This guide explores the best Thoughts in Disco Elysium: The Final Cut, explaining how to unlock them and their benefits. These Thoughts significantly impact gameplay, offering stat boosts, skill check advantages, and resource gains.
Updated December 23, 2024: Disco Elysium's compelling narrative and intricate mechanics make Thought selection crucial for optimal gameplay. Unlocking these powerful Thoughts enhances the detective's capabilities and success in skill checks.
14. Ace's Low
- Unlock: Shoot the Hanged Man and slap it with Interlacing at 5 or greater.
- Benefits: +2 Empathy for Kim Kitsuragi, +1 Esprit de Corps.
- Why it's great: Improves your relationship with a key character while boosting a valuable skill.
13. Hardcore Aesthetic
- Unlock: Ask Noid about true life and pass the Conceptualization check.
- Benefits: +1 Volition, +1 Endurance.
- Why it's great: Permanently increases crucial stats, improving skill check success rates.
12. Searchlight Division
- Unlock: Speak to specific characters about missing people.
- Benefits: +2 Perception.
- Why it's great: Rewards diligent investigation with a significant Perception boost.
11. Apricot Chewing Gum Scented One
- Unlock: Smell the card in the ledger's hidden compartment and the apricot chewing gum wrapper.
- Benefits: +2 Perception.
- Why it's great: A quirky but effective way to gain a Perception bonus.
10. Cleaning Out The Rooms
- Unlock: Pass a Logic check with Soona after investigating the Void of Sound.
- Benefits: +1 Suggestion, +1 Inland Empire, +1 Rhetoric.
- Why it's great: Boosts three valuable skills simultaneously.
9. Detective Costeau
- Unlock: Call yourself Detective Costeau (after failing a Conceptualization check).
- Benefits: +1 Savoir Faire, +1 Esprit de Corps.
- Why it's great: A humorous way to gain skill boosts and strengthen your bond with Kim.
8. Jamais Vu
- Unlock: Speak to Lena and Joyce.
- Benefits: +1 XP per orb clicked, all INT learning caps raised by 1.
- Why it's great: Rewards exploration with XP and increases skill cap potential.
7. Bringing Of The Law (Law-Jaw)
- Unlock: Repeatedly identify yourself as "The Law," "Lawbringer," or a policeman.
- Benefits: Hand/Eye Coordination learning cap raised to 6, automatic success on all Hand/Eye Coordination passives, -1 Rhetoric.
- Why it's great: Significantly improves Hand/Eye Coordination, outweighing the minor Rhetoric penalty.
6. Kingdom Of Conscience
- Unlock: Wear the Interisolary Trousers or acquire 4 Moralism points.
- Benefits: Moralist dialogue options heal +1 Morale, Volition and Logic learning caps raised to 5.
- Why it's great: Provides morale healing and boosts key skills, aligning with the Moralist path.
5. Indirect Modes Of Taxation
- Unlock: Wear the Brown Derbies Trousers or acquire 4 Ultraliberal points.
- Benefits: Ultraliberal dialogue options give +1 Reál, -1 Empathy.
- Why it's great: Generates extra in-game currency, offsetting the Empathy penalty.
4. Mazovian Socio-Economics
- Unlock: Earn 4 Communism points.
- Benefits: Left-wing dialogue options give +4 XP, -1 Visual Calculus, -1 Authority.
- Why it's great: Provides substantial XP gains, despite minor penalties to other skills.
3. Actual Art Degree
- Unlock: Agree to become an Art Cop.
- Benefits: -1 Hand/Eye Coordination, Conceptualization passives heal +1 Morale & +10 XP.
- Why it's great: Provides significant XP and morale regeneration through passive Conceptualization checks.
2. Rigorous Self-Critique
- Unlock: Agree to become a Sorry Cop.
- Benefits: INT & PSY red check failures heal +1 Morale, FYS & MOT red check failures heal +1 Health, Pain Threshold learning cap increased to 6.
- Why it's great: Turns failed skill checks into health and morale regeneration.
1. Wompty-Dompty Dom Centre
- Unlock: Learn about the Wompty-Dompty Dom Centre from Trant Heidelstam.
- Benefits: Encyclopedia passives give +10 XP & 2 Reál, -2 Suggestion.
- Why it's great: Provides consistent XP and Reál gains through Encyclopedia passives.
