How Status Effects Work in Outriders

Modern action RPGs require a certain standard of knowledge from their playerbases. If you said “debuff” to someone with no knowledge of video games, for instance, they might think the opposite of buffing a scratch off a car. Since status effects like debuffs are vital to the gameplay of games like Outriders, it’s important you know what they are, how they work, and how to deal with them. Here’s how status effects work in Outriders.

In Outriders, there are a total of eight primary status effects, spread out over three main categories that denote how exactly they affect you or an enemy. The three categories are as follows:

• Crowd control: Status effects that halt, restrict, or otherwise hinder one’s ability to move efficiently around an area.
• Damage Over Time (or DoT for short): Status effects that slowly chip away at one’s health, either with flat damage or a particular affinity.
• Debuffs: Status effects that lessen your capacity to deal or receive damage.

How Status Effects Work in Outriders

Starting with crowd control, there are three debuff types: Ash, Freeze, and Slow. When inflicted with Ash, your movement and attacking capabilities are completely stopped. Your only available action is to use your melee attack to attempt to break free. Freeze works the same way, rooting you in place, but it lasts longer than Ash does. In both cases, consecutive uses reduce their effectiveness. Slow still allows you to move and attack, but at a notably reduced speed. How much you’re slowed depends on your resistance to Slow attacks.

For Damage Over Time, there are once again three types: Bleed, Burn, and Toxic. For the duration of a Bleed, you’ll take flat damage to your health whenever you try to move. This can be mitigated by simply standing still for the effect’s duration, though obviously standing still in a firefight is a great way to get killed. With Burn, you’ll take fire-affinity damage whether you’re moving or standing still, though you can put the fire out by dodge-rolling. Toxic inflicts poison-affinity damage on your health, and unlike Bleed and Burn, the only way to stop it outside of waiting it out is to use a healing item.

Finally, for Debuffs, there are only two types: Vulnerable and Weakness. When you’re Vulnerable, any damage you take is multiplied for the effect’s duration. When you’re inflicted with Weakness, any damage you deal is reduced for the effect’s duration. In both cases, there are no quick ways to dispel the effects besides either using an item or just waiting it out.