What are the best Perks for my The Outer Worlds character?
This guide offers a bit of a twist – keep reading to learn more!
While there are definitely perks that make some difference, especially in terms of gameplay ease and dealing damage, everything else most definitely depends on your playing style.
Still, you don’t have to worry too much about needing to choose between them: you will quickly recognize that some of them aren’t going to bring you as much of a benefit, leaving you with a solid number of points left to invest.
Let’s quickly look over the numbers:
Player Perks in The Outer Worlds come in Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3.
You need 5 perks unlocked in Tier 1 to get to Tier 2. Unlock 5 more for a total of 10 between these two tiers and you have access to Tier 3.
With the maximum level in the game being 30 and you getting perks every even level, you will have a chance to unlock 15 perks without any Flaws, average of 5 per tier.
Add in the 5 possible Companion Perks if you are playing a leadership build and you can produce endless combinations that focus on the parts of the game that matter the most to you.
Considering that only some of these will truly make a difference to your chosen build, you probably will end up with the benefits that you want the most.
However, if “you can’t undo these changes” in-game message stresses you out too much, we can offer you some advice and boost your confidence in working towards your powerful custom character build.
Good news: this guide will sort the perks per category for you.
This means that we will be primarily focusing on what The Outer Worlds perks can offer you, as opposed to listing them in their in-game order.
Because of that you can look specifically at the category that targets your character’s strengths (or, areas of weakness that you struggle the most with) and target specific perks as you level up for the best combined effects.
Still, some player perks are simply too useful to most character builds to overlook, and we will cover them before diving into the full list.
Best Player Perks of The Outer Worlds for All Character Builds
Best Player Perks Tier 1
Lone Wolf: Sometimes Companions feel more like a burden than a bonus. If you took hit to your Charisma Attribute and you are playing on higher difficulty levels of the game (especially Supernova, with permanent companion death), this is a wonderful perk to take. The +25% increase in general damage is a big deal and has almost no close equivalents in the list, if you are willing to travel without companions. (If you are a sneaky build, take Tier 3 Solo Sneaker perk in this case as well.)
If you want an example of the build that can use this perk effectively, read our Deadly Gun character build guide!
Precision: You can think of this one as an opposite to the Lone Wolf, since it gives your companions +15% critical chance, but look to the “Companion Party Bonuses” in this guide to see many other perks that benefit the entire party with companions. Still, this is the only general damage increase you can obtain for all of your companions, and it’s a fairly solid one. So, in a way, it is a Companion alternative to the Lone Wolf perk.
Toughness: +50% base health? Unless you are enjoying The Outer Worlds on the Story difficulty, there are bound to be battles in the game when you can greatly benefit of an additional third to your health bar. Unless you took down your Temperament Attribute because you like that constant thrill of danger, you should probably take this perk.
Best Player Perks Tier 2
Harvester: A solid successor to the Toughness perk, this +15% Health Restored per Kill perk will make a huge difference to the below-average Temperament character, but will significantly improve the sturdiness of any other build as well. It stacks with Toughness quite efficiently to give back even more hit points in total value.
Our Charming PhD character build is a good example of a below-average Temperament character! Think you can handle the no-health-regen challenge to play an impressive all-mind character?
Weird Science: Science Weapons are already among the most powerful types of weapons in the game, both ranged and melee, and the two +50% Science Weapon Damage player perks (Wild Science is the second one) make them absolutely worth the effort. This might not be of extreme effectiveness immediately, since Science Weapons are rare to the beginning of the game (unless you are willing to steal Phineas’s Shrink Ray or locate the Prismatic Hammer and Mandibular Rearranger on Groundbreaker), but rarity and keeping costs will balance later in the game. This kind of investment can easily make your character into an overpowered DPS build.
Best Player Perks Tier 3
Wild Science: See explanation for the Weird Science. A must-have successor with additional +50% Science Weapon Damage for a massive damage character build.
Confidence: The Critical Hit after Kill is a considerable investment for any character who deals a lot of damage per hit with their weapon (e.g., 2-Handed Melee, Long Guns, Heavy Weapons), since the resulting Critical Hit damage will be undeniably significant and can lead to several one-hit kills with easier enemies. Still, even for the 1-Handed and Handgun characters that focus more so on high speed over damage per hit, this perk can make a visible difference in numbers.
