The full version of Everspace 2 is finally available for PC after launching in January 2021 for Steam Early Access. Though it offers trading, puzzles and heaps of exploration, the combat is very akin to action RPGs. You’ll find loot with different rarities, gain XP to level up and craft items.
Like any action RPG, Everspace 2 has a level cap, topping out at 30. Every five levels, you get three Hero perk choices, but you can only take one from that tier. Don’t worry – respeccing becomes available later on if you want to experiment and play around.
Here are all the Hero perks for each tier and our picks for the best.
Best Hero Perks
Level 5 Perks
Exit Strategy
You take 25 percent less damage when boosting. Ideal if you like boosting, and can synergize with the different boost-related perks. However, in the early going, it’s very average.
Close Call
Create a shield that negates all damage for 10 seconds when you’re about to die. It only activates once – refreshing it requires docking at a station. Recommended as a free “get out of jail” card, especially when overwhelmed and needing a breather to heal.
Defensive Massacre
Shield recharge starts immediately after slaying an enemy. It’s worth picking up since it can provide high shield uptime. Though a decent enough survival tool, it becomes much less ideal against tankier foes.
Level 10 Perks
Percussive Maintenance
A random device’s cooldown is reduced by 20 percent when scoring direct hits against armor or hulls. It has a 10 percent chance of occurring. If you’re reliant on devices, this can be very good.
Downtime Warrior
For each device on cooldown, your weapons require 15 percent less energy. A good choice for more uptime on weapons, meaning more consistent DPS.
Play It Safe
Using a warfare device grants an additional four Reactive Armor charges, which negates the same amount of damage instances for five seconds. A strong survival option, especially against more powerful enemies.
Level 15 Perks
Excessive Force
When your shield is fully charged, deal 30 percent more energy damage with your primary weapon. Ideal when getting the drop on enemies, but much less useful in actual combat unless you can duck and weave like the best.
Crit Happens
Generate an explosion on critical hits, which causes damage to the target and other enemies in range. It has a 30 percent chance of occurring, but damage taken by nearby enemies is 50 percent of the explosion’s base damage. Go for this above the other choices since it’s free damage, even if you are up against a single enemy.
Relentless
With each support device installed, you gain 20 percent increased energy capacity for weapons. Akin to Downtime Warrior, with providing constant DPS, but not a better choice over Crit Happens.
Level 20 Perks
Ulterior Motive
When shields are depleted, you gain 100 percent Ultimate generation. Perhaps the best choice, though it’s best not to rely on it as a survival tool (since most Ultimates are damage-based). The ideal situation would be to take other skills to negate damage, and then use your Ultimate to quickly annihilate your enemies.
Unyielding Assault
Repair 50 percent of armor and remove debuffs when using your Ultimate. Good for some additional survivability when activating your Ultimate, or when you’re in a dire situation and need some damage resistance on demand.
Critical Faculty
Restore 1 percent of Ultimate energy when landing critical hits, which synergizes well with Crit Happens.
Level 25 Perks
Retaliation
When taking damage from attackers, 30 percent is reflected. Not the worst option if you’re going for a tankier ship, but it’s completely outclassed by…
Exploitation
When an enemy ship’s movement is impaired, you gain 50 percent critical hit chance. It’s a great perk that synergizes with Crit Happens and Critical Faculty. Use Web Missiles and EMP to impair enemies, and clean them up. Also ideal against tankier enemies, especially when using your Ultimate
Preparation
Gain five percent increased secondary weapon damage each second. Stacks up to six times and resets when taking damage. By ambushing foes or being slippery enough to avoid damage, you can get some mileage out of this. Unfortunately, it’s simply not the best option in this tier.
Level 30 Perks
Ride the Lightning
While having a shield, killing an enemy grants a 20-second-long lightning orb to your ship. It will circle it, with incoming attacks damaging your enemy and stunning them with an EMP for three seconds. If you have five lightning orbs, you gain a 30 percent increase in fire rate and unlimited energy for boosting.
Overkill
Grants Ancient Energy to your primary weapons after your Ultimate finishes, increasing damage dealt and armor-piercing by 20 percent. Based on the Ultimate energy used, it can last up to 20 seconds.
