Probably Stolen: Best Starting Perks Tier Breakdown and Synergies
Selecting the right starting perks in Probably Stolen shapes your store's economy before day 1 even opens. Pairing 1-point powerhouses like Sawyer's Crew with 2-point reputation or anti-robbery perks—and funding extra slots with a 20x10 inventory trade-off—gives you a decisive edge over escalating weekly rent.
Top-Tier Positive Perks: Sawyer's Crew, Diplomatic, and Vigilant
Every new run begins with a pool of 3 perk points to spend across positive traits, or you can play as a default apprentice with no perks on markup difficulty. For 1 perk point, Sawyer's Crew is the strongest single-point pick in the game: it unlocks the underground exchange from the start (granting the Underground Exchange Directive even without skip intro enabled), makes daily janitor service free unless your store is vandalized, and lowers vandalism cleanup fees.
For 2 perk points, the diplomatic perk increases faction reputation generated from trade by 33%; while it does not apply to criminal reports or shooting augs, faster trade reputation unlocks faction abilities and expands daily customer budgets and retail markups. Also at 2 perk points, the vigilant perk guarantees you will never be robbed during the night, eliminating daily insurance fees that scale up with your store's late-game net worth (though skipping daily insurance means slower Wild favor accumulation).
Strong Situational Perks: Well-Connected, Model Citizen, Savings, and Lucky
The well-connected perk costs 2 points and starts every faction with 15 bonus reputation, placing you just 5 points shy of the first lower-level perk (an extra normal customer) and the security merchant unlock. For 1 perk point, model citizen grants 30 starting security reputation—immediately unlocking the security merchant who sells tasers and oxymor—and increases wanted criminal bounty rewards by 20%.
The savings perk costs 1 point and adds 150 starting credits; while modest on a standard apprentice run that already begins with 400 credits, those 150 credits are essential on Rock Bottom runs where you otherwise start with 0 credits. Following release balance updates, the Lucky and Unlucky starting perks shift player luck by 15 instead of 5 on new runs. Lower-priority 1-point options include secret admirer, which delivers free household items like toothpaste or toilet rolls up to three times a week, proficient scavenger, which adds two extra dumping grounds searches per night at the risk of more wounds, and colorful character, which opens three extra perk slots (netting two usable slots) to pair positive and negative traits.
Best Negative Perks for Bonus Points and Trap Perks to Avoid
Minimalist (-3 perk points) is the safest negative trait to fund expensive loadouts: shrinking your main inventory grid from 24 by 10 down to 20 by 10—making clever use of item rotation and container packing—grants 3 extra points to combine Sawyer's Crew with 2-point perks like Vigilant. The blackmail negative perk (-2 perk points) forces you to pay a blackmailer roughly 50 to 60 credits each week; refusing or reporting them triggers a one-time reputation penalty across most factions, though reporting is strictly better than refusing if you decide to stop paying.
On the positive side, avoid the 3-point intimidating perk: reducing crime evidence by 25% rarely matters because even heavy contraband runs seldom exceed 40% investigation progress. On the negative side, avoid Sentinel Collapse Disorder (-3 perk points), which inflicts a fatal autoimmune illness requiring genuine, non-expired immunivax injections every 7 to 8 days (verified using the inspection tests in our appraisal and counterfeit guide) after your starting injector and 3-week grace period expire; without a medicine sign and constant cash for rare injectors, missing a dose ends your run immediately.