Anthem Colossus build and abilities - the best Colossus builds

The Colossus is built around high survivability, drawing aggro away from your flimsier allies, and some pretty huge damage output, at the expense of mobility and on-the-ground speed. It can also equip two heavy weapons at once, in its two weapon slots - unlike any other class.

Colossus gear slot 1 options - Ordnance Launcher

• Burst Mortar: Cluster of mini-mortars dealing AoE Blast damage.
• Firewall Mortar: Primer, that deals AoE Fire damage.
• Shock Coil: Primer, that deals AoE Electric damage around you.
• High Explosive Mortar: Detonator, that deals AoE Blast damage.
• Lightning Coil: Detonator, that automatically deals Electric single-target damage. Prioritises primed units.

Colossus gear slot 2 options - Heavy Assault Launcher

• Flak Cannon: Impact damage short-range burst, like a heavier shotgun.
• Flamethrower: Primer, that deals a constant wave of Fire damage.
• Venom Spitter: Primer, volley of multiple shots of Acid to prime and debuff enemies.
• Siege Artillery: Detonator, heavy rocket dealing AoE Blast damage.
• Railgun: Detonator, dealing heavy Impact damage to a single target.

Colossus Melee

• Heavy Smash: Detonator, dealing Impact AoE damage.

Colossus Support options

• Battle Cry: draws enemy aggro to make them attack you instead of allies.
• Shield Pulse: gives allies a damage resistance buff.

Colossus Ultimate

• Siege Cannon: Detonator, fires three projectiles on at a time, dealing huge AoE Blast damage.

Colossus Combo Effect

• Area of Effect Explosion: Enemies hit by a Colossus combo explode, dealing damage to those around them.

Colossus build ideas and advice

• The best self-Comboing loudout we've found is the Lighning Coil and Flamethrower combination - it chains huge amounts of damage between enemies affected (prime with the Flamethrower, detonate with the Lighning Coil) and turns you into a close-range waveclearing machine, and gets the most out of its unique AoE Combo Effect, too. Add Battle Cry to draw more enemies into your range!
• For single-target damage, a good loadout is the Firewall Mortar and Railgun, which again allows you to self-combo, but it's less optimal for using the Colossus' unique Combo bonus.
• An important tip for Colossus components: use the class specific Armour components, not the universal ones - they make a vast difference to the amount of bonus health and shield you get, and are essential for making you the tanking monster you ought to be! If you're dying too fast, having the wrong components might be why. Also keep an eye on your actual health bar - there's a bug (still persisting after a patch, as far as we know) where sometimes your health bar can appear as just two bars of health, like at the start of the game. This should actually increase to multiple bars as your halth ('armour') stat goes up, so make sure all the HP you're stacking from components does actually take effect!

ANTHEM | The Ultimate Colossus Combo Build

Watch on YouTube

Colossus playstyle and strategies

• Remember to use your shield! You don't put to use any of the 'Shield' stats from your build unless you actually physically raise it. It's much stronger than any other Javelin's shield when you do, but you need to physically block whats in front of you with it. Try to get into a habit of raising it by default and only lowering it to fire, before bringing it back up right away.
• Pack a long-range weapon if you're using the Lightning Coil / Flamethrower build, which is exceptional in close range but totally useless at distance. A sniper rifle or scout rifle, alongside a good-at-all-ranges autocannon, is a great way to stay flexible.
• Combo, Fire, and Electric damage-boosting inscriptions on gear and Components (alongside the crucial armour and shield-boosting stuff) are the way to go with that build too - combo's in particular, as you'll be proccing so many of them!

Cycle back to our Anthem Javelin and classes guide hub for more like this!