The Outer Worlds 2: All Perks ranked

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You only get only 15 Perk points in The Outer Worlds 2, so it's important to spot the best ones and filter out the low-impact ones early. There's no respec in this game once you hit the Farfields, so you'll have to plan out which perks to get very soon. There are, of course, some early perks which benefit virtually all builds, but it's imperative you figure out a long-term plan. This is because many perks aren't one-point wonders, but really reach their potential through synergy with other perks.To that end, I've listed all 90+ Perks in The Outer Worlds 2 in this article in order of affinity to specific Skills, and thus to specific builds. I've tried to rank them in a "best to worst" order in each category, but note that their actual impact will change based on what you want out of your build. However, those on the lower end of each table tend to be just too situational or negligible - so my purpose was more to highlight those you wouldn't want to waste your Perk points on.Ranking all the Perks in The Outer Worlds 2The vast majority of Perks in this game fall under the general theme of one Skill or the other (sometimes two), so I'll go Skill-by-Skill in alphabetical order. However, first up is those that don't actually require any Skill point investment in anything.Best Neutral Perks (no Skill requirement) perks in The Outer Worlds 2This here's probably the best early perk (Image via Xbox Game Studios)Nuetral Perks are basically those that require no Skill point investment, and most of these are in fact available right after the prologue. The no-strings-attached best Perk of this nature in Outer Worlds 2 is Trophy Hunter.Additionally, there's quite a few good perks here if you're trying to be durable, but both options require at least a two-perk dip: Serial Killer through Psychopath (the designated combo for an evil playthrough), and Shrug It Off through Bulletshield.Here's all the neutral perks, ranked from best to worst (in my opinion):PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsTrophy Hunter +5% Critical Chance,+15% Additional Critical Chance Against Strong EnemiesYou gain Critical Hit Chance with all weapons against all enemies. The chance is increased against Strong enemies, such as Leaders and Bosses that aren't heavily damaged. Absolutely the best no-requirement perk to get on almost any character, with zero contest.NonePsychopathDamage increased by +10%, +20%, or +40% against enemies with Cautious, Begrudging, or Indignant factions, respectively.Gain bonus damage against any faction you have negative reputation with. This bonus is greater the worse your Reputation. If you're not worried about burning some bridges and thus missing content in The Outer Worlds 2, Psychopath is arguably the second-best requirementless perk. It has some obvious counter-synergy with the Witty trait. However, one of the big reasons you should pick it up is just to unlock Psychopath, listed below.NoneSerial Killer2 Additional Max Health per Heart CollectedAfter killing a human, you have a chance to automatically harvest their heart. Each of these trophies increases your Max Health permanently. Humans you kill that don't fight back or weren't hostile when you attacked them will always have their heart harvested.If you're doing an evil playthrough, this should be your first pickup (the earlier, the better). You of course get the most benefits by going murder-hobo on neutral bystandards and civilized NPCs, but Serial Killer is actually still useful on the average playthrough as long as you're not doing a pacifist run. While there are many other ways to be tanky in The Outer Worlds 2, as discussed later, this is the designated way to become as tnaky as possible. Psychopath PerkBulletshield +10% Damage Resistance,+10% Base HealthYou gain a bonus to damage resistance and max health, but enemies are more likely to target you over your companions.Bulletshield is a big defense bump if you take it as your first perk, but that condition of being targeted more frequently by enemies is significant. Overall, I would only recommend it if you're planning on tanking up with Engineering. However, if you are indeed a tank this is an important pick-up to get Shrug it Off, discussed below. NoneShrug It OffGain 50% Max Health as Temporary HealthWhen combat starts and whenever one of your companions is downed, immediately gain temporary health equal to 50% of your max health.This perk here is half the reason you pick up Bulletshield. You can unlock this only after around Level 16 or so, meaning 50% max Health on a tank-leaning build will make you near-unkillable, and on a non-tank build it will be a big cushioning for hard fights.Bulletshield Perk,8 or More Total Perks PurchasedBrand Enthusiast +20% Damage,+10 Armor RatingWhile all of your equipped armor and weapons share the same brand, gain bonus damage and armor.Having to mix and match the same brand of armor is a big downside in The Outer Worlds 2, so in my books this perk is not worth it in most cases. +10 Armor is a high amount to be sure, but that's basically nothing if you have Makeshift Armorer (Engineering perk). If you're doing a Dumb run where you locked out Engineering, though, this one can be considered.NoneNinja +10% Evasion Chance in Heavy Armor,+20% Evasion Chance in Light/Medium ArmorWhile sprinting or sliding, incoming attacks against you have an increased chance to be outright avoided, increasing your Evasion. This is increased further when in light or medium armor.This is very clunky to execute in practice, and the small bonus you get is not worth it on anything other than a melee build using the Brawny trait's active effect. NoneBest Engineering Perks in The Outer Worlds 2Engineering Perks in The Outer Worlds 2 are mostly about gearing up and getting very durable through your craftsmanship. To that end, Armor Tinkerer is the most broken perk in the game, with the rest being just decent in comparison.Here are the four Engineering Perks, ranked from best to worst:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsMakeshift Armorer +1 Armor Value to Equipped Armor for Every 25 Bits CraftedWhenever you craft items, your armor gains a temporary bonus to its armor value that degrades from incoming attacks. The amount of armor added is based off the total value of the materials used. The bonus armor can take more hits before defrading as your Engineering skill increases.To someone just trying The Outer Worlds 2 for the first time, this won't seem like the best Perk out there due to the degradation element. In practice, we can make the argument that this is singel-handedly the most worthy of the "best perk" laurel. You get sufficient resources to craft frequently in this game, and you do it anywhere if you have Niles. The degradation element not very harsh, and the actual defenses you get out of this is absurdly high. Only skip this if you never plan on crafting. Engineering 3,Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedTinkerer +10% Damage with Modded Weapons. Increases by 2.5% per Engineering Skill PointYour modded weapons now deal bonus damage, increasing with your Engineering skill.Since you did a 5-point Engineering dip to get here, this is in effect a 22.5% damage increment just for having any mod whatsoever. And you'll definitely want to have mods on your guns. Engineering 5,ScrapperFlat addition to Automechanical drop tableAutomechanicals drop additioanl crafting materials.The amount of extra materials you get off this is higher than you'd expect of a starter perk. Plus, Scrapper also unlocks some exclusive ways of bypassing skill checks on its own. Overall, crafting a lot has many benefits (especially looking at Makeshift Armorer). Engineering 1,Master Armorer +1 Armor Mod SlotYour body armor gains an additional armoring mod slot, allowing you to add a second mod to your armor.This one is probably the only "weak" Engineering perk in The Outer Worlds 2, relatively speaking. However, it does open up some more room for buildcrafting. You can, for example, get a +10% damage resist out of this, which isn't nothing. Engineering 20,Makeshift Armorer Perk,Requires 9 or More Total Perks PurchasedBest Explosives Perks in The Outer Worlds 2Explosives perks are about... yes, you guessed it. Crucially, not all the perks are purely about grenades, but Explosive Damage in general. Since you can mod your weapons with Explosive Damage too, that incentivizes builds where you'd take Explosives instead of Guns, and some of these Perks further leverage that. The best one, though, is Hot Blooded (and not just for a dedicated Explosives build).Here's all the Explosives perks in The Outer Worlds 2, ranked from best to worst:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsHot Blooded +20% More Stacks of Burn Applied when Dealing Plasma DamageHeal for 50% Damage Dealt by Burn and Plasma ExplosionsYou now apply Burn faster and heal whenever Burn deals damage or reaches max stacks.With such a negligibly low requirement, this is arguably the best single-point dip Perk in The Outer Worlds 2. Weapons can be modded to deal both Plasma and Burn damage, which means you get the benefit of faster stacking, and much more importantly, an easy source of healing very early in the game. Explosives 1Pitch/Tossball Winger +20% Explosives DamageDeal 50 Physical Damage on Direct Hit with Grenade or Mine and StaggerDirectly hitting anyone with a grenade or mine will deal damage and stagger them. Explosives also deal more damage.Enemies tend to run away from live grenades, and their reaction time is fast enough for that to matter. With this, you got a bit of a higher skill floor with hauling explosives, because you need to aim better and throw fast. In the early-game the on-hit damage almost doubles the bangs you get out of your bucks, and your quarry can't run away, and therefore take the full brunt of the grenade's listed damage. So, on the whole, if you like using grenades, consider picking this up even on a non-explosives build.Explosives 1Demolitionist +50% Damage RadiusAll of your explosives have increased area of effect and can no longer deal damage to you.This is a massive power ramp to your crowd-clearing capacity that this alone makes it worth going for the full 20 Explosives build. The main use case is guns modded for Explosive damage, and the overlap between damage, plus Secret Recipe's removal of radial damage falloff, means you'll be often killing the entire room by shooting down one guy. Secret Recipe Perk,Explosives 20,Requires 8 or More Total