Honestly, the best part of The Outer Worlds 2 for me is how much you can customize your character. But it’s a little overwhelming at the beginning! There are so many options for traits, skills, and perks that I felt stuck trying to decide what would be best for the character I wanted to play. So, I’m going to walk you through everything so you can figure out the perfect build for your playstyle.
The best traits in The Outer Worlds 2
Positive traits
| Trait | Bonus 1 | Bonus 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Brawny | Sprinting into enemies knocks them down | Can opened jammed doors without Engineering skill |
| Brilliant | Specialize in 1 extra skill | Occasionally get extra dialogue checks |
| Heroric | -20% Companion ability charge time | N/A |
| Innovative | Craft double ammo, throwables, and resources | N/A |
| Lucky | +5% Critical Chance | More skill checks are available to perform certain difficult feats |
| Nimble | +25% Crouch speed | +25% Combat sprint speed |
| Resilient | Become innvulnerable for 3s the first time you take lethal damage in combat | N/A |
| Suave | 10% discount at stores | Double bounty threshold before you become an outlaw |
| Witty | Faction reputation never drops below neutral | Occasionally get extra dialogue checks |
Of all the available traits, Lucky is the most consistently useful. While certain character builds might benefit from other specific traits, Lucky is a strong choice for anyone. It not only increases your chance of landing critical hits, but more importantly, it provides extra opportunities to succeed during important skill checks, making it valuable throughout the game’s story.
For your second trait, you have several good choices. Resilient is great if you prefer a fast-paced, direct combat style, as it prevents you from being quickly defeated if caught in a fight. Brawny allows you to access many hidden areas without needing to develop skills like Engineering or Lockpicking. If you’re building a stealth character, Nimble is the best option, and Innovative can also be useful, letting you create plenty of distractions and other helpful items.
Negative traits
If you choose two positive character traits, you must also select one negative trait from the following list.
| Trait | Effect |
|---|---|
| Abrasive | Faction reputation never grows above neutral |
| Dumb | Must lock 5 of the 12 skills, making them unavailable for the whole playthrough |
| Sickly | -15% Base health, -15% Toxcitiy crash threshold |
While these drawbacks might seem significant, you can often avoid them depending on how you develop your character. If you don’t intend to commit crimes, the penalty from Abrasive is usually negligible. Losing out on vendor discounts isn’t ideal, but you can find other ways to save money at shops, such as by improving your Speech skill.
As someone who loves playing stealthily, I don’t really see the downsides of the ‘Sickly’ trait being a big deal. If I’m avoiding fights most of the time, I don’t need a ton of health or to constantly heal, so it’s actually not a problem for my playstyle at all!
While ‘Dumb’ is arguably the weakest of the three flaws, it’s not a major problem. The Outer Worlds 2 doesn’t give you many skill points, so focusing on a specific build is key. This means you’ll likely find several skills that aren’t useful for your character.
The best skills in The Outer Worlds 2
Okay, so when you first start the game, you get some points to spend on leveling up your skills – which is awesome! I’ve been looking into all the different skills and what they do, both in terms of basic boosts and how they’ll actually help you when you’re out playing. Here’s a breakdown of everything I’ve found:
| Skill | Stat bonus | Field abilities |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering | +1% Damage resistance | Can fix broken machines/systems |
| Explosives | +10% Explosive damage, +1% Explosive damage resistance | Can blast through some obstacles and locks |
| Guns | +10% Ranged damage, +1% Armor penetration | Can attempt to intimidate in dialogue |
| Hack | +5% Damage to automechanicals | Can hack locks, machines, and computers |
| Leadership | +8% Companion damage, +4% Companion health | Can occasionally pass extra skill checks when talking to companions |
| Lockpick | +1% Evasion chance | Can pick locks |
| Melee | +10% Melee damage, -2% Damage recieved while blocking | Can attempt to intimidate in dialogue |
| Medical | +7% Toxicity crash threshold, +5% damage to creatures | Can craft unique chemicals and medicines at certain stations |
| Observation | +15% Weakspot damage | Will be prompted to spot certain hidden items in the world |
| Science | +7% Gadget energy, +10% more stacks of non-physical damage types | Can occasionally pass science speech checks and craft unique items at certain stations |
| Sneak | +35% Sneak attack damage, -2% NPC awareness detection | N/A |
| Speech | +5% Damage to humans | Can pass skill checks to convince key characters of the outcomes you want during major quests |
Lockpick and Hack are essential skills for any character build. You’ll constantly encounter locked safes and doors hiding valuable items, requiring Lockpick to open them. Hack is similarly useful, often unlocking crucial quest information, so investing in either or both is highly recommended. Engineering is helpful too, but less critical, as most challenges requiring Engineering checks have alternative solutions.
Beyond that, your choices depend on the character you’re creating. We suggest focusing on either ranged combat (Guns) or close combat (Melee) early on, and not trying to do both. Some skills are very specialized – for example, Sneak is essential if you want to play stealthily, but won’t be helpful otherwise. Likewise, if you want to resolve conflicts through conversation, invest heavily in Speech. But if you prefer to use force, that skill isn’t needed.
While things like Science, Medicine, and Leadership can be helpful, they aren’t essential for progress. You won’t be significantly hindered if you choose to focus on other areas.
In The Outer Worlds 2, it’s best to specialize rather than try to be good at everything. Focus on developing around three core skills, and only put points into others if they’re absolutely necessary.
The best perks in The Outer Worlds 2
We’ve rounded up the most useful perks in The Outer Worlds 2, and we’re letting you know exactly what skills you’ll need to unlock each one.
| Perk | Effect | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Trophy Hunter | +5 Critical chance, +15% Critical chance against strong enemies | None |
| Pickpocket | Gain the ability to pickpocket characters when undetected | Lockpick 1 |
| Commando | Unlocks an additional weapon slot | Guns 1 OR Melee 1 |
| Restricted Access | Unlocks restricted goods at vending machines | Hack 1 |
| Connoisseur | +25% health from food and drink, +25% Inhaler charge from drugs | Medical 1 |
| Space Ranger | +2.5% damage for every skill point in Speech | Speech 1 |
| Through the Keyhole | See what’s in a locked container before opening it | Lockpick 2 |
| Wholesale Spender | +10% discount and +20% sell value from vendors | Speech 4 |
| Assassin | +100% move speed for 5s after stealth killing an enemy | Sneak 1 |
| Tinkerer | +10% bonus damage to modded weapons, +2.5% more for every Engineering skill point. | Engineering 5 |
| Face Reader | Conversation options that reduce reputation are highlighted, +20% damage to humans | Observation 5 |
| Busy Bodies | Companions will gather crafting materials while you’re away from the ship, based on how much XP you earn | Leadership 2 |
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2025-10-30 20:24