Are you curious about the best skills in Ghost of Yotei? Your journey as Atsu is fraught with danger, as you’re beset on all sides by countless enemies. Thankfully, you soon acquire the necessary abilities that make your character a nightmare for your foes.

What are the best skills in Ghost of Yotei – Techniques and abilities guide

Before we continue with our guide proper, let’s talk about the main categories for your abilities. These are all found in the Growth menu:

• Core – These are basic actions–i.e. grappling hook, parry, dodge, and the like–that are automatically available.
• Onryo – The skill trees here pertain to stealthy takedowns and ranged combat.
• Melee – These skill trees are tied to a particular weapon. The nodes only become available once you’ve acquired additional weapon types.
• Revenge – These abilities are related to counterattacks, thrown items, and even mounted combat.
• Wolf – These perks have offensive and support utility as they pertain to your wolf companion.

Note: The vast majority of skills are unlocked by praying at Altars of Reflection, which means you really need to be mindful of the techniques that you select. Wolf perks, meanwhile, are unlocked by tackling Wolf Den activities.

Onryo best skills

Some of the best skills in Ghost of Yotei can be found in the Onryo category. Here are our picks:

• Everything in the Assassination skill tree – We’re not kidding here, but we actually prioritized the Assassination perks before many others. That’s because they offer nifty ways of eliminating hostiles, including squad leaders and elites, without being spotted. Moreover, given that the stealth-based approach lets you kill enemies without taking damage, you’re guaranteed to have your Onryo’s Howl often.
• Attacks: Disarm Counter and Onryo’s Strike – If you’re facing elites and you’re unable to take them out stealthily, then you could disarm them at the very least.
• Survival: Roll and Perfect Dodge – Atsu’s basic dodge looks and feels clunky. Being able to roll farther, while also putting out fires and granting a counterattack maneuver, helps a lot in combat.
• Ranged: Concentration – We didn’t really focus on ranged combat that much in our playthrough. Still, the Concentration perk, which slows down time while aiming, tends to be useful.

Melee best skills

As mentioned earlier, the skill trees in the Melee category become available once you’ve unlocked a weapon type:

• Katana: Iaido and Heavenly Slash (optional) – To be fair, you do need the Iaido, a quick strike while your blade is stowed, since it’s connected to the other nodes. If you have an extra skill point, then you could also grab the Heavenly Strike, since it’s an unblockable blow.
• Dual Katana:
  • Tempest Strike – This is pretty much your combo move where you spam the triangle button to continuously hit foes.
  • Takezo’s Dual Slash – This ability can interrupt and hit two different enemies. However, you must defeat a target named Takezo the Unrivaled.

Revenge best skills

These are our picks for the best Ghost of Yotei skills in the Revenge category:

• Attacks: Improved Weapon Throw – Numerous items, such as swords, spears, and sake jars, can be found in every outpost or base. Improving their damage and stagger chance becomes helpful in the long run.
• Horse: Improved Horse Boost – This is a perk that you could consider several hours into the campaign. It increases the speed boost when galloping through white flowers and when jumping over obstacles.

Wolf best skills

Atsu’s trusty wolf companion aids her in battle. Here are some notable perks:

• Combat: Wolf’s Vengeance, Wolf Assassination, and Wolf’s Might – Wolf’s Vengeance allows the wolf to stay on the battlefield and fight alongside you. The other two perks greatly improve its ferocity by granting an extra assassination and a means of instantly killing brutes and leaders.
• Summon: Wolf Howl – The remaining perks trigger additional ways for the wolf to appear next to Atsu. That said, the first option, Wolf Howl, should suffice. Just cast Onryo’s Howl to have your beastly companion aid you.

That does it for our guide on the best skills in Ghost of Yotei. Don’t forget to unlock more of these perks via Altars of Reflection and Wolf Den activities.