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Outer Worlds 2

Damage Types and Status Effects Explained

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✧ Best Builds: Science | Stealth | Gunslinger
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Damage Types Explained
There are six damage types in The Outer Worlds 2, each with unique properties and strengths in combat. Learn about all six damage types and which enemies they’re most effective against, as well as a list of status effects in this guide!

List of Contents

Damage Types Explained

Damage Type Status Effects and Properties
Physical Damage IconPhysical Status Effect: None
All around damage-type, with no inherent advantages or disadvantages.
Plasma Damage IconPlasma Status Effect: Burn
Burn deals damage over time. Stacking Burn makes the target explode and deal AoE damage.
Corrosion Damage IconCorrosion Status Effect: Vulnerable
Vulnerable weakens armor as it builds up. With enough stacks, the effect becomes Dissolved, which removes armor entirely and increases damage taken.
・Strong against Armor
・Weaker against Creatures
Shock Damage IconShock Status Effect: Electrocuted
Electrocuted interrupts targets. Stacking the effect applies Paralyzed, disabling enemies and dealing heavy damage.
・Strong against Automechanicals
Frost Damage IconFrost Status Effect: Chilled
Chilled slows down targets attack and movement speed. Stacking it applies Frozen, disabling the target.
N-ray Damage IconN-ray Status Effect: N-Radiated
N-Radiated causes damage to a target and its effect spreads to other nearby targets. Stacking enough of it causes the target to die instantly.

List of All Weapons

Physical Damage

Physical Damage

Physical Damage is the most common type, dealt by conventional firearms and melee weapons. It’s highly versatile and has no inherent weaknesses.

Plasma Damage

Plasma Damage

Plasma Damage excels at dealing powerful damage over time through its Burn effect and benefits from increased damage with both the Science! and Explosives perks. It's also great at clearing groups of enemies for its AoE explosion effect. However, Automechs are immune to Plasma, so keep that in mind when fighting them.

Corrosion Damage

Corrosion Damage

Corrosion is highly effective against armored targets, weakening them with the Vulnerable effect and Dissolve effect if it stacks enough times. Note that Creature enemies are resistant against Dissolve.

Be cautious if you become affected by Vulnerable or Dissolved, as these effects make you significantly easier to kill.

Shock Damage

Shock Damage

Shock Damage is highly effective against Automechanicals, and its Electrocuted and Paralyzed status effects can interrupt enemies, stopping them in their tracks and reducing the chances of you getting hit.

If you are Electrocuted, your Gadget energy recharge rate slows down. If you become Paralyzed, your Gadget energy gets completely drained.

Frost Damage

Frost Damage

Frost Damage excels at crowd control, with the Chilled effect slowing enemies, especially melee attackers. With enough Chilled stacks, enemies get Frozen and immobilized, left vulnerable to follow-up attacks.

If you are Frozen, you cannot sprint, slide, or double jump until the effect wears off.

N-ray Damage

N-ray Damage is powerful for both single-target and crowd control situations. The N-Radiated effect spreads to nearby enemies, dealing damage over time. With enough N-Radiated stacks on a single target, it can instantly kill it regardless of remaining HP.

List of Status Effects

Buffs

Status Effect
Inspired IconInspired Increases damage and decreases damage taken. Can only be applied to your companions
Camouflaged IconCamouflaged Becomes invisible to enemies, preventing them from being attacked. Also gain bonus damage dealt and all crouched attacks are treated as sneak attacks.
Healing IconHealing Healing gained from a variety of sources.

Debuffs

Status Effect
Paralyzed IconParalyzed Applied via reaching max stacks of Electrocuted. When applied to you, your gadget energy is immediately emptied and stops recharging. When applied to others, they become unable to act entirely and zap others around them for shock damage.
Chilled IconChilled Applied via Frost damage. When applied to you, slows your reload and melee attack speed, slowing further with stacks applied. When max stacks is reached, the effect is replaced speed, Frozen.
Dissolved IconDissolved Applied via reaching max stacks of Vulnerable. Completely removes the benefits of armor and increases damage taken.
Scramble Charmed Tamed IconScramble, Charmed, Tamed The afflicted becomes temporarily friendly and fights with you. Scramble can only be applied to automechanicals, Charmed can only be applied to humans, and Tamed can only be applied to creatures.
Electrocuted IconElectrocuted Applied via Shock damage. When applied to you, reduces energy recharge rate, decreasing rate with stacks applied. When applied to others, periodically zapping and dealing damage to others around them, increasing the damage dealt with stacks applied. At max stacks, the effect is replaced with Paralyzed.
Frozen IconFrozen Applied via reaching max stacks of Chilled. When applied to you, you are unable to sprint and slide. When applied to others, they become unable to act entirely.
Burn IconBurn Applied via Plasma damage. Deals damage over time which increases with stacks applied. When max stacks is reached, the effect is replaced by an explosion, dealing plasma area damage.
Vulnerable IconVulnerable Applied via Corrosive damage. Reduces the effectiveness of armor, reducing it further with stacks applied. When max stacks is reached, the effect is replaced by Dissolved.
N-Radiated IconN-Radiated Applied via N-Ray damage. Deals damage over time to the afflicted and others around them, increasing damage with stacks applied. When max stacks is reached, the afflicted is immediately killed.
Confused IconConfused Causes aimless wandering and increases damage taken. Taking damage removes Confused.
Frightened IconFrightened Causes cowering and fleeing from combat.
Taunted IconTaunted Causes aggression, forcing the afflicted to attack the applier.
Goaded iconGoaded Causes extreme aggression, forcing the afflicted to attack the applier and take increased damage from all sources.
Stun iconStun Stuns the target, leaving them unable to act for a short time.
Light Heavy Overcharged Zyranium Poisoning IconLight Zyranium Poisoning Reduces max health and causes you to cough loudly every so often.
Light Heavy Overcharged Zyranium Poisoning IconHeavy Zyranium Poisoning Reduces max health and causes you to cough loudly every so often. Effects are more severe than Light Zyranium Poisoning.
Light Heavy Overcharged Zyranium Poisoning IconOvercharged Increases damage dealt and attack speed. Can only be applied to automechanicals when affected by Zyranium.
Bleed IconBleed Deals damage over time. Does not apply to Automechanicals.
Marked IconMarked Instructs your companions to focus the afflicted above other threats.

