Outer Worlds Damange Types Explained

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Outer Worlds is an Action RPG with a deceptively deep combat system, from its action-filled shooting to its Tactical Time dilation system to mimic the effects of the V.A.T.s from Fallout without stopping the combat entirely.

On top of that, you have to consider the other mechanics this game has to offer, both in its regular difficulty and the Supernova difficulty. I am all for realism, but when you have to suffer the consequences of dehydration, the game goes from a moderately challenging time to near impossible. 

Thankfully for this article, we will be focusing on the damage types that weapons can do. This involves all kinds of weapons, from Unique to Science to melee. I will not be discussing the other combat mechanics in detail, but I will mention them now and then. 

Weapon Wheel 

To quickly explain why knowing these damage types are essential. We have the weapon wheel, which is a system that allows the player to equip four different weapons simultaneously; however, it does not mean you can use all four simultaneously. Instead, you can switch between them freely, even while in combat. 

This gives you a large amount of type coverage as these damage types are more effective against some enemies while doing less for other kinds of enemies. It also changes the dynamic of ranged and melee, attack speed, fire rate, and other mechanics that we will not focus on too much today. 

So rather than having to plan everything and look through the Weapon Ledger to compare the stats, I have compiled the weapons that do those specific damage types and will leave it to you to decide which one you want to take on. 

What are the Damage Types in the game?

dmg type

There are six damage types in the game, each represented by a different weapon in the game. These are Physical, Plasma, Corrosion, Cold, Shock, and N-Ray. While there could be over hundreds of weapons in the game, each weapon is assigned one of these damage types, so you will never find a gun without a damage type. 

Physical damage is the basic damage type, and it comes from the impact of Kinetic force and is more commonly found on melee weapons, and they are a little weak against armor. 

Plasma damage is good against flesh and can occasionally apply the Burn status effect, damage over time. It is effective against light armor and creatures, except for Mantisaurs. 

Corrosion is good against heavy armor, including Mantisaurs, Automechanicals, and armored units. It can also inflict the Acid status effect, which does damage over time and reduces the armor of the inflicted, and it does extra damage to Automechanicals. 

Cold is like physical damage wherein it is weak against armor; however, it applies the Chilled debuff and occasionally the Frozen debuff. Chilled is a strong debuff that reduces movement speed, rate of fire, and melee attack speed, and Frozen does just that it freezes the target, making them unable to move. 

Shock weapons are highly effective against Automechanicals and can apply the Shocked effect, lowering ranged weapon accuracy and strength. It is not ineffective against anything. 

N-Ray Weapons are incredibly effective against creatures, and it causes internal damage and then spread more N-Rays to surrounding targets. It is hugely ineffective against nonorganic entities such as Automechanicals. 

With all of this in mind, let’s look at what weapons have these damage types. I will not be rating them or putting them on a tier list but instead just give you the stats and abilities, so you have an idea of what they can do. 

Here we go.

