The Outer Worlds brings a total of 6 types of range of weapons ranging from melee to science weapons. These come with a lot of different damage types and special effects to make combat even more invigorating.
The Outer Worlds Weapons
Owing to this wide variety, weapon choices can sometimes get very complicated. To help you with your weapon maneuvering endeavors, we have put together everything you need to know about weapon in the game.
Damage Types
There are five different damage types that you can inflict on your enemies. And these have different effects on enemies of different types. This mechanics comes into more importance in later parts of the game.
Physical
This is simple physical damage that can be easily blocked by the Armor.
Corrosion
Unlike physical, this damage is effective against armor as it corrodes through it over time like an acid.
Plasma
This damage type is effective against unarmored enemies, mostly creatures. But armored enemies such as Mantisaurs are sort of immune to this damage. Plasma damage can also cause the Burn effect causing damage over time.
Shock
Shocks the enemy slowing them down and giving them a sort of debuff. It’s particularly useful against auto-mechanical enemies.
N-Ray
This damage type is capable of penetrating armor and is therefore effective against all enemies. It causes organic enemies to passively damage others near them. However, it is ineffective against auto-mechanics on account of their inorganic structure.
Special Effects
Apart from their general damage type, weapons in Outer Worlds are also capable to inflicting special effects upon the enemies specific to specialized weapons. These special effects are meant at putting the enemies at a disadvantage so you can have an upper hand in even the thinnest situations.
These are listed below;
Weaken: Reduces the enemy’s stats by a decent amount causing them to take more damage and die quickly.
Stun: Stuns the enemy for a short while giving you a window of opportunity.
Burn: Causes the target to get aflame and inflicts damage over time as they burn.
Knockdown: Knocks the enemy down to the ground leaving them incapable of taking action for a few seconds.
Bleed: Physical injury causes the enemy to bleed out causing damage over time and weakening body attributes slowly. Does not apply to Auto-Mechanicals.
Stagger: Pushes the enemy through a short distance causing them to lose balance and resultantly their melee and ranged damage capability and lowering their defense to allow more damage to be inflicted.
Knockout: Makes the target unconscious for a while by knocking them down to the ground.
To be able to choose the best weapon requires you to account for every aspect of what you’re about to face, what enemies you are up to face, what damage type is effective against them and what mods will allow you to make the best use of the weapon.
Below are a few things you must keep in consideration when choosing your weapon for particular action;
Range and Accuracy: Range in an important factor to count for. This lets you know at what range your weapon will do damage and how much. Thus, you can set your range of action depending on your weapon.
Accuracy also comes into play when we talk about range. Your weapon must be accurate at the range of action that you choose. Recoil and Spread effect the accuracy of the weapon and you ultimately have to make a trade-off between range and accuracy to yield the best effect.
Durability: This is a factor that needs routine check and maintenance. Weapons tend to wear out and fall in effectiveness over time of use. Timely check on the durability of weapons and repairing them to keep them up to the mark will allow you to have your weapons of choice at disposal at any time.
Rarity: It is the damage and effectiveness determining factor of the weapons. Weapons that are rarer have a greater amount of damage than those that are more common. Rarity can easily be established through the suffixes and prefixes of the weapon name, anything like Ultra or mk2.
Ammo Efficiency: You must be aware of the ammo consumption rate of the weapon you are about to choose so that you don’t run out or have to go for a reload right in the middle of action. Also note the damage the weapon inflicts as small ammo clips with high damage can also be a good trade.
LMGs drain out the ammo quite quickly, only in a few seconds of continued fire. Adversely, Rifles are much more efficient utilizers of ammo, and Snipers can be the best at long range.
Perk Compatibility: Using the perks compatible with the weapon type at use can be a game-changing factor. For instance, using accuracy perks when using rifles and snipers can help deal more damage and take more headshots. Similarly, using high damage perks with fast fire rate weapons can also be useful.
Upgrades: Using the workbenches and different parts, you can upgrade your weapons for better use and more situational advantage. Weapons of your choice that are running behind the progressing game difficulty can be kept along in play throughout the game with upgrade.
Weapon Types
The game divides weapons into 6 different types depending on their characteristic abilities and means of use. These types and their associated weapons are as below;
| Weapon Type | Associated Weapon |
| One-Handed Melee | Officer’s Spine, Sentry Sabre, Stun Baton Ultra, Vortex Mace |
| Two- Handed Melee | Inferno Scythe, Security Blade, Pick Axe, Shovel, Trip-Blade |
| Hand Guns | Revolver MK2, Light Pistol, Auto-Mag Pistol |
| Long Guns: These are mostly rifles and long-range precision weapons. | Assault Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Hunting Rifle, Dead-Eye Assault Rifle, Plasma Carbine. |
| Heavy Weapons: Specialized high damage and short-range weapons. | Ol Reliable, Heavy Machine Gun, Plasma Launcher, Flamethrower. |
| Science Weapons: These are special weapons that have high damage and variant science effects such as shrink. The effectivity of these weapons is greatly influenced by your Science Skill level. | Mandibular Rearranger, Shrink Ray, Ultimatum, Mind Control Ray, Gloop Gun, Prismatic Hammer |
Best Weapons
Out of all the weapons mentioned above. Following are the best weapons we have in the game:
Assault Rifle
The bog Standard Assault Rifle is the favorite rifle of a lot of players in this game. With a 24 bullet mag that uses heavy ammo that can deal a good amount of damage at each shot this weapon really stands out. You can even add a barrel, extended magazine along with a sight mod to it.
It can even be used to stagger and shock enemies. You can find this weapon when you go to the C3 mercenary base. It is present on the table inside the building. This weapon is named as thunder.
Plasma Cutter
What comes to mind when someone says the best melee weapon in the game. The answer is the Plasma Cutter.
The reason why this weapon is so great is because of how fast you can control it. It is one-handed and you can use this sword to cut anything you want in a snap and because it’s a plasma cutter so you can deal some great plasma damage. You have the option to add a grip or attack mod to this weapon.
Tactical Shotgun
Want to take out bad guys at close range. Well, there is no better option than the Tactical Shotgun. The Mantisaurs and the melee Marauders can easily be taken care of using this weapon and it gets even better when you enable Time-Dilation and hit them where it hurts i.e. their few weak spots.
You can add both a Barrel and Magazine mod to make it even better.
Flamethrower
The best use case scenario for this particular weapon is when you have an abundance of energy ammo. You can make a roast out of your enemies and but causing extreme burn damage and take out multiple enemies at once. You can make it deal a particular kind of damage e.g. shock or corrosion by adding a magazine mod to it.
Light Machine Gun
So, last but not least we have the Light Machine Gun. It is obvious that you would have light ammo in greater quantity than any other kind of ammo. In that case your best bet would be to use the LMG. You can use all the light ammo up and take out your enemies in a minute.
