In Alan Wake 2, you’re likely to come across some glowing arrows while exploring different game maps as Alan Wake. The arrows, if followed, will lead you to different Words of Power, which work as upgrades for Alan Wake’s campaign. Altogether, there are seven different Words of Power types: Words of Lamp, Words of Aid. Words of War, Words of Stuff, Words of Fix, Words of Gun, and Words of Action. 

For each word type, there are 3 different upgrades available. But you’ll have to choose carefully, because there are a limited amount of findable words of power in the game. For example, there are only two Words of Stuff upgrades available throughout the game- meaning you can only get 2 of the three upgrades in that category. This makes sense because the Words of Stuff upgrades are arguably the best in the game.  

Outside of the Words of Stuff, the other upgrades vary in power and usefulness depending on things like gameplay style and difficulty. This list goes over our picks for the Top 10 Words of Power in Alan Wake 2.

10. Lucky Strike (Words of Lamp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=63s 

The Lucky Strike word of power gives you a chance to regain a flashlight charge when you kill an enemy. Some people prefer Roulette (Words of Gun), which gives you a chance to not consume ammo when firing your revolver, but the percentage is much higher with Lucky Strike, making it a better option for offense heavy players. As is the case with the Battery word of power, it’s great to have a chance to get a charge back when you’re running low on flashlight batteries. 

• Starts off with a 25% chance to regain a charge and can be upgraded twice after that for an even bigger chance of refilling a charge. 
• Unlike Roulette, you don’t actually have to use a charge to kill an enemy and get a flashlight charge back. 
• Gives some incentive to go on the offensive and attack more taken instead of feeling like you have to avoid them.

9. Torchbearer (Words of Aid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=374s 

Torchbearer is a Word of Aid that increases the radius of Alan’s hand flares. In Alan Wake 2, weapons that can remove the darkness from taken are extremely useful. In segments like the tv studio and The Poet’s Theatre, where a lot of enemies group up on you, a hand flare is the perfect weapon. Upgrading the Torchbearer word of power means that you’ll be able to push back more enemies and have a larger radius for vanquishing the darkness that protects them. 

• When you’re backed into a corner and can’t point and shoot with your flashlight, hand flairs are great for getting you out of a tough spot. And with Torchbearer, all you’ll have to do after is shoot at your enemies. 
• Because hand flares can also be thrown, the Torchbearer upgrader also gives you the option of having a really strong throwable in your inventory. 
• Alan Wake 2 isn’t scared of giving you flares, meaning that you’re likely to have a lot of them. This is great if you have the Torchbearer word of power upgraded.

8. Full Stop (Words of War)

Full Stop increases the damage of the last bullet in Alan’s revolver for every reload. Because the revolver is the main gun you’ll be using as Alan, Full Stop is really useful for any playthrough. The only downside is that you’ll have to beat that habit of reloading before you’re actually out of bullets. 

• Full Stop isn’t percentage based, meaning that you’ll get its damage bonus every time the final shot is fired from the chamber. 
• Alan’s primary weapon is the revolver, meaning you’ll have a lot of ammo and will be triggering this perk often in battles. 
• The revolver can sometimes feel weak against stronger enemies, but Full Stop gives it an extra kick that will help you fight back against more than just ordinary taken.

7. Never There (Words of Action)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=286s 

Never There is the only word of power from the Action tree that makes this list. The Never there upgrade makes Alan wake harder to detect by enemies. It’s great for defensive players or those playing on harder difficulties because it makes it easier for players to avoid shadows when running around the map. Upgrading Never There early on makes it easy to explore and stock up on supplies and words of power while being able to avoid too much confrontation. 

• Because sometimes it can be hard to tell whether a shadow is hostile until it’s actually hitting you, Never There helps in avoiding that guessing game altogether. 
• Great for avoiding fights when you are low on resources or low on health. 
• Makes navigating the map a lot easier, even in tighter sections of the game like the Oceanview Hotel or Subway sections.

6. Touring Map (Words of Stuff)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=900s 

Touring Map marks any resources near Alan Wake on the player map. With Alan Wake 2 being a game that keeps most of its environments really dark, it can be easy to miss items, Words of Power, or storage areas. Touring Map marks all of these if you get close enough to them, which cuts a lot of time out of searching for them later in the game. 

