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These are the 9 best skills to unlock first in Days Gone
Days Gone is stapled to a terror-inducing illustration of the Pacific Northwest that’s teeming with Freakers, wolves and ‘rager bears’. Here are a few key skills to learn for survival.
In the beginning of Bend Studio’s Days Gone, you're immediately taught the ABCs of survival because it’s more of a necessity than an afterthought. The Pacific Northwest is infested with all kinds of post-apocalyptic wildlife – from Freakers to infected wolves called Runners – and your boot knife can only get you so far in a one-on-one with a grizzly bear who's just daring you to use your crossbow. That’s where skill trees come in. Deacon St John has three different trees to choose from (Melee, Ranged, Survival) and with 45 skills total, there’s enough there to help him survive and prosper. This guide lists nine of our favourite skills and how they can be the anchor for any playstyle.
When it rains, it pours
© Bend Studio
1. Field Repairs
As one of the first skills you can unlock in Days Gone, Field Repairs gives Deacon the ability to repair melee weapons with scrap. It may seem like a useless skill given the Pacific Northwest’s endless supply of fence posts and baseball bats, but it’s one that uses the crafting system to great effect and allows you to permanently hoard rare finds such as Fire Axes and Machetes.
2. Hard Hitter
If stamina cocktails aren’t your thing, then juice up with Hard Hitter. The melee ability increases the overall damage of both found and crafted melee weapons which can help in a pinch when a single Freaker or Newt spirals into a horde from hell. It can also be used to unlock Home Run to up the damage even further or it can be paired with Talk Sh**, Get Hit to perform longer combos.
3. Busted Up
Busted Up won’t fortify your boot knife or give you the ability to use rocks for stun damage, but it's a must for anyone who likes to swing for the fences. It’s a skill that regenerates stamina with every melee kill – giving you the ability to endure all-out brawls at enemy camps or instances in the deep wilderness where you’re surrounded by Freakers, wolves and other infected wildlife.
The bad guys come out at night
© Bend Studio
4. Switch It Up
The boot knife is your best friend. It’s your last line of defence if you find yourself out of ammo, baseball bats and throwables. Even though it requires numerous swings just to take out a single enemy, it’s there for you through thick and thin. Switch It Up amplifies it even further and makes it a life partner that's capable of inflicting twice the normal damage during combos.
5. Crowd Control
One word: Focus. It’s the focal point of the Ranged skill tree and while it doesn’t affect precision or combo strings, it reduces the overall cooldown of Focus which can make combat sequences a little more manageable when the bear trap schemes go wrong. It’s a plus for those who prefer stealthing through bushes or kicking the goddamn door down and it’s the perfect A-side to other skills like Under Pressure, which lets you reload a ranged weapon without consuming Focus.
6. Nocked Up
Nocked Up is a must if you invested in Thorn In Your Side to retrieve previously fired arrows and if you just have a ‘thing’ for crossbows. It’s as advertised as it significantly increases crossbow bolt damage – useful for hunting game, gathering bounties from Freakers and Newts, or for taking out enemy hideouts in the dead of the night.
7. Head Rush
Instead of being the name of Deacon’s Zebrahead cover band, Head Rush is a ranged skill that does exactly what you think it does: it lets you recover health with every headshot kill. It’s an old Game Genie code that has no place in the survival horror genre, but luckily it’s a late-game skill that can be used to make the open-world action feel more engaging. That way you’re not stuck thumbing through a wheel every five seconds just to get the upper hand on a mess of Rippers.
8. Eagle-Eyed
Survival Vision can take some getting used to. It’s a mechanic that’s similar to a Witcher’s ability to track Griffins and it can be pretty frustrating if all you can find on the open road is dirty rags and lavender. Eagle-Eyed helps to increase its range – giving Deacon the ability to use his ‘Biker Vision’ to scout different locations from a distance.
9. Carry That Weight
Inventory space over everything. Other Survival skills like Second Wind and Thief In The Night will give you an extra burst of adrenaline and allow you to generate less noise while moving, but Carry That Weight is an action-RPG staple. It gives Deacon a lot more inventory space for traps, crafting components and throwables (molotovs, pipe bombs) which is essential for clearing out Freaker infestations and marauders who are too smart for their own good (and bear traps).
