Days Gone: A Guide to the Skill Trees

If you prefer your Deacon St. John to be more of a Deacon St. Snake or a Deacon St. All Might then you’re going to want to invest in the skill trees. It turns out that surviving the wildlands of Days Gone takes more than just a spunky attitude and you actually need to level up and gain new skills. You can pick which order to take the skills in, but you will need to follow a few different rules as you go. 

Each of the trees is divided into columns, each column requires a certain number of skills in that tree before you can invest in it. It basically goes 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. So, if you want to get any skills from the very last column in the tree, then you’re going to need to have invested 8 skill points across the other levels first. It just means you can’t get the overpowered stuff right away. 

Melee Combat skills

Column 1 (0 skills invested)

• Escape Artist: Kill smaller enemies after successfully escaping from a grapple.
• Field Repairs: Ability to repair melee weapons with scrap.
• Juice Up: Improves the initial recovery and duration of a Stamina Cocktail.

Column 2 (2 skills invested)

• Hard Hitter: Increases the damage of both crafted and found melee weapons.
• Busted Up: Regenerates stamina for every melee kill.
• Talk Shit, Get Hit: Ability to perform longer combos with melee weapons.

Column 3 (4 skills invested)

• Lightning Reflexes: Ability to quickly roll to recover from a knockdown.
• Bull Rush: Ability to stun a normal human enemy or Swarmer with a melee attack while sprinting.
• The Reckoning: Melee weapons have a chance for critical takedowns on humans, Swarmers, and Newts.

Column 4 (6 skills invested)

• Just Roll with It: Drastically reduces stamina cost from rolling.
• Rock On: Ability to stun weaker enemies by hitting them with a rock.
• Home Run: Significantly increases the damage of both crafted and found melee weapons.

Column 5 (8 skills invested)

• Retribution: Increases the chance of a critical hit or takedown by 25 percent.
• Switch It Up: Boot Knife combos do twice the normal damage.
• Executioner: Stealth attack heavy Freakers. Kill heavy Freakers or animals while escaping a grapple.

Ranged Combat skills

Column 1 (0 skills invested)

• Focused Shot: Ability to activate Focus while aiming a ranged weapon.
• Fight and Flight: Move and aim a ranged weapon with more precision.
• Vicious Cycle: Ability to follow a melee attack with a ranged attack for massive damage.

Column 2 (2 skills invested)

• Suppressing Fire: When in Focus, ranged weapons will have increased power to stop weaker enemies.
• Crowd Control: Reduces the cooldown of Focus.
• Hyperfocus: Improves the initial recovery and duration of a Focus Cocktail.

Column 3 (4 skills invested)

• On the Move: Ability to reload ranged weapons while sprinting.
• Iron Grip: Significantly reduces ranged weapon recoil.
• Nocked Up: Significantly increases crossbow bolt damage.

Column 4 (6 skills invested)

• Under Pressure: No longer consume Focus when reloading a ranged weapon.
• Quick Reload: Reduces the reload times for ranged weapons.
• Deadshot: Increases ranged weapon accuracy.

Column 5 (8 skills invested)

• Up the Ante: Increases ammo capacity for all ranged weapons.
• Two Birds, One Bullet: Increases projectile penetration for ranged weapons.
• Head Rush: Headshot kills recover health.

Survival Combat skills

Column 1 (0 skills invested)

• Eye for Detail: Increases the time that icons display in Survival Vision.
• Hawkeyed: Plants are displayed on the mini-map.
• Thorn in Your Side: Provides a chance to retrieve some bolts that have been fired from the crossbow.

Column 2 (2 skills invested)

• Eagle-Eyed: Increases the range of Survival Vision.
• Thief in the Night: Generates less noise when moving or dropping.
• Green Thumb: Ability to gather double the plants when collecting them.

Column 3 (4 skills invested)

• The Butcher: Increase the amount of meat gathered from animals.
• Catch Your Breath: Reduces cooldown of stamina recovery.
• Ear to the Ground: outlines enemies in Survival Vision.

Column 4 (6 skills invested)

• Monkey Wrench: Doubles the effectiveness of scrap while repairing the bike.
• Second Wind: Gives extra burst of adrenaline when low on health.
• Carry That Weight: Increases inventory space for crafting components, traps, and throwables.

Column 5 (8 skills invested)

• The Alchemist: Improves the initial recovery and duration of a Health Cocktail.
• Shape Up: Significantly increases stamina regeneration rates.
• Six Feet Over: Regain some stamina when taking damage.