Upon completing Outriders' prologue, you'll be able to pick one of four classes. You need to choose carefully--your class is permanent (though you can adjust your character's appearance whenever you want upon entering Outriders' first hub area). In the following guide, we break down the benefits and drawbacks of the Devastator, Trickster, Pyromancer, and Technomancer so you can more easily decide which is right for you.
During the Outriders demo, you will be able to unlock the first four abilities of each class, giving you a pretty good idea of how they all play. While all four classes are geared towards fighting out in the open, they differ primarily in playstyle and methods. But each class isn't entirely a cut-and-dried role; each possesses specializations that allow you to twist them into fulfilling specific squad-based roles.
Devastator - Tank Class
The Devastator commands gravity, ripping apart the earth around them both as a means of protection and offense. This class excels in the heat of battle and its abilities allow it to take quite a bit of punishment before going down, possessing a 15% boost to maximum health and 30% increase to armor. If you typically play as the tank role in your group of friends, the Devastator is for you.
The Devastator's first four abilities are Earthquake, Golem, Gravity Leap, and Reflect Bullets. Your two offensive abilities, Earthquake and Gravity Leap, do devastating amounts of damage--the former sends out a linear shockwave while the latter sees you fly into the air to select a target to careen into like a murderous meteor. In both cases, you're doing a lot of area-of-effect damage and getting right into the thick of things, where the Devastator excels. Abilities such as Golem and Reflect Bullets ensure you'll survive your consistent charges into battle. Golem pulls up the earth around you to act as a protective shell, while Reflect Bullets allows you to catch projectiles in midair and send them flying back at the fools who tried to shoot you.
Choosing to go with Devastator means you'll be forgoing long-range weaponry. Devastators excel with shotguns, assault rifles, and light machine guns. Putting points into the Vanquisher skill tree will boost your effectiveness with these firearms. If you prefer to become the ultimate tank that soaks up damage like it's nothing, invest in the Warden tree. Seismic Shifter is the tree that's most ideal for those looking to use the Devastator's abilities more offensively and more often.
As a final note, every close range kill heals the Devastator by 24 percent of their maximum health (meaning you will have a higher chance of dying if you choose to run from a fight than stubbornly pushing towards it), and the class' unique melee attack sends a shockwave that causes targets to bleed and take damage over time. All in all, the Devastator is a pretty simple and easy class to use, regardless of whether you're playing through the game on solo or in a team.
Trickster - Rogue Class
If wielding gravity as a weapon isn't your speed, then perhaps the Trickster and their command of time and space will be more appealing. This fragile but powerful class is Outriders' take on the traditional rogue role, specializing in hit-and-run tactics. To help alleviate the pain, the Trickster gets a 5% increase to maximum health and 5% damage mitigation to shields. It's honestly not much--if you go with this class, you'll have to constantly be on the move and rolling out of the way of attacks. Sitting still for any moment will likely lead to death.
The Trickster's first four abilities are Temporal Blade, Slow Trap, Hunt the Prey, and Twisted Rounds. As the Trickster is all about outmaneuvering enemies, you'll likely always want Temporal Blade or Slow Trap (or both) equipped. Temporal Blade paralyzes and damages all enemies immediately in front of you, giving you time to roll out of harm's way and reload. Slow Trap erects a small bubble that slows down all enemies and their projectiles inside it for 10 seconds, allowing you to more easily dodge melee swings and bullets. Hunt the Prey is a great ability for starting a fight or getting out of one, teleporting you behind an enemy and buffing your shields. Twisted Rounds is a straight damage buff, increasing the power of your gun's bullets until you switch firearms or reload.
Because of how fragile the Trickster is, you'll always want to be running, rolling, and shooting in quick bursts. This makes weapons like shotguns (especially auto shotguns), pistols, and submachine guns all effective choices. Master of Space is the skill tree you want to get greater use out of these firearms, though Harbinger is also a great choice--this tree will buff your health and survivability, large benefits for the Trickster. However, if you're confident enough in your dodging skills, then put points into Assassin, a tree which will greatly boost your abilities.
Like the Devastator, the Trickster heals by killing at close range, though it only gets a boost of 20% of its maximum health per kill instead of 25%. To make up the difference, close range kills also grant 12% of your shield. If you're in trouble and your abilities are on cooldown, remember to melee--the Trickster's unique close-range attack will temporarily slow down the time of a target, giving you ample chance to escape or reload. The Trickster is also not a very difficult class to master, though its low survivability does mean that it will be much easier to use as part of a team than on your own.
Pyromancer - Spellcaster Class
The Pyromancer commands fire, existing as Outriders' resident spellcaster. Like the Trickster, the Pyromancer is a fragile class. However, instead of mitigating that disadvantage with speed, it excels in outright firepower. In terms of just dealing damage with abilities, the Pyromancer is at the top of all four classes, getting a 10% boost to ability damage on top of its impressive repertoire of fiery moves.
The first four abilities for the Pyromancer are Heatwave, Feed the Flames, Thermal Bomb, and Overheat. As a mid-range class that doesn't do very well at long-range and can get easily overwhelmed at close-range, having Heatwave or Feed the Flames (or both) will keep you alive. The first sends out a wave of flame that can push approaching enemies back, while the second pulls enemies in and suffocates them into place. Between the two, you'll be able to keep targets in that ideal sweet spot where your other abilities can deal the most damage. Thermal Bomb is great--it deals a lot of damage, and if the target is killed within a few seconds, they'll explode and do tons of damage to everything around them. If you'd rather share the pain, Overheat affects all enemies within a set radius, though it only does minor damage.
The Pyromancer is a bit of an outlier among the four classes. While the other three are all about using specific firearms and then amplifying their combat effectiveness with abilities, the Pyromancer is all about using abilities first and foremost. That said, guns are a good way to mop up stragglers you don't manage to burn alive--consider using assault rifles and/or sniper rifles. In an ideal scenario, your enemies should never manage to get in close enough that you'd need something like a shotgun. If they ever do, that's what your sidearm (or fire-based melee attack that burns enemies) is for. That said, you can invest in the Ruler of Ashes skill tree to improve the Pyromancer's skills with firearms. Scorcher and Tempest may be better trees to invest in though, especially the latter, which includes the skill Phoenix Nestling, allowing you to rise from the dead upon being killed--an excellent boon to have for such a fragile class.