Physical Weapons

Physical Weapons

These are represented in-game by the white icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
A Spade Unique  1-Handed melee Bleed, Chance to bleed on hit. 
Adelaide’s Gardening Shears Unique  1-Handed melee Bleed, additional damage and bleed on critical hits
Agony Unique Long Gun Poison, Execute, Attacks always inflict Poison,
All in Unique Heavy Weapon Stagger, Increased rate of fire, attacks have a chance to stagger
Assault Rifle N/a Long Gun Stagger
Assault Rifle Ultra N/a Long Gun Stagger
Auto-Mag Pistol N/a Hand Gun Stagger
Auto-Mag Pistol Ultra  N/a Hand Gun Stagger
Axe N/a 2-Handed melee None
Backscratcher Unique 1-Handed melee Maim, Attacks have a chance to inflict Maim
Blad on Stik Unique 2-Handed melee Bleed, Does extra critical hit damage 
Brontide Unique 2-Handed melee Bleed, Knockdown, After killing an enemy with this weapon, enemies nearby are knocked down
Bursty Unique Long Gun Stagger
Captain Robin’s Spine Unique 1-Handed melee Bleed, Attacks with this weapon ignore a portion of the target’s armor
Champion Tossball Blocker N/a 1-Handed melee Stagger
Champion Tossball Stick N/a 2-Handed melee Stagger
Clapper Unique 2-Handed melee Concuss, Knockdown
Claw Rake N/a 1-Handed melee None
Clive’s Cleaver Unique 1-Handed melee Bleed, Increased Critical strike chance 
Contraband Unique Hand Gun Stagger
Dead-Eye Assault Rifle N/a Long Gun Execute
Dead-Eye Assault Rifle II N/a Long Gun Execute
Dead-Eye Assault Rifle III N/a Long Gun Execute
Equilbrium Unique Long Gun Stagger, the weapon gets more accurate the longer it is fired. 
Euthanasia Kit Unique Long Gun Knockdown
Fiver Unique  Hand Gun Knockdown
Flurry  Unique Heavy Weapon Knockback, weapon slowly builds up its rate of fire. 
Gravedigger Unique 2-Handed melee Knockback, Sweep attacks inflict Knockdown
Grenade Launcher N/a Heavy Weapon Knockback
Grenade Launcher II N/a Heavy Weapon Knockback
Grenade Launcher III N/a Heavy Weapon Knockback
Grimm’s Tossball Blocker Unique 1-Handed melee Stagger
Grinder Unique 1-Handed melee Knockdown, Power and sweep attacks permanently reduce the enemy’s armor
Hall of Famer Tossball Stick Unique 2-Handed melee Stagger
Hand Cannon Unique Hand Gun Knockout, attacks from this weapon deal damage to enemies near the target
Handy Deconstruction Unique 2-Handed melee This weapon does bonus damage to Automechanicals
Hatchet N/a 1-Handed melee None
Heavy Machine Gun N/a Heavy Weapon Knockback
Heavy Machine Gun II N/a Heavy Weapon Knockback
Hunting Rifle N/a Long Gun Stagger
Hunting Rifle Hyper N/a Long Gun Stagger
Hunting Rifle Ultra N/a Long Gun Stagger
Iconoclast Assault Rifle N/A Long Gun Stagger
Iconoclast Cleaver N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Iconoclast Revolver N/A Hand Gun Knockback
Impact Hammer N/a 1-Handed melee Knockback
Impact Hammer mk 2 N/a 1-Handed melee Knockback
Impact Hammer mk 3 N/a 1-Handed melee Knockback
Irion’s Flintlock Unique Hand Gun Stagger, fires 2 rounds at a time, Does bonus weakspot damage. 
Light Assault Rifle  N/a Long Gun Stagger
Light Assault Rifle mk 2  N/a Long Gun Stagger
Light Assault Rifle mk 3   N/a Long Gun Stagger
Light Machine Gun  N/a Heavy Weapon Stagger
Light Machine Gun mk 2  N/a Heavy Weapon Stagger
Light Machine Gun mk 3   N/a Heavy Weapon Stagger
Light Pistol N/a Hand Gun Bleed
Light Pistol mk 2  N/a Hand Gun Bleed
Light Pistol mk 3 N/a Hand Gun Bleed
Long Ranger Unique Long Gun Stagger, Built in Massive Scope 
Lucky Unique Hand Gun Knockback, When this weapon fails to land a critical hit, its critical hit damage increases. Effect resets when this weapon lands a critical hit. 
Man Splitter N/a 2-Handed melee Increased damage to Humans
Mandibular Rearranger Science 1-Handed melee Stagger, attacks slow enemies, repeated attacks eventually stop enemies for a short duration. 
Maxwell Unique 1-Handed melee Knockdown
Medal of Honor Unique Long Gun Stagger
Most Dangerous Game Unique Long Gun Stagger, Attacks on legs will always Cripple 
MSI Pistol N/A Hand Gun Bleed
MSI Tactical Shotgun N/A Long Gun Knockdown
Ol’Reliable  Unique  Heavy Weapons Stagger
Peacekeeper Unique Long Gun Knockback
Pickaxe N/A 2-Handed melee None 
Pinkslip Unique Long Gun Execute, deals extra weakspot damage. 
Primal Tamer’s Baton Unique 1-Handed melee Stagger
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Pro Tossball Blocker N/A 1-Handed melee Stagger 
Pro Tossball Stick N/A 1-Handed melee Stagger 
Prototype Light Pistol Unique Hand Gun Bleed
Quick and Dirty Unique 1-Handed melee None
Revolver N/A Hand Gun Knockback
Revolver mk 2 N/A Hand Gun Knockback
Revolver mk 3 N/A Hand Gun Knockback
Sawed-Off Shotgun N/A Long Gun Knockback
Sawed-Off Shotgun mk 2 N/A Long Gun Knockback
Sentry Saber N/a 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Sentry Saber Mk 2 N/a 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Sentry Saber Mk 3 N/a 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Shears N/a 1-Handed melee None
Shovel N/A 2-Handed melee None
Silencer Unique 1-Handed melee Bleed
Soft Speaker Unique 2-Handed melee Knockdown
Spade N/a 1-Handed melee None
Special Delivery Science Heavy Weapon Knockback, Homes in on target
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 
Sublight Sniper Rifle Unique Long Gun Execute 
Tactical Shotgun  N/A Long Gun Knockdown
Tactical Shotgun II N/A Long Gun Knockdown
Tactical Shotgun III N/A Long Gun Knockdown
Telescoping Staff N/a 2-handed melee Knockdown
Telescoping Staff mk 2 N/a 2-handed melee Knockdown
Telescoping Staff Mk 3 N/a 2-handed melee Knockdown
The Exterminator Unique Hand Gun Knockback
The Good Word Unique Heavy Weapon Stagger
The Needler Science Hand Gun Acid, Has Poison,  Acid, and a Slow 
The Pen Unique Long Gun Knockdown
The Vermin N/A Hand Gun Knockout
The Vermin II N/A Hand Gun Knockout
Thunderclap Unique 1-Handed melee Knockdown, After killing an enemy Concuss nearby enemies. 
Tossball Blocker N/A 1-Handed melee Stagger
Tossball Stick N/A 2-Handed melee Stagger
Tremor Cleaver N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Tremor Cleaver Hyper N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Tremor Cleaver Ultra N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Trip-Blade N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Trip-Blade Mk 2 N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Vortex Mace N/A 1-Handed melee Knockdown
Vortex Mace Ultra N/A 1-Handed melee Knockdown