Armor Master: A very well-rounded perk that gives a bonus 10% to the armor rating as well as a 100% skill bonus from armor. Since The Outer Worlds armor usually comes with skill bonuses from across the entire list, this perk will benefit both the combat-oriented and other types of builds. This will also give more reasons for armor swapping (before initiating dialog, e.g.), since the skill bonuses are now doubled. This perk can benefit any build in its own way.
Revenge: A very powerful perk for close-combat characters, but also a solid consideration for anyone in the mid-range, since the +20% damage when affected by a harmful condition will become constantly relevant on higher levels. Unless you focus on avoiding as much contact as possible, this perk will significantly increase your damage output.
The Outer Worlds Perk List Sorted by Category
This is what you kept reading for!
The Outer Worlds ultimate Perks list sorted by category!
The following assortment is based on the core aspects of the character abilities targeted by the listed perks.
Some perks apply to multiple categories and are thus occasionally repeated. This should allow you to focus just on the parts that are useful to your build specifically (outside of our highly recommended perks above).
The list is broken down into three parts:
- Perks that affect Player Abilities
- Perks that are most useful for a Companion Party
- Perks that affect Individual Companions Only
Every category will list both Player Perks and Companion Perks. Since the non-unique companion perks only modify the Individual Companion Abilities, that’s the only part where you will see them.
1. Perks: Player Ability Bonuses
Perks: Health
This category is an effective counter to the low Temperament, low Blocking, low Dodging, or low Medical builds. However, if you are skilled in most of these as a high-aggro tank, having more health is even more of a bonus. Toughness and Harvester is pretty much a must, while Tit for Tat is a very solid option for Melee fighters.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Toughness: +50% Base Health
Player Perks Tier 2
- Harvester: +15% Health Restored per Kill
Player Perks Tier 3
- Tit for Tat: +15% Melee Damage returned as Health
Ellie Perks
- Bonus Support Medical (Tier 1): +10 Medical
- First Responder (Tier 2): +20% Heal amount granted by Medical Inhaler
- CPR (Tier 3): Recover 25% Health when fatally wounded (Cooldown: 5 min)
Perks: Armor and Resistance
When compounded with some of the health category perks these provide tremendous total resistance to damage.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Resilient: +5 Base Armor Rating
Player Perks Tier 3
- Armor Master: +100% Skill Bonus, +10% Armor Rating Bonus
- Thick Skin: -15% Plasma Damage Received, -15% Area of Effect Damage Received
Vicar Max Perks
- Planned Intervention (Tier 5; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): When you at 25% health or less Vicar Max will taunt enemies to draw fire away from you
Parvati Perks
- Rust Bucket Resistance (Tier 4; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): Reduces damage you take from Automechanical enemies by 20%
SAM Perks
- Radiation Proofing (Tier 4; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): While SAM is in your party both you and your companions receive 20% less N-Ray damage
Perks: Durability Loss
Not a huge deal for an Engineering build with Field Repair, but if you don’t have a lot of points invested into that skill this can be an acceptable alternative.
