The Outer Worlds 2 isn’t subtle about one thing: it wants you to feel like the biggest problem in the galaxy. You’re not some underdog scraping by with a pistol and half a moral compass. You’re the walking embodiment of corporate regret, a disaster wrapped in a smile and armed to the teeth. Obsidian’s sequel takes everything players loved about the first game and supercharges it. More perks, more chaos, and more opportunities to accidentally vaporize everyone in a five-meter radius just by breathing too hard.
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The best part is that the game gives you the tools to do it. The perk system in The Outer Worlds 2 is absurd in all the best ways. A handful of choices can turn a timid spacer into a universal threat, capable of turning tactical gadgets into time-bending carnage or sneaking up behind enemies so hard they explode out of sheer embarrassment. These seven perks are the kind that make you question whether you’re still playing an RPG or if you’ve been promoted to godhood.
7. Point Blank Artist
Point Blank Artist is what happens when you combine close-range combat with pure, unfiltered ego. It buffs your shotgun, SMG, and pistol damage by a ridiculous amount against targets within 10 meters, turning personal space into your deadliest weapon. Anything outside that range might as well not exist, because you’re too busy erasing everything in front of you. Add in the monstrous 100% Sneak Attack damage bonus, and you’ve got a setup that practically begs you to get uncomfortably close to your enemies. With a stealth build, this perk turns every encounter into an up-close magic trick where the punchline is someone’s internal organs.
6. Slow-more
If time is money, then Slow-more makes you the richest lunatic in the system. This perk supercharges your Tactical Time Dilation gadget, the one that slows everything down and makes you look like a space ninja. Not only does it boost your Evasion while active, but it also refunds 1 Energy every time you successfully dodge an attack. That means if you’re even mildly competent at dodging, you can live in slow motion forever. Imagine waltzing through gunfire while your enemies fire rounds that move like molasses. You are the storm, the dancer, and the slow-motion montage all at once. It’s Bullet Time turned self-sustaining, and it feels as broken as it sounds.
5. Tit for Tat
For the melee player’s dream, Tit for Tat is simple and unreasonably satisfying. You heal for 25% of the damage you deal with melee attacks, turning every swing into a lifeline. The harder you hit, the harder it is for anything to kill you. With enough investment into melee damage, you’ll start wondering why the game even bothers giving you a health bar. It’s less of a perk and more of a contract stating that pain is a renewable resource. Against hordes of enemies, you don’t retreat. You just keep swinging, regenerating, and laughing in the face of physics. On higher difficulties, it’s practically mandatory for anyone who believes subtlety is overrated and that the best defense is turning the enemy into paste with a big hammer. No retreat, no surrender.
4. Duelist
Duelist takes melee combat and gives it a stylish flourish. By timing your blocks perfectly, you can completely humiliate your enemies. A perfect block not only reduces damage but also stuns the poor fool who dared to attack you for a full eight seconds. That’s an eternity in The Outer Worlds 2. The best part? There’s no visible cooldown, so as long as your timing is sharp, you can juggle enemies in an endless loop of regret. Every swing they take just digs their own grave. Combine this with Tit for Tat, and you become an immortal dueling machine, all the while looking amazing while doing it. It’s combat ballet, and you’re the only one who knows the steps.
3. Sleight of Hands
For the smooth criminals and silent assassins out there, Sleight of Hands is your golden ticket to absolute dominance. It speeds up Pickpocketing and scales your Sneak Attack damage by 10% per point of Lockpicking skill. You’re rewarded for being sneaky and unreasonably clever. This perk turns every stealth mission into a playground where the rules simply do not apply to you. You’ll slip through enemy lines, empty their pockets, and end their lives before they realize they’ve been robbed. The higher your Lockpicking, the higher your Sneak Attack damage climbs, turning your dagger or silenced weapon into a tool of interstellar justice. If you like to feel like a ghost that steals your wallet before ending your existence, this perk was made for you.
2. Lucky Strikes
Some perks make you stronger. Others make you a walking nightmare. Lucky Strikes is firmly in the latter category. It doubles your Critical Hit damage and causes enemies killed by a crit to explode, dealing 20% of their total health as damage to everyone nearby. That’s not a typo. You’re literally turning corpses into proximity mines. It’s a chain reaction of beautiful, fiery chaos that turns small skirmishes into complete apocalypses. If you stack Crit Chance and go all-in on headshots, you can clear entire rooms faster than your companions can complain about your life choices. There’s nothing subtle about Lucky Strikes, but there’s also nothing quite as satisfying as watching the universe burn because you happened to aim well.
1. Stalker
Finally, there’s Stalker, the ultimate power fantasy for those who believe silence is the loudest weapon. If any enemy is distracted or investigating something you’ve done, you gain an absurd 200% Sneak Attack damage bonus. That means if they even think about looking for you, they’re already dead. You become a shadow with a grudge, a whisper that kills in an instant. Combined with Sleight of Hands and Point Blank Artist, Stalker turns you into the galaxy’s most efficient serial vanisher. Entire outposts will vanish before the alarm even sounds. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a god of death in a spacesuit, this is how you do it.
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