Since its release on April 1, 2021, Outriders hasn’t released any post-launch content—until now. Outriders Worldslayer launched on June 30, bringing massive updates to Enoch, including new skill trees, apocalypse tiers, mods, legendary gear, and endgame content. In the original story of Outriders (spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t finished the game yet, go take 20 hours to do so, or continue at your own risk), an expedition is sent to the planet Enoch to set up a new human civilization, as Earth is no longer inhabitable. However, everything goes wrong when a mysterious Anomaly destroys the group’s technology, and leaves the human Outriders (the ones who survived, anyway) Altered, with powerful abilities. As one of these Altered Outriders, you have to fight aggressive aliens and unravel the brutal mysteries of the past 30 years.
Worldslayer picks up where Outriders ended, pitting players against Ereshkigal, leader of the human insurgents and believed to be the first Altered. The Anomaly storms are getting worse, and humanity’s last hope for survival relies on you, Outrider. (No pressure, though.) After defeating Ereshkigal, you’ll have the chance to take on the Trial of Tarya Gratar, a dungeon run of increasing difficulty that can yield some of the best Legendary and Apocalyptic tiered loot. If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry. With this handy dandy guide, you’ll feel like Apocalypse Tier 40 is World Tier 1—aka Outriders Worldslayer on EZ Mode.
Choose Your Character
Outriders has four possible character classes, each with their own distinct abilities, skill trees, and uses in battle. While picking the right class for you could be its own guide, here’s the TL;DR version:
The Devastator is a tank, ideal for close-range combat. Tricksters also deal damage at close range, but they slip in and out so quickly you only know they were there because of the damage they dealt. Pyromancers do their fiery tricks mid-range. The Technomancer uses their gadgets to do maximum damage (or healing) from a distance.
It’s important to understand your ideal playstyle, and pick a class that pairs well with it. However, bear in mind the above descriptions—close-range, mid-range, long-range—only describe each class’s Altered abilities. Skill trees allow massive modding to each character’s stats, so your Technomancer build can be buffed to withstand massive damage like a tank, equipped with a powerful shotgun, and charge the enemy while their Cryo Turret provides cover from afar.
The Trickster is a popular class, and recommended especially if you decide to take on Worldslayer solo. Its Temporal Blade and Cyclone slice can obliterate enemies who dare come near you, and Slow Trap effectively freezes all movement within its radius. (Okay, technically your enemies won’t be frozen, they’ll just be slowed down so much their movement feels imperceptible—but yours will be too, if you’re inside.)
Seasoned Outriders players likely have one character of each class, since the game has six character slots available. Even if those characters haven’t reached level 30, you can boost them into the Worldslayer add-on. Likewise, if you so choose, you can create a new character and boost them into the DLC as well. While Outriders capped character levels at 30, Worldslayer introduces the Ascension System, which increases that to level 200.
Scale the Skill Tree
One of the best ways to have an easy time in Worldslayer? Play with your character’s skill tree. Skill Trees are composed of Major Nodes, which grant big-time percentage bonuses, connected by smaller nodes, which give small buffs.
There are three branches to each tree: Anomaly, which enhances the respective Class’s abilities; Weapons, which can significantly increase your damage output; and Survival, which can increase your health and help you withstand anything your enemies have to throw at you. You can choose what to level up by attributing Skill Points to the next available Node on the Skill Tree. We recommend a healthy balance between all three branches, but it really is up to your playstyle.
If you want to go hard with your abilities, relying on them for protection and damage, put all of your Skill Points into the Anomaly branch. You can respec your Skill Tree at any time, so if you decide throwing all your Skill Points into your Survival branch or a Weapon node doesn’t make a difference in a fight, you can undo it and reassign that Skill Point to a better place. Given Worldslayer’s design, it’s worth experienced players giving their Skill Trees a once-over, just in case you need to make any changes to accommodate the demands of Glacier’s Edge and Driftwater.
