Last Updated on October 21, 2019
The Outer World launch is nearing, YouTubers have started putting out content for the game. The preview build that was out for a while, thanks to that we have guides related to the game available already. YouTuber MrMattyPlays has done a 24-minute video explaining everything in detail.
In this guide, I’ll briefly go through the skill-tree and what skills you should unlock. Do keep in mind that your Skill tree + Attribute tree synergizes with each other.
Outer Worlds Skills Guide

Skills are grouped into six categories; Melee, Ranged, Tech, Defense, Dialog, Leadership, and Stealth. This should be self-explanatory for most of the players, we’ll go in details below for each category. You can also get the armor in the game that will provide you with bonus perks, which will boost your skills.
Melee
Skill | Details | Skill Bonus |
One-handed Melee | Boosts critical hit chance for all one-handed melee weapons | Novice: Unlocks Power and Sweep Attacks Competent: Unlocks TTD Location hit effects Adept: Increases range of weapons by 30% Expert: TTD Drain reduced by 50% Master: Power and Sweep attacks now have a 25% chance of stunning enemies |
Two-handed Melee | Boosts critical hit chance for all two-handed melee weapons | Novice: Unlocks Power and Sweep Attacks Competent: Unlocks TTD Location hit effects Adept: Two-handed weapon attacks cannot be blocked anymore. Expert: TTD Drain reduced by 50% Master: Power and Sweep attacks now have a 25% chance of knocking down enemies. |
Ranged
Skill | Details | Skill Bonus |
Handguns | Increases the critical hit chance of Handguns, decreases weapon sway. | Novice: Unlocks TTD location hit effects Competent: Critical Hit Damage increased by 50% Adept: Min Armor penetration increased by 10%. Expert: Enemy Critical chance decreased by 20%. Master: Critical hits with handguns will now ignore 100% of the enemy armor. |
Long Guns | Increases the critical hit chance of Long Guns, decreases weapon sway. | Novice: Unlocks TTD location hit effects Competent: Critical Hit Damage increased by 50% Adept: Headshot and weak spot damage increased by 20%. Expert: Unlocks Deadly focus granting no weapon sway for 5 seconds after elimination. Master: Critical hits with Long Guns will now ignore 100% of the enemy armor. |
Heavy Weapons | Increases the critical hit chance of Heavy Weapons, decreases weapon sway. | Novice: Unlocks TTD location hit effects Competent: Critical Hit Damage increased by 50% Adept: Bonus reload speed of 50%. Expert: Unlocks Heavy Weapon Frenzy. Every critical hit will grant bonus rate of fire for 3 seconds. Master: Critical hits with Heavy weapons will now ignore 100% of the enemy armor. |
Defense
Skill | Details | Skill Bonus |
Dodge | Increases the dodge distance and reduces status effects duration. | Novice: Unlocks leap ability. Competent: 100% recovery speed for dodge ability. Adept: Dodge protection grants +30%armor after dodging for 5 seconds. Expert: Unlocks Dodge Force. Melee attacks after dodging will have +50% damage. Master: Unlocks Dodge Penetration. Weak spot hits will reduce 50% armor for 5 seconds after dodging. |
Block | Perfectly block attacks. Grants additional armor protection while wielding melee weapons. | Novice: Unlocks Perfect Block. Blocking will stagger enemies. Competent: Weapon Durability loss decreased by 25% upon blocking. Adept: +100% moving speed while blocking. Expert: Weapon durability loss decreased by 100%. Master: Perfect blocks will now weaken enemies and grant a 100% damage bonus for 5 seconds. |
If you are going for a ranged build then you should invest in that tree. If you are working on a melee build then you should focus on Stealth and Melee skills. You can configure these according to your liking.
Dialog, Stealth, and Tech Skill tree will be added once the game is officially released. Stay tuned!