Perks PurchasedIncendiary ChefVolatile Grenades recipe (reuseable)Unlocks the recipe to craft Volatile Grenades. Volatile Grenades deal significant damage, but holding them for too long can cause them to explode in your hands! On selection, immediately gain several Volatile Grenades for use.Explosives 8,Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedSecret RecipeRemoved explosive damage falloffYour explosives deal full damage across their entire blast zone.The default damage gradient inside grenade radius is not that steep, such that enemies would still take a good chunk of grenade damage without this perk. However, the main reason you take this is to full make use of the Demolitionist perk (which you also cannot take without this one). Explosives 6Defuser +1 Mine Per DefusalWhenever you disable a mine, it is added to your inventory so you can place it yourself.Places like a particular minefield leading up to the Fairfields Bridge gives you a way to hoard dozens of mines with this perk. However, I personally don't think it's worth the perk point in the long run. Mines aren't that expensive to craft or purchase. Explosives 3Grenadier +10% Explosives DamageYou unlock an additional throwable equipment slot. You also gain a small bonus to explosives damage.The bonus to Explosive Damage is cool, but if you're not doing a fully dedicated grenades-only build, this extra slot isn't worth the Perk point. Explosives 2Gun Perks in The Outer Worlds 2There's no "best" Guns perk just like there's no "best" gun type (Image via Xbox Game Studios)You've likely noticed we haven't said "best" Guns perks. This category of perks in The Outer Worlds 2 is the hardest to rank just from a tabula rasa basis. Instead, Guns perks seem like they're meant to be used synergesticially for specific types of ranged builds, where all of them empower each other greatly.General Guns perks for all buildsSo, to start with, here are what I think to be generally decent Guns perks regardless of build:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsPenetrating Shots +50% Armor PenetrationYour shotguns and SMGs ignore a portion of armor, making them more effective against armored enemies.Everything other than wild creatures in Arcadia have some form of armor, so this is a great generalist DPS boost.Perk: Point Blank ArtistGuns 6Requires 8 or More Total Perks PurchasedMultitaskerAutomatic ReloadYour holstered weapons reload automatically when you manually reload your active weapon.With this, you can tactically dedicate one slot for a high reload-speed weapon to refresh all your magazines. After you get used to it, it's a big boost to your uptime.Perk: CommandoGuns 14Requires 7 or More Total Perks PurchasedGuns perks combo for stealth buildsIf you stay in the shadows (or just a plain sniper), the best Stealth ranged combo of Guns perks is Suppressionist + Point Blank Artist + Sharpshooter.After cancelling out some of the positives and negatives, you get +15% Ranged damage at all times, but more importantly, the Sneak Damage bonus component in these perks is universal. So you get a flat +300% bonus to all hits without being detected with both guns and melee.If you're doing this with a silenced pistol, this is when you unlock its most absurd power ceiling. Thanks to complete noise supression from Suppressionist, you can keep shooting enemies away from their cone of vision, and they'll drop dead before they even turn around to find their killer. Here's the Sneak+Gun perks:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsSuppressionist-75% Firing Noise+100% Sneak Attack DamagePistols gain increased sneak attack damage and are quieter. Guns of any type with Silencers make no noise whatsoever.Guns 8Sneak 8Requires 5 or More Total Perks PurchasedPoint Blank Artist +100% Sneak Attack Damage+30% Damage to Near Enemies-15% Damage to Far EnemiesDamage with shotguns, SMGS, and pistols is increased against targets within 10m, but less above that distance. Those weapons also gain increased sneak attack damage.Guns 1Sharpshooter +100% Sneak Attack Damage+30% Damage to Far Enemies-15% Damage to Near EnemiesMarksman, assault, and sniper rifles deal increased damage at distances >20m, but less below that distance. Sneak attack damage for these weapons is also increased.Guns 1Observation 1Guns perks combo for critical buildsThe following perks can boost your crit perks tremendously, especially paired up with the Lucky trait and the Trophy Hunter perk. So if you're looking for a full crit build pick up all of these. You can also choose some of these with a stealth build, since they're not mutually exclusive or anything.