The reason that this is ranked lower than the other two Words of Stuff upgrades is that it’s the only one of the three that can be replaced without needing to use a word of power upgrade. When you come across Tim Breaker in the game, he has maps that highlight resources on the map near him. 

• Markings on the map are permanent, meaning they won’t just appear in the moment when they are nearby.
• Finding things on the map is significantly easier than searching for them without the Touring Map word of power. 
• Touring Map helps you find not just objects, but shoeboxes, words of power and echoes.

5. Sunny Skies (Words of Gun)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=233s

Sunny Skies is a Word of Gun that increases the blast radius of the flare gun. Alan Wake’s flare gun isn’t as strong at its base strength as it was in the first Alan Wake game, but with the Sunny Skies upgrade, the gun goes back to its roots as a gun that really packs a punch. The gun becomes a great choice for boss fights and big battles against multiple enemies- you can watch it really flourish in Initiation 4: We Sing  where you’ll become the champion of light!  

• Makes the flare gun much stronger and usable than when it’s at base power. 
• When fully upgraded, the flare gun feels like a straight up grenade launcher.
• Because you’re using less flares for every encounter, you hold on to a lot more flare gun ammo.

4. Wellness Retreat (Words of Fix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=13s 

The Wellness Retreat word of power increases Alan Wake’s maximum health. The great thing about Wellness Retreat is that it can be upgraded 3 times, which can really help you out if you’re doing a medium or hard difficulty playthrough. After all, this is survival horror, and to survive, you have to have a lot of health. 

• Lets you take more damage before needing to heal, which can be difficult to do during intense fights. 
• Having a bigger health bar means you don’t have to worry about using health items as quickly, and using a large med-kit heals you enough to get through longer game sections.
• Paired with a Word of Power like Wheels Within Wheels that’s percentage based, Alan’s bigger health bar will still be healed the same percent but will have more actual HP.

3. Prescription (Words of Aid)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=376s

Prescription increases the duration of healing time when using Painkillers. Painkillers can be easily overlooked in the game because at their base healing, they’re not very good. They’re biggest redeeming quality is how quick they are to use.. Getting the Prescription word of power gives you the best of both worlds, raising the effectiveness of painkillers while still being a fast way to heal yourself. 

• The game throws a lot of painkillers at you, so upgrading this as soon as you can means that you can have a good healing option that doesn’t take up a lot of space in your inventory. 
• Though ER is also a great word of aid, Trauma pads are pretty good at their base level- so Prescription becomes the better option because it makes what is an ineffective item into a very effective one. 
• Upgrading the Prescription word of power can make painkillers the go-to for boss battles, which in Alan Wake 2, are always almost too fast paced for larger medkits or trauma pads.

2. Battery (Words of Stuff)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=901s

Battery adds a charge to Alan Wake’s flashlight. In a game where the first step to defeating an enemy is to use up a battery charge, every charge matters! Battery really helps out when you’re out of flares and have no choice but to start shining your light on multiple enemies that are crowding around you. 

• You get an extra charge for every battery reload. So, when you’re stocked up, you could be looking at 4 extra charges to blast enemies with.
• Batteries can feel scarcer than bullets, so every extra charge can help out a lot in moments when you’re running low. 
• Especially as Alan Wake, there’s moments when you can flash your light on a shadow and realize it wasn’t hostile. Battery can make that mistake feel a little more forgiving.

1. Magic Pocket (Words of Stuff)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hUQktDIokE&t=901s 

With so many weapons and throwables that are available to you in Alan Wake 2, it’s easy to run out of space. And with the game mechanics making it so that an item discarded is gone forever, it’s important to have as much space as you can in your inventory. This makes Magic Pocket crucial to your playthrough because it adds an entire row of inventory space.  

• This upgrade can save you a lot of headaches in storage management, making it easy to carry more without having to make sacrifices.
• Without Magic Pocket, it can feel downright impossible to carry more than 2 weapons and not run out of space for any other resources.
• You need a lot of space for all those flares and flare gun bullets- specifically the flare gun bullets that can take up a lot of inventory space because each box doesn’t hold much. 
• Makes it easier to justify carrying larger health items like large med kits. 

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