Discover everything you need to know about the 10 best perks in The Outer Worlds 2, including what makes them the best or worst ones.
The Outer Worlds 2 offers 90 unique perks to choose from. Earn perk points by simply leveling up your character in the game. Some perks unlock only after you’ve picked several earlier perks. After choosing a set of Tier 1 perks, you gain access to Tier 2 perks, then later Tier 3. The perks are tied to your chosen skills and build style. This gives you bonuses in combat, exploration, and dialogue.
You will get 62 points for skills in your game. So that means you can max out three skills, and then you have two points that you can kind of place wherever you want. This means you can easily place points just to get these perks, even if you have no interest in the skills associated with these perks. Choosing the best perks is essential to make a powerful build in The Outer Worlds 2.
10 Best Perks in The Outer Worlds 2
Below are the 10 best perks to use in The Outer Worlds 2.
1. Trophy Hunter
Trophy hunter in The Outer Worlds 2 gives you a 5% bonus to crit chance against all enemies. Even more importantly, it gives you a 15% bonus to crit chance against strong enemies. In the toughest fights, you are going to deal even more damage. I definitely think this is great, pretty much regardless of what type of build you’re using. It doesn’t require you to have ranks in any particular skill. So, anybody can go ahead and pick this up.
2. Inspiring Commander
This perk only requires you to place one point in leadership. Inspiring Commander allows the meter for your companion abilities to fill by 5% every time you get a kill. This is going to significantly speed up how quickly you are going to get access to companion abilities. It’s really nice because even if you’re not heavily investing in Leadership, which means your companions are not going to deal as much damage, oftentimes, companions have functionality that is very useful to you.
This is even if it’s not dealing direct damage, such as taunting nearby enemies or stunning enemies, or making you invisible. So, it’s very likely that if you’re not running a leadership build, you still want to be able to use companion abilities more often.
3. Point Blank Artist
This perk requires you to have a rank of one in guns. Point Black Artist will specifically apply to shotguns, SMGs, and pistols. It allows you to deal 100% more sneak attack damage with those weapons and 30% more damage with them when you’re close to enemies. However, you’re going to deal 15% less damage when you’re far from enemies. The reason why I really like this is that some guns, especially SMGs and pistols, have silencers, and you can pick up other perks, which makes it much easier to do sneak attacks with them.
You can get another perk under guns called Suppressionist, which will make those weapons completely silent. So, if you enjoy that type of play style, this is absolutely going to be a no-brainer. There’s a similar option under guns that specifically applies to marksmen, assault, and sniper rifles. So, regardless of which style you prefer, putting one point into guns and picking up the perk that applies to the type of weapons you like to use is definitely highly recommended.
4. Run and Hitter
You need to put two points into melee. The Run and Hitter perk will trigger when you sprint towards a target. This perk allows you to deal extra damage 25% if you’re using a one-handed weapon or 50% if you’re using a two-handed weapon. If you’re playing as a melee character, you’re going to have to sprint towards targets pretty much constantly. This will trigger this type of damage left and right.
5. Electro-Therapist
This perk requires you to place one point into Science!. An electro-therapist specializes in shock damage. You need to stack up the electrocuted status 20% faster. Electrocuted enemies are interrupted. If you get max stacks of electrocuted, enemies will become paralyzed instead. With this perk, automechs, when they become paralyzed, will instead become scrambled, which means they attack their allies.
There are a ton of automechs throughout the game that you have to face. Being able to turn them against your enemies is amazing. A lot of them use rockets to attack and have them blow up your foes on your behalf. Super cool. There’s another similar perk (Hot Blooded) under science that’s specifically for burn, if that’s the type of damage that you prefer to deal.
6. Pickpocket
You only need to place one point in Lockpick to get the ability to do this. If you don’t have this perk, you cannot pickpocket characters. The reason why that’s important to note with a special chest that can only be unlocked by a key on that person. This means either you need to kill that character to get it, which can have a significantly negative impact on your reputation with certain factions, or you need to pickpocket it off of them.
This is absolutely a nice option to have, and I think it would have been really cool to be able to pickpocket some of the other major characters in the game. I bet you they have incredible loot that can only be gained that way.
7. Restricted Access
This perk is going to require you to place one point into Hack. Restricted Access lets you access the restricted inventory of vending machines. So, a lot of vending machines serve a very specific purpose. Either they sell ammo, or they sell mods, or they specifically sell weapons. Getting access to the restricted inventory is going to put more stock into all of the different vending machines.
It also gives you access to things that are kind of uncommon to see in the stores, such as trauma kits or uncommon crafting ingredients and mods. This perk makes vending machines more interesting for you and adds more variety in what you see when you open up these different stores.
8. Commando
Commando provides you with an extra weapon equipment slot, allowing you to swap weapons depending on the situation. To unlock it, you need at least Melee 1 or Guns 1 in your skill tree. Once unlocked, you have more flexibility to carry a wider variety of weapons.
Since you only need skill level 1 in Melee or Guns, you can pick this perk fairly early in your build. Commando pairs well with other perks that benefit from switching weapons. You can carry more weapons means you can switch between different damage types or weapon roles quickly in combat.
9. Shiny New Toy
Shiny New Toy in The Outer Worlds 2 grants a +20% damage bonus for a moderate duration after swapping weapons. It enhances you’re the damage you get whenever you swap weapons. You can pair it with the Multitasker to boost the damage bonus’s uptime. The Multitasker basically reloads your holstered weapons whenever you manually reload. You can swap consistently without feeling like you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage while having multiple strong weapons.
10. Tossball Hacker
Tossball Hacker in The Outer Worlds 2 allows you to ignore 50% of the target’s Armor Value when attacking with a melee weapon. This perk allows you to enhance your total damage output against them. The Melee skill investment is higher than other recommendations.
Respecing perks in The Outer Worlds 2 is not available. You can change them after selecting them. Choose the perks that synergize well with your build and complement your playstyle. Consider using the perks that focus on boosting combat effectiveness, movement speed, and overall utility.