Symphony of Destruction
Create a large discharge, damaging enemies in an area after destroying a foe with critical hits. Good against hordes of enemies, and given all the other crit-based perks, this completes the ensemble with even more damage.
Best Companion Perks
Adam (or rather his clone) isn’t alone in Everspace 2. He has several companions to interact with, but they also provide unique perks which make combat, exploration, resource gathering and even shopping easier. Unlocking these requires certain resources, and they’re not all available to choose from at a given time.
Let’s look at all of the companion perks and which would be the most useful, depending on the situation. Remember: You can save your resources and obtain certain companion perks later. You don’t have to go for the immediately available options.
Dax/Ben Perks
Repairs
Along with paying only 70 percent for repairs on the hull and equipment, you get free hull repairs when its current HP is below 30 percent of the max.
Tractor Beam
Increases the Tractor Beam’s pulling speed and base range, with the latter being 800 meters. It also allows for pulling multiple objects simultaneously.
Cruise Drive
The time needed to activate the Cruise Drive is reduced by 1.5, 1.2 and eventually 0.9 seconds. Not the craziest perks overall, so you can take any of them later.
Delia Perks
Nanotechnology
Delia is all about nanotechnology and energy regeneration. Nanotechnology will double the speed at which Nanobots repair your ship, and repair any allies in close range. It even repairs half of your armor, providing some much-needed damage resistance on top of health.
Energy Orbs
Energy Orbs can drop when destroying enemy ships and replenishes energy for your weapons and boost. They also regenerate a portion of your armor and shield energy.
Sometimes, destroying ships can create a rare orb that charges your Ultimate, while also granting additional energy for weapons and boost. It will also increase handling by 20 percent for ten seconds. Elites have a better chance of dropping rare orbs, and best of all, orbs will drift to you, reducing the time spent picking them up.
Delia’s perks are good in the early going when you need an edge over opposing ships. If you’re facing issues against heaps of enemies, investing in Nanotechnology is recommended for improved survivability.
Hive Perks
Autonomous Cargo Dispatcher
Hive is probably the best utility-focused companion and Autonomous Cargo Dispatcher should be acquired post-haste since it sends excess items to your base. Don’t have space for loot but also don’t want to throw it out? Hive will take care of that, and it’s amazing.
Mining Tracker
This will reveal possible mining yields in each area of the star map, which is good when short on materials.
Startup Delays
Reduce the startup delay when equipping a secondary weapon or consumable, first to 20 seconds and then to 15 seconds. Startup delays are also completely removed when you’re not in combat. Not amazing, so you can safely skip it till later.
Elek Perks
Fire Support
Unlike the other companions, Elk will provide backup in his ship. If he feels like it, of course. Fire Support will also upgrade his weapons to Equalizers, providing even more damage, and he can also attack with EMP Missiles. It’s a pretty good tool in the mid-to-late game when dealing with droves of tougher enemies, so pick it up immediately.
Tareen Perks
Storage Size
Want more storage in your home base? Tareen is the ticket. This perk allows for increasing storage size by 60, 75 and 100.
Hangar Size
A ship for every situation may seem impossible, but with Hangar Size, you can at least expand the hangar to have seven and eventually nine.
Ship Dealers
Perhaps the best perk that Tareen has to offer, this increases the number of ships that Ship Dealers can offer. On top of obtaining an alternative set of passives for each, the Flying Dutchess’s Marie de Windt will also have some ships on sale (with the selection later increasing). Even Kato Palace will offer some top-tier ships for sale. Ships for sale will refresh every ten minutes, so you don’t have to wait long for alternative options.
Khala Perks
Spatial Bypass
If you’re heavy on exploration, this perk is a must. It lets you create Spatial Bypasses and travel between systems more quickly.
Location Scanner
Along with revealing the overall completion status of a location, this perk also shows the types of secrets and how many are still left. It’s highly recommended for completionists, though you can take it in the late game or when close to finishing the story.
Check out our official review of Everspace 2. It’s also coming to Xbox Series X/S and PS5 this Summer, with a free major update in the latter half of the year. A paid expansion with new end-game activities also arrives next year.
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