In this guide, we’ll cover the optimal weapons for grinding through the campaign, from type, mods, power, and upgradability. We’ll be using the Trickster for class consideration. We also won’t be considering legendary options, as those are harder to come by until much later.
If you’re already to the point of legendary farming, we have a guide that outlined some of the best ways to do that.
The Best Early and Mid-Game Weapon in Outriders
Like most loot games, the overall best weapon for grinding through the campaign is whichever one has the highest attack power. Outriders constantly showers you with new gear, and not even the most ardent crafter will be able to keep up with the consistent power increases.
When it comes down to raw numbers, it doesn’t really matter what class you are, either. A sniper rifle with 200 more damage is simply a better baseline option than the less powerful automatic shotgun.
Your class does matter when it comes to building good habits, though. A Trickster is an up-close and personal class, and very few of its abilities function well at anything more than medium range. Therefore, it’s best to stick to guns suited for close quarters. That means submachine guns, shotguns, and auto-shotguns.
The other classes are as follows:
Technomancer: Sniper Rifle, Double Gun, LMG Pyromancer: Submachine Gun, Assault Rifle, Shotgun Devastator: LMG, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle
Take every opportunity to focus on these weapon types whenever possible in the order presented. Feel free to dismantle or sell other types unless they are demonstrably better than everything else in your inventory.
The more you become accustomed to using a weapon that plays to your class’ strengths, the better off you’ll be in the endgame. It’s where Outriders demands mastery and punishes the smallest mistakes.
Best Weapon Example
Take this automatic shotgun as a good example of a powerful early to mid-game option. It has a 10-round drum magazine, a faster-than-average reload time, good damage and range, and most importantly, a weapon mod (Essence Thief) that syncs well with an in-your-face Trickster playstyle.
When I saw this gun for sale, its attack power was about 150 higher than any other weapon in my inventory. That on its own was enough to make it an insta-equip, but its passive attribute was also top-notch. Passives are less important than mods, but only just.
As a Trickster, you want to focus on Weapon Leech to maximize health gain on damage. Depending on your class, you might consider a straight damage boost or critical chance increase as better options.
A weapon like this one is also valuable because it has a mod. As part of the crafting system, you’ll receive the equipped mod from any weapon you dismantle, provided you don’t already have a copy. We go into greater detail about equipping and optimizing mods in our upcoming crafting guide. For now, know that the best weapons in Outriders’ early game are useful even once you’ve found something to replace them.
When to Upgrade or When to Mod and Improve Stats
Every time you find a new weapon keyed to your class’ playstyle, quickly take stock of your current options. Is it easily better than what you’re using, or do you like what you have already? If it’s straight-up better, go ahead and use it regardless of its passive or mods. Odds are you’ll run across something even more powerful soon enough.
Even given a pure upgrade, you might have a gun that’s rolled exactly how you like it. At such a point, the best option is to keep using that weapon. Head to Dr. Zahedi and upgrade its level, rarity, and mods. You might not reach the dropped weapon’s power, but you’re likely to come close.
You’ll also want to mod and improve a weapon if the margin between it and the one with the highest attack is particularly thin, say 50 damage or so. Increasing the rarity or improving stats will likely remove the difference entirely.
One last note: the best weapon early in Outriders is ultimately the one you like using most.
If you’re in a sniping mood, get yourself a good sniper, fiddle with the mods and the stats, and try out new combinations of abilities. The same goes for close range, mid-range, class-focused, anything. You might not be using the optimal setup, but you never know what could become your favorite way of obliterating every hostile on Enoch.
