The Outer Worlds Flaws Guide: Which Flaws are Worth it?

As you play
through The Outer Worlds, you will be asked several times if you wish to accept
or reject a flaw that has been found in you by Spacer’s Choice.

While taking
on a flaw doesn’t sound like a tantalising prospect at first, it does come with
the reward of getting one perk point.

In some
cases, taking the negative effects caused by the flaw appears to be worthwhile
for the reward, but it should be noted that the effects of a flaw are permanent
and cannot be removed in The Outer Worlds.

Perks are
earned every two levels, but as you progress further, levelling up takes
longer. As perks offer very powerful effects, taking on some flaws is worth the
hit.

In this The Outer Worlds guide, we’ll breakdown how flaws work and which flaws are worth taking when they are triggered. There’s also a list of all 20 of the flaws that we’ve found at the bottom of the article.

How flaws work in The Outer Worlds

In The Outer
Worlds, you are offered the chance to accept or reject a flaw if a certain incident
happens to your character. This can include being attacked too many times by a
certain creature or being hit in a certain way.

Once
triggered, the game will stop and a pop-up which reads “Spacer’s Choice Found A
Flaw In You!” will appear, detailing why the flaw has been discovered and its
effects. The flaw screen will also inform you that you’ll get a reward of one
perk point, should you accept the flaw.

You can
accept multiple flaws, all of which are permanent. If you’re playing on normal
difficulty, you can accept three flaws; four if you’re playing on hard
difficulty; and five if you’re playing The Outer Worlds on supernova
difficulty.

Accumulating
more perks outside of levelling up is the primary reward, but for anyone
seeking 100 per cent completion of The Outer Worlds, accepting three flaws will
unlock the ‘Flawed Hero’ achievement.

Flaws worth accepting in The Outer Worlds

In The Outer
Worlds, Spacer’s Choice can find 20 different flaws in your character, ranging
from drug addiction to a fear of certain creatures. As such, there are 20
different ways that you can pick up perks outside of levelling-up.

Of the 20
flaws in The Outer Worlds, there are likely five flaws that any player could
easily accept and still enjoy the game without too much of a hindrance.

Cynophobia

The
Cynophobia flaw in The Outer Worlds is triggered by being mauled too many times
by Canids. Accepting the flaw causes -2 perception and -1 temperament, you become
less effective and jittery when one attacks, but the flaw does reward one perk
point.

Cynophobia
will probably be triggered quite early in your playthrough as Canids are
regularly encountered in conflict when you fight marauders and outlaws.

Taking on
the Cynophobia flaw in The Outer Worlds is one of the better flaws to accept.
The negative effects aren’t too bad, and Canids are among the weaker creatures
roaming around in the game.

As with all
creatures, there is a Mega Canid in the game (found outside of the Geothermal
Plant, named Orthrus), but as Canids are weaker than other creatures, this flaw
won’t be as damaging to your goal of hunting the mega creatures in The Outer
Worlds.

So, feel
free to accept the flaw of Cynophobia when it’s found by Spacer’s Choice.

Physical Damage Weakness and Farsighted

When the
Physical Damage Weakness is found by Spacer’s Choice, the line reads: “Taking too much physical damage has made
you soft and vulnerable to more physical damage.”

Naturally,
if you’re already taking a lot of physical damage, you don’t want to become
more susceptible to physical attacks.

As the
effect of this flaw is that you take on +25% physical damage, you’ll only want
to accept it if you prefer to fight at range with guns as opposed to running
into the action with a melee weapon. However, due to the marauders who surge at
you with their melee weapons, it is easy to trigger this flaw.

If you’re
more into the firearms side of combat and have a decent ranged weapon, such as
the Sublight Sniper Rifle or the Pink Slip, you can pick off the melee
attackers before engaging, and then go all-in with your automatic rifles and
handguns.

Accepting
the Physical Damage Weakness does deliver a rather significant effect, but by
adjusting your tactics before engaging slightly, you can minimise its impact
while getting another perk point to use.

If you are
going for an all-gun build, taking on the flaw Farsighted also wouldn’t be too
disadvantageous as it only delivers -10 melee weapon skills.

Drug Addiction and Food Addiction

The Drug
Addiction flaw is one of the more predictable flaws that you’ll encounter in
The Outer Worlds. As drugs can offer immense benefits for a spell, many players
encounter this flaw.

To trigger
Drug Addiction, you simply have to use drugs often in the game. The Outer
Worlds drugs are Ambidextrine, Fast Ration Pill, Nico-Pad (low nicotine),
Nico-Pad (high nicotine), Pep Pills, Spacer’s Chaw (high nicotine), and
Spacer’s Chaw (low nicotine).

Accepting
Drug Addiction will give you -1 dexterity, -1 perception, and -1 temperament
whenever the Drug Addiction Withdrawal effect kicks in. When your character
goes through withdrawals, you simply have to take another drug to counter the
effects.

Drugs are
rather easy to come by in The Outer Worlds, and using them gives you
significant benefits for 15 or 30 seconds. On top of that, of course, accepting
the flaw will reward you with one perk point.

For similar
reasoning, Food Addiction is a perfectly manageable flaw to accept, impacting
the same effect of -1 dexterity, -1 perception, and -1 temperament as well as
withdrawals.

Flaws to avoid

Cynophobia
is the easiest creature-based flaw to accept as Canids are relatively easy
beasts to stop.

Raptiphobia
(brought on by Raptidon encounters), Pithecophobia (brought on by Primal
encounters), and Herpetophobia (brought on by Manti-family creature encounters)
all mean that you’ll be at a disadvantage against significantly stronger
beasts.

You could
probably take on Raptiphobia, as long as you don’t couple it with Corrosive
Weakness as the Raptidon’s projectile attacks are corrosive.

Quite
possibly the worst ones to take on are Robophobia – as automechanicals are tough
enough as it is – Pithecophobia, Permanently Crippled, Permanent Concussion, and
Permanently Maimed.

All of the flaws in The Outer Worlds

Here’s a
list of all of the flaws that we’ve
found in The Outer Worlds.