In UO Outlands, the PvM (Player vs. Monster) landscape has been completely reimagined through the Aspect, Codex, and Link systems, making the best Templates more than just a collection of skills. The S-Tier choices focuses on three pillars: sustain, efficiency, and scalability. Whether you are looking to clear massive “champ spawns” with a single click or wish to solo the most feared bosses in the realm, your choice of template will determine your gold-per-hour and your survival rate against the ever-present threat of PKs.
This Ultima Online guide details the best Templates (S-tier choices) that define the Outlands endgame. The Bard-Dexxer and the Summoner Mage templates are examples of PvM efficiency. These builds can maximize gold farming potential and damage contribution.
Tri-Bard Dexxer
The Tri-Bard Dexxer is an efficient PvM template in UO Outlands. It is designed to solo difficult content or clear high-density “Champ Spawns”.
This build uses all three barding skills: Provocation, Discordance, and Peacemaking. This allows control of the battlefield while dealing melee damage.
The Skill Build (720 Skill Points)
The “Tri-Bard” designation comes from investing in all three barding skills, which maximizes your Effective Barding score and unlocks powerful synergies.
- 120 Provocation: Used to make mobs fight each other.
- 120 Discordance: Reduces a monster’s stats and resistances.
- 120 Peacemaking: Acts as your primary survival tool.
- 100 Chivalry: This skill allows players to activate Chivalry abilities that can improve weapon attacks, heal or provide defenses.
- 100 Tactics: Increases base physical damage.
- 80 Arms Lore: provides bonuses to weapon special chances, bonuses to swing speed, and increases the frequency at which players can activate weapon abilities.
- 80 Mace Fighting: allow you to master Macing weapons, and Boosts attack and evade chances.
Why it is S-Tier
The Tri-Bard Dexxer excels in three areas:
- Crowd Control: Use Provocation to turn mobs against each other.
- Boss Killing: Use Discordance to strip defenses and Peacemaking to interrupt dangerous abilities.
- Survival: High barding skills grant Defensive Barding, which provides up to 100 Effective Wrestling and Magic Resist while flagged for PvP.
Archery Dexxer Tamer
The Archery Dexxer Tamer is a premier endgame template that offers high DPS by combining personal ranged damage with powerful, specialized pets. While more expensive to build than most templates, it is exceptionally safe for soloing high-tier bosses because you can stay 8–10 tiles away while your pets tank the damage.
The Skill Build (720 Skill Points)
Outlands allows for a maximum of 720 skill points after using Skill Mastery. The Advanced Archer Tamer typically distributes points as follows:
- 120 Animal Taming: Required to control top-tier pets and maximize their damage output.
- 120 Animal Lore: Essential for healing effectiveness and pet command.
- 120 Veterinary: Your primary method for keeping your “meat shield” alive.
- 120 Herding: Highly recommended for this build to boost pet damage and control.
- 80 Archery: The baseline for using the Archery Codex and dealing personal damage.
- 80 Tactics: Increases your weapon’s physical damage bonus.
- 80 Focus: Boosts Charged Spell Chances, Mana Refund Chances, and Meditation Rate, and extra PvM damage bonuses.
Why it is S-Tier
The Archery Dexxer Tamer is designed to “Heal-Tank” with pets while adding significant supplemental damage with ranged weapons.
- Superior Safety: Unlike melee Dexxers, you do not have to be “in the fight” taking damage. This reduces your gear maintenance costs and risk of death.
- High Burst Damage: Archers on Outlands excel at Finishers. By using a slow weapon like a Heavy Crossbow, you increase your chance to trigger massive damage procs (up to 400% on hit depending on your Codex).
- Pet Tanking: High-tier pets like the Ember Dragon, Smoke Dragon, or Otyugh (all S-Tier pets) can withstand boss-level attacks that would instantly kill a player.
Necro Pet Herder
The Necro Pet Herder (often called the Necro Summoner) is a premier S-Tier mage template on UO Outlands. This build focuses on maximizing the power of summoned followers (Earth Elementals, Fire Elementals, and specialized Necromancy summons) by layering bonuses from Spirit Speak, Herding, and Necromancy.
