Best Outer Worlds 2 flaws and full list

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Full flaw list

Outer Worlds 2 flaws pop up throughout your playthrough based on your behaviour. If you repeat certain actions, whether reloading your gun, crouching, or stealing things without getting caught, you’ll likely be faced with some flaws. While sometimes these flaws can be useful, they often come with a set back which can cause issues for you moving forward.

It’s worth noting that once you select a flaw, this cannot be undone thanks to some limited Outer Worlds 2 respec options in the game. So be sure you really think if a flaw is right for you before accepting it. However, there are also some 90 odd Outer Worlds 2 perks which can, in some cases, counter some of the ill effects you might see. So check that out to see if you can find one that might negate the bad sides of what's here.

The Outer Worlds 2 full flaw list

With 13 different Outer Worlds 2 flaws you can encounter, you may be wondering which ones are worth keeping and which ones you should immediately reject. We’ve got you covered with a full list of flaws below, their effects and if they’re worth keeping. Pair these with some of the best Outer Worlds 2 skills and you can create a great build that suits you.

Overall, some flaws are clearly much better than others but that doesn’t mean they need to be discarded straight away. If you think an Outer Worlds 2 flaw is right for your build then grab it.

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Flaw	Description	How to unlock	Effects	Keep or Discard?
Consumerism	You’re the reason our marketing works. Promotions and sales have riddled your brain, and you’re more interested in buying the next big thing than financial planning.	Purchase the premium edition of the game.	Positive effect: -15% vendor prices when buying. Negative effect: -10% selling prices.	Keep. The discount is worth keeping and you can still earn money from quests rather than selling products.
Bad Knees	Years spent crouching have really done a number on your knees. They ache and squeak, but as long as you stay crouching you can ignore the pain.	Crouching repeatedly.	Positive effect: +50% crouch speed. Negative effect: Crouching emits a noise within a 10-meter radius that hostiles can hear and investigate.	Keep. So long as you’re able to crouch further away from enemies then this is a very useful flaw.
Overprepared	Missing only a shot or two? Doesn’t matter, you’ve already reloaded. If you ever let a weapon run out of ammo you’ll deal less damage for a short time, but all your guns now hold more ammo.	Reload your guns regularly, even if they’re not empty.	Positive effect: +50% magazine size. Negative effect: -40% damage for eight seconds after a weapon's magazine is empty.	Keep. While this sounds like a disadvantage, so long as you reload before you hit zero, you’ll only feel the benefit.
Foot-in-mouth Syndrome	You’ve been racing through conversations and seem to hate the idea of having to talk with others. Your choices in conversations are now randomly picked for you after a few seconds, but you gain a bonus to all experience earned.	Skip dialogue.	Positive effect: +15% experience gained. Negative effect: Choices in conversations are randomly picked for you after enough time passes.	Keep. This is one of the best flaws in the game as the random choice occurs after 10 seconds of idle time giving you plenty of time to make a choice and then also gain bonus XP.
N-Radiated	Travel through the N-Ray Range has left you fundamentally changed. Whenever you take damage of any type, you have a chance to take additional N-Ray damage and automatically become camouflaged.	Complete main objectives in the N-Ray Range.	Positive effect: Whenever you take damage, there's a 5% chance that you become camouflaged. You become invisible to enemies and you deal bonus damage. Negative effect: When the camouflage effect is triggered, you take an additional 5% of your maximum health as N-Ray damage.	Keep. The damage you take is worth risking for the invisibility you get in turn.
Teetotaler	You avoid drugs to a fault, leaving you particularly vulnerable to their effects. Toxicity gained from using the inhaler is increased but the inhaler is more potent to your pure metabolism.	Regularly avoid toxicity by not using inhalers that often, or staying away from gas.	Positive effect: +25% health restored by medical inhalers. Negative effect: +25% toxicity from medical inhalers.	Depends. Pick this up if you have armour or helmets that grant toxicity reduction.
Anger Mismanagement	You get irrationally angry at the smallest of slights. In your fury you’re worse at blocking, but your power attacks deal more damage.	Avoid blocking melee damage.	Positive effect: +25% power attack damage. Negative effect: +50% damage received while blocking.	Depends. If you have a squad member with crowd control then the extra damage can be used without having to deal with a hit back.
Dependant	Some load from the front; you tend to lead from the back as much as possible, becoming dependent on your allies. You deal less damage in general but gain a large bonus to damage if attacking an enemy your companions recently attacked.	Have companions with you when you get in combat.	Positive effect: +25% damage to enemies recently damaged by companions. Negative effect: -10% damage.	Depends. This flaw depends entirely on your squad. If you have squad members that do a lot of AOE damage then you can take full advantage of this perk.
Easily distracted	Your skills are erratic to say the least, but a jack of all trades is oftentimes better than a master of one. You can raise more skills faster, though it’ll be harder to ever maximize any particular one.	Allocate your points into different kinds of skills	Positive effect: +1 skill point gained per level. Negative effect: While leveling, you can only add skill points to your lowest non-zero skill or any skill you have no points in already.	Discard. Not being able to maximise your skills will cause a major detriment as the game goes on.
Flawed	Life hasn’t been easy for you, but you’ve learned to power through any of your disadvantages and come out better for it. Warning: This flaw drastically changes the experience and is not recommended for your first playthrough.	Select at least two flaws.	Positive effect: Gain an extra perk point every 5 levels. This bonus is retroactive. Negative effect: Flaws must be accepted.	Discard. If the warning isn’t enough to deter you then I’m not sure that I can. This is worth picking up on a second playthrough for a more quirky experience.
Kleptomania	You just have to have it. Doesn’t matter what it is, but if it isn’t yours, you want it. You’ll occasionally steal things automatically, but anything you’ve stolen sells for significantly more. Warning: This flaw significantly changes the experience while in settlements. Not advised for players looking for a relaxing experience in towns.	Steal valuable items without getting spotted.	Positive effect: +100% vendor buying price for stolen items. Negative effect: You'll occasionally steal things automatically.	Discard. Again this perk comes with a warning. Automatically stealing something in front of an NPC can cause major issues for you, making this flaw something to leave behind.
Treacherous	You’re not made for fighting fairly. Your max health is reduced, but enemies lose track of you quicker and you deal bonus sneak attack damage.	Repeatedly do sneak attacks to take out enemies.	Positive effect: +50% enemy awareness depletion rate; +100% sneak attack damage. Negative effect: -25% base health.	Discard. Sneak attacks already aren’t great and this bonus doesn’t really change that. Taking the major health loss can cause issues in combat too.
Luddite	New technology confuses and frustrates you. Your max gadget energy is reduced and recharges slower, but as long as your energy is full you gain bonus damage resistance.	Playing the game without using a gadget for a long time.	Positive effect: +10% damage resistance as long as your gadget energy meter is full. Negative effect: -25% gadget meter max; -25% energy recharge rate.	Discard. Having to wait for your gadget to fill up will cause more inconvenience than its worth.