Plasma Weapons

Plasma Weapons

These are represented in game by the red icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
Anarchist’s Cookbook Unique Heavy Weapon Knockback, fires smaller and faster shells than a typical launcher. 
Bolter Pistol N/a Hand Gun Stagger
Bolter Pistol 2.0 N/a Hand Gun Stagger
Burnout Unique  Long Gun Stagger
Employee’s Benefits Science Hand Gun Heals targets, can revive companions. 
Flamethrower N/A Heavy Weapon Burn
Flamethrower 2.0 N/A Heavy Weapon Burn
Inferno Scythe N/A 2-Handed melee Burn
Inferno Scythe Gold N/A 2-Handed melee Burn
Ionized Paper Knife  N/A 1-Handed melee Burn
Landing Pad Cutter Unique  2-Handed melee Bleed
Mind Control Ray Science Long Gun Stagger, Mind Controlled
Montag Unique Heavy Weapon Stun
MSI Plasma Rifle N/A Long Gun Burn
MSI Saltuna Searer Unique Heavy Weapon Burn
Onslaught Unique 2-Handed melee Burn, attacks that hit multiple enemies increase the wielder’s damage for a short time. 
Overheat Unique Heavy Weapon Burn
Pauper Popper Unique Long Gun Burn
Perfect Game Unique  1 Handed melee Stagger
Piledriver Unique 2-Handed melee Knockout, attacks deal damage to enemies behind the target. 
Plasma Carbine  N/A Long Gun Stagger
Plasma Carbine Ultra  N/A Long Gun Stagger
Plasma Cutter N/A 1-Handed melee Burn
Plasma Cutter Gold N/A 1-Handed melee Burn
Plasma Launcher N/A Heavy Weapon Burn
Plasma Launcher 2.0 N/A Heavy Weapon Burn
Plasma Propulsion Pack Unique  Heavy Weapon Burn
Plasma Rifle N/A Long Gun Burn
Plasma Rifle 2.0 N/A Long Gun Burn
Plasma Rifle 3.0 N/A Long Gun Burn
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Pulse Hammer N/A 2-Handed melee Knockout
Pulse Hammer Gold N/A 2-Handed melee Knockout
Rapti-don’t Unique Heavy Weapon Knockback
Shrink Ray Science Hand Gun Weaken, Shrunk
Signed Tossball Stick N/a 1-Handed melee Stagger
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 
Sublight Plasma Knife Unique 1-Handed melee Burn
The Bouncer Unique Long Gun Burn, Bullets Bounce
The Negotiator  Unique Hand Gun Stagger
The P.E.T. Science 2-Handed melee Bleed, Pulls enemies when charging power or sweep attack. 
Ultimatum Unique Hand Gun Burn, Projectiles richochet off most surfaces. 
Ultimate Bolter N/A Hand Gun Burn
Ultimate Bolter 2.0 N/A Hand Gun Burn

