Character development, perks and abilities in The Outer Worlds Tipps

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The Outer Worlds guide, walkthrough

Last update: 30 October 2019

Character development and choosing the appropriate build in The Outer Worlds is extremely important. Investing in chosen skills and perks determines your style of play – melee weapons, ranged combat, stealth attacks, or emphasis on persuasion and peaceful conflict resolution. This page covers all aspects of character development in the game. You will find out how many skill points and perks you get for reaching a new level, as well as all the skills and perks available in The Outer Worlds.

Basic information
List of all skills
List of all perks

Basic information

The most important information about your hero can be found in the character summary screen.

The information below will familiarize you with the leveling up system and will tell you what happens when your character reaches the next level.

You gain a level after obtaining a certain number of experience points (the higher the level, the more experience points you need). You earn experience points by killing enemies, discovering locations, completing quests, or using skills in dialogues. More information can be found on „How to gain experience quickly?“ page.

The hero’s skills are divided into seven groups: melee, ranged weapons, defense, dialog, stealth, tech, and leadership. A detailed list can be found below.

With each new level, you get 10 skill points. Adding points to a skill group (e.g. melee, ranged weapons or defense) improves all the skills of this group. After reaching level 50 in a given skill, you can develop it separately – the maximum skill level is 100. The effectiveness of the skill increases with each point. Every 20 levels, you can unlock an additional bonus.

Every 2 levels, your hero gets 1 perk point. The perks were divided into three tiers. Once you spend five points on one level of a given perk, you gain access to the next.

List of all skills

Skills are divided into several categories.

The table below has detailed descriptions of all skills in The Outer Worlds, along with special rewards:

One-Handed Melee
Two-Handed Melee
Handguns
Heavy weapons
Dodge
Block
Persuade
Lie
Intimidate
Sneak
Hack
Lockpick
Medical
Science
Engineering
Inspiration
Determination

One-Handed Melee

Increases the chance of a critical hit with a one-handed weapon.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks power and sweep attacks
40	Unlocks TTD location hit effect
60	+30% one-handed weapon reach
80	-50% consumption of TTD bar when using a one-handed weapon
100	+ 25% chance to stun with a power or sweep attack.

Two-Handed Melee

Increases the critical strike chance with two-handed weapons.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks power and sweep attacks
40	Unlocks TTD location hit effect
60	Attacks with two handed weapons cannot be blocked
80	-50% TTD drain while using two-handed weapons
100	+ 25% chance to stun with a power or sweep attack.

Handguns

Reduces weapon sway with handguns and increases the chance of getting a critical hit.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks TTD location hit effect
40	+50% critical damage with a handgun
60	+10% to minimum armor penetration damage
80	+20% chance to get a critical hit on a debuffed enemy
100	Critical hits with a handgun ignore 100% armor

Heavy weapons

Reduces weapon sway with shotguns and other heavy firearms, and increases the chance of getting a critical hit.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks TTD location hit effect
40	+50% critical damage with a heavy weapon
60	Reduces heavy weapon reload speed by 30%
80	Critical hits increase fire rate by 30% for 3 seconds
100	Critical hits with a heavy weapon ignore 100% armor

Dodge

Increases the distance the character travels while dodging and also shortens the duration of harmful state effects.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks the ability to dodge forward
40	+100% to dodge recovery speed
60	+30% armor rating for 5 seconds after each dodge
80	After dodging, your next melee attack deals 50% more damage
100	Weakspot hits have a 50% chance to ignore armor for 5 seconds after every dodge

Block

Increases armor when using melee weapons.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks the perfect block (block an attack right before you get hit to stun the attacker)
40	-25% weapon durability loss from blocking
60	+100% walking speed while blocking
80	Weapons don’t lose durability on a perfect block
100	Perfect blocking weakens enemies, increasing the damage taken by them by 100% for 5 seconds

Persuade

Persuade is used in conversations and gives a chance to cause a paralyzing fear in a human enemy after performing a first attack.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	The first time you hit a person, you have a 20% chance of causing fear in them for 3 seconds
40	Cower duration increases by 7 seconds
60	Weakens the armor of an enemy with Cower effect by 50%
80	Ability to inflict Cower effect increased by 10%
100	When a person is affected by Cower effect, your armor increases by 25% for 10 seconds

Lie

Lying is used in conversations and gives you the ability to cause Scramble effect (enemies attack their allies) on Automechanicals attacking you.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	15% chance to cause Scramble effect on a machine – they will slowly attack other enemies instead of you for 10 seconds
40	The duration of Scramble effect is increased by 7 seconds
60	Automechanicals affected by Scramble attack at normal speed
80	Chance of causing Scramble increased by 10%
100	+30% damage dealt when hitting a weak spot of the machine affected by Scramble

Intimidate

Intimidate is used in conversations and gives you a chance to cause Terrify effect (enemies briefly escape) in nearby creatures after killing one of them.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	After killing a creature, you have a 20% chance to trigger Terrify effect on nearby creatures for 10 seconds
40	Terrify area of effect increased by 100%
60	The speed of movement of creatures with Terrify effect are reduced by 30%
80	A chance to cause Terrify effect is increased by 10%
100	Terrify effect provides a +5% critical hit chance bonus for 10 seconds and +25% critical hit damage

Sneak

It reduces the player’s detection range while crouched and makes the NPCs looking for the player to return to normal alertness levels faster.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	While crouched, your attack inflicts additional damage
40	Allows you to steal from people when you sneak up on them
60	Increases movement speed while crouched by 25%
80	Increases sneak attack damage dealt when hitting a weakspot by 20%
100	Sneak attacks ignore 50% of armor

