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Outer Worlds 2

Best Perks

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The Outer Worlds 2 - Best Perks

This lists all of the best Perks to unlock in Outer Worlds 2. Find out which Perks are the overall best, as well as which Perks are the best for each Skill.

Perks-Related Pages
List of All Perks Best Perks

Best Perks Tier List

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Pickpocket Icon Pickpocket
Commando Icon Commando
Trophy Hunter Icon Trophy Hunter
Bulletshield Icon Bulletshield
A TierA Tier
Shiny New Toy Icon Shiny New Toy
Pitch/Tossball Hacker Icon Pitch/Tossball Hacker
Assassin Icon Assassin
Pitch/Tossball Hacker Icon Pitch/Tossball Hacker
Face Reader Icon Face Reader
B TierB Tier
Hot Blooded Icon Hot Blooded
Contingency Screen Icon Contingency Screen
Tinkerer Icon Tinkerer
Wholesale Spender Icon Wholesale Spender
Contingency Screen Icon Contingency Screen

The Best Perks are Pickpocket and Commando

The best Perks in the game are Commando, Trophy Hunter, Restricted Access, Bulletshield, and Pickpocket.

Commando, Restricted Access, and Pickpocket are all Perks you can get early on in the game with minimal Skill investment, and have effects that are useful on all builds. Pickpocket lets you pickpocket NPCs and access quest items that you otherwise cannot, and Commando provides an additional weapon slot, and

Trophy Hunter and Bulletshield, on the other hand, are not aligned with any of the skills, and provide increased Critical Chance and more Health and Damage Resistance respectively.

Best Perks Per Skill

Jump to a Skill!
Guns Melee Sneak Lockpick
Engineering Explosives Hack Medical
Science! Observation Speech Leadership

Best Guns Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Commando Icon Commando
Sharpshooter Icon Sharpshooter
Point Blank Artist Icon Point Blank Artist
Gun Runner Icon Gun Runner
A TierA Tier
Serendipitous Slayer Icon Serendipitous Slayer
Crabble Rancher Icon Crabble Rancher
Eden Windage Icon Eden Windage
Hail of Lead Icon Hail of Lead
Penetrating Shots Icon Penetrating Shots
Shiny New Toy Icon Shiny New Toy
B TierB Tier
Trick Shot Icon Trick Shot
Suppressionist Icon Suppressionist
Multitasker Icon Multitasker
Lucky Strikes Icon Lucky Strikes
Deep Drums Icon Deep Drums

The best Guns perks are Commando, all the damage increase perks, and Gun Runner. Commando itself is at the top of the list because you can slot it in any build of your choice, while Sharpshooter is a close second since it is a reliable damage boost with a gun-focused playstyle.

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Best Melee Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Heavy Handed Icon Heavy Handed
Shiny New Toy Icon Shiny New Toy
Echoing Blows Icon Echoing Blows
Pitch/Tossball Hacker Icon Pitch/Tossball Hacker
A TierA Tier
Duelist Icon Duelist
Run and Hitter Icon Run and Hitter
Commando Icon Commando
Tit for Tat Icon Tit for Tat
B TierB Tier
Vital Striker Icon Vital Striker
Assassin Icon Assassin
Lucky Strikes Icon Lucky Strikes

The best Melee perks are Heavy Handed, Shiny New Toy, Echoing Blows, and Pitch/Tossball Hacker.

Generally, if you are going for a melee build, you will be trying to lessen the amount of time you expose yourself to damage, so perks such as Heavy Handed, Shiny New Toy, and Pitch/Tossball Hacker allow you to efficiently deal with enemies at the first point of contact.

Additionally, Echoing Blows is included since it covers the innate weakness of melee builds in terms of their crowd control. This perk allows you to deal with a group of bunched-up enemies quickly.
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Best Sneak Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Assassin Icon Assassin
Stalker Icon Stalker
Suppressionist Icon Suppressionist
A TierA Tier
Light Step Icon Light Step
Vital Striker Icon Vital Striker
B TierB Tier
Silent Steps Icon Silent Steps
Ghost Icon Ghost

Most of the Sneak perks are quality-of-life improvements, but the best one out of those is the Assassin perk, as it allows you to quickly reposition yourself after a stealth kill; opening possibilities that would otherwise get you caught.

