Flaws in The Outer Worlds 2 make sure to remind you that no one, whether you’re a follower of the Protectorate, an advocate of Auntie’s Choice, or even an Earth Directorate agent, is perfect. But if you accept your flaws, you can start to see their bright side and have an imperfectly fun experience.
The flaw system makes your character feel alive as they learn from their experiences (and many questionable decisions). However, if you want to make sure to pick the right flaw for your character, we can help with a list of flaws in The Outer Worlds 2.
How flaws work in The Outer Worlds 2
The flaw system brings a unique set of passive abilities your character can have in The Outer Worlds 2. Although the name implies these abilities represent flaws your character has, their effects aren’t necessarily terrible. (OK maybe just a little.) Every flaw has its advantages and disadvantages. They can make items from vendors cost more, but also lower the amount of money you receive from selling items.
Unlike skills and perks, flaws are unlocked when you meet a hidden condition, which goes from spending too much money to simply looking at the sun for long periods. You won’t know how close you are to unlocking a flaw, but when you do, a screen will appear notifying you that “The Earth Directorate Found a Flaw in You!” along with the flaw’s effects. When this happens, you can either accept or reject that flaw. However, it’s important to note that you can’t remove a flaw you’ve accepted, so be mindful before adding the ability to your character.
Best flaws in The Outer Worlds 2
Every flaw can be good and bad depending on your playstyle and goals in the game. There are some, however, that offer benefits that can be worth pursuing, and that can make your experience with the game less troublesome.
Dependent
By unlocking the Dependent flaw, you receive a damage bonus of 25% whenever you attack enemies hit by your companion. The downside of this flaw is that your damage in general is reduced by 10%. Even so, you are always traveling and fighting alongside companions, so the chances of you keeping this bonus up all the time is high, especially when facing stronger enemies.
Easily Distracted
In The Outer Worlds 2, having multiple skills increases the chances of you finding the solution to a problem and progressing smoothly in the campaign. With the Easily Distracted flaw, you will receive one extra skill point whenever you level up, giving you more points to spend and, consequently, more skills to use. However, you’re forced to only allocate skill points to your lowest-level skills or skills that have no points at all, making it difficult to specialize on a single skill.
Teetotaler
The Teetotaler flaw is a great support ability compared to other flaws as it increases the amount of health you recover by 25% when using the Medical Inhaler, but the toxicity you gain also increases by 25%. Although you’ll get closer to becoming intoxicated after using your Medical Inhaler, it will also ensure you receive all the healing you need during a fight.
Overprepared
There are many situations where the only solution is to get your gun and start blasting. By unlocking the Overprepared flaw, you’ll increase your gun’s magazine size by 50%, which means the amount of time you can shoot will also increase. However, if you accept it, you will need to manage the number of bullets you have because, if you empty your magazine, you will receive a -40% damage debuff for eight seconds.
Consumerism
This flaw offers a simple 15% discount on items sold by vendors, which is always useful at the beginning of the game when you’re low on funds. Later on, it’ll help you buy the most expensive items like blueprints and even the Advanced Decryption Keys you need to open high security lockboxes. Unfortunately, everything comes with a price and, by having this flaw, you’ll receive 10% less money for items you sell.
List of flaws in The Outer Worlds 2
In The Outer Worlds 2, there are multiple flaws for you to choose from. Since you can’t remove a flaw, learning what they do helps you identify whether a flaw fits your character.
Below, we listed all the flaws we have seen so far in The Outer Worlds 2. In case more are found, we’ll update this list accordingly.
Flaw | Description | How to unlock it |
|---|---|---|
Anger Mismanagement | Gets +25% power attack damage but receives +50% damage while blocking. | Use power attacks with melee weapons by holding the attack command. |
Bad Knees | +50% Crouching Speed, but crouching emits a 10m radius sound that hostiles can hear and investigate. | Crouch for long periods. |
Consumerism | -15% vendor prices and -10% sell value at vendors. | Must have the Premium Edition. |
Dangerously Curious | Gets +100% experience when hacking, but the cost of hacking increases by +1 bypass shunt. | Hack multiple devices. |
Dependent | You cause -10% damage, but your attacks deal +25% when hitting enemies recently damaged by a companion. | Stay in the backline letting your companions take most of the damage. |
Drug Addiction | The amount of toxicity you gain when using the Medical Inhaler is reduced by 40%, but you restore -20% health when using it. | Use your inhaler constantly. |
Easily Distracted | Gain +1 skill points per level, but can only add skill points to the lowest skill or skills with no points. | Spread your skill points across different skills. |
Easily Startled | While your footsteps volume and the NPC awareness detection rate are reduced by 25% each, you receive a debuff that ignores your damage resistance and evasion for eight seconds after being caught by the enemy. | Get spotted by enemies too many times. |
Energy Hog | -25% Energy Recharge Rate, but +50 Gadget Energy Meter max | Frequently spend all your gadget energy. |
Flawed | You gain a perk point every five levels, but you must accept all flaws. | Accepting two or more flaws. |
Foot-in-Mounth Syndrome | You receive +15% experience, but the dialogue options are randomly picked by the game for you. | Quickly choose dialogue options when talking to NPCs. |
Gluttony | Food and drinks restore +15% health, but you have -10% combat movement speed. | Consume a lot of food and drinks. |
Hermit | Vendors sell price increases by 50% but have a 25% chance of receiving double materials when breaking items. | Avoid buying things from vendors, but break trash to gain craft materials. |
Kleptomania | Gets +100% when selling stolen items to vendors, but may automatically steal things. | Steal many things. |
N-Radiated | When taking damage, you have a 5% chance to become invisible to enemies and deal bonus damage, but you always take an additional 5% of your max HP as N-Ray damage. | Complete the N-Ray Range on Golden Ridge. |
Overprepared | +50% magazine size, but -40% damage for eight seconds after emptying a gun. | Constantly reload your gun while still having bullets in the magazine. |
Profligate Spender | 75% of the acquired bits are kept by Valerie until you’re level 30, but you earn 25% of stored bits on level up as interest; an additional 25% every 5 levels, and at level 30, you receive 150% of your total stored bits. | Spend large amounts of money buying items from vendors. |
Reckless Leadership | Heal a companion and fills their ability gauge when the other goes down, but you can’t revive companions in combat anymore. | Your companions go down too many times in combat. |
Snobbish | The price vendors buy for materials rises by 20%, but you can’t break items anymore. | Buy materials from vendors. |
Sungazer | You suffer permanent damage to your vision (blurs your vision in-game) and receive +100% ranged weapon spread, but your health is recored up to 50% when on the outside during the day. | Look directly at the sun for a long time. |
Technophobia | Deal +20% damage to automechanicals, but you also receive +20% from them. | Fight automechanicals. |
Teetotaler | +25% health restored when using your Medical Inhaler, but you also receive +25% toxicity. | Avoid getting too much toxicity by using your Medical Inhaler frequently. |
Treacherous | Your base health is reduced by 25%, but you receive a bonus of +50% enemy awareness depletion rate and +100% sneak attack damage. | Perform sneak attacks and keep undetected by enemies. |
For more help on your Arcadia adventure, check out our Outer Worlds 2 beginner guide and recommendations for the best skills and best perks. Don’t forget to grab your double jump while you’re still on Paradise Island, between helping Milverstreet or Kaur and getting into the Fairfield armory. And speaking of Eden, our guide for how to handle the final Vox Relay Station choice explains the outcomes of your actions and how to get around harming anyone
