Outriders tips - loot, classes, healing and more explained

Looking for some Outriders tips? Because that's exactly what we've got here; 11 of the best tips and tricks for Outriders, that you absolutely need to know before you get stuck into the latest looter shooter. This is a game that mixes elements of Destiny with titles like Gears of War and Warframe, so there's a lot to get your head round, including things like auto-loot pickups and early legendary drops. Here are our top Outriders tips.

1. Adjust "Auto Loot Minimum Rarity" so you don't miss any gear

Jump into the settings and one of the first options you'll see under Gameplay Options is "Auto Loot Minimum Rarity". As the name suggests, this set the minimum rarity of loot you'll auto collect without doing anything. By default, this is set to Epic, but you won't be finding Epic gear for a good while. So one of our first Outriders Tips is to recommend taking this down to Unusual (which is the same as Uncommon in other games) for your first few missions until you're kitted out in mostly Rare gear, then upping it as you progress through the story. This essentially means that any green or better gear you miss will be automatically looted at the end of a mission.

2. Toggle "Helmet" off if you'd rather see your face

If you much prefer looking at the back of your characters head and seeing their luscious locks flow (or not, in my case), you can toggle the helmet appearance off further down in the Gameplay Options. This doesn't affect gameplay in anyway – your helmet will still have all of its usual effects and armor protection, but it simply won't be visible. If you're confused, you can read more in our Outriders hide helmet guide.

3. Replay missions by revisiting the same location you started it from the first time

Completed a side mission and only got rare loot rather than the legendary you were after? Worry not; another one of our Outriders tips is that if you revisit the same location or talk to the same person who originally gave you the mission, you can replay it as many times as you want for a shot at better loot. So I guess you could technically hit max level by replaying the first mission with the Hounds over and over again...?

4. Pay attention to how your class heals, because each one is different

There are no healing items in Outriders; no stimpaks, medkits, or health boosters. Instead, each class heals by dealing damage, but in different ways. Here's the full list:

Devastator: Heals by killing enemies in close proximity.
Pyromancer: Heals whenever enemies marked by skills are killed.
Technomancer: Heals a portion of whatever damage they deal.
Trickster: Heals both health and shield by killing enemies in close proximity.

Of course, every class will heal passively too, simply by avoiding taking damage for a short while. But if you're surrounded by enemies and losing health too quickly... make sure you know how to heal actively.

5. Pre-order bonus loot can be found in your stash, not your inventory

If you've pre-ordered Outriders, you might have some extra bonus loot waiting for you in-game. You can't access it until you reach Rift Town after the lengthy prologue but when you do get there, go to your stash in the huge garage – it's found opposite the restock crate, past the metal stairs. Navigate to the inbox tab at the top and you'll find your pre-order loot. If the inbox is unavailable to you, unfortunately it means you don't have any pre-order bonuses to grab.

6. Replay boss fights against Captain Reiner and Gauss to loot farm legendaries

Two of the earliest boss fights you'll face are against Captain Reiner in the side mission Payback (found by speaking to Audrey Storm at the Crossroads), and Gauss in the main mission Reunion. These are the first two opportunities you'll get to obtain some legendary loot, so one of our top Outriders tips is that if you want to get some early-game good stuff, replay them a few times, on the highest world tier you can.

7. In combat, keep an eye on your radar at all times because enemies can sneak up on you easily

During combat, it is very easy to get carried away mowing down hordes of enemies, whether they're human, Perforos, Maulers, or something else entirely. When this happens, some enemies like to flank and can get behind you quite quickly. Or perhaps you're fighting an Elite and have failed to notice the standard foes who have taken a detour – keep checking your radar and you'll know when to spin around and divert your attention.

8. Exploding barrels are way more powerful in Outriders than most other games

Red, exploding barrels are commonplace in any video game with guns, but in Outriders they're really powerful. The radius on the explosion from a red barrel is enormous, to the point where it'll get any enemies even remotely close to it, rather than just eliminating one or two enemies right next to it. They don't look like typical barrels since, y'know, the game isn't set on Earth, but keep an eye out for that bright red colour and shoot anything that has it.

9. The quest tracker and objective marker is often broken, so pull up the map frequently

One of the more infuriating aspects of Outriders is how broken the navigation is in the game. The quest marker will often bug out and send you back the way you came, or to a side quest when you're targeting the main quest and vice versa, you get the gist. There's no easy way around this other than to essentially never trust it and always cross reference your quest marker with the map – it'll save you a lot of hassle.

10. Craft as much as you want, even in the early levels, because crafting materials are plentiful

You might be tempted to not delve into the crafting aspect of Outriders with Dr. Zahedi until you've reached the max level, in order to save your crafting materials for the end-game gear, but don't worry about that. Leather, iron, and scrap are all incredibly plentiful, so you can swap variants and mod gear to your hearts content. The only exclusion from this is levelling up your gear – this uses titanium, which is much harder to find, so avoid doing this until the late game if possible.

11. Pick up all loot in an area by pressing down on the D-pad/H on PC

We mentioned above about how you can change your auto-loot settings to ensure you don't miss anything on the battlefield, but if you want to manually ensure you've collected everything there is in one fell swoop without scouting around, you can press one button; down on the D-pad, or H if you're playing on PC. This will collect all gear loot drops in one go before you move onto the next area.

That's it for our Outriders tips, but make sure you scroll back to the top and check out some of the other links for more guides to the game.