Worldslayer also introduces the Pax Tree, a separate skill tree that offers two additional subclasses for each character class. For the Devastator, those are Wrecker and Tectonic Shifter; for the Technomancer, Desolator and Overseer; the Pyromancer has Gunblazer and Pyromaniac; and the Trickster gets Specter and Exploiter. Every node in the Pax Tree has the effect of a Major Node in the regular skill tree, so choose wisely—it will have a ridiculously powerful effect on your character. It can also be completely respec’d, so if you’re not happy with your decision, you can always go back and change. It’s important to note Pax Tree points aren’t acquired by grinding through gameplay. Rather, you earn them for progress milestones within the campaign. So don’t try to be sneaky by repeating an early-game battle for easy XP—you won’t get anywhere on your Pax Tree that way.
Trial and Error
We would be remiss if we didn’t talk about the Trial of Tarya Gratar. It technically happens after defeating Ereshkigal, and can be done multiple times. Good thing, too—this is where Worldslayer truly shines, and drops some of the finest, deadliest gear Enoch has to offer. Each time you die in a run, you’ll respawn at your last checkpoint. However, you only get three deaths per run, so be smart. All enemies and bosses are randomly generated in the Trial of Tarya Gratar, making it difficult to anticipate what’s coming, so be prepared to face anything.
You’ll start the Trial in a Hub, with multiple doors to choose from. Each door represents one path you can take through the trial. While there’s no way of knowing who awaits behind each door, you can look at a map that will show you the layout of each potential run, as well as what type of loot it holds. LOOK AT THE MAP BEFORE YOU GO. Even if this is the only piece of advice you take away from this article, that’s okay. That’s how important it is. These maps will show you how many rooms lie ahead, whether they’re optional or mandatory, and what you can expect from each Trove (super hard rooms that drop Apocalypse and Legendary loot). Since the main reason to do the Trial of Tarya Gratar is to get excellent loot, you should pick a door that has a lot of Troves behind it. If you make it to the Final Trial and beat the boss that awaits, you’ll receive—you guessed it—the most powerful loot in the whole run. Then you can go back to camp, heal, respec if so desired, and do the whole thing over again! You’ll want to gather as much loot as possible, because…
Creativity is Your Greatest Weapon
Part of the beauty of Outriders is its nearly infinite possibilities for customization, and not just on the Skill Tree. Any weapons or armor you find on a run can be disassembled for parts, which can then be grafted onto other gear. So, in theory, you could take a mod you really like from a weapon that doesn’t work with your build, and put it onto your favorite weapon that’s already been highly upgraded in your Skill Tree. Each weapon has two mod slots, so use them wisely.
Disassembling your weapons can also get you titanium, a major resource in Outriders, and (new with Worldslayer) Anomaly Extract. This can be used to improve Apocalypse-level items, so you’re going to want a lot of it. The best way to find Apocalypse gear is to play Worldslayer’s new Apocalypse Tiers; the higher the level, the more likely you are to find these powerful items.
Oh, one more thing on this point—the Apocalypse gear has three mod slots. Have fun with that.
Outriders, Assemble
While you certainly have the choice to face Worldslayer solo (and our tips will help you should you exercise that choice), playing in a group won’t only make your run easier, it’ll make it downright enjoyable. Outriders allows up to three people to squad up for a reason: the game wants you to have friends and play with them. You can also coordinate with your squad to make sure everyone plays a different class, maximizing your Altered abilities on the map as you face down your enemies. Imagine a Devastator’s Earthquake, a Pyromancer’s Eruption, and a Technomancer’s Blighted Turret working in conjunction with one another! Those Insurgents and Ferals have a snowball’s chance in hell. Plus, it’s always good to have a little backup as you face the increasing waves of enemies in the Trial of Tarya Gratar.
If you use all of these tips, you’ll be sailing through Ereshkigal’s ilk and the Trial of Tarya Gratar like it’s nothing. Outrider, go suit up and play on EZ Mode.
