Are you looking for more tips about The Outer Worlds 2? Your adventures take you all across Arcadia, a system where disparate factions continue to vie for control. Conflict erupts everywhere you go, as you take on man, machine, and marauding fauna, all while hunting down someone who betrayed you. Fortunately, we have a guide that lays out several core mechanics to help you get started.
12 tips to help you survive your journey in The Outer Worlds 2
Our guide is organized somewhat akin to a progression-based system. We start things off by discussing mechanics that you’d encounter as soon as you create your character, such as traits, skills, and perks.
We then move on to how those concepts come together, especially when you come across dialogue checks and companion recruitment quests. Later, we look into other facets that you’d stumble upon while exploring, including collectibles and even drastic outcomes from missions.
Choose the right background and traits for your character
An important tip in The Outer Worlds 2 that you should keep in mind is that, outside of one particular instance, you’re actually not allowed to respec your character. That means every decision you make regarding your character’s build becomes very impactful in the long run.
During character creation, you’ll be given a bunch of options, namely your background, traits, and skills (which we discuss in the next entry):
- Background – This is your character’s line of work prior to the start of the game. Additional dialogue responses may appear depending on your selected background.
- Traits – These grant bonuses and new interactions/responses. You can have (a) one positive trait only, or (b) two positive perks along with a negative trait. We recommend the latter, especially if you’re able to offset the effects from the negative trait.
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The skills and perks that you choose greatly matter
The next panel allows you to pick two skills to specialize in (by default). These include options like Lockpick (i.e. open locked containers and doors), Hack (i.e. decrypt terminal passwords), Leadership (i.e. boost the damage and health of companions), Guns (i.e. increase the damage of firearms), and more.
- Each time you level up, you can allocate two points into various skills that you want to improve.
- Every two level ups, you can select a perk–i.e. a bonus effect or functionality.
- Perks have various unlock methods. Majority of these require that you reach a certain skill level first.
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Choose which flaws to keep or discard
Flaws are another facet that’s related to how you build your character in The Outer Worlds 2. These will pop up from time to time as you progress through the campaign and meet the unlock conditions.
Flaws will always have a positive effect, but there’s also a negative effect that acts as a drawback. You can either keep this quirk or discard it. Just remember that any flaw that you select can no longer be removed.
Related guide: Best flaws to choose during the campaign
Having the right items, character builds, and even information help you throughout the campaign
There are numerous moments in the game where you have to make a choice, whether it’s avoiding a battle or just accessing an alternative path. In these instances, it’s good to have the necessary tidbits to help you pull through:
- If a door is jammed, you can use the Brawny trait or higher levels of the Engineering skill to open it.
- Locked containers can be opened via the Lockpick skill, whereas terminals can be accessed with the Hack skill.
- The Brilliant trait lets you deduce a brainy NPC’s plans, while the Observation skill lets you discern your surroundings.
- The Speech skill, meanwhile, helps you get out of sticky situations, especially if you’re able to convince or intimidate your would-be foes.
- The Lucky trait, which appears as an option every now and then, might lead to new opportunities.
- Knowing the right information–whether you’ve gleaned it from a document, terminal, NPC conversation, or other sources–becomes integral. Additional dialogue options pop up if you were able to investigate all leads.
Rely on your companions to get you out of trouble
There are six companions that you can recruit in The Outer Worlds 2. However, only a couple of them can be in your active party at any given moment. Here’s what you can expect:
- While some companions are available by default, several others need to be recruited by completing certain tasks.
- Companions belong to their respective faction, and they have motivations, too. If you keep attacking members of a faction until they turn hostile, then that companion might leave you for good. In some cases, a companion wouldn’t want you to hurt innocents. Doing an unspeakable act might cause them to turn on you as well.
- Banter among companions tends to trigger often. There are moments when a companion might comment about another party member all because they’re from a rival faction that they don’t trust.
- If a companion has a dialogue box icon over their head, that means there’s a new conversation/interaction. Try to get to know them fully.
- Companions have a main ability that can be used/cast once their meter is full.
- You can choose companion perks every five levels. This decision cannot be undone.
- You may also choose companion mods after completing their personal quests. You can switch between these mods via the Party Upgrades screen in any workbench.
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Find unique gear pieces and maximize stacking elemental damage
Another tip in The Outer Worlds 2 to bear in mind is that certain weapons and abilities deal elemental/non-physical damage. Continuously attacking an opponent causes the effect to stack until it triggers a stronger status ailment–i.e. chilling and slowing down an enemy until you freeze them completely. This can be further bolstered via the Science skill.
- Shock: Strong against automechanicals–i.e. dreadnoughts and drones; can paralyze targets.
- Corrosion: Strong against armored enemies; ineffective against creatures/animals.
- Plasma: An incendiary effect that burns targets; strong against humanoids and creatures.
