In this article, we’ll be covering all the news and updates regarding Outriders since the game’s launch in April. We’ll be covering the critical issues that were tackled and any balance changes that occurred.
April
The month of April had the Outriders team fully focused on identifying and fixing issues related to the notorious Inventory Wipe Bug, which saw a large part of the community be affected . Thankfully they did manage to get it completely fixed and there don’t seem to have been any reports since that time on this issue.
Alongside this high-priority fix, were numerous fixes to stability and many multiplayer related issues. Several causes of crashing were also addressed. With other improvement to optimization as well, it seemed Outriders was in a position to recover from it’s less than stellar launch with the major bug that messed up the launch now gone.
If you want to view full patch notes for this patch, they are available over on this Reddit post from the devs.
May
May had the Outriders dev team focusing on a new critical issue, the Damage Mitigation Bug, which had players instantly dying in a lot of situation where they otherwise shouldn’t. Outriders just can’t seem to catch a break without a serious issue, can they?
Outside of that high-priority fix, there’s been a lot of sign-in issues, which appear to still be ongoing for Xbox players at the time of writing. Though the devs seems to know the cause and seem confident the fix for it will be included in the next patch.
Alongside those fixes were the standard fare of fixes aimed at stability, performance and other bugs.
If you want to view full patch notes for this patch, they are available over on this Reddit post from the devs.
June
With a bit of breathing room from critical issues, Outriders has gotten a few smaller but nice updates for both balancing and Quality of Life.
Matchmaking Changes
The first happened on June 3, 2021. This one was aimed at Quality of Life changes, specifically for Matchmaking. With two changes, the quality of Match-made games should improve drastically.
The first of these changes is a End of Expedition Kick Prevention, which prevents players from kicking others out of their lobby and denying them their pod drops. While it’s probably not a perfect solution, as I’m sure there are people still out there finding ways to still abuse the kick feature, it’s a huge step in the right direction.
The second change is Region Based Matchmaking, which should look to connect you to Outriders in the same region as you, rather than anywhere in the world. This should alleviate a lot of random latency issues, but not entirely address them. Thankfully the devs seem
Alongside these, there were also a handful of fixes aimed at fixing further crashing and stability issues, as well as addressing minor bugs.
Balance Changes
The second of these updates came out today, which were aimed at re-balancing certain skills, in which case all changes were buffs.
Armor Changes
The first of these changes were to the Max Health secondary stat for Armor. The values for Max Health on Armor were increased, and according to Developers, can now effectively double your character Health. Shame this stat will only still ever be used on Legendary gear pieces that are core to a build and can’t be given up.
Devastator Changes
The next set of changes are to the Devastator, buffing both Reflect Bullets and Impale. The Reflect Bullets changes are good if you ever wanted to tr our Wrecking Ball Warden Build, as detailed in our Devastator Class and Builds Guide.
Impale simply had it’s Health Regen buffed by 50%. They also gave a significant boost to the Vlad’s Grasp mod, extending the range from a 25% increase up to a 100% increase in range.
Reflect Bullet has it’s base damage buffed by 250%, as well as the Bullet Acceleration Mod damage increased by 330% making Reflect Bullets a more potent mob clearer. These changes are nice for those still making their way through the campaign, but do very little for those in expeditions as very few expeditions are entirely humanoid enemies, where this skill is significantly more viable.
Pyromancer Changes
The next set of changes were targeted at the Pyromancer, specifically the F.A.S.E.R Beam Skill. Which if you weren’t already running our Ignite FASER Pyro Expedition Build, you definitely should give it a shot now.
F.A.S.E.R Beam base damage was doubled, with it already being a potent skill, this just makes it even more so. I would say that maybe it could have gone without relying on Status Power, however they buffed that ratio too.
F.A.S.E.R Beam’s SPF, or Status Power Factor was increased to 210% from 150%. To put this into to context, the very endgame version of our Expedition build uses 120% Status Power. Which would give roughly another 250% (252% to be exact) damage scaling, on top of the now doubled base damage. Expect huge jumps in damage for builds revolving around ths skill.
