Shotguns: Deathshield, Funeral Pyre
Assault Rifle: Voodoo Matchmaker
Pistols: Bolt & Thunder

Shotguns are the name of the game since the Warden Devastator will be in close permanently. Even enemies that try to get to medium or long range will be quickly hunted down and stunned by Boulderdash.

Even with tons of legendary weapons options, the Fortress mod on the Deathshield is absurd to ignore, giving the Warden a huge chunk of their armor bonus in damage. It also has some lifesteal on critical hits. Those who want more damage can rip off this mod and put it in the Funeral Pyre, an automatic shotgun that rains down comets with each blast.

Deathproof set

While most builds have a tough decision to make when it comes to legendary armor sets, the Warden has no debate about which suit to don. The Deathproof set reduces the cooldown of Bouldersash by 90%. When factoring in every other reduction in this guide, this essentially makes Boulderdash a freebie auto-cast.

Additionally, the mods bolster both Boulderdash and Reflect Bullets. There are a few slots available to bring Earthquake up to speed as well for players who have mastered crafting.

Warden's got a bad rap early on because of the game's need for DPS. Yes, this build is the best tank in the game, but after getting the legendary armor bonus and the Deathshield, this is actually a competitive DPS build as well. The problem is that the Warden requires very particular gear to succeed and it can take a while to farm up, but after that, the damage statistics are off the charts.

Always use Earthquake and Boulderdash to siphon armor into the Deathshield before unleashing any bullets. This has the effect of making the Warden impossible to kill with physical damage while also exponentially increasing the amount of damage fired from the shotgun.

Next, take advantage of the virtually eliminated cooldown on Boulderdash. If there are two or more enemies, spamming this move will very likely do more damage than even a fully charged up Deathshield. This should be rather common as the primary purpose of this build is to charge in and steal all of the enemy's focus, freeing up the team to unleash damage without much worry.

Finally, use all of the Warden's armor stealing abilities against bosses. If this build has any weakness, it's that it can't keep up with traditional DPS in single-target damage, but by stealing armor from the worst beasts in the game, the squad is given significant boosts to damage. Allies that see their DPS spike upwards will be grateful.

MORE: Outriders Complete Guide – Builds, Tips, Tricks, And Help

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