- Frost: A chilling effect that slows down and, eventually, freezes your target.
- N-ray: Irradiates a target and causes them to perish after repeated exposure.
- Zyranium: Irradiates a target. This deals no damage to automechanicals, as they’re boosted/empowered instead.
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Use workbenches to craft items and improve equipment
Workbenches can be found in various settlements and bases. In fact, a companion named Niles lets you access a workbench via dialogue responses. These contraptions allow you to craft numerous mods, gear, and materials:
- Crafting menu – Create ammo, grenades, primers, and more as long as you have the required materials and blueprints.
- Mods menu – Attach mods to your weapons and armor if there’s an available slot. Note that any applied mod can no longer be removed. You can only replace them with a new one, which destroys the previous attachment.
- Breakdown menu – Destroy junk items and other gear pieces, breaking them down into raw materials that can be used to craft something else.
- Party Upgrades menu – As mentioned earlier, this is where you select a companion’s mod, provided that you’ve completed their personal quest to obtain their mod kit.
Related guide: How to unlock additional slots for weapons, grenades, and primers
Use gadgets and inhalers to survive, but be cautious of potential poisoning
As you explore the planets in the Arcadia system, you’ll gain access to different kinds of gadgets. For instance, there’s the N-Ray Scanner, which lets you see enemies and objects through walls. Likewise, there’s the Gas Energy Deflection Apparatus, a tool that becomes your only means of surviving dangerous Zyranium clouds and fields. The gas itself is poisonous, but the gadget’s shielding offers some protection for a scant few seconds.
Speaking of poisons, you should also check your toxicity meter–i.e. the green bar below your health. The meter usually builds up due to the use of medical inhalers–i.e. health potions or flasks. Popping the inhaler to heal often leads to a toxicity crash, which prevents you from using it again for several seconds. If you desperately need to heal, you can rely on (a) restorative companion abilities, such as those from Inez or Valerie, (b) food and drinks, (c) NPCs that can heal, or (d) AutoDoc contraptions mounted on walls.
Related guide: How to unlock all gadgets
Eliminate bounty targets for more cash, but try to avoid turning into an outlaw
Several factions have taken control of their own territories. Naturally, you want to be on their good side to earn some benefits.
- Helping NPCs that belong to factions or undertaking quests for them nets you a reputation boost.
- Stealing or killing NPCs, naturally, leads to a reputation drop.
- The hostility of a faction toward you might just be temporary. You only need to wait for three days to pass until everyone forgets about your misdeeds.
- If you go too far, a faction might consider you an outlaw and a bounty will be placed on your head. Note that you can see this when interacting with bounty terminals in settlements. In fact, you could pick up other bounty targets that you can eliminate in each region. This helps you earn more cash/bits and other loot.
- Killing faction leaders or integral NPCs may cause that organization to become permanently hostile toward you. A companion that still belongs to that faction could turn into an enemy as well.
Go off the beaten path to aid settlers and tackle side quests
Although your main goal in The Outer Worlds 2 is to hunt down a person who’s betrayed you, it’s still a good idea to explore the wilderness just to meet NPCs and start all sorts of side quests. Most of the time, these side quests offer nifty rewards, including unique gear pieces and collectibles. That said, some missions tend to be difficult, since the items that you need to find won’t be marked on the map.
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Amass a ton of collectibles and rare loot via cards and lockboxes
In relation to the above, exploration in The Outer Worlds 2 tends to be very rewarding once you discover more goodies. For example, you might come across ornate containers known as High Security Lockboxes. Once picked up, these are sent directly to your ship. The only way to open them is if you’ve managed to obtain the required number of Advanced Decryption Keys.
Similarly, there are collectible items known as Pitchball Cards and Tossball Cards. Upon grabbing these, you’ll notice that they offer permanent stacking bonuses to your stats, including your maximum health, critical hit chance, and more.
Related guides:
- All Tossball Card/Pitchball Card locations
- All High Security Lockbox locations
- All Advanced Decryption Key locations
Save often in case you need to make pivotal decisions
At the end of it all, The Outer Worlds 2 lets you make crucial decisions that can have wildly different outcomes. Some might lead to varied rewards that are mutually exclusive. Others can have disastrous results, such as the destruction of an entire settlement and everyone in it. That’s why it’s important to keep backup saves in case you make mistakes. Or you can just live with those decisions, paying the price as you role-play your way across the system.
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That does it for our The Outer Worlds 2 beginner’s guide. We hope these tips help you as you start your adventure in Arcadia and the lands beyond.
Black market smugglers? Autocratic regimes? Rampaging Raptidons? Invisible cultists that can only be seen if you wear special goggles? These shenanigans need not cause any alarm because we’ve got you covered in our The Outer Worlds 2 guides hub.