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Horizon: Forbidden West significantly improved the combat and overall gameplay mechanisms from Zero Dawn. Now, you’ll notice more player agency in how you wish Aloy to be. At the same time, this vast amount of playstyle options seems almost too open to the point that some players don’t know where to start. That’s why we’re here to help you determine which skills are the best to get first in Horizon: Forbidden West.
Best Skills to Get First in Horizon: Forbidden West
[Updated on March 26 – added additional skills and converted them all to tables]
There’s no denying the skill tree in Horizon: Forbidden West is incredible. It’s broken into 6 sections:
- Warrior
- Trapper
- Hunter
- Survivor
- Infiltrator
- Machine Master
Keep in mind that the difficulty only increases as you go through the missions and side activities. So, the beginning is all about getting your feet wet as you work out a playstyle that is more in your favor. Let’s break these down individually as we find the best start skills in Horizon: Forbidden West.
Warrior
Warrior skills aren’t a priority since you won’t encounter many human enemies at the start. Still, in the beginning, a healthy number gives Aloy an excellent advantage whenever she must engage in close combat.
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Resonator Blast | The first unlock in the Warrior branch, Aloy charges up her spear to shoot any arrow type to deal great damage. |
| Melee Damage | With this simple passive boost, Aloy deals more damage with light and heavy attacks. |
| Nora Warrior | As far as combos go, this 4-hit string will stagger enemies. |
| Critical Strike+ | A passive skill to grant you 25% additional damage to critical strikes. |
| Critical Boost | A Valor Surge that increases your chance to land Critical Hits and increases Critical Damage. |
Trapper
Whether you’re a fan of traps or not, certain Trapper abilities are more than useful in the early stages:
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Skilled Salvager | This ensures you recover more materials that are higher in quality when you disarm tripwires and other traps. |
| Quick Wire | With this skill, you’ll instantly launch a Tripwire rather than manually place it. |
Hunter
For general offense in Horizon: Forbidden West, aim for these Hunter skills:
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Concentration+ | For bow-lovers, this skill is a must-have. It’s a passive boost to increase your Concentration limit. |
| Deep Concentration | Another passive boost, but this will prolong your Concentration as it will deplete slower now. |
| Triple Notch | Thanks to this handy weapon technique, you can fire three arrows for quick impact damage. |
| Valor Surge Master | With this passive boost, you’ll gain valor faster for more chances to perform those Valor Surges. |
| Ammo Expert | It helps save supplies as it lets you craft more ammunition using the same amount of resources. |
Survivor – Best Skills to Get First in Horizon: Forbidden West
Here’s where you get to Aloy’s serious defensive skills beyond Warrior. In Horizon: Forbidden West, the Survivor skill tree is about building durability.
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Potent Medicine | A passive boost; this helps you if you’re prone to scarfing down those Medicinal Berries. It improves their speed and efficiency. |
| Potion Proficiency | Like the above, efficiency and speed are improved. |
| Medicine Capacity | Stemming from the initial skill, it doesn’t hurt to increase how many berries you can carry. |
| Valor on Impact | In the beginning, mistakes are made, and you may get hit often. In this case, this skill will at least reward you for it, as you’ll gain valor each time. |
| Low Health Defense | If you’re below 25% health, you’ll resist more damage. |
| Plant Forager | This lets you gather up more resources from plants. |
| Toughened | A Valor Surge, you get a special potion to restore health every two seconds. |
Infiltrator
The Infiltrator tree is where stealth lovers shine. In Horizon: Forbidden West, several skills stand out as the best ones at the beginning:
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Stealth Tear+ | Not only does this increase your tear damage, but it also works well with your Concentration Hunter skill when taking down machines. |
| Silent Strike+ | Your silent strikes now deal more damage. |
| Silent Strike Heal | When you use your Silent Strike, you’ll heal. |
| Low Profile | If anything helps in the beginning, it’s a way to reduce your visibility to enemies. |
| Quiet Movement | Another worthy beginner skill, you’ll move around quieter to reduce detection. |
| Stealth Stalker | It’s worth investing in the skills needed to unlock this perk. If you want to sneak around, this greatly reduces visibility to enemies. |
Machine Master
Finally, we get to Machine Master. You’re going to handle machines throughout the game. So, you should invest in a few skills at the start of Horizon: Forbidden West.
| Skill | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Part Breaker | This Valor Surge helps you deal more damage to machine components. In turn, they’re easier to remove. |
| Lasting Override | A passive boost that increases how long a machine is overridden. |
| Heavy Lifter | You’ll eventually snag a heavy weapon from a Machine like a Thunderjaw. With this perk, you’ll be grateful you can move faster. |
| Mounted Defense | While mounted, you won’t take as much damage. |
No matter how you start Horizon: Forbidden West, you can easily adapt Aloy to suit however you want to play. Focus on pure stealth, become a machine master, or you can be a heavy-hitting brute. Or blend them all into one to turn Aloy into a versatile fighter. The choice is all yours.
Horizon: Forbidden West is available on PlayStation and PC.
