Outriders is just around the corner and when we start out on Enoch we’re going to have the choice of four main classes. Today I am going to be looking at The Trickster class and the reasons why you should jump in and take advantage of being a Trickster. The following is a Trickster Showcase Including Skills, Class Trees and Build Examples.

What is The Trickster?

Trickster is a close-range class that’s fast and can easily hit & run targets. Trickster’s can use their abilities to slow down and paralyse enemies and even teleport behind their foes and infuse ammo with the powers of the Anomaly. Trickster’s have been designed like a typical Rogue class so they can get in and up close to their opponents, deal huge damage and then get out back to safety. One skill trees do take them down a tanky style of gameplay, but as well as that they do have the option to interrupt enemies with their abilities, slowing things down for teammates and allowing fellow Outriders to control the battlefield.

Melee Skill

Deal damage and inflict Slow to all enemies within a small radius. The Melee Skill does not require a skill slot nor any Class Points. Sprinting (vs standing) before using the Melee Skill changes to a ground-slam that appears to have a larger area-of-effect but also has a longer cooldown. The base cooldown is 1 second (sprinting Melee Skill 2 seconds); however, each subsequent uses of the Melee Skill increases its cooldown-even in between abilities and weapon fire.

Healing Mechanic

Each enemy killed in close range heals you and grants a portion of Shield.

Class Traits

• Receive additional 5% maximum Health.
• Active Shield grants 5% damage mitigation.
• Every close range kill heals you by 20% of your maximum Health and grants you 12% Shield.

Skills

Each class has eight skills, but you can only equip three of them at a time. Different combinations of skills can be combined with weapons and armour to create very effective builds. In the demo we only have a limited set, and this will open up once the full game is here.

Temporal Blade: Type: DAMAGE, INTERRUPT. Paralyze and slice enemies in front of you, dealing damage and inflicting Slow and Interrupt to all targets.

Slow Trap: Type: DECEPTION. Create a spacetime Anomaly that inflicts Slow onto enemies and projectiles for 10 seconds.

Hunt the Prey: Type: MOVEMENT. Select an enemy and teleport behind them and receive a shield bonus.

Twisted Rounds: Type: DAMAGE. Fill your weapon’s magazine with Anomaly-infused bullets that deal significantly more damage to enemies. The skill lasts until you reload or switch weapons.

Cyclone Slice: Type: DAMAGE, INTERRUPT. Create a whirlwind of Anomaly blades that deal damage and Interrupt onto enemies within a small radius of you with every hit. The skill lasts for 5 seconds.

Borrowed Time: Type: MOVEMENT. Receive a shield and mark your location for 28 seconds. Triggering the skill again will bend spacetime and teleport you back to the marked spot.

Venator’s Knife: Type: DECEPTION. Throw a temporal knife at an enemy. The blade will ricochet between a maximum of 5 enemies within a small radius, dealing damage and marking them. All marked targets will be inflicted with Slow and for 10 seconds the first damage dealt by you will be doubled.

Time Rift: Type: DECEPTION, INTERRUPT. Create a shockwave that suspends enemies in the air leaving them unable to fight for 3.5 seconds and inflicts Weakness. Instant. 10s CD.

Class Trees

There are three main paths in the Trickster’s skill tree: Assassin, Reaver and Harbinger. In the demo we’ve only had a few class points available for upgrades, but in the main game we’ll be able to unlock new skills and abilities on one of these trees. Eatly in the trees there is a little overlap, but later on things do get quite specific so it’s best to test things out and see what fits your playstyle.

• The Assassin focused on boosting your weapon damage and increases crit damage.
• The Harbinger feels slightly more like a tank as your health and shield regeneration is priority.
• The Reaver focuses on increasing Anomaly power and buffs abilities like Resistence Piercing, Weakness and Skill Leech

Trickster Builds

Currently there’s a couple of ways to play the Trickster – there’s the all out aggressive build, which is good for solo-players or you can focus on a support, team orientated build.

Damage Build

The first build example is all about dishing the damage and using Twisted Rounds as your main skill. Hunt the Prey and Temporal Blade are going to be used at the secondary and tertiary skills, allowing you to get in there up close and personal with your enemies. Shotguns work really well with this build and if you have the right weapons mods you can inflict Vulnerability on enemies which helps increase damage output by and additional 25%.

Skills

• Twisted Rounds: This is the focus on the build and it’s going to allow you to deal much more damage to enemies with Anomaly infused bullets.
• Hunt the Prey: This is a useful skill allowing you to select an enemy and teleport behind them plus get a shield.
• Temporal Blade: This allows you to deal damage, slow and interrupt to enemies effectively controlling your opponents where you need to.

Weapons

Shotgun: Pretty much any shotgun works well in this build. If you have a legendary, then great. If not, then look for shotguns that inflict Vulnerability. Look for mods that work with this damage increasing build and work with what you have.

SMG: SMGs are good on this build, expecially if you have one that comes with Bleed. The Migraine is a very good weapon, if you have great RNG and that available then try it out in this build.

Armour Mods

• Additional Mag: This mod helps make Twisted Rounds last for two magazines instead of one, which is going to help you melt through enemies.
• Strong Twist: 15% extra damage while Twisted Rounds is active
• Slasher: You can use Temporal Slice twice, before going into cooldown instead of once
• Radiation Jump: Hunt the Prey will inflict targets with Vulnerability, causing them to take 25% increased damage.
• Dance of Death: 20% shorter cooldown on Hunt The Prey

Support Build

Those not deciding to fly solo may want to try out a support build with the Trickster. Rather than increase damage solo, Trickster’s are also pretty effective at helping out on the battlefield, slowing down enemies often while maintaining a shield making you much harder to kill.

Slow Sphere and Temporal Blade are going to be the main two skills here in this build allowing you to effectively slow down enemies and then slice then up when their stationary.

Skills

• Slow Trap: Deploy a sphere around yourself, slowing all nearby enemies and projectiles. This is a very effective crowd control tool allowing you to go in there, deploy the slow trap and then dance around enemies, ideally taking them all out with a shotgun
• Temporal Blade: This allows you to deal damage, slow and interrupt to enemies effectively controlling your opponents where you need to.
• Twisted Rounds: The final skill for the build is twisted rounds for the damage increase, it’s a great skill and almost must-have on any Trickster

Weapons

Rapid-Fire Weapons: Try and equip a weapon with Shield Maiden mod, as this is going to help regen shields very fast.

Sniper Rifles: Given the amount of crowd control ability then shooting enemies in the head will be easy!

Armour Mods

• Damage Mitigation: Allies inside your Slow Trap take 20% less damage.
• Thunder Dome: Receive 100% Shield when Slow Trap ends.
• Double Stop: Temporal Blade’s paralysis effect lasts 100% longer.
• Slasher: Temporal Slice can be used an additional time before it enters cooldown.
• Twisted Fate: Twisted Rounds increases your Critical Damage by 30% while active.

Let me know down in the comments what you think of the Trickster and let me know which class you’re going to choose to start Outriders.

That’s it for this Trickster Showcase including skills, class trees and build examples.