Lastly, Stalker and Suppressionist are what make you branch off to either focusing on melee or ranged stealth by increasing your damage, making them the core of all stealth builds.

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Best Lockpick Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Pickpocket Icon Pickpocket
A TierA Tier
Sleight of Hands Icon Sleight of Hands
Through the Keyhole Icon Through the Keyhole
B TierB Tier
Bag Check Icon Bag Check

The best perk of the Lockpick skill, arguably the whole game itself, is the Pickpocket perk. Not only is it easy to get, it allows you to access content you would otherwise miss; especially choices that lock you out of some rewards.

All of the other skills in the Lockpick skill are situational and niche at best, but Sleight of Hand is the best out of all of them, as it increases your sneak-attack damage!

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Best Engineering Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Tinkerer Icon Tinkerer
A TierA Tier
Master Armorer Icon Master Armorer
Makeshift Armorer Icon Makeshift Armorer
B TierB Tier
Scrapper Icon Scrapper

The best perk of the Engineering skill is the Tinkerer perk. Generally, it is best practice to attach mods to your weapon as they are always a net positive. The Tinkerer perk makes this aspect better by providing a damage boost based on your Engineering.

All of the other skills in the Engineering skill are bordering on the weak side, but Master Armorer allows you to get an additional Armoring mod slot for more build customizability.

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Best Explosives Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Secret Recipe Icon Secret Recipe
Demolitionist Icon Demolitionist
A TierA Tier
Incendiary Chef Icon Incendiary Chef
Grenadier Icon Grenadier
Hot Blooded Icon Hot Blooded
B TierB Tier
Defuser Icon Defuser
Pitch/Tossball Winger Icon Pitch/Tossball Winger

As the tertiary damage skill, Explosives' best skills are Secret Recipe and Demolitionist. This perk combo allows your explosives to always deal the optimal amount of damage, despite them being far away from the center of impact, which has enhanced range and is unable to damage you!

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Best Hack Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Manual Reset Icon Manual Reset
Restricted Access Icon Restricted Access
A TierA Tier
Automech Jammer Icon Automech Jammer
Automech Anatomist Icon Automech Anatomist
B TierB Tier
Bit Transfer Icon Bit Transfer
Plug Puller Icon Plug Puller

Most of the perks in the Hack skill are only appealing to roleplaying aspects, but Manual Reset and Restricted Access can see use within a playthrough.

While a weak perk on its own, Manual Reset can have a build centered around it using The Black Helmet to make Automechanical encounters trivial. Restricted Access, on the other hand, allows you to get some rare materials and consumables, such as Trauma Kits, from Vending Machines that you otherwise cannot.

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Best Medical Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Inhaler Overload Icon Inhaler Overload
Pharm-thusiast Icon Pharm-thusiast
Lasting High Icon Lasting High
Hungry Guns Icon Hungry Guns
A TierA Tier
Crash Recovery Icon Crash Recovery
Caustic Researcher Icon Caustic Researcher
Zyranium Absorption Icon Zyranium Absorption
Connoiseur Icon Connoiseur
B TierB Tier
Nature Nature's Friend
Nature Nature's Best Friend
Survivalist Icon Survivalist

The Medical skill's best pers are Inhaler Overload, Pharm-Thusiast, Lasting High, and Hungry Guns! While not as conventional of a damage perk, Medical can be a primary skill to focus on, especially if you want to play a tanky and fast-paced character.

The combo of Inhaler Overload, Pharm-Thusiast, and Lasting High enables the strategic use of Inhalers, essentially giving you long-lasting buffs and high survivability. In terms of offense, Hungry Guns makes the corrosive damage compete with all of the other damage types.

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Best Science! Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Rapid Recharge Icon Rapid Recharge
Electro-Therapist Icon Electro-Therapist
Cold Blooded Icon Cold Blooded
A TierA Tier
Slow-more Icon Slow-more
Contingency Screen Icon Contingency Screen
Targeting Scanner Icon Targeting Scanner
Weakspot Scanner Icon Weakspot Scanner
N-Radiator Icon N-Radiator
B TierB Tier
Sprayer Prayer Icon Sprayer Prayer
Zyranium Powered Icon Zyranium Powered

For the Science! skill, the best perks are those that improve on your damage output and allow you to use Gadgets more reliably: Rapid Recharge, Slow-More, Electro-Therapist, and Cold-Blooded!

