While Kay Vess is no amateur when you begin Star Wars Outlaws, she’s far from a pro. She is a decent shot, can hack basic computers, and even pick locks, but she’s not much more complicated than that. Unlike a traditional open-world game — especially a Ubisoft one — you won’t find any skill trees or XP bars here. Instead, Kay can only pick up new abilities by meeting special Experts. These NPCs are scattered across the various planets and need to be found and befriended before you can start working on unlocking new skills. It’s a long process no matter how you approach it, so we’re here to pass along the vital info you need on the best skills in Star Wars Outlaws.
Armored Undershirt
The first Ability you should aim for is Armored Undershirt, which you can start on right away since it is part of Bram’s set. This Ability is a passive buff that increases your default HP by 1, which is incredibly valuable at the start of the game when you only have three. Hunt down or purchase Ironweave and 8 Coarsweave on Toshara to snag it.
Fast Talk
Also part of Bram’s set, Fast Talk can save your bacon on one of the many required stealth missions. If you get caught by a single trooper, you can press a button to start rambling and delay them from attacking or alerting others. This can give you time to stun or take them down and not lose your stealth status. You can easily grab this one by having Nix distract three enemies that you take down, and taking down five additional enemies with melee.
Scoundrel’s Pouch/Outlaw’s Pouch
You wouldn’t expect the Expert on Speeders to have two abilities related to your Bacta Viales and grenades, but here we are. The former are your only source of healing, and we assume you know what grenades do, but Kay can hardly hold any of each. Scoundrel’s Pouch lets you hold one more vial and grenade, and Outlaw’s Pouch adds another on top of that. These both require materials, specifically Durafiber Fabric, eight Coarsweave, and four Robuma Leather for the first pouch and Elastic Durafiber Fabric, 18 Coarsweave, and 10 Polycarbonate for the second.
Sneaky Trap
Stealth is always the best way to approach an encounter in Outlaws, but once an alarm has been triggered, it is essentially impossible to get the heat off you. Sneaky Trap gives Nix the ability to tamper with alarms so that they damage anyone foolish enough to try and trigger them. Unlocking this will require you to give Nix seven unique commands and Slice three devices in three attempts or fewer.
Lightfooted
Going right along with the stealth options, Lightfooted cuts down by half how much noise Kay makes while moving without crouching Unlock this Ability by completing a smuggler contract, doing a takedown on an Imperial Officer, and picking three locks.
Electro-shock Prod
There’s only one enemy Kay can’t do a stealth takedown on from the start, and it’s also the most deadly. The Electro-shock Prod is more of a new weapon than Ability since it gives Kay a new little stun stick to take down elites. You need to build it with an NL-02 Charge Emitter, 15 Chalcopyrate, and five Ion Cells.
Assisted Scavenger
Nix is a very helpful little friend who can go snag loot for you without you having to walk over yourself. If you buff him with Assisted Scavenger, it becomes even more convenient since he will find more stuff inside. Find four Smuggler Caches, collect 2,500 Credits, and fulfill five merchant requests to unlock it.
Scavenger’s Footwear
The biggest downside to crouching is how slow it makes Kay, which is why any game with stealth needs a skill that speeds up your crouch-walking speed. Here, it’s Scavenger’s Footwear, which requires Sussurra-Weave Fabric, 30 Coarsweave, and 14 Jarwal Fiber.
Feelers Out
Rooster has one of the strongest Nix buffs in the game that you need to pick up ASAP. Feelers Out doubles the range of Nix’s sense and lets you see enemies and interactables in the environment. You need to command Nix to bring you a weapon, grenade, and bacta vial once each, do a thief contract without breaking stealth, and make Nix jealous by petting another animal in front of him.
The More
Kay isn’t a Jedi, but her Adrenaline Rush sure makes her shoot like one. You start out only being able to mark one target, and then completing Quint’s mission grants you two more, but you can top out by picking up The More. All you need to do is defeat four enemies in a single Adrenaline Rush three times and get 15 headshots.
M’gasha
You can get better deals and items from some vendors by getting on that faction’s good side. But to get the best deals in town no matter what, learn M’gasha to get a 10% discount on things you buy and 10% more Credits for everything you sell.
