Outriders' Devastator Class: Every Power & Special Move Revealed
Outriders has revealed new details about the earth-shattering Devastator class. Get ready to shake things up with powerful seismic abilities.
The upcoming looter shooter Outriders has revealed more details about their third playable class, the Devastator. During the most recent broadcast, developers People Can Fly outlined what players can look forward to from the tankiest class their game has to offer.
The heart of Devastator character class in Outriders is represented by the statement “Stand Your Ground.” Devastators are all about front-line chaos, massive damage, and impenetrable armor. Their abilities are based on three basic ideas: Kinetic, Protection, Seismic. With the gravitational power of the ground on which they tread, Devastators pose a powerful threat to enemies that might get in their way.
Melee and healing abilities are generally unique to each class, so it was surprising to hear from People Can Fly that both of these functions felt familiar when compared to the other classes. The Devastator melee ability causes a damage-over-time bleed effect that is very reminiscent of the Pyromancer's flaming melee. On the other hand, Devastators heal through the death of nearby enemies. It’s still a bit unclear how this is different from the Trickster’s heal through killing enemies in close-quarter combat. The wording suggests that allies may be able to heal players by killing enemies within their proximity, but specifics remain hazy.
One other difference between the Devastator and Trickster classes that the developers wanted to nail down was that Devastators don’t have Shields, they have Armor. Again, the difference between these two common terms is ambiguous so it’s difficult to tell how different these two classes are. Perhaps Shields act as a secondary health bar while Armor acts as a damage mitigator. As with previous Broadcasts for Outriders, People Can Fly described four of the Devastator’s eight abilities during the show. These included Gravity Leap, Reflect Bullets, Impale, and Endless Mass.
Gravity Leap is a powerful engagement and disengagement tool where players jump high in the air and target an enemy on the ground. Once activated, Outriders characters slam into the ground causing a moderately wide area-of-effect damage circle as well as a stun/interrupt. This can be especially useful for breaking a boss’s rhythm when they’re about to attack. Interrupt their abilities and do damage at the same time.
Reflect Bullets is probably the most Matrix-style move in the game. Devastators in Outriders generate a wide shield that catches all incoming bullets for an extended duration. Upon re-activation, all of the captured bullets are sprayed back at the enemies who fired them in a large arc. This greatly entices Devastators to act as a front line and charge into battle first with an impenetrable shield that can wreak havoc.
Impale is a gruesome ability that has a great deal of potential for enemy damage and upgradability. Upon activation, a giant spike erupts from the ground for high burst damage. If the enemy is killed by the attack, they are left impaled on the spike for all to see. The Outriders developers also mentioned that the number of spikes unleashed per use can be upgraded as well. This eventually allows for a field of spikes to impale multiple enemies at once.
Finally, Endless Mass will be a very powerful tool for Outriders battlefield control. When a player uses this ability, a giant stone obelisk is summoned that drags all nearby enemies towards its center. This black hole-esque ability will pair exceedingly well with Outriders' ally attacks and allow for some devastating synergy.
In addition to these abilities, each Outriders class also has a comprehensive skill tree. These can be respec’d at will and on the fly, though mid-combat may not be the best idea. The trees are split into three parts, each with different focuses for the passive stat boosts. For the Devastator, the Vanquisher tree focuses on close-range combat, the Warden focuses on armor and damage mitigation, and Seismic Shifter is all about skill and bleed damage.
The Devastator seeks to be a major force of nature in Outriders. While each class has its own specialty, the Devastator will be essential to most teams thanks to its high health and battlefield control. These stats will be compounded even further by the gear that players acquire on their journey. According to developer People Can Fly, more information is coming soon about Outriders’ endgame and what players can expect after they roll credits. Outriders is scheduled to release on current-gen consoles and PC this Fall with next-gen console upgrades coming in 2021.
Source: Outriders