Star Wars Outlaws is a conventional open world adventure in many ways, but when it comes to progression, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Ubisoft grounds Kay Vess’ progression in the context of her journey as a freshly-hatched scoundrel, gaining new abilities by cultivating underworld connections with experts. Kay doesn’t just suddenly learn how to hack better after becoming level five (there are no levels in Outlaws, actually), she has to go meet a master hacker who shows her tricks and hooks her up with gear. Don’t have the right gear? Well you better go find it.
It’s a neat system, but not always straightforward. Here’s how experts work in Outlaws, and what each one offers so you can focus on the abilities you want the most.
How to unlock expert abilities
At the start of Outlaws, you’ll have access to just one default expert: Bram, the bartender. His skills revolve around the basics that Kay already has unlocked, like melee combat and lockpicking. More experts can be found by discovering Expert Intel on planets (that’s the magnifying glass symbol with a person in it). Expert quests will often trigger automatically the first time you visit a planet, or in the case of the Slicer and Speeder Mechanic, once you’re an established scoundrel on Toshara.
Expert quests all follow the same formula:
- Track down the expert
- Complete a multi-part quest for them
- Unlock their skill tree
Some of these quests are more involved than others, but what they all have in common is that the first ability on their list is unlocked once their quest is completed. A few of these quests are woven into Outlaws’ story, like The Scavenger, so you’ll naturally encounter most of them if you’re sticking to main quests. Others, like the High Roller, are entirely optional.
The Bartender: Bram
Where: Canto Bight (Unlocked from beginning of game)
- Cantina Brawling: Allows Kay to execute melee attacks. Press repeatedly to chain.
- Lockpicking: Kay is able to open a variety of doors and containers by succeeding at the lockpicking minigame.
- Fast-Talk: Kay can quickly react to nearby alerted enemies and delay their reaction.
- Keep Talking: Allows Fast-Talk to affect every nearby enemy. (Requires Fast-Talk)
- Armored Undershirt: Increases Kay’s maximum health by one bar.
- I Know Someone: Unlocks the ability to see and fulfill personal requests. Find merchants with the Requests category to find new opportunities.
The Mechanic: Selo Rovak
Where: Toshara. Her expert intel is obtained through the main story after you upgrade your blaster with the ion module and talk to Danka.
- Speed Boost: Enhanced the speeder with a boost engine.
- Speeder Jump: Allows Kay to perform a short upwards jump with the speeder.
- Treasure Hunter: Nix can provide audiovisual cues when nearby containers are present. Additionally, containers in range are highlighted with Nix’s pulse.
- Smoke Bomb: A gadget that creates a dense smoke area which obfuscates vision.
- Scoundrel’s Pouch: Increase the amount of Bacta Vials and grenades Kay can carry by one.
- Outlaws’ Pouch: Increases Bacta Vial and grenade carry capacity by one more. (Requires Scoundrel’s Pouch)
The Slicer: Aila Bren
Where: Toshara. Her expert intel is also obtained through the main story after you upgrade your blaster with the ion module and talk to Danka.
- Slicing Kit: Gadget able to connect to advanced, terminal-less devices and hack them.
- Sneak Shot: Shooting an enemy unaware of Kay’s position deals extra damage.
- Concussive Smoke: Upgrades the smoke bomb with a concussion effect that leaves enemies in the area staggered for two seconds.
- Sneaky Trap: Allows Nix to trap alarm panels.
- Lightfooted: Reduce the noise Kay makes while walking and sprinting, halving the enemy detection distance.
- Slice Kit Upgrade: Increase the amount of energy for the Slicing Kit by two. Use energy to activate jokers during the slicing process.
The Scavenger: Temmin Wexley
Where: Akiva. After you free Geedeek as part of The Droidsmith quest, ND-5 will give you his expert intel.
- Hydorepulsor: Allows the speeder to soar over water.
- Electro-Shock Prod: Allows Kay to perform takedowns on elite enemies.
- Ion Smoke Bomb: In addition to its base effect, smoke bombs now deal ion damage, which temporarily disables devices and disrupts droids.