The Skill Build (720 Skill Points)
This template is heavily focused on “Follower Damage” and “Effective Necromancy” to ensure your summons can both tank and shred enemies.
- 120 Necromancy: Unlocks the Necromancy Book and powerful undead summons.
- 120 Spirit Speak: Mandatory for this build; it increases the health and duration of your summons and boosts your spell damage.
- 120 Herding: Grants a massive damage bonus to your pets/summons (known as the “Herding Bonus”) and allows you to “target” specific enemies for your followers to focus on.
- 100 Magery: The foundation for casting high-circle summons like Earth Elementals.
- 90 Musicianship: skill cap for Discordance
- 90 Discordance: Essential for Reduces a monster’s damage and resistances.
- 80 Meditation: Essential for maintaining the mana needed to resummon or cast high-level offensive spells.
Why it is S-Tier
The Necro Pet Herder is arguably the most efficient “low-risk” farmer in the game because it creates a wall of high-HP followers between you and the monsters.
- Massive Meat Shields: By combining high Spirit Speak and Herding, your summons gain huge HP bonuses, allowing them to tank multiple mobs at once.
- Sustained DPS: While your pets attack, you cast Corpse Skin (to lower resists) and Mind Rot (to drain mana), then finish off targets with high-impact spells.
- Economic Efficiency: Unlike Dexxer builds, you don’t have to repair expensive weapons or armor as frequently, making your “Gold Per Hour” (GPH) very high.
Mage Tamer
The Mage Tamer is the gold standard for high-end utility and survivability. While a Archery Dexxer Tamer might offer higher raw DPS, the Mage Tamer’s ability to heal and cure pets from a safe distance—combined with powerful offensive spellcasting—makes it the preferred choice for tackling the world’s most dangerous bosses and high-tier dungeons.
A standard endgame Mage Tamer typically aims for the following skill distribution:
- 120 Animal Taming & Animal Lore: Highly recommended to control the most powerful pets and maximize the Underdog Bonus, which buffs pets that have lower taming requirements than your current skill level.
- Magery (120): Essential for Greater Heal, Cures, and offensive spells like Flame Strike.
- Eval Intelligence (100): Directly boosts your spell damage and the effectiveness of your Magery.
- Herding (100): A common addition to boost pet damage and control
- Meditation (80): Critical for mana regeneration during long boss fights.
- Veterinary (80): Increases pet healing amounts and gives a significant damage bonus to your followers.
Key Item: Wizard’s Grimoire
As a Mage Tamer, investing in a Wizard’s Grimoire is essential. It enhances your healing effectiveness, cure chances, and spell damage as you gain experience.
Archer Bard
The Archer Bard is a high-performance “glass cannon” template. It uses music to neutralize enemies so they can be safely attacked with arrows. The survival of the Archer Bard depends on the ability to “Peace” or “Discord” targets before they attack. This is because the build does not use a shield or high-circle defensive Magery.
This build aims to maximize combat accuracy and barding success rates.
100 Strength
100 Dexterity
25 Intelligence
Archery (120): This is the main source of damage. 120 is recommended for a high hit chance against high-level dungeon mobs.
Musicianship (120): This is the foundation of the build. It determines the base success chance for all barding attempts.
Discordance (120): This is the most important offensive debuff. It lowers the target’s armor, resistances, and skills, increasing arrow damage.
Peacemaking (120): This is the primary defensive tool. “Peacing” a monster stops it from attacking or moving, allowing attacks from a safe distance without taking damage.
Tactics (100): Directly increases base weapon damage and unlocks higher-tier Archery Codex abilities.
Anatomy (100): Boosts raw damage and increases healing effectiveness if bandages are used.
Healing (40) : Better for sustained combat and works well with high Dexterity.
Final Thoughts
These five builds represent the most efficient Player vs. Monster (PvM) builds in Ultima Online: Outlands. Each offers a unique way to conquer the game’s most challenging dungeons. The Tri-Bard Dexxer provides chaotic crowd control. The Archery Dexxer Tamer offers tactical safety and strong finishing capabilities. The Necro Pet Herder uses overwhelming attrition. These builds can solo high-tier bosses and maximize gold-per-hour. They use the Aspect and Codex systems effectively.