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsCrabble Rancher +10% Ranged Damage+20% Critical ChanceMarksman rifles, pistols, and shotguns deal increased damage. While the magazine of one of these weapons is half empty, also gain a bonus to critical hit chance.Guns 2Serendipitous Slayer +10% Critical ChanceCooldown: 1sYou gain an innate critical hit chance with pistols and SMGs. Additionally, critical hits with these weapons automatically reload a small portion of the weapon's magazine.Guns 2Trick ShotRicochet Weakspot StrikesWeakspot kills ricochet, dealing damage to a second nearby target.Guns 1Observation 1Eden Windage +25% Weapon Range+25% Weakspot DamageMarksman rifles, pistols, and sniper rifles have increased range and weakspot damage.Perk: Crabble RancherGuns 3Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedLucky Strikes +100% Critical DamageDeals 20% of Nearby Hostile's Health in Damage on Killing with Critical HitCritical hits do significantly more damage. Critical hits that kill cause the target to explode and deal damage to nearby hostiles.Guns 20 or Melee 20Requires 11 or More Total Perks PurchasedGuns perks for Hail of Lead buildIf you run Machine Guns and SMGs (and to some extent Repeater Rifles with burst fire), Hail of Lead + Serendipitous Slayer + Deep Drums can be a cool bullet-hose archetype you can play into. This build would specifically need the Overprepared flaw to really pop off.It's not always very conducive to a stealthy approach, but you can benefit greatly from the other critical chance perks listed above too.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsDeep Drums +50% Magazine SizeMachine guns, Special weapons, and Assault Rifles slowly reload automatically. Additionally, all weapons have an increased magazine size.Guns 3Hail of LeadHail of Lead: +2% Damage Per ShotGuns with automatic or burst fire deal increasing damage the more you fire. This bonus resets after swapping weapons or not firing for a few seconds and has a cap of +100%.Guns 6Requires 6 or More Total Perks PurchasedSituational Guns perksYou didn't expect all of them to be good, did you? This is, after all, an article ranking the perks. So here's what I think are the runts of the litter as far as Guns perks are concerened in The Outer Worlds 2:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsCommandoAdditional holster slotHaving the third loadout slot is good QoL, but there's many ways to do it without investing a perk point. For example, you can get it with just an utility mod slot. I find this perk underwhelming unless you're doing a meme juggler build for funsies. It's a bit more worthwhile with Multitasker. Guns 1 or Melee 1Gun Runner-50% Ranged Weapon SpreadMovement Penalty to Accuracy -50%You an now fire while sliding, mantling, and sprinting with assault rifles, shotguns, and SMGs. Additionally, the spread for these weapon types is reduced.It would be too much to call it useless, but this perk is definitely not worth the point unless you exclusively play Shotguns.Guns 4Shiny New Toy +20% DamageYou gain a bonus to damage for a moderate duration after swapping weapons.It's only worthwhile if you are not planning on putting more than 5 points in Guns. Otherwise, the bonus isn't that high once you have the passive damage growth from just levleing Guns. At the highest level, the only point where I'd find this meaningful is to snapshot well-placed sniper headshots. S-tier for style points, but whatever-tier for actual impact.Perk: CommandoGuns 5 or Melee 5Best Leadership Perks in The Outer Worlds 2As you'd have figured out if you're familiar with any party-based game, these Perks are all about making your Companions stand strong and do the fighting for you. To enable that playstyle, Camradarie and On Your Feet are the two best Perk investments in the Leadership category, while Negotiator is a situationally game-changing perk to smooth over your relationship with all factions in one go.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsOn Your Feet +10m Companion Revive RangeYou can revive companions from a distance.If you're at Leadership 20 already, it's obvious what kind of build you're doing. And for that, the quality-of-life this brings is game-changing. As long as you have slight line of sight, you can hunker down behind a cover and keep reviving your companions throughout a fight.Perk: ComraderyLeadership 20Requires 8 or More Total Perks PurchasedComradery +25% Damage Resistance for 10sThe party gains significant damage resistance for a short period of time after reviving or being revived by a companion. Additionally, taking damage no longer reduces your progress to reviving a companion.The reiviving through damage interruption bit is what makes this perk really worthwhile. It's good enough that I'd make this a must-have on the Very Hard difficulty as long as you plan on actually making use of companions. Leadership 5Busy BodiesPassive item collectionYour companions will gather crafting materials and items for you while you're aware from the ship. The amount gathered is based off of XP earned while away.This is, in my opinion, absolutely worth picking up on any playthrough as long as you don't have Leadership fully locked out. Materials economy may not be particularly rough in The Outer Worlds 2, but the bonus harvest this perk brings can give you a boatload if you plan on doing all side-content. However, the amount you can get from this is capped because of the low level cap in the game.Leadership 2Negotiator75 Reputation Gained With All Factions-20% Companion Ability Charge TimeYour companion abilities charge faster and you immediately gain positive Reputation with all factions. This bonus is given for all factions already met upon selecting this perk and granted immediately when you meet a new one. As long as a faction doesn't already dislike you, you will become Exalted with them, gaining max positive bonuses. Warning: Abrasive trait still prevents your Reputation