I’m not exactly the cream of the crop, but I’ve picked up a few things about Ogryn in my 100 hours of playtime.
Ogryn Tips
All credit goes to Trashbag!
I got all my classes to level 30, and while they all hold a place in my heart, Ogryn is my favorite. So I wanted to share some tricks I’ve learned to improve your combat, your coordination, and your overall chances of success.
- Light-heavy combo
I’m not sure just how many people are aware of this, but the majority of weapons have a guaranteed cleave combo when you initiate with light, follow up with a heavy, and then alternate between the two. This of course tends to also be true with Ogryn. This will often help you maintain your horde damage and stagger consistently – especially if you’re running a bleed build.
- Be aware of your size
One of the most common complaints about Ogryns is how they block shots from the team. You are a bulky boy. So try to stand off to the side whenever possible so that your teammates can get a clear line of sight. You won’t need to bodyblock enemies – most melee enemies will automatically magnetize to whoever’s closest.
Crouching might not be a terrible idea either. You’ll still be tall, but if you don’t need to be moving much, maybe your team can get the sightlines they need over your head.
- You are the frontline
You generally shouldn’t be the team janitor when you can help it. Aggro the largest number of melee enemies that you can in a fight and entrust your teammates to handle the rest.
This is not an invitation to overextend, though. Bull Charge can be a powerful tool for closing distance on enemies you aren’t in effective range to deal with and knocking them out of dealing damage for a second, but don’t let it create bad habits. Stay in Coherency. Not just for your sake, but for your team.
Also, special warning for those of you out there with the Rumbler, the Gauntlet, or to some extent the Stubber. If you spot a special like a Bomber or Sniper while you have horde to deal with, tag it and continue dealing with the horde. Your team should be able to take it from there, and you won’t have to waste time pulling out your ranged weapon when you have more pressing matters to attend to. Take them out if it’s safe to do so, but don’t risk taking health damage trying to tunnel vision them. Just dodge them for now.
- Dealing with ranged enemies
Ogryn has by far the weakest contingencies for confronting ranged damage. But he isnt as helpless as many portray him as.
Obviously, most cover is going to be too small for you. But you will still often have full walls, flank routes, and other tools to use as cover.
If you aren’t running Slab Shield, you become more of a backline support in these situations. Don’t feel pressured to get kills – if you can just suppress or stagger key threats like gunners or shotgunners, you can make space for your team to come in and get the kills.
Note: That said, Dreg Bandits are currently bugged. They recover from suppression almost instantly – and I think even stagger in some cases. Keep that in mind while it’s still present.
Look for opportunities to get close to the enemy lines and just…swing in their direction with a melee weapon while you’re safe behind cover. You can sometimes goad them into swinging back.
If you can pull off a Bull Charge without leaving your team behind, diving is also a valid option, and will let your team shred their lines while you’re taunting them all into a melee fight. Just…maybe double-check and make sure they aren’t preoccupied first. This CAN backfire – especially if the RNG Director decides that this is the perfect time for an ambush.
- The slab shield
The Slab Shield is an extremely powerful utility for Ogryn. It’s the only melee currently (for Ogryn) that lets you convert ranged damage into stamina damage. And your special plants you in the ground and makes you functionally invincible to any damage coming to you from the front.
This isn’t the neccessity that some players claim it is on high difficulty. You lose out on a not-insignificant amount of damage compared to other options (though bleed-stacking can compensate for this somewhat), but you open up the opportunity to maintain the front lines when dealing with ranged enemies.
If you want to help your team with a ranged horde, make sure you’re the first thing they see. Ranged enemies will usually tunnel vision the first available target, and you want that to be you.
From there, set up a planted block to eat all that incoming aggro so your team can clean up, then you can advance on the stragglers.
- Don’t suicide rez
A common mistake I see a lot of players – not just Ogryns – make, is to overextend to save a teammate before dealing with the threat that downed them in the first place. Then going down to said threat.
If it’s a Trapper net, you can usually clear that fast enough to get your teammate back up and still kill the Trapper. But on a full down during an assault, you’re going to want to deal with the major threats around your ally, and the majority of poxwalkers. Only enough that they won’t have enough manpower to break your stamina while you’re getting them up.
The revive time is pretty generous. Take advantage of it and don’t panic. Worst case scenario, you’ll pick them up at a shrine in a couple minutes. You go down trying to get them up, and the situation becomes much more dire.
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