The Trickster is arguably the most fun Outriders class to play in the entire game. The class is all about being fast, darting around the map with a mixture of teleports and location tethers. Likewise, they can control gravity, slow down areas, and causing a void explosion with several melee spells and melee key. However, the best version of the Trickster is based on the run and gun play style, which has some major drawbacks. However, it still has its purpose as the Trickster has some of the best armor penetration capabilities in the game. It is something to keep in mind when building a comp as the Blighted Rounds Technomancer is weak against armored opponents.
Trickster Assassin Abilities and Mods
The Assassin Trickster aims to go deep in the Assassin build, taking as many Armor Penetration, Elite, and Shotgun / Close Ranged Damage talents as possible. From there, your character needs the tools to get into close range to do incredible burst damage through your Shotgun’s critical strikes.
The abilities that the Trickster will want will likely vary on the situation but the core you are looking at are: Twisted Rounds. which buff the Trickster’s damage output. Twisted Rounds is your primary damage ability, which you want to use when you have the opportunity to do consistent damage. To get into the fray, use Hunt the Prey, which is your teleport behind a distant opponent ability. Don’t forget to apply Borrowed Time before diving in. The ability creates a tether location, which can port you back to a safe spot if it gets too dangerous. Oh, the Borrowed Time also grants a bucket load of shields to keep you alive in the thick of it, with mods making its defensive utility even better.
The times you need to replace an ability will come whether you are in solo or group content. Group Content means you can get away with running a better hit and run build using the above core abilities. The perk of Using Hunt The Prey puts your character in a position to use the talent, Unforeseen End, which does bonus damage to enemies with their back’s turned to you. However, if you are solo, you’ll need something like Venerator’s Knife to pop key targets quicker, especially the flying mobs that are counters to Trickster’s close-range playstyle. Moreso, the Trickster, is a glass cannon outside of its bonus shields. Taking something like Time Rift allows the Trickster some breathing space against overwhelming enemies are they get yanked into the air.
Your core mods center around Borrowed Time and Shredder Rounds. Shredder Rounds are your key to dealing damage. Mods like Additional Mag are great for extended damage windows. Alongside Additional Mag, Strong Twist increase your firepower by 15%, with Twisted Fate increase crit damage by 30%. This is the core of the mods. From there, you ideally want some survivability. Armor of Eons is nice as it increases armor by 100% while Borrowed Time is active. Time Space Protection is another amor buffer for Borrowed Time; it grants an additional 30% armor and resistance.
Trickster Assassin Legendaries
There are two Shotguns you will want to have, depending on the scenario. For solo content, the Golem’s Limb is a great tool as getting a killing blow will grant the Golem effect, a perk of the Devastator Class. Golem is an ability Devastators use to mitigate 65% of incoming damage for eight seconds. This is incredibly useful for Tricksters as that killing blow could be the difference between life and death in many solo situations, and the reduced damage means your newly found shield from the Trickster’s Passive will go a lot further.
On the other hand, if you are ready to rock the all-out DPS Assassin build, then the Guillotine is your shotgun of choice. The benefits of Guillotine deal AOE splash damage which applies weaknesses to enemies, making them more vulnerable to attacks. When an enemy dies, they spawn a minefield around them, adding to that cleave damage build up as you destroy targets one by one in close range.
By all means, the Trickster is an exciting Class to play. It’s enjoyable, with many different abilities builds to meet each situation appropriately. The added addition of one-shotting things with crits is always satisfying too. However, the build is arguably the most difficult playstyle to get going due to the many risks it faces in battle. Ultimately, this is why the Trickster is third on our list, as its weaknesses are omnipresent when playing the very strong Assassin build.
Trickster Nerfs
The result of the above build allowed fully built Tricksters in the right environment to do some insane numbers. As a result, the first Outriders patch has nerfed the Disruptive Firepower, Scion of Power, and Outrider Executioner perks to 35% form 50%. The huge downgrade in damage is a sign that the build was allowed to do incredible damage when played perfectly. Which is another reason why the above DPS builds look a lot better than that Trickster in this Outriders Tier List.
