Skills

Learn about The Outer Worlds 2 skills, ranks, and how skill points affect combat, dialogue, and defense. Understand skill checks and effective skill levels.

Your effective skill level, which can be boosted by companions, equipment, and mods (like a Silver Tongue Kit), determines success in skill checks. However, special abilities tied to skill ranks require actual point investment.

Skill Point Progression:

1. 20 Points: Novice Rank
2. 40 Points: Competent Rank
3. 60 Points: Adept Rank
4. 80 Points: Expert Rank
5. 100 Points: Master Rank

Melee

Investing in Melee increases critical hit chance with melee weapons and synergizes with Defense skills.

1-Handed Melee

• Novice: Unlocks power and sweep attacks.
• Competent: Unlocks TTD (The Outer Worlds 2's Time Dilation Technology, a slow-motion aiming mechanic) location hit effects.
• Adept: +30% weapon reach.
• Expert: -50% TTD drain.
• Master: +25% stun chance with power and sweep attacks.

1-handed melee weapons include swords and hammers.

2-Handed Melee

• Novice: Unlocks power and sweep attacks.
• Competent: Unlocks TTD location hit effects.
• Adept: Attacks are unblockable.
• Expert: -50% TTD drain.
• Master: +25% knockdown chance with power and sweep attacks.

2-handed melee weapons include staves, polearms, and sledgehammers.

Ranged

Investing in Ranged weapons decreases weapon sway and increases critical hit chance.

Handguns

• Novice: Unlocks TTD location effects.
• Competent: +50% critical damage.
• Adept: +10% armor penetration.
• Expert: +20% critical chance.
• Master: Critical hits ignore armor.

Handguns include pistols and revolvers.

Long Guns

• Novice: Unlocks TTD location effects.
• Competent: +50% critical damage.
• Adept: +20% headshot (a shot that lands on the enemy's head, usually an instant kill) / weak spot damage.
• Expert: Deadly Focus: No weapon sway for 5s after a kill.
• Master: Critical hits ignore armor.

Long guns include shotguns, carbines, assault rifles, and hunting rifles.

Heavy Weapons

• Novice: Unlocks TTD location effects.
• Competent: +50% critical damage.
• Adept: +30% reload speed.
• Expert: Heavy Weapon Frenzy: Increased ROF (Rate of Fire) for 3s after critical hit.
• Master: Critical hits ignore armor.

Heavy weapons include machine guns, grenade launchers, and flamethrowers.

Defense

Investing in Defense increases your ability to avoid taking damage and synergizes with Melee skills.

Dodge

• Novice: Unlocks Leap ability.
• Competent: +100% Dodge recovery speed.
• Adept: Dodge Protection: +30% armor rating for 5s following a dodge.
• Expert: Dodge Force: +50% melee attack damage following a dodge.
• Master: Dodge Penetration: 50% chance for weak spot hits to ignore armor for 5s following a dodge.

You can dodge by double-tapping the X button without investing points, but skill investment allows more frequent dodges and improves post-dodge offense. Your effective skill level influences dodge distance and reduces the duration of harmful status effects.

Block

• Novice: Perfect Block: Block just before an enemy attack connects to stun the attacker.
• Competent: -25% weapon durability loss.
• Adept: +100% walk speed while blocking.
• Expert: No weapon durability loss when successfully executing a Perfect Block.
• Master: +100% weapon damage for 5s after successfully executing a Perfect Block.

Blocking is possible without skill investment using a melee weapon. Investing points allows for Perfect Blocks by timing the L2 button press. Your effective skill level increases your armor rating when using a melee weapon.

Dialog

Investing in dialog skills makes it easier to persuade others, add credibility to lies, and intimidate opponents. Since dialog skills can be easily boosted by companions and gear, investing beyond 50 points is often unnecessary to pass any speech check in the game.

Persuade

• Novice: Cower: 20% chance of causing a human enemy to cower in terror for 3s after hitting them.
• Competent: +7s Cower duration.
• Adept: Cowering enemies suffer a -50% armor penalty.
• Expert: +10% Cower chance.
• Master: +25% armor for 10s after inflicting Cower status.

A high Persuade skill is effective against human enemies and used for interacting with NPCs (Non-Player Characters, or characters controlled by the game's AI). The gear combination Chimaera and A Nice Hat, along with the Armor Master perk, can grant an effective Persuade skill of 100 with only 66 points invested.

Lie

• Novice: Scramble: 15% chance of causing an automechanical enemy to attack other enemies (slowly) for 10s.
• Competent: +7s Scramble duration.
• Adept: Scrambled enemies attack at normal speed.
• Expert: +10% Scramble chance.
• Master: +30% weak spot damage on Scrambled enemies.

A high Lie skill is effective against automechanical enemies and used for interacting with NPCs.

Intimidate

• Novice: Terrify: 20% chance of causing other creatures to flee for 10s after killing one.
• Competent: +100% AOE (Area of Effect) for Terrify.