from rising above Neutral.Just to be clear, 75 Reputation immediately maxes out your relationship with a faction. In other words, if you take this in the late-game and you have the Witty flaw (or played your cards right), you can immediately cap out every faction and unlock everything with them instantly. I say "late-game" because this only counts towards factions you've met. So this is great as a windfall moment in the game, but not the most important Leadership perk in The Outer Worlds 2 otherwise. Speech 9Leadership 9Inspiring CommanderCompanion Command meters fill 5% each time the party scores a kill.Kills scored by either you or the party charge each companion's companion ability a small amount.This looks great on paper, but the little amount if fills isn't really all that impressive in practice. I would suggest only picking it up on a dedicated Leadership build (which is not a positive point for a starter perk). Leadership 1Best Lockpick Perks in The Outer Worlds 2The Pickpocket perk is a must-have (Image via Xbox Game Studios)Lockpick is one of the most common soft-skill prompts in The Outer Worlds 2. The perks you can get based on this are also very obvious in its less-than-legal field applications.Ranking all the Lockpick perks from the most to least impactful would come out like this:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsPickpocketPickpocket AbilityGain the ability to pickpocket others. Pickpocketing can be activated by crouching up to an unaware human and having enough Lockpick skill.The single-most important Lockpicking ability. Unfortunately, the required Lockpick skill also goes up as you progress through the game, so you can't make this work without investing into the skill later on.Lockpick 1Through the Keyhole +50% Weapon RangeThe contents of a locked container can be viewed before lockpicking. Also, you gain an increased range bonus with guns.The container preview component may help you preserve some Magpicks, but that's not the important bit. A 50% bonus to weapon range is huge specifically for a sniper build. In other words, this is a must-have on a sniper-stealth build, and enables some particularly cheesy encounter approaches. Lockpick 2Sleight of Hands-50% Pickpocket Interaction Time+10% Sneak Attack Damage Per Lockpick SkillPickpocketing is significantly faster and you gain a bonus to sneak attack damage based on your Lockpick skill.This is some good QoL if your pickpocket target has a very skittish patrol route. However, where it really pays off is a Lockpick-boosting Sneak build because of the scaling Sneak Damage. Perk: PickpocketLockpick 8Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedBag Check +5% Critical ChanceWhile crouching, you can see the contents of a person's inventory before pickpocketing them. You also gain a small bonus to Critical Chance.I find this one to be among the least useful perks in The Outer Worlds 2. With the lack of a morality system, you basically always want to pickpocket everything if you have access to that person. There's no downsides, and you can just swipe everything at one go. Perk: PickpocketLockpick 4Best Medical perks in The Outer Worlds 2The Outer Worlds 2 uses a Toxicity system similar to The Witcher 3, where you can overload your toxicity therhold and go into "Crashing" mode. In this mode, you cannot heal by default, and thus it's a long-lasting detriment when you're starting out.However, the best Medical perks necessitate a sort of tank build where you can turn Crashing into something positive. Those looking for just a source of damage will also find some Corrosive-specific perks here.Here's all the Medical perks in The Outer Worlds 2, ranked from best to worst:PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsPharm-thusiast-25% Toxicity Received from Medical InhalerYou unlock an additional primer slot, allowing you to use the effects of multiple primers at once. Additionally, toxicity gained from using the inhaler is decreased. Using the inhaler with multiple primers equipped applies the effects of both on use, but combines the total toxicity of all primers when used.This is basically the gateway Perk for enabling Crashing-centric build in The Outer Worlds 2.Medical 2Crash Recovery2% Health Per SecondWhile crashing, you continuously regenerate a small amount of health.Medical 8Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedLasting High-50% Inhaler Heal Effectiveness While Crashing-30% Crash Depletion RateYou can now use your medical inhaler while crashing, but at reduced efficacy. Crashes now last longer.Perk: Crash RecoveryMedical 12Requires 8 or More Total Perks PurchasedInhaler Overload +20% Damage+3 Armor Rating+10% Evasion Chance+50% Movement SpeedGain the ability to take a deeper breath when using the Medical Inhaler, using an extra inhaler charge, increasing toxicity cost, but also granting a larger amount of bonuses for a moderate duration. You can activate this overload by holding down Use Inhaler in combat.While the other bonuses are so-so, the 50% Movement Speed buff from this really supercharges a Medical Maniac-type character. This is especially good for medical-melee builds, but otherwise I wouldn't call it completely necessary. You can still make a Crashing build work without it. Medical 5Perk: Pharm-thusiastConnoisseur +25% Healing From Food and Drink+25% Inhaler Charge From DrugsConsumed food and drinks heal more. Additionally, drugs add additional inhaler charges.Medical 1Hungry Guns +100% Bio-Mass Ammo Pool Size+10% Corrosion DamageGuns that use bio-mass as ammo can hold twice as much before needing to be reloaded. Additionally, you deal more Corrosive Damage in general.This perk and the one listed below (Caustic Researcher) is mainly for those who use Corrosive mods on their weapons often. For that purpose, you can pick this up without needing much investment into Medical. Perk: Caustic ResearcherMedical 4Requires 5 or More Total Perks PurchasedCaustic Researcher +20% More Stacks of Vulnerable Applied When Dealing Corrosive Damage+10% Critical Chance Against Enemies Afflicted by DissolvedYou can now apply Vulnerable faster when dealing Corrosive Damage. Additionally, your critical hit chance against Dissolved foes is increased.Medical 1SurvivalistFlat addition to drop tableCreatures always drop raw meat, which can be eaten as food.I found this only middling in effect, as you'll not need a lot of extra healing as a medical build. It's only ever useful in the early-game, where you don't have many ways to find health-sustain without using Valerie or half your food storage. Medical 2Nature's FriendTamed: Will Fight for You for 10s+10% Damage to CreaturesYou can temporarily tame hostile creatures, having them fight by your side for a moderate duration. You can tame unaware creatures by sneaking up to them and having enough Medical skill. Tamed creatures will not follow you but will fight other enemies nearby. Also gain a bonus to damage against all creatures.I find this plus-one to be very underwhelming, and you can't tame the boss-type enemies (such as the Collossal Crabble in the first area) almost in any encounter that I know of.Medical 4Nature's Best FriendPermanent Tamed CreaturesTamed creatures are now permanently tamed, rewarding XP, but can't be looted. Tamed creatures will not follow you but will fight other enemies nearby.Since the tamed creature still doesnt follow you around, it's kind of useless for a "summoner" build archetype. This also doesn't benefit from Leadership bonuses, so it doesn't even fit a necromancer build idea.Perk: Nature's FriendMedical 10Requires 7 or More Total Perks PurchasedZyranium AbsorptionZyranium Poisoning Accumulated 50% Slower-35 Zyranium Poisoning on Drug Crash EndYou accumulate zyranium poisoning much slower and can no longer receive Light and Heavy Zyranium Poisoning penalties after accumulating too much. Additionally, if you enter a drug crash from using the medical inhaler, when the crash ends a portion of your zyranium poisoning is removed. Warning: Maxing out Zyranium Poisoning will still kill you!Zyranium Poisoning is not a relevant mechanic for 99% of the game, and in the few cases where it is, you can still get through without the padding given by this. This perk will only be relevant if The Outer Worlds 2 spices up the Zyranium shenanigans with DLCs.Medical 3Best Melee Perks in The Outer Worlds 2You can basically do two melee playstyles in The Outer Worlds 2: a stealthy rogue, or an up-front bruiser. Consequently, there are perk that enable at least one of these two builds.Before we go into which are the best Melee perks, do note that the Commando and Shiny New Toy perks' skill requirement can also be met with Melee instead of Guns. I still find Commando to be skippable, and Shiny New Toy just marginally better because melee builds tend to be catered around one-swing burst damage.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsPitch/Tossball HackerIgnore 50% of the target's Armor Value when Attacking With a Melee WeaponYour melee attacks ignore a portion of the target's armor. This perk is one of the most deceptively powerful ones in The Outer Worlds. Whether you're doing an up-front brawl build with a two-hander or doing the sneaky-stabby route, you rely a lot on time-to-kill brevity. This improves your burst damage greatly against two out of three enemy types in the game, and thereby makes your melee experience that much smoother. Melee 8Requires 5 or More Total Perks PurchasedVital Striker +100% Sneak Attack DamageSneak Attack Damage with Light Melee Weapons is Increased. Additionally, in combat your light melee weapons always deal half of their sneak attack bonus.This makes a Stealth-Melee build insanely lethal even after the cover is blown. The steep price to pay, however, is the fact that you're putting so many points into two combat-only Skills, and so you have to sacrifice many of the skill check opportunities presented in this game. Melee 15Sneak 15Requires 9 or More Total Perks PurchasedHeavy HandedKnockdownCooldown: 10sMelee power attacks knock down the enemies hit. Has a cooldown between activations.This is quite strong, as it works even on bosses. Although it doesn't work on all of them in my experience, which I don't know whether to call a bug or an undocumented balance feature.Melee 1Tit for TatHeal for 25% of Damage Dealt by Melee WeaponsA percent of outgoing melee damage is returned as health.If you're doing a tank-melee build, then take this perk at your earliest convenience. Melee 10Requires 7 or More Total Perks PurchasedRun and Hitter +25% Damage on Your Next Hit with a 