To top off these changes, Volcanic Armor was also buffed to grant 65% Damage Reduction over the previous 50%. If you run F.A.S.E.R Beam, this mod is an absolute must if solo. This mod alone can easily prevent unnecessary deaths, even more so after these buffs.
Technomancer Changes
The Technomancer’s changes are targeted as opening more options to them outside of Bullet and Minigun related build. With changes to the RPG portion of Tool of Destruction, Fixing Wave, Cold Snap and Freeze Turret; the real clear winner of these changes is pretty easily Cold Snap. That said, if you’re looking for a build focused on Cold Snap or Tool of Destruction, feel free to check out our Technomancer Class Guide and Builds.
For Tool of Destruction, the RPG has it’s base damage increased by 66% and it’s falloff range extended by 50%. This alone means rockets will hit a larger area and much harder, making them better at clearing groups of weak enemies of softening groups of tougher enemies.
The Demolition Man Mod was also buffed, increasing it’s base damage by ~85%. This mod change further enhances the RPG’s abilities to easily eliminate groups of weak enemies.
For Fixing Wave, the heal was increased from 33% Max health to 65%. If you’re fond of more supportive play or wanted to build around turrets, it’s not much easier to do so.
Cold Snap only has changes to mods, but the mods it buffed make it an absolute clearing monster now if you build around it and pair nicely with the Quality of Life change for Cryo Turret.
The Frostbite Mod for Cold Snap has had its armor reduction increased to 100%. This make this a seriously powerful tool, especially for dispatching expedition bosses. Combine this with the Borealis set and you’re both a support and a DPS in one setup with the right mods.
The bonus damage dealt by the Ice Ice Baby Mod has been increased by 300%. This is where its boost in clearing power really comes from. Both this and the previous mod are potent clearing tools when used right.
Finally, Freeze Turrets have had their health/duration increased by 50%. While this isn’t huge by any means, at least by itself it does help give you a consistent option for clearing mobs or getting consistent damage out of the Ice Ice Baby mod.
Trickster Changes
The Trickster changes are aimed at buffing mods, but at the same time potentially opening other build paths, should they choose to eventually remove timers from Expeditions.
The Aggressive Teleportation mod for Borrowed Time has its damage increased by 111%, which could make it semi-effective at clearing mobs. Still don’t see this mod being used all too often, but there’s potential for it now.
The Backstabber Mod for Hunt the Prey had its damage increased by 100%. Combined with the Ugake Otarah Set Bonus, this could end up being a fun or flashy build to try out. Personally, I think it’d still need to be buffed further for it to be a completely viable option.
Finally, the Strong Slice mod for Temporal Slice had its damage increased by 71%. This should allow Temporal Slice to more consistently dispatch weaker enemies and get stronger burst damage when detonating Venator’s Knife. This helps early AP Trickster builds out a ton, especially in early expeditions if they’re not loaded up on legendaries.
Community Appreciation Package
Finally the last update as of today also has the long awaited Community Appreciation Package being sent out. This package includes a God-Rolled Legendary Weapon, the ironic and fitting Frustration Emote and a chunk of Titanium.
The God-Rolled Legendary will be a weapon you have not picked in-game yet (across all characters). If you have been lucky enough to obtain all of the Legendary weapons, you’ll get the rarest weapon for your class. By “for your class” I can only assume it will limit it to weapons which your class has skill tree points for. They’ve stated rarest is “dropped the least throughout global playtime” however.
At the time of writing, there seems to be an issue with the Appreciation Package Weapon not always being a previously un-owned weapon. It’s unclear what they may do to fix it, but it’s likely they may just provide additional compensation to those affected by the issue.
That wraps up our Outriders News Recap for June 10th. If you’re looking for additional Outriders information or guides, check out the Outriders category here on Vulkk. We have content to help at all stages of play, from Campaign to Expeditions.