Corrosion Weapons 

Corrosion Weapons 

These are represented in game by the green icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
Aerial Assault  Unique 2-Handed melee Knockback, Attacks made while jumping inflict Knockback
Anti-Manti Ray Unique  Long Gun Stagger
Aqua Regia Unique 1-Handed melee Burn, Weakened, Attacks have a chance to inflict Weakened. 
Infested Flechette Gun Unique Long Gun Knockback, attacks temporarily reduce target’s armor
Officer’s Spine N/A 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Officer’s Spine Gold N/A 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Officer’s Spine Titanium N/A 1-Handed melee Bleed 
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Salvager’s Helper Unique Hand Gun Bleed
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 
Supper Time Unique 1-Handed melee Bleed
The Needler Science Hand Gun Acid, Has Poison,  Acid, and a Slow 
Ulti-Nature Unique Hand Gun Acid, Projectiles richochets off most surfaces

Cold Weapons 

Cold Weapons 

These are represented in game by the snowflake icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
Coolant Distributor Unique Heavy Weapon Chilled
Frigidariator Unique Long Gun Stagger, Chilled, Attacks have a chance to inflict chilled. 
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 

Shock Weapons

Shock Weapons

These are represented in game by the light blue icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
Discharge Unique Long Gun Stun, When you kill an enemy with this weapon enemies near the target take shock damage. 
Discrepancy Amplifier Unique Hand Gun None
Force Magnum Unique  Hand Gun Stagger, Knockback. Each attack with this gun consumes 2 ammor but on a critical hit the target is knocked back. 
Gloop Gun Science Heavy Weapon Glooped
Latinus  Unique 2-Handed melee Bleed, extra damage on sneak attacks
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Rapti-prod Unique 2-Handed melee None
Recharge Unique Heavy Weapon Stun
Security Blade N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Security Blade Hyper N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Security Blade Ultra  N/A 2-Handed melee Bleed
Shock and Awe Unique 1-Handed melee Stun
Shock Cannon N/A Heavy Weapon Stun
Shock Cannon Hyper N/A Heavy Weapon Stun
Shock Cannon Ultra N/A Heavy Weapon Stun
Shock Stick Unique 1-Handed melee Stun
Short Circuit Unique Long Gun Knockback
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 
Storm Cannon Unique Heavy Weapon Burn
Stun Baton N/a  1-Handed melee Stun
Stun Baton Hyper N/a  1-Handed melee Stun
Stun Baton Ultra  N/a  1-Handed melee Stun
Tanaka’s Peacekeeper Unique 2-Handed melee Bleed, Increases Leadership skill and Companion’s damage dealt
The Hammer of Olympus Unique 2-Handed melee Stun
Thunder Unique Long Gun Stagger, increased critical damage multiplier
Udder Buddy Science 1-Handed melee Stagger, attacks have a chance to pull enemies towards target. 