1-Handed Melee Weapon+50% Damage on Your Next Hit with a 2-Handed Melee WeaponAfter sprinting for a short duration, the first melee attack performed gains bonus damage. This damage increase is larger for 2-handed melee weapons.While the damage bonus is big, the barrier for execution is a bit high here. Melee 2Echoing BlowsHeavy Melee Weapons Deal 50% of Their Weapon DamageLight Melee Weapons Deal 25% of Their Weapon DamageYour melee attacks deal a small portion of damage in a large cone in front of you. The damage of the cone is increased for two-handed weapons.There's no ability in The Outer Worlds to group enemies up into one clump, which makes this perk borderline useless.Melee 6Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedDuelistDuelist: On Perfect Block, Stun the Target for 8sYou gain the ability to perform a perfect block with melee weapons. Timing your blocks against incoming melee attacks will stun the attacker.It's not worthwhile to fish for parries in this game, because there's not enough additional follow-up damage. The stun is nice, but in combat against multiple enemies, you can't walk around trying to get a perfect block in harder difficulties.Melee 1Best Observation Perks in The Outer Worlds 2Observation itself is generally all about long-range precision hits. The Perks here are honestly not that good, with the only good ones being Face Reader for a helpful conversation widget, and maybe Keen Observer if you want to really go all-in on a ghillie sniper build.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsFace Reader +20% Damage to HumansIn conversations, options that reduce reputation with a faction are highlighted before choosing them. Additionally, gain a bonus to damage against humans.This is great for a first-time playthrough, and for repeat playthroughs, the +20% to humans is still a highly relevant stat.Observation 5Keen ObserverKeen Observer: +25% Weakspot DamageYou gain increased weakspot damage when crouched and not moving.The bonus on this is too little relative to the +120% you'll already get by the point you get here, but it's still an okay perk if you're doing a sniper build in The Outer Worlds 2. Perk: Trick ShotObservation 8Treasure HunterFlat additon to droptableSearching through containers can occasionally reward you with bonus bits or crafting materials.In practice, you don't really get much value out of this. Save your perk points for something more impactful.Observation 1TrackerMini-Map NotificationsHostiles on the mini-map are no longer hidden by the shroud - the area outside the player's field of view - and have their facing shown.I didn't find this to be especially relevant, because you have other means of figuring out where enemies are when it matters.Observation 3Best Science Perks in The Outer Worlds 2The Science perks in The Outer Worlds 2 are all about enabling gadgets, Energy economy, and two specific perks tailored for Shock and Cold damage builds.The shock one (Electro-therapist) can remotely re-program Automechs to temporarily fight for you, which is very on-brand for a Science-main build. However, much to my chagrin, this doesnt work on bosses and minibosses, so I rated it quite low while ranking the Science Perks.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsContingency ScreenAutomatic ActivationWhen your health hits 25%, the Gas-Energy Deflection Apparatus gadget automatically activates without spending energy. Has a cooldown between automatic activations.Gas-Energy Deflection ApparatusScience 3N-Radiator100% Additional Damage Done as N-RayCooldown: 3sOnce every few seconds, when you deal damage, you will deal the damage again as N-Ray.Science 20Requires 12 or More Total Perks PurchasedRapid RechargeEnergy Recharge Rate +500% for 5sCooldown: 30sAfter dropping to 10% or less gadget energy, energy recharges faster for a few seconds.Science 1Targeting ScannerMark EnemiesFocusing on a target with the N-Ray Scanner will mark them. Marking targets prioritizes them for companions and causes the party's attack against them to regenerate your energy.N-Ray ScannerScience 5Requires 6 or More Total Perks PurchasedCold Blooded +20% More Stacks of Chilled Applied When Dealing Frost DamageDeal 20% of Nearby Hostile's Health in Damage on Killing a Frozen TargetYou can now apply Chilled faster when dealing Frost Damage, and enemies killed while Frozen will shatter, dealing Frost Damage to hostiles in the area.Science 9Requires 6 or More Total Perks PurchasedSprayer PrayerAdditional Distance and DamageAuntie's Acidic Dematerializer can be charged, allowing its projectile to travel further and deal more damage. Charging the gadget costs more energy.Auntie's Acidic DematerializerScience 6Requires 10 or More Total Perks PurchasedElectro-Therapist +20% more stacks of Electrocuted applied when dealing Shock damageScramble: Will fight for you for 5sYou can now apply Electrocuted faster when dealing Shock Damage. Additionally, weak automechs become Scrambled rather than Paralyzed when reaching max stacks. Scrambled automechs will attack their allies for a duration and will still take damage over time. Strong enemies, such as leaders and bosses, cannot be Scrambled this way until their health has been sufficiently reducedScience 1Slow-More +25% Evasion Chance While in TTD+1 Energy on Evading