Discover everything you need to know about the best beginner build in The Outer Worlds 2, including the best weapons, skills, and background.
The best beginner build in The Outer Worlds 2 focuses on staying hidden, avoiding detection, and eliminating enemies quietly and efficiently. Instead of charging into fights, the stealth character controls engagements through planning and positioning. Our best beginner build in The Outer Worlds 2 includes the Renegade as the best background and Nimble as the best trait. This setup includes skills like Sneak, Lockpick, Guns, and Melee.
Assassin, Commando, and Pickpocket are the best perks to include in this beginner setup. The Escape Suit is the best armor that increases the evasion chance and combat sprint speed. Knife and Plant Killer are the best weapons that complement this setup, making you a powerful, stealthy character in the game. In this guide, we’ll discuss the best beginner build in The Outer Worlds 2, including the best perks, traits, and gadgets.
Best Background for Beginner Build
Renegade is the best background for the best beginner build for the Outer World 2 because you play as a lawless rogue. The background choice will not affect the stats in the game. You may have lived a life that skirted the laws of any colony you found yourself operating in, but that’s what you were paid for. Your background is what you were before you became an Earth Directorate agent.
The background choices will mostly come up in dialogue, where you can select a response based on your background. Most of the time, you get a different response from the NPC you’re talking to, but sometimes passing a check lets you get a little more from them. Your background will let you interact with the world. Make your choice based on your gut and don’t give backgrounds much thought.
Best Traits
Nimble (Positive) is the best trait for the Beginner build in Outer Worlds 2 because it offers +25% crouch speed and +25% combat sprint speed. This is a large amount and very noticeable in practice. If you plan on melee and or being a stealthy character, this is a great trait to compensate for how powerful it is at a base.
Lucky (Positive) is an alternate choice for this build because it applies a 5% critical chance to your damage, which is not a game-changing effect. The biggest drawback of Lucky is that sometimes in the world, you can rely on luck rather than skill or having the right items.
Sickly (Negative) is another option to choose because it grants -15% base health and -15% toxicity crash threshold. This is just how much you can use your inhaler before you crash, and you can’t use it again for a while.
You get to select one positive trait for your character. However, you have the option of selecting another. But if you do, you have to take on board a negative trait as well. Once selected, they cannot be changed. There are three negative traits to select, and they’re not as bad as you might think.
Best Skills for the Beginner Build
Sneak, Lockpick, Guns, and Melee are the best skills for the Stealth build in Outer Worlds 2 because they complement your playstyle. Sneak allows you to deal 35% more sneak damage and lowers the NPC detection rate by 2% each level. 700% more sneak damage at level 20 is huge. Investing in Sneak skill allows you to select perks that avoid traps and perform sneak attacks.
The Lockpick skill allows you to unlock locked containers and doors. This skill allows you to select the perks that grant the ability to pickpocket humans and preview the contents of locked containers. It also gives a 1% evasion chance per level; evading works on range damage to completely nullify it. Combine this with the light armor, and those snipers will hate you.
Guns increase your effectiveness with all guns by 10% damage and 1% armor penetration per level. This is quite significant, 200% and 20% at level 20. If you max this out, you’ll be extremely dangerous in combat.
Melee is also the best skill to invest your points in because it grants 10% damage with melee up to 200% at level 20. Also, minus two damage is received when blocking with a melee weapon, down to minus 40%. Melee in Outer Worlds 2 comes up in the world the least often, alongside Guns and Sneak.
Out of the skills, though, guns, melee, and sneak come up the least in the world.
Best Perks for the Beginner Build
Assassin, Commando, and Pickpocket are the best perks for the beginner build in Outer Worlds 2. Perks are powerful character bonuses that evolve your playstyle, so choosing the best ones is crucial in every aspect. Assassin boosts the movement speed for five seconds, allowing you to eliminate multiple enemies quickly.
Commando provides you with an extra weapon equipment slot, allowing you to swap weapons depending on the situation. Pickpocket allows you to acquire items and currency to upgrade weapons and armor. Trophy Hunter in Outer Worlds 2 increases critical chance and +20% critical chance vs bosses.
- Assassin: after a kill, +100% Movement Speed for 5 seconds
- Commando: Unlocks an additional weapon equipment slot.