Player Perks Tier 1
- High Maintenance: -25% Weapon / Armor Durability Loss
Perks: Attacks and Damage
The longest category in the list. Confidence and Revenge are most useful to the majority of character builds. Lone Wolf is a must for characters that have less use of their companions. Meanwhile, Tactical Time Dilation snipers that target Weakspots and Headshots will benefit particularly well from a lot of the perks in this category. Otherwise, consider the Science Weapon Damage perks for the optimized end-game damage.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Lone Wolf: +25% Increase in damage (When alone in the party)
Player Perks Tier 1 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Applied Science: +25% Increase to magazine capacity for Science Weapons
- Nietzche’s Reward: +5 damage dealt for every Flaw your character has gained (Note: There are currently 15 Flaws, so this can increase damage by 75%)
Player Perks Tier 2
- Weird Science: +50% Science Weapon Damage
- Scanner: +20% Bonus to Extra Headshot / Weakspot Damage (Note: Only in Tactical Time Dilation Mode)
Player Perks Tier 2 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Assassin: +25% to damage when using a Quiet Weapon (Meaning it has a noise range less that 2.5 meters/ 8.2 feet)
- Lone Master: When you don’t have any companions in your party, you get +5 to all skills. When you have no companions recruited, you get +10 to all skills
Player Perks Tier 3
- Wild Science: +50% Science Weapon Damage
- Steady Hand: -100% Ranged Weapon Sway, -100% Movement Penalty to Accuracy
- Confidence: Your next attack after killing an enemy is a guaranteed Critical Hit
- Revenge: +20% Damage when affected by a harmful Combat Effect
- Last Stand: +30% Damage while under 25% Health
- Boom, Headshot!: Headshot kills deal 25% of their damage to enemies within 2.5m
- Penetrating Shots: Ranged Attacks inflict -1 Armor Rating for 10s, and can stack up to 10
Player Perks Tier 3 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Concentrated Fire: Adds 10% to damage on each hit after the first when you hit the same target multiple times in Tactical Time Dilation
- Improvisation Warrior: Improvised weapons to 300% more damage, and degrade 75% slower
Ellie Perks
- Magic Bullets (Tier 5; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): When Ellie uses her Quick Draw ability her shots ricochet to another nearby enemy
Vicar Max Perks
- Mad Max (Tier 3): +20% Science Weapon Damage
- Grand Justice (Tier 4; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): When Vicar Max uses his Trickshot ability he ignores 50% of his target’s armor rating
Felix Perks
- Rebellion (Tier 3): +20 Damage to Corporate Military
- Antagonistic Fury (Tier 5; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): Felix does +20% more damage when fighting people with whom you have a negative reputation
- This. Is. Tossball! (Tier 4; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): Felix does +50% more damage when he’s using Tossball weapons
Perks: Improvised Weapons
This short category covers all perks that interact directly with improvised weapons. Not the most important category, but it still lends itself to unique playstyles!
Player Perks Tier 3 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Improvisation Warrior: Improvised weapons to 300% more damage, and degrade 75% slower
Perks: Enemy Status Effects
This category covers inflicting debuffs on your opponents only (as opposed to perks like Revenge, which cover the opposite scenario). With the focus on dialog and leadership skills these perks are a tremendous addition to your effective companion army onslaught. Remember that dialog skills inflict passive debuffs onto your enemies, making them much more vulnerable in combat.
Player Perks Tier 3
- Penetrating Shots: Ranged Attacks inflict -1 Armor Rating for 10s, and can stack up to 10
Vicar Max Perks
- Sermon (Tier 2): +20% Dialog Combat Effect Duration
Felix Perks
- Bonus Support Persuade (Tier 1): +10 Persuade
SAM Perks
- Bonus Support Intimidate (Tier 1): +10 Intimidate
- Bedazzle Automechanicals (Tier 5; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): When SAM uses his Decontaminate ability it stuns Automechanical targets, temporarily paralyzing them
Nyoka Perks
- Bonus Support Lie (Tier 1): +10 Lie
Perks: Tactical Time Dilation
An important part of your ranged build. Slow the World, Quick and the Dead, and The Reaper are extremely strong Player Perks from this category and are highly recommended. Remember to add on the Scanner perk as well!