How to Increase Damage

Select Perks that Increase Elemental Damage

Type Affinity Damage Boosting Perks
Plasma Damage IconPlasma Explosives IconExplosives
Hot Blooded Icon Hot Blooded: You can now apply Burn faster and heal whenver Burn deals damage or reaches max stacks.
Corrosion Damage IconCorrosion Medical IconMedical
Caustic Researcher Icon Caustic Researcher: You now apply Vulnerable faster when dealing with Corrosive damage. Additionally, your critical hit chance against Dissolved foes is increased.
Hungry Guns Icon Hungry Guns: Guns that use bio-mass as ammo can hold twice as much before needing to be reloaded. You also deal more corrosive damage.
Shock Damage IconShock Science IconScience!
Electro-Therapist Icon Electro-Therapist: You now apply Electrocuted faster. Weak Automechs become Scrambled instead and will attack their allies for a duration and take damage over time. Does not work with leaders and bosses until health has been sufficiently reduced.
Frost Damage IconFrost Science IconScience!
Cold Blooded Icon Cold Blooded: You can now apply Chilled faster when dealing Frost damage, and enemies killed while Frozen will shatter, dealing frost damage to hostiles in the area.
N-ray Damage IconN-ray Science IconScience!
N-Radiator Icon N-Radiator: Once every few seconds, when you deal damage, you will deal the damage again as N-Ray.

Some Skills have Perks that align with certain types of Elemental Damage and their Status Effects. Science! perks typically enhance Shock, Frost, and N-ray damage, Explosives perks are associated with Plasma and Burn, while some Medical perks boost Corrosion.

Check each Skill’s Perks to find those that strengthen the damage type you want to focus on.

Best Perks

Level Up the Science! Skill to Increase Status Effect Stacks

The Science! skill directly increases the amount of stacks you can afflict of non-physical status effects, making it essential to invest in if you plan to focus on elemental weapons.

Increase Physical Damage Through General Skills and Perks

Physical Damage Increase Perk

Increase the Skill level of your preferred weapon type (Guns or Melee) to improve your overall Physical Damage output. Perks that enhance general damage will also strengthen Physical Damage, so prioritize selecting those.

Outer Worlds 2 Related Guides

Outer Worlds 2 Tips and Tricks Partial

Beginner's Guide: Tips and Tricks

All Tips and Tricks Guides

Gameplay Guides
Money Farming: How to Get Bits Fast Character Customization
How to Respec How to Get More Inhaler Charges
What to Buy and Sell First How to Get Ammo
How to Craft How to Fast Travel
Damage Types and Status Effects Explained Is There Transmog?
Consequences of Stealing How to Unlock Double Jump
XP Farming Guide: How to Level Up Fast What to Do First
How to Claim Premium Edition Items Is There Carrying Capacity and Encumbrance?
Stats Guide: How to Increase Stats How to Get Perk Points
How to Raise or Lose Reputation Do Enemies Respawn?
Level Cap: What is the Max Level? How to Hide Helmet
How to Use Radio How to Pickpocket and Steal
How to Lockpick Should You Sell or Breakdown Junk Items?
How to Holster Weapons How to Use Flashlight
How to Open Mysterious Safe in Cloister What Is Zyranium?
How to Pass Time How to Open Lockboxes
How to Increase Max Health How to Cross the Bridge
How to Get Into Scriptorium How to Sneak
How to Upgrade Companions How to Eat Food
Settings Guides
Best and Recommended Settings List of Controls
How to Change POV to Third Person How to Change FOV
Difficulty Differences: How to Change Difficulty Language Settings: How to Change Language

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