Unfortunately you can't retrieve arrows that miss the target and end up on the ground. Once unlocked it kicks in automatically every time you loot an enemy or animal corpse. If the bow is your preferred weapon, this is a great skill to take. Resourceful archers can recover arrows from the bodies of enemies and prey. You don't like hunting, you won't want to take this skill. Also not essential but will allow you to unlock certain upgrades a little sooner. Again, not essential but useful for making gear and weapon upgrades a little sooner than you normally would.Ĭarefully looting animal corpses will reward you with extra salvage. Thoroughly search crates and caches to find extra salvage. This skill isn't crucial but it does help you earn more XP from each kill and food pickup, allowing Lara to level up faster. After that the order doesn't matter so much.Įarn extra rewards when looting animal corpses and food caches. I highly recommend taking it as your first skill. This is also very helpful for early combat since wolves also glow in the dark woods. When you press the Survival Instinct button, Q/L2/LB, prey and edible plants glow, making them easier to spot. Keen observation allows you to spot hard-to-find animals and food sources. If you explore the island thoroughly, you won't have any trouble unlocking all the skills well before the end of the game. You may decide to prioritize differently. I find a few skills indispensable: Animal Instincts and Steady Shot at the very beginning of the game Pain Tolerance, Arrow Retrieval and Ammo Capacity once you start getting into more combat situations and Dodge Counter as soon as you unlock the Hardened tier. I've included a few notes that will hopefully help when choosing skills. RECOMMENDATIONS: The table below describes each of the different skills and lists any prerequisites. Unlocking any 14 skills will enable you to choose from the Specialist tier as well. After you've unlocked any 7 skills, you will gain access to the Hardened skill tier. Only some of the possible skills in each category are available at the start. There are 24 unlockable skills divided into three classes: Survivor, Hunter and Brawler. To spend skill points, interact with any Base Camp in-game and select the Skills Menu. When it does, you earn a Skill Point, which you can then use to unlock a new ability for Lara. A shield-shaped meter appears in the top left corner of the screen whenever you earn XP. As you solve puzzles, meet goals, hunt prey, kill enemies, find special items, etc., you receive Experience Points (XP). Lara starts the game fresh off the boat, as it were, with limited skills and no equipment or weapons.