Biomutant has released after years of anticipation, and players are already either rocking very powerful builds or are struggling with making an effective one because of how deep the character customization process is. With six different breeds and six classs in Biomutant to choose from, the game is not exactly one that presents itself in a newbie-friendly fashion, and it doesn't hold the players' hand for many things. There's a certain degree of complexity when first making a character, especially the very first one, and that's because Biomutant has several distinct points to assign, as well as some abilities are not going to be unlocked immediately due to their requirements.
There are branching sections within Biomutant's character screen, with Mutations, Aura, Character, Wung-Fu, and Perks, each having its own utility and methods to spend points acquired by defeating enemies, leveling up, or interacting with prisoners. The Character section is found in the middle of this menu, and it is an overview of the player's Biomutant, showing how many points can be distributed in each category, the character's attributes, the hazard resistances, and the chosen class. Here, players can allocate 10 points per level into a stat of their choice among the ones available, and for mages, these points should pretty much always go into Intellect.
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Mage-like builds are fun and look cool thanks to Biomutant's colorful spells that effectively clear enemy hordes from a distance, even early on in the game. When first creating a new character, the best combination for casters using psi-powers and biogenetics is to choose the Fip as a breed and dump all attribute points into Intellect to max it out to 100 right at the beginning, as this is the only attribute that scales magic damage and Ki energy. Among the six available classes, the only one that focuses on spells is the Psi-freak, which is the obvious choice for this specific build because of its starting kit, comprising an active lightning skill called Spark Ball and a passive called Megamind, increasing the rate at which the character's Ki energy regenerates over time.
With this setup, players will find themselves capable of easily killing the enemies throughout the first area of the game, while also acquiring their first level and 3 Bio Points. These points can either be spent on the first Biogenetics spell in the game, called Mothmouth, which allows players to basically 'charm' enemies to attack each other, or they can be stored to grab Rad Wisps later on. Another option is to invest these points into Anti-Biohazard, found within the Upgrade Resistance section of the Mutations menu, and the main reason to do this is to access early on a Biohazard area that can be farmed for even more Bio Points, which can then all be dumped into spells. In fact, the best resistance to start with in Biomutant when creating a new character is Anti-Biohazard, maxing it at 25%.
Psi-Points, on the other hand, are not super easy to come by and they are obtained at shrines or when dealing with prisoners, deciding their fate. These can be spent on Psi-Powers, and the very best one to pick here at the beginning is Blaze. It costs only 2 Psi-Points, meaning it will be unlocked relatively early on, and it is very helpful to move at great speed both in combat and out of it. Blaze's damage is very negligible, but still, it is a great skill to pick, especially because it doesn't interrupt Rad Wisps.
The next Psi-Power to unlock is Freeze, which again, doesn't deal a massive amount of damage, but it is a very useful spell to have. There will be times when playing Biomutant when players will be swarmed by several menacing enemies, and having a one-button AoE crowd control ability is an amazing tool to survive even the fiercest creatures. Freeze does pretty much what it says on the tin, which is freezing enemies, but that's not all. When cast, Freeze creates an icy patch on the ground, which is also slippery to walk on for enemies, meaning that after the initial crowd control used against them they will still be afflicted by the ice.
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With each level up in Biomutant, players will also gain an Upgrade Point, which can be spent either in the Wung-Fu section or the Perks section to unlock new combos or passive abilities, respectively. The very first point will have to be spent in Wung-Fu, and that is mandatory because of how the game works, as doing that unlocks the Perks menu, which is previously unavailable. The Wung-Fu perks are mostly sub-par for a Psi-Freak, and after the first point players are better off spending their Upgrade Points in the Perks section, instead.
The Perks menu has two subsections to choose from when assigning points and they are General and Psi-Freak, meaning passive abilities available to all classes and those specific to the Psi-Freak. Considering this build is purely about scaling Intellect and raw magic damage, players will find a lot of use in the Psi-Freak passives, starting with Nocturnal. This perk is situational, as it increases Intellect by 10 at night, but there are several campfires scattered around the world of Biomutant where players can rest until nighttime.
This is not the first pick, though, as there is another very important and often overlooked perk in the form of Luck Out from the General section. Loot in Biomutant comes in different tiers, and both the rarity and the quantity of the items found depend on the Luck attribute, which this build doesn't invest into. Luck increases Loot Chance by a little bit every time players dump 10 points into it, while also increasing Critical Chance. Luck Out increases Loot Chance by 10%, meaning that loot will be much better early on. Afterward, players should spend their points in Nocturnal and Psi Spikes, while also leaning a bit onto the ranged playstyle in between those times when their Ki energy will be too low to cast, thus making Two-Faced Cobra Grip a good choice early on to have two pistols as well. This concludes this starter build, which hopefully will help players through their first hours of the game to better understand Biomutant's mechanics.
Biomutant is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.