Upgrading abilities in Yakuza 0 should be at the top of your to-do list if you want to get the most out of the available fighting styles.
Each fighting style has a wheel with several nodes pertaining to special abilities. These abilities are then upgraded with money, so it is wise to earn as much cash as you can. Picking fights (and winning) against Mr. Shakedown is a great way to earn some quick coins.
Some abilities, such as health and attack power-ups, are found across each fighting style. There are also unique abilities that pertain to each fighting style, such as the upgrades for swinging a bat in Majima’s Slugger fighting style.
With so many ability options to choose from, it can be hard to figure out which ones will give you the most bang for your buck.
In this list, we explore the top 10 best abilities in Yakuza 0, so keep reading for more information.
10. Heat Gauge Rate of Increase (Ultimate)
Heat actions add some flair to your fights in Yakuza 0, and they do more damage than regular fighting moves.
You fill the gauge by landing hits on your enemies, and the more bars you have filled in the gauge equates to more powerful heat actions.
The Heat Gauge Rate of Increase is a great way to fill your heat gauge fast for the most powerful attacks.
The Ultimate range of heat gauge upgrades range in cost from 10,000,000 yen to 1,000,000,000 yen and applies to all fighting styles.
Why Heat Gauge Rate of Increase (Ultimate) is great:
- Increases the rate at which your heat gauge fills across all fighting styles
- Having more heat allows you to do more damage quickly with interesting combat moves
Heat Gauge Rate of Increase (Ultimate) details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
9. Boost Health
Having as much health as possible will let you survive long fights against the most brutal enemies, and it’s worth investing in, especially early in the game.
The last thing you want to do is run into Mr. Shakedown unprepared, only to have him knock you out in two hits.
Increasing your health gauge also means that you don’t have to constantly down health drinks just to stay alive.
Why Health Boost is great:
- Allows you to expand your health
- More health means you can stay in the fight
Health Boost Details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
8. Secret of the Night Emperor (Great Endurance)
Secret of the Night Emperor (Great Endurance) gives you the ability to not flinch at gunshots and knife attacks as long as your heat gauge is filled to the third bar.
This ability is particularly helpful against later enemies that come at you with plenty of weapons.
Not flinching means that you do not lose precious seconds on a counterattack, and you don’t take so much damage.
Why Secret of the Night Emperor (Great Endurance) is great:
- Makes you almost completely immune to gun and knife attacks
- Gives you the ability to follow up a gun or knife attack with a counterattack almost immediately
Secret of the Night Emperor (Great Endurance) details: Goro Majima/Abilities
7. Pride of the Yellow Dragon
Pride of the Yellow Dragon moderately restores your health when you use a heat action as long as your heat gauge is filled to the third bar.
This is a handy skill to have and keeps you from burning through all of your health-restoring items.
This ability is especially useful when it is coupled with the Heat Gauge Rate of Increase ability, which allows your heat gauge to refill at a much faster rate than normal.
Why Pride of the Yellow Dragon is great:
- Restores your health when using a heat action in third gear
- Keeps you from using up all of your health items in your limited inventory
Pride of the Dragon details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
6. Slugger Attack
The Slugger Attack ability lets you change to the Slugger fighting style from any other fighting style when your heat gauge is filled to the third bar.
This ability is great for when you have worn down your enemy in Breaker style, and you would like to finish them off quickly with a powerful bat attack.
Slugger Attack unleashes a powerful attack that will take your enemies down easily.
Why Slugger Attack is great:
- Let’s you quickly change from another fighting style
- Unleashes a powerful attack when used
Slugger Attack details: Goro Majima/Abilities
5. Heat Action Power (Ultimate)
This is another set of abilities in the Ultimate set that are available to both Kiryu and Gojima, and applies to all fighting styles.
The Heat Action Power (Ultimate) ability increases the strength of all of your heat attacks.
As heat actions already provide you with stronger attacks with much more style than normal attacks, increasing their strength makes you very powerful.
Why Heat Action Power (Ultimate) is great:
- Makes all of your powerful heat actions even stronger
- Fighting tough enemies is much easier when you are able to cause a lot of extra damage
Heat Action Power (Ultimate) details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
4. Power Surge
Power Surge is an ability you are able to upgrade across multiple levels in every fighting style.
This ability not only buffs up your normal attacks, but increases the power of your Heat Actions as well.
You want to be as strong as possible when facing enemies like Mr. Shakedown, and it is wise to invest in upgrading the Power Surge ability whenever possible.
Why Power Surge is great:
- Increases the power of both regular attacks and Heat Actions
- The upgrades for this ability start at lower levels for each fighting style, and it is easy to upgrade several times before it becomes extremely expensive
Power Surge details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
3. Fighting Knowledge (Off the Charts)
The Fighting Knowledge (Off the Charts) ability is very unique because it is utilized at the very beginning of a fight.
This ability will fill your Heat Gauge all the way through the third bar when you land the first punch in a fight.
It will also send your enemy flying backward, rendering them immobile for a few seconds so you can get in a quick Heat Action attack.
Why Fighting Knowledge (Off the Charts) is great:
- Completely fills your Heat Gauge when you land the first attack in a fight
- Knocks your enemy back so you can perform a quick Heat Action
Fighting Knowledge (Off the Charts) details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
2. Secret of the Bat King (Iron Wall)
The Secret of the Bat King (Iron Wall) ability is extremely useful against large hordes of enemies, as it lets you defend yourself from all of them at the same time.
In later areas of the game, you will frequently run into large groups of enemies throughout Sotenbori, and you will be tasked with taking them all out by yourself and surviving the fight.
This ability takes Majima’s Slugger fighting style to a whole new level, and it makes fighting multiple enemies at once much more manageable.
Why the Secret of the Bat King (Iron Wall) is great:
- Allows you to block attacks from multiple enemies at once
- Keeps you from taking damage so you can strike back immediately
Secret of the Bat King (Iron Wall) details: Goro Majima/Abilities
1. Secret of the Drunk King (Best Medicine)
The Secret of the Drunk King (Best Medicine) ability allows you to refill your health gauge by drinking alcohol instead of the usual health drinks.
While this does have some consequences due to making you intoxicated, it works really well when coupled with other Secret of the Drunk King abilities. Angry Drinker refills your heat gauge when you take damage while intoxicated, and Drunkard increases the power of your Heat Actions when you are in full health.
Being intoxicated also adds some challenge to the fight, as it is a bit more difficult to do with blurry vision and poor balance, so this ability is great to use if you are looking for a challenge.
This ability also allows for some very entertaining gameplay when Kiryu is inebriated.
Why Secret of the Drunk King (Best Medicine) is great:
- Refills your health with alcohol instead of energy drinks
- Offers up some very entertaining gameplay due to Kiryu’s intoxication
Secret of the Drunk King (Best Medicine) details: Kazuma Kiryu/Abilities
Also Be Sure To Read:
- [Top 15] Yakuza 0 Best Equipment (And How to Get Them)
- [Top 5] Yakuza 0 Best Ways to Make Money
- [Top 10] Yakuza 0 Best Abilities
- [Top 5] Yakuza 0 Best Alcohol
- [Top 5] Yakuza 0 Best Styles
- Top 10 Games Like Yakuza 0 (Games Better Than Yakuza 0 In Their Own Way)
- Is Yakuza 0 Good? Is Yakuza 0 Worth It?
- Top 15 'Best Steam RPGs' (Great RPGs You’ve Not Heard Of!)
