Silent Strike
Prowler Skill Tree - 1 Skill Point
The first thing you should spend your skill points on. Horizon Zero Dawn rewards a stealthy player, and what use is a stealthy player without the ability to one-hit-kill enemies while hiding in the bushes?
On my first playthrough I waited until level 10 to get this, and wondered how anyone could actually complete this game.
Lure Call
Forager Skill Tree - 1 Skill Point
Sneaking up behind your enemies is great, but wouldn’t you rather they came to you? Lure call is another skill that serves as a foundation of a stealthy playstyle in Horizon, enabling you to attract enemies to your location without revealing yourself. Think of it like the first blow in a one-two punch with Silent Strike. It’s still useful even when you can’t knock your enemies out in one hit, as it buys you some valuable time to line up your shot while the machines stare into the middle distance looking for you.
Concentration
Brave Skill Tree - 1 Skill Point
Along with Lure Call & Silent Strike, this quickly feels like the sort of skill Aloy should have been doing from the tutorial. By pressing R3 when aiming a weapon, Aloy is able to slow down time and line up the perfect shot. Combine it with a focus scan and pick off those glowing machine parts from a safe distance - a must-have for any Nora brave.
Healer -> Herbalist
Forager Skill Tree - 1 & 2 Skill Points
Look, in this game, you’re going to get hit. A lot. And hard. It’s an occupational hazard of picking fights with mechanical dinosaurs, so I’d suggest you pick these up early on. Healer triples the speed for Aloy to heal, meaning you’ll be dusting off those Sawtooth bites in under a second - and Herbalist doubles the base capacity of your medicine pouch. I’m not going to pretend they make you unstoppable, but they’ll help you last a bit longer…
Critical Hit
Brave Skill Tree - 1 Skill Point
This enables Aloy to deal massive damage to any downed machines by pressing R1. And it is a lot of damage - the only drawback is you need to get them to the ground first. Although not quite as ‘essential’ as Silent Strike, still one you won’t want to go too far into the wild without.
Gatherer
Forager - 1 Skill Point
Gatherer increases the % restored from each medicinal plant Aloy picks up, and gives an extra 2 stems for every Ridgewood plant gathered. Yes, it sounds boring, and yes, it actually is very boring - but it’s going to save you loads of time so the sooner you get it the better. Imagine facing up against a Sawtooth and running out of arrows. Sound bad? Then get this to make sure it never happens.
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