N-Ray Weapons 

N-Ray Weapons 

These are represented in game by the purple icon.

Name Type Weapon Class Special effect
Doctor’s Orders Unique Hand gun Stagger, Attacks with this weapon deal increased damage when wielder is low on health.
Eureka Unique  Hand gun Attacka have a chance to apply a random debuff on Organic enemies. 
Nova Burst N/a Long Gun Stagger
Phin’s Phorce Unique Long Gun Stagger
Prismatic Hammer Science 2-Handed melee Knockdown, Can cycle through damage types. 
Purpleberry Launcher Unique Heavy Weapon Burn
Spectrum Gatling Science Long Gun Stagger, alternates damage types with each shot. 
The Candy Cane Unique  2- Handed melee Burn
Wall of Swords Unique 1-Handed melee Bleed, Hitting multiple enemies simultaneously increases the wielder’s damage temporarily. 

As you can see, there are many more Physical weapons than any other, and some weapons are just improved versions of different weapons. So when picking out what you want, make sure to consider which weapon does its best and what extra effects they may have. 

Weapon Special effects 

Weapon Special effects 

Aside from the base damage, weapons can occasionally inflict special effects on both you and your enemies, and here is a quick list of what they are and what they can do. 

Acid Damage over time and reduces armor 
Bleed Damage over time reduces the body Attributes of organic creatures.
Blind Reduced vision range and ranged weapon accuracy
Burn Damage over time
Chilled Reduced movement speed, rate of fire, and melee attack speed
Concuss Reduction in all attributes and slows weapon attack rate 
Cripple Reduces Movement speed, melee attack speed, and rate of fire 
Disarm Removes held weapons, does not apply to attached weapons. 
Execute It has a slight chance of instantly killing the target on a hit.
Frozen Target is unable to move 
Glooped Lifts target into the air, incapacitating them, doing shock damage, and applying Weaken. 
Knockback Pushes the target back, reduces offensive and defensive skill effectiveness, and the target takes increased physical damage.
Knockdown Prones the target, they are unable to take any action for a short while
Knockout Incapacitates the target for a few seconds
Maim Reduces target’s damage output 
Mind Controlled Target attacks allies rather than enemies
N-Ray-Dilated Target radiates a Pulse of N-ray energy that damages enemies around the afflicted. Less effective against Automechanicals
Poison Damage over time reduces personality Attributes and does not affect Automechanicals
Shocked Reduces ranged weapon accuracy and strength 
Shrunk Target is shrunken, reducing their damage and armor
Stagger Pushes the target back, reduces offensive and defensive skill effectiveness, and the target takes increased physical damage (Less than Knockback) 
Stun Target is unable to attack for a short time. 
Weaken Lowers all Skills a moderate amount, and the target takes increased Plasma, Shock, and N-Ray damage. 

F.A.Q.

Question: What is better, Plasma or Shock?

Answer: It depends; the shock is good against Automechanical or robotic enemies but is not that effective against other types. Plasma is good against flesh enemies, like creatures, and will burn anything it hits; however, it does not do well against non-flesh enemies. So it depends on who you are fighting. 

Question: How do Damage Types work in Outer Worlds?

Answer: Every weapon in the game does a specific damage type whenever it hits. So a Plasma gun does Plasma damage while a Cold gun does Cold damage. Against certain enemy types, one damage type does more than others. So think of it matching the damage type with certain enemies for maximum damage. 

Question What is the difference between D.P.S. and Damage in Outer Worlds?

Answer: Damage is calculated by how much a single projectile or swing affects an enemy. They are reduced by their armor and resistances and buffed by your stats and perks. D.P.S. is calculated by the average of how much damage you output per second. This includes terrain, damage over time, and other effects so long as you created them; it also consists of the damage from your weapon. 

Conclusion 

All in all, Outer Worlds has a weapon for everyone and every damage type. If you feel like you aren’t doing as much damage to certain enemies, why not switch them out with a more effective weapon against that type of opponent. Play smart and use those four weapon slots on your wheel to their fullest. 

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