Wasteland 3 skills

This page lists all skills in Wasteland 3.

The content is not described in full detail on this page. For details, please see the respective articles.
For skills in other Wasteland games, please see "Skill".

Overview[]

The skills system has been overhauled for Wasteland 3 to make it tighter and more focused. As your Rangers gain sill levels, they'll be able to craft more items, in addition to being more powerful.

Combat skills[]

Automatic Weapons[]

Makes you more effective with submachine guns and assault rifles. Recommended Attributes: Coordination, Awareness, Speed


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Assault Rifle hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
SMG hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Puncturing Shot	Gopher Hunter	Spray N Pray		Reckless	Double Tap	Stormer		Trigger Happy

Big Guns[]

Makes you more effective with heavy machine guns, flamethrowers, and other oversized weapons. Recommended Attributes: Awareness, Coordination, Strength


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
HMG hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Flamer hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Move Up!	Suppressing Fire	Terrorizer			Pressure Cooker	Steady Shot		Wide Spread

Brawling[]

Makes you more effective with fist-based weapons. Brawlers start out weak but have great potential at high levels. Recommended Attributes: Coordination, Intelligence, Charisma


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Combat speed	+0.05	+0.1	+0.15	+0.2	+0.25	+0.3	+0.35	+0.4	+0.45	+0.5
Brawling hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Shaolin Surprise			Extreme Combo		Deadly Combo			Flurry of Blows

Melee Combat[]

Makes you more effective with bladed and blunt weapons. Recommended Attributes: Strength, Coordination, Speed


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Bladed weapon hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Blunt weapon hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Bleeding Strike		Stunning Blow	Striking Distance	Bloodsport	Hack 'N' Slash	Pursuit		Shrug It Off

Small Arms[]

Makes you more effective with handguns and shotguns. Recommended Attributes: Coordination, Luck, Awareness


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Semi-auto pistol hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Revolver hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Pump shotgun hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Auto shotgun hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Shredder Shot	Opportunist		Trick Shot	Clear Cover	Draw!	Devastation		Counter-Offensive

Sniper Rifles[]

Makes you more effective with sniper rifles. Recommended Attributes: Intelligence, Awareness, Luck


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Sniper rifle hit chance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks		Mark Target			Masterful Precision		Concentration			Chain Ambush

General skills[]

Animal Whisperer[]

Allows you to tame friendly animals to follow you, and temporarily tame hostile animals in combat (level 3 and above).


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Animal level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Animal companion damage	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%	+30%	+35%	+40%	+45%	+50%
Perks			Animal Training		Spirit Animal		Vengeful Bond

Spirit Animal is a party perk (picked once, affects all animals from all companions).

Tameable animals[]

For a list of all tameable animals, see this article.

Wasteland 3 skills

Combat		Automatic Weapons · Big Guns · Brawling · Melee Combat · Small Arms · Sniper Rifles

General		Animal Whisperer · Explosives · First Aid · Sneaky Shit · Weird Science

Exploration		Armor Modding · Lockpicking · Nerd Stuff · Mechanics · Survival · Toaster Repair · Weapon Modding

Social		Barter · Hardass · Kiss Ass · Leadership

Explosives[]

Allows you to deal more damage with explosives, defuse bombs, and avoid losing your digits when they go off.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Disarm difficulty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Explosive resistance	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Explosive damage bonus	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%	+25%	+30%	+35%	+40%	+45%	+50%
Perks		Duck and Cover	Bomb Recovery	Minesweeper	Mortar Blast		High Impact			Blast Radius

First Aid[]

Makes you more effective when using healing items and reviving squad members.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Healing item level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Healing effectiveness	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Healing when reviving	+10%	+20%	+30%	+40%	+50%	+60%	+70%	+80%	+90%	+100%
Perks	Emergency Response				Overhealing		Physical Therapy			Hypocritic Oath

Sneaky Shit[]

