A mechanic that exists in The Outer Worlds is armor upgrading. You can upgrade your armor or head pieces to increase the stats, making them more durable and decreasing the amount of damage you take from enemies.
However it isn’t free to do. Upgrading will cost ‘Bits’, which is the in-game currency. You will mostly find these by looting bodies and containers in the game. But selling items from your inventory is also a really fast way to get them.
We’ve put together a short guide below, showing you how to upgrade any armor you have. For more guides & content for The Outer Worlds on PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One, make sure to check out our dedicated area here!
Upgrading Armor in The Outer Worlds
You can’t upgrade armor from your inventory. Instead, you’ll need to find a Workbench in The Outer Worlds. They all look the same, just look for something like the image below. The easiest place to find a Workbench would be on your ship, which you will have access to after a few early game missions.

Interact with the Workbench to open it. Here, you can customise all of the weapons and armor items you are carrying. Head to the ‘Tinker’ tab, here you can upgrade parts. Move on other to the armor section at the top of the screen.

Now you will see a list of armor items you are carrying in The Outer Worlds. Items you have equipped will have a gold background. On the right of the screen, you can see the cost of upgrading armor in bits. It starts out cheap, with it getting more and more expensive for each additional level.