DamageWhile using the Tactical Time Dilation gadget, you gain an increased Evasion chance, ignoring more incoming attacks. Additionally, anytime you evade an attack, you restore a small amount of gadget energy. This can occur regardless of whether Tactical Time Dilation is active or not.Lockpicking and Light Armor builds can get a lot of use out of this, because the +Energy also applies outside of TTD. Meanwhile, with proper investment in Evasion, you can actually stand in the middle of a fight, activate TTD, and pick off enemies one by one with sufficient Lockpicking and Science investment. Science 3Weakspot Scanner +20% Weakspot DamageWeakspots are highlighted and damage dealt to them is increased when using the N-Ray Scanner.N-Ray ScannerScience 6Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedZyranium PoweredUp to 10 Energy per 1s as Zyranium Poisoning IncreasesYour energy recharges faster based on the amount of Zyranium Poisoning you have accumulated.Perk: Zyranium AbsorptionScience 5Requires 7 or More Total Perks PurchasedBest Sneak Perks in The Outer Worlds 2It's easy to tell what Sneak perks in this game would have to be about. While ranking these, I've specifically rated Ghost and Silent Steps quite highly because they give you huge bonuses that don't need to be scaled with further points into Sneak, thereby remaining relevant for many other builds.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsGhostInvisible to Enemies and Deal Bonus DamageCooldown: 3mIf you're crouched when an NPC starts investigating you, gain Camouflaged for a short duration. Has a cooldown between activated, which decreases based on Sneaks kill.Sneak 2Stalker +200% Sneak Attack DamageYou gain increased sneak attack damage against hostiles that are investigating you, a distraction device, or a corpse you've left behind.Perk: AssassinSneak 5Silent StepsSilent Footsteps for 8sAfter leaving stealth, your footsteps are silent for a short duration.Sneak 6AssassinAssassin: Movement Speed +100% for 5sAfter scoring a kill from stealth, your movement speed is dramatically increased for a short time.Sneak 1Light StepImmune to trapsWalking over traps and mines will never set them off.Sneak 10Why is Light Steps so low? Because I've found it quite easy to just spot and then disarm or remotely trigger traps easy in The Outer Worlds 2, so it feels like a waste of my perk point to take this.Best Speech Skills in The Outer Worlds 2Speech generally tends to be about a smooth-talking pacifist build. In that perspective, the best Speech Skill would technically be Negotiator, a combo perk with Leadership. Meanwhile, the "best" Speech Skills I've listed here are intimidation-based, which both grants some cc in combat (you may remember similar antics from the prequel) and roleplay/flavor text opportunities when talking.PerkStatsDetailsRequirementsIntimidatorFrightened: Target Flees From Combat for 8s. Does not affect automechs.Cooldown: 2mDealing damage to Weak Humans or creatures Frightens them for a short duration. Has a cooldown between activations, which shortens with your Speech skill. Strong enemies, such as Leaders and Bosses, cannot be Frightened this way until their health has been sufficiently reduced.Speech 5Grim VisageFrightened: The target flees from combat for 8s. Does not affect automechanicals.Scoring a kill will temporarily cause human and creature enemies near the target to be Frightened for a short duration. Strong enemies, such as Leaders and Bosses, cannot be Frightened this way until their health has been sufficiently reduced.Perk: IntimidatorSpeech 9Requires 6 or More Total Perks PurchasedSpace Ranger +2.5% Damage per Speech skill If you're doing a build without Guns or Melee or Sneak, this is a good way to get some damage into your Speech-main build.CharlatanSpeech BuffMany of your lies are more believable and will more likely be accepted as true. Additionally, the likelihood that enemies will target you is reduced.Speech 6Requires 4 or More Total Perks PurchasedTall Tale Teller +20% DamageOnly your most outlandish lies aren't believed, with you being able to lie about even more things. Additionally, you gain a bonus to damage when attacking enemies that aren't targeting you directly.Perk: CharlatanSpeech 10Requires 7 or More Total Perks PurchasedPalm-Greaser-50% Bribe Costs+20% Vendor Buying Price for Stolen ItemsBribes now cost less and stolen items sell for more.Speech 2Wholesale Spender-10% Vendor Prices+20% Sell Value at VendorsBuying or selling items with a vendor accrues goodwill. After accrusing enough, you gain a permanent discount and sell bonus with that vendor.Speech 4That's all the Perks in The Outer Worlds 2 that you can get by spending Perk points. I say that because there's also some perks you get by fulfilling speicific conditions, or carrying out specific tasks. Finding Scrabbles near the bridge in Farfields, for example, permanently gives you +5% to all Bits found in Arcadia.At any rate, I hope thees best-to-worst Perks rankings have helped you figure out your build better. Check out our other guides on the game:The Outer Worlds 2: Best Traits tier listThe Outer Worlds 2: How to get an invisibility bucket helmet (Battle Helm of Ptero-Bane)The Outer Worlds 2: All Tasks in Paradise IslandAll Companions in The Outer Worlds 2