Player Perks Tier 1
- Slow the World: +25% Tactical Time Dilation Meter Max
- Quick and the Dead: +50% Tactical Time Dilation Recharge Rate
Player Perks Tier 2
- The Reaper: +25% Tactical Time Dilation Restored per Kill
- Speed Demon: +25% Movement Speed during Tactical Time Dilation
- Scanner: +20% Bonus to Extra Headshot / Weakspot Damage (Note: Only in Tactical Time Dilation Mode)
Player Perks Tier 3
- Tactical Master: +70% Movement Speed during Tactical Time Dilation for 5s
Player Perks Tier 3 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Concentrated Fire: Adds 10% to damage on each hit after the first when you hit the same target multiple times in Tactical Time Dilation
Parvati Perks
- Synchronicity (Tier 3): +25% Tactical Time Dilation Meter
- Chrono-Harmony (Tier 5; Peril on Gorgon Exclusive): When Parvati kills an enemy you regain 25% of your Tactical Time Dilation Meter
Perks: Movement
Strider and Cheetah are pleasant additions to your general movement speed if you are an explorer kind of a player since you will be covering a lot of distance in The Outer Worlds’ vast areas, looking for secret locations and rewarding hidden loot. The rest is mostly useful to the Ranged characters.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Strider: +25% Walk Speed
- Cheetah: +20% Sprint Speed
Player Perks Tier 2
- Run and Gun: -65% Movement Penalty to Accuracy
- Speed Demon: +25% Movement Speed during Tactical Time Dilation
Player Perks Tier 3
- Steady Hand: -100% Ranged Weapon Sway, -100% Movement Penalty to Accuracy
- Tactical Master: +70% Movement Speed during Tactical Time Dilation for 5s
Perks: Stealth
The two Stealth perks offer the specific Companion and the non-Companion variations. The Solo Sneaker provides a higher bonus in case if you invested into Dexterity and Temperament at the expense of Charm and thus have a lower bonus from Companion presence overall.
Player Perks Tier 2 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Assassin: +25% to damage when using a Quiet Weapon (Has a noise range less that 2.5 meters/ 8.2 feet)
Player Perks Tier 3
- Solo Sneaker: -33% Detection Radius of Enemies (When you have no companions in the party)
Nyoka Perks
- Hunter (Tier 2): -20% Radius of Footstep Sounds
Perks: Carrying Capacity
Carrying Capacity in The Outer Worlds is a debatable issue. If Hack and Engineering skills are your specialty (or are at least at Novice level), selling goods to the Vending Machines and breaking down the remaining gear for Parts and Mods that you can use at any time should take care of any carrying capacity issues. However, if you focused on your melee and/or leadership skills instead, you can practically eliminate any limited carrying capacity issues from your adventures by investing into a few of these perks, especially at higher levels.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Pack Mule: +50kg Carrying Capacity
- Traveler: Unlock the ability to Fast Travel when Encumbered
Player Perks Tier 2
- Hoarder: -50% Consumable Weight
- Pack of Pack Mules: +40kg Carrying Capacity Bonus from Companions
Player Perks Tier 3
- Super Pack Mule: +100kg Carrying Capacity
Perks: Vendors, Dialog, and Reputation
Dialog skills already come with some of these benefits, but you can further focus on the strengths of this area of specialization if you invest into some of these perks. Meanwhile, A Few Bits More can benefit Ranged and Tech skill builds.
Player Perks Tier 1
- The Negotiator: -20% Vendor Prices
- A Few Bits More: +100% Additional Ammo stock on Vendors, +100% Additional Consumable and General stock on Vendors
Player Perks Tier 2
- Snake Oil Salesman: +20% Vendor Buying Price
- Soliloquy: +10 Dialog Skills (Without companions in the party)
Felix Perks
- Bonus Support Persuade (Tier 1): +10 Persuade
SAM Perks
- Bonus Support Intimidate (Tier 1): +10 Intimidate
- Cleaner (Tier 2): -20% Negative Reputation Kill
Nyoka Perks
- Bonus Support Lie (Tier 1): +10 Lie
No Companions Bonuses
A must-have for low-Charm, low-Leadership build. If you are playing on a higher difficulty (especially Supernova, where companions are very risky to have in the field) or simply find companions more of a nuisance to your playstyle, Lone Wolf and Solo Sneaker perks provide impressive bonuses to your abilities.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Lone Wolf: +25% Increase in damage (When alone in the party)
Player Perks Tier 2 – Peril on Gorgon Exclusives
- Lone Master: When you don’t have any companions in your party, you get +5 to all skills. When you have no companions recruited, you get +10 to all skills.
Player Perks Tier 3
- Soliloquy: +10 Dialog Skills (Without companions in the party)
- Solo Sneaker: -33% Detection Radius of Enemies (When you have no companions in the party)
Perks: Exploration
This is more of an “other” category with the exception of The Collector, which can be a pleasant addition to the looter character due to the resulting ease of quickly locating useful items in the space around you.
