Are you having trouble choosing your character for your next playthrough of Outside?
I don't blame you considering there's literally millions upon millions to choose from
So in this video instead of showcasing a specific class and all of its permutations
Like I usually do I'm going to talk about the different play styles available in the game
that way you can gauge your interest and see which value think seems like the most fun to you and use THAT
to make a decision about which character to main.
This video is going to be specifically about fighting styles
This is less important for Support, Builder, Social, and Tank Mains.
But for the solo players out there
It's super important to understand how your build works
and what to expect when you encounter another player using a build you're unfamiliar with
Anyways, when deciding how you want your character to function in battle,
you need to consider the four basic fighting styles.
Those are grappler,
rushdown,
spacing,
and projectile,
The grappler build's goal is to prevent their opponent from attacking or escaping while reducing their HP to 0
This is typically accomplished by using a grab move
Some grab moves deal damage on their own
But another common use is to use the grab to combo into a high damage move that otherwise might be difficult to land
There are many moves which can function as grabs
but perhaps the most popular way to go about building a grappler character is to invest heavily into
raptorial upgrades to your character's arms or legs.
A few other unique examples do exist
It's possible to also perform a grab using the move "coil" or even a tether grab
Oftentimes significant investment into stealth is also necessary in order to create opportunities for your character to get in grab range
Advantages of a class like this include being extremely dominant against players who've chosen lower weight classes
The chance of an opponent breaking free from a grab scales directly with their size relative to yours.
The main disadvantage of this build type is that if your opponent does break free or dodge the grapple attempt a
Lot of times, they'll be in prime position to counter-attack.
Examples of the grappler build include
Mantises
Frogs
Chameleons
Spiders
and Snakes
But in my opinion the top tier grapplers are the Eagles,
Crocodiles,
and Cephalopods
Every style of fighter has their weaknesses and grapplers tend to struggle against projectile based builds
And also get hard-countered by perks like spikes and slime
These next two build types; Rush-Down and Spacer,
are very similar in that both focus on landing
individual strikes on their opponent rather than grabbing them.
Rush-Down builds focus on getting in close on their targets and dishing out as many
Hits as they can
Typically one individual strike from a rush down build isn't all that strong
But several within a short time frame can bring down even the highest HP targets
Often times rush down builds will employ team strategies
Multiplying the number of hits even further while minimizing the risk towards one individual player
Because risk is a big part of the rush down game when you're in your opponent's face like that
They have ample opportunity to counter-attack even if your hits are landing
So you need to really overwhelm them to avoid taking too much damage yourself
Generally instead of focusing on power mobility is the most important stat for rush downs
The advantages of this class include being able to bring down higher HP Targets
As well as generally being able to out-speed and escape from opponents that are too tough for you to bring down quickly.
Examples include Bears,
Piranhas,
and Baboons
while top tiers for this category include African wild dogs and falcons
"But I thought you just said birds of prey were grapplers"
No,
I said Eagles are grapplers
Eagles deal their damage with their talons
While the typical attack strategy employed by Falcons is to knock their opponent out with a swift punch and then finish them with their sharper
beaks
See, it pays to understand fighting types because it can be tough to differentiate between similar looking classes
Rush down characters struggle against armored targets the most because armor can often completely negate the damage from weaker attacks
They tend to also have bad matchups against spacing based characters for reasons
I'll discuss in a minute.
Spacing based characters try to deal damage to their opponent while remaining out of reach
This is typically accomplished by making use of attacks that have disjointed hit boxes
Allowing them to strike or pressure an enemy without risking an immediate counter-attack
There are many attributes you can choose from an order to give your character access to moves like this
Some examples would be Horns,
Long claws,
Armoured limbs,
and tail weapons
Unlike rushdown builds, spacer builds tend to focus on landing only one or two individual attacks as opposed to a flurry of blows
That's usually all that's needed though as their individual attacks tend to be extremely
devastating when the actually connect. With that said whiffing an attack
Like this can leave the user extremely vulnerable once an enemy gets closer than your attacks effective range
Sometimes it's best simply to threaten your opponent with an attack and just whittle away at their resolve rather than actually attempt an attack
The strategy is extremely effective against rushdown builds because many of them simply cannot risk taking such a severe hit
Even entire teams of rushdown players can sometimes be too intimidated to make an aggressive play.
Examples of spacing based characters include the Gemsbok,
Narwhal,
and Thresher Shark.
While top tiers include builds like the
Swordfish,
Secretary Bird
and Elk
Spacing builds have been declining lately.
Possibly because rushdown builds which are normally very bad against spacers are adapting
Learning to bait out laggy moves and punishing them
You'll notice that builds from legacy versions of the game tended to favor spacing a lot more;
Stegosaurus,
Ankylosaurus,
and Therizinosaurus.
All were extremely successful spacing builds back in the Mesozoic Expansion
Being excellent at repelling attacks of Rush-down Theropod Classes.
Perhaps the most successful spacer of all time was the Triceratops
and it's pretty easy to tell which builds of present-day took inspiration from them.
Builds which use tail weapons used to be fairly common
But have almost completely fallen off the meta recently,
The most recent one being the Glyptodont of the Ice Age.
Spacing builds also tend to have poor matchups against grapplers because typically
Once caught in a grab it's impossible for them to swing their heavy equipment
Overall, these are some of my personal favorite builds
and I hope to see some advancement in their meta game soon.
The last category of
character is projectile based.
Projectile characters tend to require a ton of investment into a single technique
that will hopefully be useful enough to make them viable fighters.
The investment into projectiles is costly and difficult to use but when used the right way
They can be extremely difficult to play against.
The most common form of projectile is a spray
Using the move "spray" combined with
an acid,
glue,
or smelly substance
can result in a projectile that deals heavy damage,
Inflicts a poison status effect,
reduces mobility,
or even just destroys resolve
The other option is flinging a projectile this requires much less investment from an evolutionary standpoint
But also requires that the user stockpiles items from the environment that can be thrown
Making this move much harder to pull off in a pinch
These projectiles tend to be more purely damage focused,
although in some cases they can also be aimed at reducing the targets mobility
Now with that said oftentimes the immediate damage of a projectile is rather weak
So unless you're comboing it into a stronger finishing move, it may not be the greatest use in a close-quarters duel
Examples include the:
Archer Fish,
Velvet Worm,
Bombardier Beetle,
and Horned Toad.
While high tier examples include the:
Spitting Cobra,
Tarantula,
and Skunk
Projectile characters are really great at dealing with grapplers,
since they can just unload on them as they attempt to find a grab.
But projectile users tend to struggle against rush downs
which can usually dish out enough damage in such a short time
that the effects of their projectile doesn't really stop them in time to save them.
Of course, these categories are by no means hard boundaries.
Plenty of builds. Can hybridize between the two.
Scorpions are a mix between grappler because of their claws,
and spacing because of their long reaching tail bar.
Ant lions use projectiles in order to knock their targets into their traps
But switch to grappler once in range
Bucks would normally be considered Spacers but can also switch to full-out Rush-down mode in an instant if the situation calls for it
But hey, I hope this guide was useful for those of you who are undecided about who to main in this game
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