Makes it easier to disarm alarms, evade detection, spot hidden objects, and damage unaware enemies.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Alarm difficulty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Perception	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+7	+8	+9	+10
Initiative	+4%	+8%	+12%	+16%	+20%	+24%	+28%	+32%	+36%	+40$
Detection time	+0.3 s	+0.6 s	+0.9 s	+1.2 s	+1.5 s	+1.8 s	+2.1 s	+2.4 s	+2.7 s	+ 3 s
Sneak attack damage	+10%	+20%	+30%	+40%	+50%	+60%	+70%	+80%	+90%	+100%
Perks				Second Chance			Close Call			Lights Out

Weird Science[]

Increases the damage you deal with unconventional types of weapons, and serves as a requirement for exotic, high-tech equipment.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Weird science	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Energy damage	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Fire damage	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Cold damage	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks			Overcharge			Microwave Research			Conductive Beams

Exploration skills[]

Armor Modding[]

Allows you to modify armor, granting it increased protection and additional benefits.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Armor mod level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Perks										Tender Loving Care

Lockpicking[]

Allows you to open containers, doors, and other locked objects.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Lock difficulty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Safe difficulty	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Nerd Stuff[]

Allows you to use and hack computers, and turn hostile robots to your side.


	Skill Level
Challenge level	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Robot hack	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Computer hack	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Perks			Targeting Override		Electric Leakage		Overclock

Mechanics[]

You can repair vehicles, generators and other machines more effectively. You also do more damage to mechanical foes.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Mechanics req.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Fix machines	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Repair kit eff.	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Damage vs. robots	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Damage vs. vehicles	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Damage vs. synths	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks			Structural Weakness	Handy	Reinforced Plating		Fortify

Survival[]

Improves your ability to avoid dangers on the World Map, and contend with hostile wildlife.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Avoid world map enc.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Damage vs. animals	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Damage vs. mutants	+3%	+6%	+9%	+12%	+15%	+18%	+21%	+24%	+27%	+30%
Perks						Big Game Hunter				Explorer's Instinct

Toaster Repair[]

Allows you to repair broken toasters.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Toaster repair lvl.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Perks			Toaster Expert		Breakfast Bandit		Heating Element			Toasty

Weapon Modding[]

Allows you to modify your weapons, and strip them down for parts.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Weapon mod lvl.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Field stripping scrap	+10%	+20%	+30%	+40%	+50%	+60%	+70%	+80%	+90%	+100%
Perks		Scrounger's Touch			Powder Packer		Expert Disassembler

Social skills[]

Barter[]

Allows you to buy items for less, and sell them for more.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Sell value	+50%	+100%	+150%	+200%	+250%	+300%	+350%	+400%	+450%	+500%
Buy cost	-1%	-2%	-3%	-4%	-5%	-6%	-7%	-8%	-9%	-10%
Perks			Penny Pincher				Antiques Appraiser

Hard Ass[]

Allows you to intimidate others to do what you want and throw them off guard.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Hard Ass lvl	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10

Kiss Ass[]

Allows you to sweet-talk information out of others and bring them to your way of thinking.

Leadership[]

Inspires your nearby allies, and grants you abilities to command the battlefield.


	Skill Level
Challenge	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ally hit chance	+1%	+2%	+3%	+4%	+5%	+6%	+7%	+8%	+9%	+10%
Ally damage bonus on boss kill	+2.5%	+5%	+7.5%	+10%	+12.5%	+15%	+17.5%	+20%	+22.5%	+25%
Ally bonus crit chance on multi-kill	+2%	+4%	+6%	+8%	+10%	12%	+14%	+16%	18%	20%
Ally bonus CON healed on revive	+2%	+4%	+6%	+8%	+10%	12%	+14%	+16%	18%	20%
Perks			Rally		Demoralize

Behind the scenes[]

For reference, the internal codes for skills are as follows. Crafting and Scavenging were intended to be a skill, but was never implemented.


Combat		General		Exploration		Social
Automatic Weapons	10	Animal Whisperer	210	Armor Modding	560	Barter	220
Big Guns	30	Explosives	240	Lockpicking	270	Hard Ass	400
Brawling	40	First Aid	250	Nerd Stuff	230	Kiss Ass	410
Melee Combat	20	Sneaky Shit	550	Mechanics	280	Leadership	260
Small Arms	60	Weird Science	330	Survival	290
Sniper Rifles	80			Toaster Repair	310
Combat Shooting	570			Weapon Modding	320