With Rapid-Recharge and its easy accessibility, your Gadgets will have more uptime, and you will have an advantage during fights. Electro-Therapist and Cold Blooded then allows you to spec more into their respective damage types to build around.

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Best Observation Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Treasure Hunter Icon Treasure Hunter
Trick Shot Icon Trick Shot
A TierA Tier
Tracker Icon Tracker
Keen Observer Icon Keen Observer
Sharpshooter Icon Sharpshooter
B TierB Tier
Face Reader Icon Face Reader

The Observation skill, while advertised as a damage skill, is best understood as a utility skill. Its best perk, Treasure Hunter, allows you to gain a surplus of materials by making most containers you come upon have extra goodies for you to collect.

Additionally, the close second, Trick Shot, allows you to disperse your damage, making builds designed around one taps have better crowd control!

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Best Speech Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Space Ranger Icon Space Ranger
Intimidator Icon Intimidator
Charlatan Icon Charlatan
A TierA Tier
Negotiator Icon Negotiator
Grim Visage Icon Grim Visage
Tall Tale Teller Icon Tall Tale Teller
B TierB Tier
Palm-Greaser Icon Palm-Greaser
Wholesale Spender Icon Wholesale Spender

The Speech skill, by itself, is one of the best skills in the game. Additionally, its best perks, Space Ranger, Intimidator, and Charlatan, allow you to translate that high charisma into something more dangerously practical.

Space Ranger is the best perk in Speech as it generally increases your damage output with each point you allot into the skill. Intimidator and Charlatan increase your potency in battle by lessening aggro on you while removing some opponents from the fight entirely due to fear.

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Best Leadership Perks

Tier Unique Weapon
S TierS Tier
Inspiring Commander Icon Inspiring Commander
Negotiator Icon Negotiator
A TierA Tier
Comradery Icon Comradery
On Your Feet Icon On Your Feet
B TierB Tier
Busy Bodies Icon Busy Bodies

As for the Leadership skill, while weak in itself, it can be strong when taking into consideration all of your companions' broken abilities.

With that in mind, the best perks are Inspiring Commander and Negotiator as they keep your companion abilities going live more consistently during battles by converting kills to more charge and increasing the rate charged per second!

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Outer Worlds 2 Related Guides

The Outer Worlds 2 - Wiki

The Outer Worlds 2 Wiki

Recommended Guides

Meta Guides
Best Background Best Weapons
Best Armor Best Flaws
Best Traits Best Skills
Best Perks Best Side Quests
Best Companions Best Start
Ending Guides
All Endings -
Uniques and Science Guides
Unique Weapons Science Weapons
Unique Armor Unique Helmets
Other Recommended Guides
Missables and Points of No Return All Card Locations
How to Get Into Fairfield Armory How to Open the Commander's Safe
Is There Romance? How to Get Into and Power the Substation
List of Backgrounds How to Open Kaur's War Chest
List of All Planets and Locations All Rift Anomaly Locations
All Advanced Decryption Key Locations All High Security Lockbox Locations
How to Save Fairfield Is There New Game Plus?
Best Ending Guide All AutoDoc Locations

The Outer Worlds 2 Guides

Outer Worlds 2 Wiki Contents
The Outer Worlds 2 - Main QuestsMain Quests Side QuestsSide Quests
Collectible QuestsCollectible Quests TasksTasks
Companion QuestsCompanion Quests CompanionsCompanions
The Outer Worlds 2 Puzzles PartialPuzzles Outer Worlds 2 Choices PartialChoices
Weapons PartialWeapons The Outer Worlds 2 - ModsMods
ArmorArmor The Outer Worlds 2 - Helmets PartialHelmets
Builds PartialBuilds The Outer Worlds 2 - Resources PartialResources
Gadgets PartialGadgets Inhalers Partial BannerInhalers
Skills Partial BannerSkills Perks PartialPerks
Traits PartialTraits Flaws PartialFlaws
The Outer Worlds 2 - Interactive MapMaps Outer Worlds 2 Tips and Tricks PartialTips and Tricks
The Outer Worlds 2 - Factions PartialFactions Faction QuestsFaction Quests
The Outer Worlds 2 Items PartialItems The Outer Worlds 2 - Ship Pets PartialShip Pets
Outer Worlds 2 Trophies Partial.pngTrophies The Outer Worlds 2 - NewsNews and Game Info

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