- Pickpocket: Enables pickpocketing of unaware humans.
- Trophy Hunter: +5% Crit Chance, +20% vs Bosses
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.
Best Flaws for the Beginner Build
Foot-In-Mouth Syndrome is the best Flaw to choose for the beginner build in Outer Worlds 2 because it increases your experience gain by 15% with little downsides. The downside here is to select dialogue options quickly. If you don’t choose the response fast, it will be automatically chosen for you.
Flaws can really mix up how you play and are entirely optional. However, you cannot choose the Flawed Floor. It makes it so you get an extra perk point every five levels retroactively, but have to accept all flaws offered to you moving forward, making you one big bag of flaws. Flaws are optional, but they allow stronger perk builds, especially on higher difficulties.
Best Armor for the Beginner Build
Equip armor pieces with mods that are beneficial to a beginner build in Outer Worlds 2. A particularly useful mod for stealth is the Mass Distributor. You need to complement your armor choices with stealth-focused perks and skills. This can be like improving your lockpick skill for evasion bonuses or using the Assassin perk for increased movement speed.
Light armor generally provides better skill bonuses, while heavy armor provides higher defense. For a stealth build, the skill bonuses from light armor are usually more valuable. The armor pieces can be obtained as a reward by completing various quests.
The Escape Suit is the best armor to choose for the Beginner build in Outer Worlds 2. It grants you Evasion Chance +20% and Combat Sprint Speed +50%. You can obtain this armor from the chest located in Omid Ormsby’s room during The Lab That Shouted Incoherently and Often side quest.
Dispenses a smoke bomb in emergencies, for when you need your escape to be utterly unnoticed. Also available in pine fresh and ocean breeze scents. Its default mod includes Escape Protocol, Cost-Cut Materials, and Armoring Slot.
Best Weapons for the Beginner Build
Below are the best weapons for the beginner build in Outer Worlds 2.
- Knife: a basic melee weapon can be used in melee while stealth, and doesn’t require ammo
- Planet Killer (Sniper): Use any sniper and the Planet Killer science weapon if possible
- Pistol Silenced: medium range when you just can’t get into melee but need a quiet kill (weapon mod required)
Choosing the best weapon in the Beginner build to retain the variety and flexibility. Choose from melee weapons, handguns, long guns, heavy weapons, and more. Each weapon comes with a different damage type, and enemies will have resistances and weaknesses. You can equip four weapons at a time and swap between them to dominate the enemies in combat. Each weapon comes with a set of mods. This can boost performance or add unique effects.
Best Companions for the Beginner Build
Marisol and Aza are the best companions for the beginner build in Outer World 2 because they complement your playstyle. While Marisol is a stealth assassin, Aza is a great companion who excels in melee range fights. You need to equip Marisol for max range support with light armor and a sniper rifle. Outer Worlds 2 offers different companions, and each has distinct roles like melee tank, ranged DPS, or support.
Best Gadgets for the Beginner Build
Auntie’s Acidic Dematerializer is the best gadget because it demolishes corpses when sneaking around. Make sure to use other gadgets like the N-Ray Scanner to see through walls. It also grants you a 20% critical chance once active. Choose to swap the gadgets at any time with the UI Wheel, depending on the game’s current circumstances.
| Gadgets | Description |
|---|---|
| Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus | Use for high damage situations or hazards. |
| N-Ray Scanner | Look through walls to identify targets before charging into a room. |
| Auntie’s Acidic Dematerializer | Destroy corpses when sneaking around. |
| Tactical Time Dilation Gadget | Useful while aiming or closing the gap on any build. |
How Stealth Works
Stealth in The Outer Worlds 2 involves staying out of enemies’ line of sight by crouching. Players use cover to perform silent takedowns with stealth attacks. Enemies have a visible bar above their heads that turns from yellow to red when they spot you. However, you can use environmental elements like tall grass and crates for cover. Level up stealth-specific skills and perks for greater benefits, such as increased movement speed.
You need to press the Circle/B button to crouch and move more quietly. Use the mini-map to track enemy movements and stay informed about their positioning. Add a weapon like the sentry blade to a weapon slot. Press the required button to perform the stealth kill when the sneak attack prompt appears. Look for perks like Ghost, Assassin, and Suppressionist that specifically enhance stealth abilities.