Hack

Reduces hacking time and the number of bypass shunts needed for hacking.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Allows you to sell goods for vending machines
40	Gives access to restricted items in the vending machines
60	Allows you to hack the Automechanicals and disabling them for 3 seconds
80	Reduces the detection range of the Automechanicals by 30%
100	Increases the range of hacking Automechanicals by 2.5 meters (5 meters in total)

Lockpick

Reduces the lockpicking time and the number of required Mag-picks.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Allows you to open doors and containers that require 1 Mag-pick without using this item
40	You find 25% more bits in containers
60	Allows you to check the contents of containers before opening them
80	The speed of opening locks becomes nearly instant
100	Chance to find an item in pristine condition is increased by 100%

Medical

Increases the amount of health restored from items in the inhaler, unlocks additional slots in the inhaler, and extends the duration of effects.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Unlocks a second drug mixing slot in the inhaler
40	Unlocks the third drug mixing slot in the inhaler
60	The duration of the hostile effects on the target is increased by 50%
80	Unlock the fourth drug mixing slot in the inhaler
100	+20% damage dealt to humans

Science

Increases damage dealt by plasma and shock weapons and enhances science weapons‘ effects.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Allows you to improve weapons and armor in the workbench
40	The cost of improving weapons and armor reduced by 50%
60	Increases Corrosion and N-ray damage by 25%
80	Further reduces the tinkering cost
100	Science weapons are weightless to you

Engineering

Reduces the number of parts, armor and weapon parts needed to repair equipment.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	Repair weapons and armor in your inventory
40	When you disassemble a weapon or armor, you have a 20% chance of getting a basic mod
60	When you repair something, you have a 20% chance of that item becoming a pristine condition
80	When you disassemble a weapon or armor, you have a 10% chance of getting a rare mod
100	Damage dealt to Automechanicals increased by 20%

Inspiration

Increases damage dealt by companions

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	You can order your companions to do a special attack
40	Companions get + 20% armor rating
60	Companions skill bonus to player skills is increased by 100%
80	When companions kill an enemy, the team gets +20% critical hit chance for 5 seconds
100	When companions kill an enemy, the cooldown of their abilities is reduced by 20%

Determination

Increases the maximum number of strength points of the player and companions.

Skill level (in points)	Special bonus
20	After using the inhaler, companions receive 30% of the healing effect
40	Companions deal 20% critical damage
60	Companions receive an additional 25% of the healing effect of the inhaler
80	When a companion is knocked out, the party gains +50% armor rating and deals +50% more damage for 10 seconds
100	When a companion kills an enemy, they get 50% health

List of all perks

Perks are placed in three tiers.

The following tables contain all the perks in The Outer Worlds, along with the division into tiers:

Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3

Tier 1

Perk’s name	Description
Toughness	+50% health points
Slow The World	+25% of maximum Tactical Time Dilation
Lone Wolf	+25% damage dealt when you are without your companions
Strider	+25% walk speed
Cheetah	+20% sprint speed
High Maintenance	Equipment durability loss -25%
Precision	+15% chance of your companion dealing a critical hit
The Negotiator	Prices from traders are reduced by 20%
All For One	+25% experience points for enemies killed by companions
Traveler	Allows you to use fast travel when encumbered.
Quick and the Dead	+50% to Tactical Time Dilation recharge
Pack Mule	+50 carry weight
A Bits Few More	+100% additional ammo sold by vendors; +100% additional consumables sold by vendors
Resilient	+10 base armor factor

Tier 2

Perk’s name	Description
Run and Gun	The penalty to accuracy while moving is reduced by 65%
The Reaper	TTD +25 on kill
Weird Science	+50% science weapon damage
Speed Demon	+25% movement speed in TTD
Scanner	+20% bonus damage when hitting an enemy in the head or a weakspot
The Collector	Interactive object highlight increased by 5 meters
Snake Oil Salesman	You get 20% more bits from selling items
We Band of Brothers	25% chance to reset a companion’s cooldown when dealing critical damage
Tag Team	25% chance to reset a companion’s ability cooldown when another companion uses their ability
Rolling Thunder	Reduces the cooldown of companion abilities by 20% after each kill
Harvester	+15% health restored on kill
Hoarder	The weight of consumables is reduced by 50%
Pack of Pack Mules	Bonus to inventory capacity from your companions is increased by 40
Soliloquy	Dialog +10 points when you aren’t with companions

Tier 3

Perk’s name	Description
Wild Science	+50% science weapon damage
Steady Hand	Ranged weapons sway and movement penalty reduced by 100%
Confidence	The next attack after killing an enemy is a guaranteed critical hit
Armor Master	+10% armor rating bonus, +100% armor skill bonus
Super Pack Mule	+100 inventory capacity
Tactical Master	+70% movement speed in TTD for 5 seconds
Revenge	Damage dealt increased by 20% during harmful effects
Last Stand	Damage dealt increases by 30% if health drops below 25%
Boom, Headshot!	Headshot kills cause an explosion that damages nearby enemies
Don’t Go Dyin‘ on Me!	The use of the inhaler picks the knocked-out companions up
Penetrating Shots	Ranged attacks reduce the target’s armor rating by 1 point per hit
Thick Skin	Reduces area damage and plasma damage by 15%
Tit for Tat	15% of melee damage is returned as health points
Solo Sneaker	Reduces enemy detection radius by 33%