Dying Light 2 boasts a wide range of perks and abilities for players to unlock. Thankfully, the perk tree is easy to follow, allowing players to build their ideal version of Aiden. However, those first few decisions are among the most crucial ones you’ll make all game. So what are the best skills to unlock first? Let’s break down the top five combat and parkour skills to unlock as soon as possible in Dying Light 2.
Before you unlock any skills past Vault Kick and High Jump, you’ll need to acquire GRE Inhibitors to increase Aiden’s HP, Stamina, and Immunity. Once you find three (either cumulatively or simultaneously), you can boost your overall HP or Stamina. No matter what, you’ll always get the same Immunity boost.
Increasing HP unlocks more combat-focused skills, while Stamina unlocks parkour skills. However, you’ll still need to earn skill points in each category to buy those moves. For example, to unlock the Head Stomp combat skill, you’ll need to level up HP until you have 180 overall health. Then you’ll have to buy the prerequisite perks (Air Kick and Vault Power Kick).
Thankfully, you earn combat and parkour skill points separately from one another. It’s not like you earn one skill point to allocate between either combat or parkour. Completing side quests and activities are a great way to grind both XP schools. Dig in your heels and fend off undead to level up combat. Alternatively, leap from rooftop to rooftop to level up parkour. So let’s dig into the best skills to unlock first in Dying Light 2.
With an entire tree of combat skills to choose from, here are the top five combat skills to unlock first in Dying Light 2, along with their HP requirements.
As you’re falling toward an enemy, press L1 (on PS5) to unleash a powerful kick and send them flying. Air Kick is a great way to avoid fall damage when dropping on enemies from rooftops, making it easier to kill Howlers when you can’t avoid them. Air Kick also staggers, so if the kick itself doesn’t kill an enemy, they’re left open to follow up attacks and parkour moves. Most importantly, Air Kick is a prerequisite to Vault Power Kick and Drop Kick, two more early-game combat perks. Of all the weapons in Dying Light 2, Aiden’s feet are the best.
Perfect Parry: 120 HP requirement
With Perfect Parry, enemies enter into a slow-motion state when parried and remain staggered for longer. This gives you more time to vault over them and attack other enemies. Although brief, the slow-mo window is long enough to plan your next move. Additional skills on this branch involve blocking and deflecting projectiles, which is helpful but not essential in the beginning.
Vault Power Kick: 140 HP requirement
Vault Power Kick upgrades your standard vault kick, turning it into a powerful attack that’ll send enemies flying. We never found ourselves chaining parkour vault kicks together as the game intended, so Vault Power Kick proved more effective in defeating enemies. You’ll get into the habit of holding R2 when vault kicking, thus constantly unleashing power kicks.
It’s frustrating when you have to waste weapon durability to kill a zombie on the ground. Enter Head Stomp, the most gruesome of Aiden’s feet attacks. When you knock a zombie down, hold the square button to jump up and stomp their heads in, killing them instantly. This is a great way to conserve weapon durability and quickly dispatch zombies. As a bonus, you can stomp human enemies if you manage to knock them over (which is common when using the other skills mentioned).
Dropkick is probably the best skill in the entire game. While running toward an enemy, jump and double-tap L1 to unleash a WWE-style dropkick. Aiden can easily send enemies flying off rooftops or careening into spike traps with nothing but the soles of his shoes. You don’t even have to get that long of a running start. As long as you’re moving toward an enemy, Aiden can generally dropkick them back to Harran. However, we don’t recommend dropkicking large enemies, as it’s not very effective. Furthermore, don’t dropkick into a crowd of enemies, as Aiden is susceptible to damage while lying on the ground.
Aiden needs some sleek skills to navigate Villedor. Here are the top five parkour skills to unlock first in Dying Light 2, along with their stamina requirements.
Active Landing: No stamina requirement
It’ll take a while to learn how far Aiden can fall without hurting himself. Thankfully, the Active Landing skill mitigates that damage with a tuck and roll maneuver. Before Aiden hits the ground, tap the circle button to reduce fall damage and keep your forward momentum. It may take a few tries to get the timing right, but Active Landing becomes habitual once you do.
Dart is basically a sprint mechanic, giving Aiden a burst of speed before leaping over a wide gap. You’ll need it to get gold on parkour challenges and outrun infected during chases. Once you unlock the paraglider, don’t use Dart to get a running start off a rooftop. While flying, the paraglider consumes stamina, so Dart hurts your flight distance more than it helps.
Sleek Runner: 120 stamina requirement
Sleek Runner makes your parkour moves more fluid. However, this skill serves more as a prerequisite for the next skill on this list. Sometimes, Sleek Runner can get a little disorienting, especially when Aiden dives and rolls through an open window. However, it’s nice to jump through wall openings and sprint across balance beams.
Stealth Movement: 160 stamina requirement
Stealth Movement makes creeping around Dark Zones so much easier. Aiden’s movement speed while crouched is exponentially faster, and he can even do little crouch jumps to get over obstacles. With Stealth Movement, you don’t have to worry about waking up sleeping zombies, as you’ll be long gone by the time their alert meter is halfway full.
Tic Tac: 160 stamina requirement
Tic Tac is a horizontal wall-run move, allowing Aiden to run across any flat wall surface in the game. You can use Tic Tac to reach certain obstacles by jumping at the height of your run. Tic Tac is beneficial in parkour challenges too. It’s also a prerequisite to the Wall Run skill, which allows you to run up vertical walls.
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