Player Perks Tier 1
- Traveler: Unlock the ability to Fast Travel when Encumbered
Player Perks Tier 2
- The Collector: +5m Interactable Highlight Range
Parvati Perks
- Mod Finder (Tier 2): +10% Chance to extract Mods in the Field
Perks: Skill Rank Points
Every companion adds a flat non-combat skill rank bonus to the player. These can be adapted to the majority of character builds.
Pavarti Perks
- Bonus Support Engineering (Tier 1): +10 Engineering
Vicar Max Perks
- Bonus Support Hack (Tier 1): +10 Hack
Felix Perks
- Bonus Support Persuade (Tier 1): +10 Persuade
SAM Perks
- Bonus Support Intimidate (Tier 1): +10 Intimidate
Nyoka Perks
- Bonus Support Lie (Tier 1): +10 Lie
Ellie Perks
- Bonus Support Medical (Tier 1): +10 Medical
2. Companion Party Bonuses
These perks target having a larger party in the field. If you rely on Companions for bonuses or even damage heavily, consider maximizing your bonuses by investing into these perks. Note that you should have Novice Inspiration unlocked to have Companion Abilities, and that the First Responder perk is additionally useful with the Novice Determination unlocked (allows the Inhaler to heal you and your companions).
Player Perks Tier 1
- Precision: +15% Companion Crit Chance
- Deadly Demonstrations: +50% XP from Companion Kills
Player Perks Tier 2
- We Band of Brothers: +25% Chance to reset a Companion Ability cooldown on each Critical Hit
- Tag Team: +25% Chance to reset a Companion Ability cooldown when using the other Companion’s Ability
- Rolling Thunder: -20% Companion Ability Cooldowns for each of your kills
- Pack of Pack Mules: +40kg Carrying Capacity Bonus from Companions
Player Perks Tier 3
- Don’t Go Dyin’ On Me!: Revive Companions to 25% Health (Cooldown: 15m)
Vicar Max Perks
- Mad Max (Tier 3): +20% Science Weapon Damage
Felix Perks
- Rebellion (Tier 3): +20 Damage to Corporate Military
Ellie Perks
- First Responder (Tier 2): +20% Heal amount granted by Medical Inhaler
3. Individual Companion Bonuses Only
All of these are companion perks, both unique and non-unique, that can allow you to customize the roles of your chosen Companions in the field (e.g., a close-range tank or a non-combat support). Every perk you invest (into any available tier) will unlock the next Tier of perks, but these points are slow to acquire compared to the player perks.
Health
Companion Perks Tier 1
- Healthy: +30% Base Health
Companion Perks Tier 5
- Second Wind: Health to 25% Health when downed
Threat
Companion Perks Tier 1
- Boisterous: +30% Threat Generated
- Sneaky: -30% Threat Generated
Damage and Weapons
Companion Perks Tier 2
- Fine Aim: +10% Ranged Damage
- Heavy Handed: +10% Melee Damage
Companion Perks Tier 3
- Jazz Hands: -30% Equip Time, +30% Ranged Weapon Reload Speed
Companion Perks Tier 4
- Showtime: Showtime: Damage +25% for 5s
Felix Perks
- Mad Max (Tier 3): +20% Science Weapon Damage
SAM Perks
- Bad Samaritan (Tier 3): +20 Damage to Automechanicals
Nyoka Perks
- Exterminator (Tier 3): +20 Damage to Creatures
Armor and Resistance
Companion Perks Tier 2
- Battle Hardened: +5 Armor Rating
Companion Perks Tier 4
- Shake it Off: -30% Harmful Status Effect Duration
Companion Perks Tier 5
- Stand Your Ground: +3 Armor Rating for 10s
Abilities
Companion Perks Tier 3
- Spec Ops: +20% Chance to Reset Ability Cooldowns on Ability use
- Stonebreaker: +30% Companion Ability Damage
Companion Perks Tier 4
- Echoing Thunder: +20% Chance to Reset Ability Cooldown on Kill
Companion Perks Tier 5
- Long Winter: +20% Duration of Status Effects inflicted by Companion Abilities
