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The Outer Worlds Shrink Ray is one of the best science weapons in the early game. Here's where to find it.

The Outer Worlds Shrink Ray: Where to Find It

The Outer Worlds Shrink Ray is one of the best science weapons in the early game. Here's where to find it.
This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

If you’ve gotten a chance to sink your teeth into The Outer Worlds, it’s possible that you missed out on grabbing one of the most idiosyncratic weapons in this brave new world: the Shrink Ray.

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It does precisely what it sounds like it does, and it is available to snatch up as soon as you restore power to your spaceship, the Unreliable. This comes after you finish diverting the power in the quest “Comes Now the Power”, and you’re able to pick up the power regulator. 

What is the Shrink Ray in The Outer Worlds and What Does It Do?

The Shrink Ray is an experimental weapon devised by the enigmatic outlaw, mad scientist, and caffenoid junkie extraordinaire, Phineas Welles. As the name suggests, you can use it to shrink things.

In the case of The Outer Worlds, the ‘things’ you’ll be shrinking are enemies and non-partied NPCs, so don’t think you can simply shrink Felix down a size or two while he’s in your party.

The Outer Worlds’ Shrink Ray also comes in the form of a handgun. You’ll want to have your Handgun skill leveled up in order to get better handling out of the Shrink Ray, as well as access to TTD Hit Locations.

Where to Find the Shrink Ray in The Outer Worlds

This unmarked sidequest will take you back to Phineas Welles’ hidden compound, where you first created your character and which is unironically plastered right onto The Outer Worlds‘ system map on your first go into the cosmos. You do not need the Navkey to go there and get the Shrink Ray.

As soon as you return power to the Unreliable, you’ll get immediate access to fly right over to the place, though The Outer Worlds doesn’t actually tell you to go there for any quests at this point.

Note that The Outer Worlds will actually point you there after you’ve completed the Iconoclasts questline on Monarch, but you can go straight there after you’ve finished the main quest in Edgewater; the Shrink Ray will be in the same exact location either way.

Once you land at the site, follow the loading bay to a set of doors and walk straight until you find Phineas eagerly awaiting you behind a wall of bulletproof glass. Clearly, he’s forgotten that he left his Shrink Ray unaccompanied on a table to your immediate right.

While you won’t get an opportunity to shrink Phineas himself, you can shrink his pet pig, Bubbles, who you’ll find prancing about nearby.

What Else Does the Shrink Ray do?

Simply put, the Shrink Ray shrinks stuff until it explodes, by an amount “proportional to the wielder’s Science skill”. Shrunk enemies are weakened and easier to kill, but the debuff will wear off within a few seconds of the beam being off the target, returning them to their original form.

This wraps up our strategy guide for the Shrink Ray in The Outer Worlds. Be sure to check back for more guides on The Outer Worlds as we make our way through the game.

The Outer Worlds is out now on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, bringing first-person role-playing back to form in an out-of-this-world package. While you wait on our official review, see what we had to say about the game from our E3 preview.


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