Perks are an important thing to consider when gearing up for battle. They’re not as strong as feats (most of the time) but they still take time and investment to unlock and have utility in both Dominion and Breach, and with the arrival of the CCU, a few perks have been altered significantly. So, which ones are now the best to use for each character?

First, we need to clarify that most characters in this game have the exact same optimal perk loadout as several others. So, instead of going character by character, we will be going set by set (for example, all characters with Set O will have X optimal loadout, and so on). Then, after each set’s optimal loadout, we will describe a few exceptions (if any) and why. We will make only one exception to this procedure, and that is for the Set A characters (Valkyrie, Nobushi and Tiandi). Each of these three have their own optimal loadouts, too unique from one another to be grouped together like the rest. 

For reference, the letters of the perk set names mean the following:

• O means Offense
• D means Defense
• A means Assist

You can find all the different perk sets, which perks they have, and their users in this handy table I spent way too much time on.

You can find more details about all the perks’ categorization and their functionality on the InfoHub page.

Set O: Galestorm, Devourer, Headhunter

Characters in this set: 

• Peacekeeper
• Centurion
• Gladiator
• Berserker
• Orochi 
• Nuxia

Easily one of if not the most pathetic line-up of perk choices For Honor has to offer, these O-set characters can immediately cross off just under half their choices right from the get-go. The only one that comes close but doesn’t make it into the optimal loadout is Endurance, as it can really only hope to compete with Galestorm, and even then not very well. Devourer and Headhunter have too great of synergy to not both be taken. When it goes up against Galestorm, Endurance suffers from being gated by renown, and from most of the characters who use it (especially post-CCU) not struggling with stamina management the majority of the time anyway (although it can be useful to sustain offense for longer, now that attacking is easier). Galestorm, on the other hand, is activated fully for the entire game, and has generic and consistent usability rivaled by the likes of Remedy and Bastion. It’s only weakness is that executions eat into its active time. 

Set D: Bastion, Vengeful Barrier, Last Stand/Bulk Up

• Characters in this set:
• Warlord
• Highlander
• Jormungandr 
• Aramusha 
• Hitokiri

While Aegis and Shields Up have been utterly gutted, the other options remain fairly intact. Bastion is a constant 10% damage reduction assuming you’re playing the objective, Vengeful Barrier is insane now that it benefits from the revenge bug, and Bulk Up is Bulk Up. You can’t go wrong with extra health, especially when your character has trading options. However, now that damage values have been lowered across the board thanks to the CCU, you can consistently get extremely good use out of Last Stand. The perk makes heavy attacks do around 15 damage and light attacks around 8 once you’re below 25 health, allowing you to make one to three more mistakes before dying with the potential of surprising your opponent with your survival of an attack that should have killed you. It may not stack with Bastion, but that doesn’t make either perk almost any worse, as 10% damage reduction doesn’t usually mean anything below 25 health anyway. This, coupled with the fact that Last Stand is activated right out of the gate while Bulk Up is renown-gated, makes Last Stand a worthy alternative.

Set A: Valkyrie, Nobushi and Tiandi

Valkyrie: Radiant Rebound, Remedy, Rapid Refresh

With Clever Tactics and Supersonic as immediate and obvious duds for Valkyrie, and Feline Agility outclassed by Radiant Rebound, Valkyrie is left with Radiant Rebound, Remedy, and a choice between Rapid Refresh and Rising Dawn. However, Valkyrie doesn’t have any revive-oriented feats like Speed Revive, and she has many active feats that benefit greatly from reduced cooldowns, so Rapid Refresh is the clear winner. 

Nobushi: Rising Dawn, Rapid Refresh

Like Valkyrie, Nobushi can quickly sweep aside Clever Tactics, Supersonic and Feline Agility, but while Remedy and Radient Rebound are good choices, Nobushi benefits so much from both Rising Dawn (thanks to Speed Revive) and Rapid Refresh (thanks to her abundant active feat choices) that it’s worth sacrificing a third perk slot to just have those two. 

Tiandi: Radiant Rebound, Remedy, Rising Dawn

Radiant Rebound and Remedy are no-brainers compared to his other choices, and while Rapid Refresh is very strong on its other two users, Tiandi has too few feats that make too little use of it to justify taking it over Rising Dawn, despite the recent gutting of Protected Revive. Most of his feats, especially his passives, have too short of cooldowns to make good use of reductions, and he has too few good examples of long ones that benefit significantly (like Last Laugh). The option is there, but Rising Dawn will usually have more utility. 

Set O/D: Devourer, Endurance, Head Hunter

• Warden
• Raider
• Kensei
• Zhanhu

With Shields Up, Aegis, and Survival Instinct immediately disqualified, and with the synergy between Head Hunter and Devourer, Set O/D’s optimal choices become very clear. Endurance must be the third slot, because Fresh Focus and Head Hunter cannot both be taken and Endurance allows each of these stamina-intensive characters to keep attacking for longer.

Set O/A: Devourer, Remedy, Head Hunter

Shaman

Shinobi (Exception)

Shaolin

For Shaman and Shaolin, this loadout is exactly the same, and for the same reasons: Devourer and Remedy are Devourer and Remedy, healing you for simply killing and executing people. For Shaman and Shaolin, executions are trivially easy to get, and both have fast-killing, high-rewarding executions to choose from. Head Hunter, therefore, becomes an obvious third pick for them thanks to its synergy with Devourer. 

However, Shinobi is special in this set. He should always take Remedy of course, and he has a choice between Endurance (for reducing stamina costs of Super Sprint and Slide Tackle, along with its other obvious benefits) and Devourer (still a generally useful feat despite Shinobi’s struggles to get consistent executions). But with his third slot, he becomes the only character who should ever pick Clever Tactics, thanks to his fast rotation speed making him adept at back-capping and banner-planting. While you may be tempted to take Head Hunter like with Shaman and Shaolin, to offset Shinobi’s low health pool, the fact is that you probably won’t be able to get your executions fast enough to justify it over the utility of Clever Tactics. 

Set D/A: Bastion, Vengeful Barrier, Bulk Up/Rising Dawn/Last Stand

• Conqueror
• Lawbringer (Exception)
• Black Prior
• Shugoki (Exception)
• Jiang Jun

This set of perks affords the most freedom of choice for each of its users, by miles. While Vengeful Barrier should always, ALWAYS be in your second slot, and Bastion in your first (with the exception of Shugoki), you are free to choose from three different option for your third: Last Stand, Bulk Up, and Rising Dawn. The choice between Last Stand and Bulk Up is up to preference (and more explained in the Set D segment), but Rising Dawn depends on whether you decide to take Speed Revive. If you do take Speed Revive, take Rising Dawn as well. 

There are two exceptions in this category, and they’re both quite simple: Lawbringer and Shugoki. Lawbringer doesn’t have Speed Revive, and Protected Revive is now trash, so just choose between Last Stand and Bulk Up for him. Shugoki, on the other hand, has rotation speeds so bad that they can, if you want, justify taking Feline Agility over Bastion. Feline Agility’s renown requirement is trivial for Shugoki as he is a Heavy class character with easy renown gain. 

With that, the list is complete! I hope this was helpful, see you on the battlefield, friends!

Sources:

• Suggested Perk Loadouts Guide (Outdated)
• FH InfoHub
• Perk Loadouts List

Special thanks to SenKa and Filthy Spaniard for their time peer-reviewing this article; their knowledge and time is greatly appreciated!

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