- Assisted Scavenging: Nix will go the extra mile when searching in containers, occasionally granting extra materials and valuables.
- Scavenger’s Footwear: Increases Kay’s movement speed while crouching by a medium amount.
- Survivor: Increases Kay’s maximum health by one bar.
The Veteran: MT-7
Where: Akiva. See the standalone section at the bottom of the page since this one is a little complicated.
- Decryption Module: Allows Kay to decrypt previously encrypted separatist datadiscs, which could reveal some useful information.
- Improvise: Increases Kay’s maximum health by one bar.
- Adapt: Increases health restored instantly by Bacta Vials without affecting over-time regeneration. (Requires Improvise)
- Overcome: After suffering explosive damage, immediately start regenerating at an increased speed. (Requires Improvise)
- Nix Commando: When directed to attack an enemy, Nix will attack another after finishing the first.
- Slice Kit Upgrade: Increases Slice Kit energy by two.
The Mercenary: Rooster Trace
Where: Kijimi. Find Rooster in the Domak Refectory cantina in Kijimi City, where she’ll then instruct you to meet her on Tatooine for her quest.
- Can I Try That?: Allows Kay to pick up and use high tier Imperial weaponry.
- I Like This Thing: Increases pickup weapon ammunition by 25%. (Requires Can I Try That?)
- Feelers Out: Doubles the distance at which Nix can detect and highlight enemies.
- Sharpshooting: Increases the adrenaline generated by headshots by a high amount.
- Loop Maneuver: Execute a 180 degree turn in the Trailblazer.
- Top Roll Maneuver: Execute a 360 degree top roll in the Trailblazer. (Requires Loop Maneuver)
The Gunslinger: Sheriff Quint
Where: Tatooine. After you complete the mission to recover the pearl, ND-5 will give you the expert intel for this character.
- Adrenaline Rush Mastery: Increases maximum number of targets in Adrenaline Rush by two, and lets Kay mark objects such as explosive barrels.
- Powered Recharge: Provides a small amount of adrenaline when a perfect cooling is achieved. (Requires Perfect Cooling)
- Speeder Shot: Adrenaline Rush will automatically target enemies while on the speeder.
- Resilient: Increases Kay’s maximum health by one bar.
- The More: Adds one more maximum target to Adrenaline Rush.
- The Better: Kay can mark elite enemies twice in Adrenaline Rush for an instant kill. (Requires The More)
The Hotfixer: Teeka
Where: Tatooine. While progressing through the main missions on the planet, ND-5 will give Kay this expert’s intel while suggesting she buy a new turret for the ship.
- Laser Turret: Repairs the Trailblazer’s turret, enabling its use while flying.
- Improved Grenade: Increases explosion radius and damage of grenades by 50%.
- Enhanced Bacta Injector: Increases health instantly recovered by Bacta Vials.
- Magnetic Dice: Enables a new cheating minigame in Sabacc during the dice throwing phase.
- Cheeky Explosion: Nix can now trigger grenades attached to guards.
- M’Gasha: Decreases merchant prices and increases sell prices by 10%.
The High Roller: Lando Calrissian
Where: Akiva. Speak to the bartender in The Alcazar to get this character’s intel and then head to the high rollers’ Sabacc den.
- Plan A: Allows Kay to perform a double draw in Sabacc.
- Plan B: Provides the components needed to craft the Heavy Blaster Module. (Requires Plan A)
- Roll Maneuver: Enables a strafing dodge while flying the Trailblazer.
- Shoot First: The opening blaster shot from an out of combat state will deal extra damage.
- Ask Later: For a brief period after unholstering, any shot or near miss from hip-fire will grant a small amount of adrenaline. (Requires Shoot First)
- Just Improvise: After a Fast-Talk or arrest sequence, instantly provide a very high amount of adrenaline.
How to unlock The Veteran
The Veteran is the trickiest expert to unlock in Outlaws. His expert quest isn’t unlocked simply by visiting a planet at the right time. Instead, you need to head out to space and loot caches to find encrypted clone war datadiscs. These can only be found in silver loot chests that are opened by holding the interact key, not the red boxes that must be shot open. Once you find enough, an expert quest on Akiva will activate.
