The Outer World Science Weapons Guide

The Outer Worlds is a fun game combining tight gameplay, clear political commentary, and a wacky retro-future aesthetic. This aesthetic is perfect, and nowhere else does it better than the "weapons of science" you can get in a questline. 'Weapons From The Void' gives you the opportunity to take a leap into the world by collecting five weird and wonderful weapons to add to your collection: the Prism Hammer, Hind Mandibular, Gloop Pistol, Retractable Beam, and the mind control ray.

While each does a bit of damage and eludes your Science skills, their real value lies in their usefulness, as they change the way fights play rather than ending the ones that aren't. Here are their locations and effects (most of them appear on your map if you have this game as an active quest):

Prismatic hammer: pioneer

The Prismatic Hammer is a two-handed melee weapon that deals with a carousel of cyclists of all damage types available in the game on each hit (depending on your Science skill) and can fire a projectile explosion on an attack power. Rather, sweep attacks deal with multiple damage types at once. The damage (72) seems low, but is a bit misleading if you factor in this factor and make this weapon a great melee weapon for crowd control, even if it might trip over a single target.

Mandibular rearranger: pioneer

One-handed melee weapon this time around, the Mandibular Rearranger deals about as much damage as the Sentry Blade you receive at the start of the game (barely 73 DPS). This effect makes him an undesirable choice as the primary damage dealer for melee types. Where he excels is battle against a single giant foe. It slows down enemies with each hit and eventually cripples them, allowing you to stay out of range of enemies and knock them out, letting you kill easily.

Gloop Gun: Monarque

The Gloop Gun is a heavy weapon that works on energy cells and splashes in a wide radius. Splattered enemies are weakened (duration changing with Science) and take a small amount of shock damage. The real value lies in periodically levitating enemies, making them utterly helpless and easy to mistake for a more damaging AoE weapon.

The Gloop Gun is the only gun that is not on your map. You can get them during the Errors Unseen side mission behind a hackable terminal. If your hack isn't up to the task, don't worry; you cannot access it by answering a series of security questions. The answers are obvious if you remember that this game is heavily based on corporate culture satire.

Shrinking Radius: near Phineas

This one is particularly hard to miss. Unfortunately, this is the least useful of the bunch. It's a fun one-handed handgun that works on energy cells. It deals a small amount of plasma damage and reduces a single enemy as long as you hold the trigger down.

That last part is why this weapon doesn't cut it, except perhaps in the niche where you are a "journeyman specialist" who have used Dialog software almost entirely.

Mind control Ray: Monarch

The latter is a long gun that deals plasma damage and uses energy cells, and it's a bit of a doozy. It has a ridiculously long range and knocks enemies against each other; your Science ability improves their movement and attack speed, making them deadlier. The massive torque with the surprisingly low noise detection range means it can be used effectively in stealth, making it a great weapon to reward stealthy players who don't want to get their hands dirty directly.