Now we get to the fun stuff, The Outer Worlds weapons. There’s a lengthy amount of nurturing, buffing, and tinkering that you’ll have to give your weapons in The Outer Worlds. Picking up a gun you love won’t cut it, so we’ve broken down everything you need to know about weapons in The Outer Worlds.
There are six different types of weapons in The Outer Worlds including 1-handed melee, 2-handed melee, handguns, long guns, heavy weapons, and science weapons. Guns such as assault rifles, grenade launchers, and shotguns all fit into one of these six categories and require a type of ammo to function from light, heavy, and energy – with melee weapons needing no ammo at all.
All of The Outer Worlds weapons have a durability meter and can be repaired using weapon parts at a workbench. Your gun will never break completely, but a lower durability will affect the performance of your weapon, meaning it will deal less damage. You can also use a workbench to adapt your weapon in The Outer Worlds, adding mods to change its stats. Here’s everything you need to know about weapon types, special effects, and the science weapons you’ll find in The Outer Worlds.
Don’t forget when picking up weapons – looks for “Ultra” or “Mk 2” weapons, which will be stronger than their base counterparts.
The Outer Worlds weapon damage types
There are five different types of damage you can inflict with your weapons in The Outer Worlds. All weapon types have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s a case of chopping and changing between guns according to the enemies you come up against if you want to be operating at peak efficiency.
- Physical: weak against armour
- Plasma: advantage against flesh, but weak against mantisaurs
- Corrosion: advantage against armour, including automechnicals, manisaurs, and heavy armour
- Shock: advantage against automechanicals
- N-Ray: advantage against armour, but weak against inorganic enemies. Deals damage to an enemy, which continues to damage enemies around them
The Outer Worlds weapon special effects
The Outer Worlds weapons have all sorts of special effects and abilities, which makes shooting the bad guys (or good guys, who are we to judge?) all the more satisfying. Equipping a weapon with a special effect can have its advantages and disadvantages against certain enemy types and situations. Here are The Outer World weapon special effects:
- Weaken:lowers all skills a moderate amount and enemy takes increased plasma, shack, corrosive, and n-ray damage
- Stagger:pushes the enemy backwards a short distance, reduces melee, ranged, and defence skills. Increases the amount of physical damage received
- Knockdown:knocks enemy to the ground and makes them unable to take action for a small period
- Knockout:knocks the enemy to the ground, they are unable to attack for a longer period than Knockdown
- Stun:enemy is unable to attack for a small period
- Burn:deals burn damage
- Bleed:deals damage over time to flesh enemy types
- Execute:increased chance of finishing an enemy
The Outer Worlds science weapons
Science weapons in The Outer Worlds are unique guns created to be quirky, break the laws of physics, and fun to use. There are five science weapons in The Outer Worlds and they all need energy ammo to function, their special abilities compromise the damage dealt, but who cares when you’re shrinking robots. Science weapons also make up one of the best The Outer Worlds builds. Here are the five science weapons you can find in the The Outer Worlds.
- Shrink Ray: Deals plasma damage and reduces the enemy’s size, armour, and damage. Can be found in Phineas’ Lab.
- Prismatic Hammer: Sends out a wave of energy and can be found on Groundbreaker, when you purchase the battered Mardet datapad from Gladys it will show you to a hidden room located on Groundbreaker.
- Mandibular Rearranger: Has a chance to stagger enemies as well as dealing physical damage. You’ll need to purchase the Hephaestus Mining Archive Cartridge from Gladys on Groundbreaker, which will send you to the Abandoned Mining Outpost on Scylla.
- Gloop Gun: Deals shock damage and makes the enemy levitate while dealing splash damage to nearby enemies. Part of the Errors Unseen side mission found on Monarch.
- Mind Control Ray: Makes organic and automechanical enemies turn on each other, also dealing plasma damage. Head to Monarch and purchase the SubLight datapad from Duncan who can be found in the Fallbrook Dry Goods and Supplies.
- Employee Benefits: This is a unique handgun that heals those targeted by its beam. Only available in the Peril on Gorgon DLC, as a part of The Man in High Orbit quest.
- Special Delivery: A heavy weapon that shoots deadly explosives and knocks back enemies. Only available in the Peril on Gorgon DLC, acquired by murdering Charles From Accounting in the outskirts of Gorgon Canyon.
- The P.E.T.: This is a brutal two-handed melee weapon which causes enemies to bleed. Additionally, when you charge up a power of sweep attack, enemies will be pulled towards you. Only available in the Peril on Gorgon DLC, you can get this as a part of the A Dialog Between Dead Men quest.
Now you’re equipped with a fountain of knowledge of weapons in The Outer Worlds, our Outer Worlds perks and The Outer Worlds flaws will help you create your ideal character.
If you’re struggling to find your buddy in the open world of Halcyon, our guide to all The Outer Worlds companions and their perks can help find your faithful companion to join you in combat.
Additional reporting by Ben Sledge.
