The best builds in The Outer Worlds will allow you to navigate Halcyon as well-equipped as possible. We’ve gathered the following The Outer Worlds best builds and best starting builds after 40+ hours with the game, having tried our hand at various playstyles and finding that these offered the best chances of success. We’ve even thrown in an additional best pacifist build guide, for those who want to embark on a daring pacifist run in The Outer Worlds.
The following includes the best attributes, skills, and aptitude for each build, letting you know where to invest points in character creation along with how to spec your character as you continue gaining skill points throughout the game.
The Outer Worlds Best Builds | Pacifist build
A pacifist run would be achievable in The Outer Worlds, even if it would arguably not be the most fun to play the game. Sure, you can argue your way out of a bunch of conflicts and stealth is an option, but as you can’t take out enemies non-lethally, it’d require a lot of sneaking and avoiding combat outright.
With that said, there are ways you can tailor your build for a pacifist run by investing in dialog and stealth.
Pacifist build attributes
Your strength and dexterity are largely unnecessary aside from lockpicking and sneaking, which you can improve in your skills. You’ll want personality traits charm and temperament to be high, as this will improve your interactions with NPCs and allow you to progress without combat. Intelligence will improve your methods of persuasion along with hacking, which will often allow you to bypass tricky areas of the game by opening up an otherwise sealed door.
- Strength: Below average
- Dexterity: Below average
- Intelligence: Good
- Perception: Average
- Charm: Very high
- Temperament: Very high
Pacifist build skills
Dialog and stealth are going to be your most important skills here, given that they’ll allow you to navigate The Outer Worlds without having to kill enemies.
- Dialog: +1
- Stealth: +1
Pacifist build aptitude
The aptitude cashier, sub-grade, non-supervisory will give you an increase in your persuade skill, allowing you to use persuasion in order to convince NPCs to do as you want.
Best core skills and specialized skills for pacifist build
To begin with, points placed in the core skills dialog and stealth will be most advantageous. Additional points should be placed in tech, which will eventually level up the specialized medical skill which will increase the health dispensed by your inhaler.
After you reach rank 50 in these core skills, focus on persuade and lie in the dialog core skill. These are the most frequently-used dialog options, and will frequently get you out of a tough spot. In the stealth core skill, focus on sneak and lockpick.
The Outer Worlds Best Starting Build | All-around
To create a good jack-of-all-trades in The Outer Worlds, you’re going to want to invest in attributes and skills across the board while also ensuring that you aren’t ill-equipped to face some of the game’s later challenges.
All-around build attributes
The Outer Worlds strongly favors those who can lie and persuade, so you’ll want to more-or-less spread your attributes evenly aside from temperament, which will improve your lying along with giving you moderately improved health regeneration. You could also use this additional point for charm if you want to also favor abilities such as intimidate, hack, and science.
- Strength: Good
- Dexterity: Good
- Mind: Good
- Perception: Average
- Carm: Good
- Temperament: High
All-around build skills
Points should be invested in dialog and stealth in your skills menu, given that they will be two of your most invaluable abilities as you progress. Lying and persuading NPCs is one of the most frequent methods of progression during The Outer Worlds, while hacking opens up a variety of doors and containers which will grant you useful weapons, armor, and items.
- Dialog: +1
- Stealth: +1
All-around build aptitude
Selecting the Bureaucrat, Rank 0 aptitude will grant you a bonus to your block, which will help prevent damage done to your character.
Best core skills and specialized skills for all-around build
Investing in the core skills ranged, dialog, and tech will be most beneficial for an all-around build. Ranged weapons are more preferable than melee, while dialog is hugely important in The Outer Worlds and tech will eventually allow you to improve your healing, your armor, and your science-based weaponry.
The Outer Worlds Best Builds | Best sniper build
To be a good sniper, you’re going to want to create a build that minimizes the need for you to throw yourself into the center of a battle. This means that you’re going to want to prioritize your long-range weaponry along with your charm and temperament, given that they will both allow you to navigate The Outer Worlds using non-lethal methods.
Sniper build attributes
As a sniper, you’ll obviously want to ensure that you’re capable of handling long-range weapons. However, even with your long guns stats raised, you’ll still inevitably find yourself surrounded by enemies every now and again. This is why you also want to invest heavily in your companions.
Companions can be incredibly important in The Outer Worlds, if you spec them correctly. Investing points into charm increases the refresh rate of their abilities, which can be handy in the heat of battle. Abilities are performed by pressing either left or right on the d-pad, and you can unlock perks while playing that further reduces this cooldown. Taking enemies out from a distance while sending your companions in to do the close-quarters combat is the most advantageous tactic for those using this build.
To create the perfect sniper build, first invest points into the following attributes:
- Strength: Average
- Dexterity: Average
- Intelligence: Very High
- Perception: Average
- Charm: High
- Temperament: Good
Sniper build skills
With your two available skill points, invest into dialog so you can talk your way out of tricky situations, and invest in leadership so you can continue to improve your companions.
- Dialog: +1
- Leadership: +1
Sniper build aptitude
Choosing the cashier, sub-grade, non-supervisory aptitude will grant you an additional point in persuade, which will allow you to talk your way out of conflict.
Best core skills and specialized skills for sniper build
Ranged should be the core skill you invest in the most, with the long guns specialized skill being your focal point after you’ve reached level 50 in this core skill. Dialog will also be valuable, with the specialized skills persuade and lie will allow you to get out of more close-range combat scenarios.
The Outer Worlds Best Builds | Best melee build
Building a melee class in The Outer Worlds can be tricky, as choosing not to pick enemies off from a distance can lead to you being frequently overwhelmed. As such, solely investing attribute points into your melee proficiency isn’t ideal, as you’ll need to navigate your way out of some of the game’s trickier fights rather than run into them headfirst.
The first step is to invest attribute points into strength, which will increase your proficiency with 1-handed melee and 2-handed melee weapons, along with improving your blocking and increasing your carrying capacity. Your dexterity will also increase your 1-handed melee abilities, along with your dodge and blocking.
Charm should be high, as this will increase your ability to persuade, lie, and intimidate. This will be useful as you progress through the game, giving you the option to not have to resort to attacking your enemies. As melee weapons are generally more difficult to use than long-ranged weapons, being able to talk your way out of an encounter that’d otherwise see you dramatically outnumbered is definitely the way to go.
- Strength: High
- Dexterity: Good
- Mind: Average
- Perception: Average
- Personality: High
- Temperament: Good
Melee build skills
The skills you’ll want to put points into are pretty obvious when it comes to creating a melee build. The first is melee, which will improve your proficiency with melee weapons. The second is defense, which will raise your dodge and block stats. This will allow you to minimize the amount of damage you’ll receive, which is hugely important considering that you’ll be at your most vulnerable when dealing with enemies in close-quarters combat
- Melee: +1
- Defense: +1
Melee build aptitude
The factory worker, conveyor operator aptitude will give you a +1 bonus in dodge, which is the most valuable aptitude for a melee build.
Best core skills and specialized skills for melee build
Melee should be the core skill you invest the most into, along with defense. Dodging, in particular, will be a highly useful specialized skill as you progress, allowing you to maneuver around enemy gunfire. Blocking is beneficial, though dodging is much more useful when taking on ranged enemies, which will provide you with the most difficulty.
