Best Build/Class???

[jhamri32]

I started my first game as a mage, and it felt like trash. I constantly run out of mana and rune magic, supposed to be great for a mage, isn’t that good. I plan on starting a new character but I dont know whether to use a bow, 1h, 2h,dagger,gun, or shield in any combination. Any suggestions? Also, any tips for the chosen weapon/s.

[Nobody]

May I ask how you built your magic user? Magic can be quite powerful so if you would like mage tips too I'll try to help. My easiest to use character so far is a Mercenary/Rogue, never got around to spending his third breakthrough. He is built for speed, carries a brace of 5-7 pistols and several traps. The idea was to lay traps if needed beforehand, shoot the opponent multiple times with pistols that cause special status effects, like the Obsidian Pistol or to use the Merc's special bullets and then be quick enough to run away and reload if the opponent lived. Not the most engaging play, but travel was a snap 'cause he could run across whole maps. I did not take him into the three brothers or other DLC though.

I don't know if that is a "best" build, but it worked quite well with the exception of being ambushed in a tight space.

[Angel]

1h sword and chakram

[Samseng Yik]

I would say 1H Sword and Chakram with focus to cold damage.
The sword apply both cold/physical resistance debuff.
The Chakram apply elemental vulnerability with cold base damage.
Chakram also good at removing almost half enemy stability, means your normal attack easier to stagger them before knockdown.
Can combo with hex skill to trigger another secondary effect for each resist reduction debuff.

But in the end, is not about a build best or not.
Is about the player test and interest. If you have a coop friend.
I think back stabber rogue is extremely best

[william_es]

There's a youtuber called sheenshots who has an entire series of videos on builds. You can copy one of their builds entirely, or just use as a heads up on what direction to go in.

You get to see how the game play actually works with the different combinations of skill trees. Some of the interactions are kind of crazy.

I used one of their builds as a framework to make a sort of "paladin", and had a blast using it. I watched about 5 minutes of the video and told myself that it was EXACTLY how I wanted to play the game. I wanted to face tank enemies with massive armor, and knock them clear across the room with a 2-handed weapon. No stealth, no magic, no mana. Sheer brute force. Crush evil.

I didn't follow their guide verbatim, I made tweaks and changes, and flat out rejected one of the three skill trees and chose something radically different. But overall, I enjoyed the basic idea they showed in their vid a lot.

I liked playing outward, but I'm not going to replay it 20 times. So I greatly appreciated their build videos for helping me out.

[Nerevar]

Originally posted by Samseng Yik:

I would say 1H Sword and Chakram with focus to cold damage.
The sword apply both cold/physical resistance debuff.
The Chakram apply elemental vulnerability with cold base damage.
Chakram also good at removing almost half enemy stability, means your normal attack easier to stagger them before knockdown.
Can combo with hex skill to trigger another secondary effect for each resist reduction debuff.

But in the end, is not about a build best or not.
Is about the player test and interest. If you have a coop friend.
I think back stabber rogue is extremely best

pure elemental dmg builds are vastly better than the sword brand. that sword is actually pretty bad for "best" contenders. yet some youtubes made silly video lableing it as the best sword. but this is simply them not understanding game basics or goings by designs mainly.

the reason for this is 2 fold : split dmg sucks. pure elemental dmg in outward is nearly always stronger especially if you target enemies weakness. the frozen chakrams main advantage is the ele vuln debuff it provides. and its really good impact on top of that package.

for 1hand and chakram the RWS and the scepter of the cruel priest and the runic blade are the best choices above all others. as all 3 are PURE elemental dmg and very high on top. tough geps blade comes really close to the runic blade simply due to its insane speed and its ability to bypass blocks entirely.

so fokus your chakram build for a sword either on geps or the RWS. aka ether dmg or lighting dmg purely. both are also the 2 best elemental dmg types vs the majority of enemies in the game.

brand is just.... average. its frost dmg is really really low. its slower than geps. its harder to get. it costs alot of silver. and frost dmg is worse than ether or lighting dmg in generel in outward in regards to enemys.
another reason why brand is average is that it inflicts PAIN. which.... the free 1handed sword skill that ANY build has access to applys with a 100% rate on use with a 10 second cooldown. brand takes longer to apply the same debuff as that skill. that makes this buff on brand fully useless as you wanna use that move anyway to boost overall dmg output of your build with a sword especially.

for example the hexes can apply all debuffs anyway on demand for very little mana cost. and they apply instantly. not take 3 hits to apply. plus even if brands frost dmg is boosted by 25%. its still lower elemental output than for example a enchanted RWS.

plus you can get weapon enchantments that boost ethter and lighting dmg directly as a flat value in outward. not the case for frost.

a enchanted RWS does 39 pure lighting dmg. and its also indestructible on top. the higher your base pure elemental dmg is the stronger the builds total end output becomes. the difference here is quite massive between 20 and 40 points of elemental base dmg. couple this with more enemies beeing weak to ether and lighting dmg and you get a even bigger gap.

the strongest build overall is the zero cooldown prismatic flurry build. the 3 metas build also comes close but requires more skill to use correctly. and requireds a skill from the arena to work fully.

chakram/1h is about third in terms of total output. 1st on bosses weak to ether/lighting dmg.

tbh this game has ALOT of crazy build options. just pick your 3 breaktroughs WISELY. rest is all about getting the right armor and weapons.

[bunies]

sounds like your problem is difficulty

the easist (most forgiving) weapon combo if i remembe is shield/sword