Outriders Reiner Boss | How to defeat Captain Reiner in Payback
As the recently thawed Outrider carves a path towards the solar tower to reopen Shira’s supply line through No Man’s Land, they come across a wounded friendly soldier with one thing on her mind: Payback.
She wants to settle a score with someone the Outrider has beef with too. A tough-as-nails insurgent captain, Reiner - who captured the Outrider after they came out of cryosleep and set them off to die.
After accepting the Payback quest at the crossroads, head through the door next to the soldier to the quest area and begin your push towards Reiner.
Outriders Payback quest - how to get to Reiner
While this part is simple enough - you just need to fight your way through two waves of enemies through a couple of arenas - it can still represent a significant difficulty spike compared to the nearby main story quests.
As you enter the area, you’d be wise to hang at the rear and take cover, picking off a couple of the more bullet-sponge-like enemies if possible.
This will then give you some breathing space to press forward, using whichever defensive abilities you have access to in your class, to mop up the weaker foes.
About half-way forward in the first area, more enemies will burst out of the wall on your right, so take care not to be overwhelmed as you advance.
Finally, deal with the snipers and any stragglers in the back of the area, before grabbing the key to advance.
Before you go, snag the loot chest to the left, and restock at the foot of the stairs on the right.
At the top of the stairs, the scene will change and you’ll start a cutscene where you confront Reiner.
How to beat Reiner in Outriders
Especially if you’re flying solo, Reiner is easily the toughest fight in this early chapter of the game, probably even eclipsing the final boss, Gauss at the end of the demo’s story.
You’re given a clue as to the trick to this fight by the tutorial splash that appears on the screen the first time you wade into this encounter: Interruption.
It’s not 100% clear, but when you use certain damage skills on tough enemies, you can interrupt the orange casting bar above their head and stop their most powerful attacks.
So while a lot of the messaging around Outriders has encouraged you to be aggressive so far, to defeat Reiner you need to save your interrupting damage skills for when he’s casting Healing Wave.
If you fail to interrupt his healing, then you’re in for a real bad time.
During this fight, you’re put under a lot of sustained pressure. As a result, I’d also recommend equipping a weapon with Life Leech.
When you’re dropped into the boss fight, you’re standing head on with Reiner and a group of enemies. Here it’s really tempting to rush in, spam all of your skills and Sonic the Hedgehog out of there.
However, this approach will probably not only leave you with a paltry amount of health, but with no Anomaly powers to interrupt Renier’s.
Instead, try and pick off the Breacher enemies. These are the tougher, shotgun-wielding enemies, who are larger than their comrades.
If you can clear them out first, it frees you up to attack Reiner, while breaking off to replenish your health by finishing off weaker baddies.
As an example, I completed this fight solo as the Trickster class, where I could pick off the Breachers with an Assault Rifle, before warping in with my abilities to interrupt Reiner and finish off a couple of weaker enemies with a shotgun to refill my health.
Repeat this a few times, dodging his fiery tornado - by doing nothing more complicated than running away from it - and eventually the secondary enemies will stop spawning, leaving you to focus fully on Reiner himself.
From here, try not to get too distracted by other attacks that would give him an opportunity to heal, and you’ll be able to take him down with sustained fire.
Once he's defeated, scour the room for a loot box, then return to the wounded soldier for your reward.
For more on Outriders before the release of the full game, check out our interview with development studio, People Can Fly, here.