Puzzling out the best traits in The Outer Worlds 2 is a tricky business—after all, you haven't really played the game yet, so you don't know what's going to be most useful. You can pick two positive traits, but doing so will mean you have to take a negative trait as well. If you instead opt for just one positive trait, you can avoid that negative entirely.
You'll also be offered new "flaws" (essentially traits) every time you level up based on your actions in-game. These range from being quite useful to something nobody in their right mind would ever pick, but if you're really into the roleplaying side of things, you might like accepting perks that call out your degenerate RPG behaviour (speaking for myself there).
Best traits to pick in The Outer Worlds 2
The best positive traits in The Outer Worlds 2 are:
- Brilliant: During skill selection, specialise in one additional skill. Specialised skills start with two points.
- Lucky: +5% Critical Chance. Certain opportunities are just accessible to you.
Since The Outer Worlds 2 is, by and large, a numbers game, having additional specialised skills generally makes it easier to reach and pass skill checks, which is most of what you'll be doing besides combat. There are also a lot of situations where "Brilliant" can simply be used to straight-up pass some tough skill checks.
If you want to take an additional trait (and so pick a negative as well), I recommend Lucky. The crit chance bonus is nice, but I know it can impact quite significant decisions, which makes it a fun surprise when it does pop up as an option.
If you don't take that, then Brawny would be my third choice. Melee enemy closing in on you? Just sprint into them to knock them down. Even if you don't use melee weapons, it's handy when enemies get too close for comfort. There are also tons of skill checks you can pass with Brawny, such as pulling open jammed doors you'd usually have to use the engineering skill for.
The best negative trait in The Outer Worlds 2 is:
- Sickly: -15% Base Health, -15 Toxicity Crash Threshold
This might feel a little rough at first, but it's the only negative trait that you can directly remedy over time. "Dumb" locks skills and "Abrasive" locks faction rep at neutral, both of which you can't do anything about. Sickly, however, only affects HP and toxicity, two things you can change through armor and collectibles.
Grabbing Tossball Cards, for instance, can boost your toxicity threshold or your max HP. Levelling the medical skill also boosts your toxicity threshold. Wearing certain armor will buff your HP and toxicity drain rate. One of the best armor pieces you can grab on Paradise Island, the first region, even buffs your damage when you're Crashing (at max toxicity) and having Sickly would actually make it easier to hit that.
Sickly also gives lots of unique dialogue options, including some that actually make characters easier to convince via Speech checks in certain important moments.
Should you take flaws in The Outer Worlds 2?
As mentioned, when you level up in The Outer Worlds 2, you'll often be offered a flaw based on your behaviour in game. This is essentially an optional trait you can pick which will provide you with its listed bonus and negative. Usually, these represent a devil's bargain, like reduced enemy awareness so you can go stealth easier, but less health. Or companions with more health, but you can no longer revive them—think of them like little personal touches you can adopt based on your playstyle.
Of course, you don't have to take flaws and, in fact, the game expressly warns you not to if you want the vanilla experience and don't want things to get too unbalanced. Still, they're pretty fun and there's no harm in taking one or two. The one you really need to watch out for is "Flawed" which forces you to take any flaw you're offered; it's definitely not recommended you take this for a first playthrough.
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