Dying Light 2 Best Skills: The Abilities You Must Unlock First

What are the best skills to unlock first in Dying Light 2? What Combat and Parkour abilities are the best? The next open world game from Techland has two different skill trees, with one focusing on combat and the other all about parkour. In this Dying Light 2 guide, we're going to reveal the best skills to unlock first.

Dying Light 2 Best Skills: The Abilities You Must Unlock First

Dying Light 2 has 24 Combat skills and 24 Parkour skills to unlock. Upgrade points are obtained by participating in the activity you wish to unlock a new ability for. For example, killing zombies and enemies will earn XP for the Combat skill tree, while running across rooftops and jumping across gaps grants XP for the Parkour skill tree. Because of how XP is awarded in the game, you can unlock every ability in both skill trees in a single playthrough.

However, before you buy a skill for use, you must first reach its initial unlock requirements. These are shown below the description of each skill, and generally require you to unlock the ability next to it in the skill tree or have upgraded either your Health or Stamina to a certain point. If you fail to meet the second parameter, you must find more Inhibitors in the open world.

Three Inhibitors are required to upgrade either your Health or Stamina each time. There are 126 Inhibitors in the game, and your GRE Access Key will alert you when you're close to a chest containing some. They are generally found inside GRE Quarantine Buildings, but can also be located randomly in the open world. They're found either on their own or in bundles or two or three. Upgrading your Health and Stamina also automatically increases your Immunity.

Listed below are what we consider the best Combat skills and best Parkour skills in the game. We recommend trying to unlock these ones first for the best playing experience.

Best Combat Skills to Unlock First

Here are the best Combat skills you should try and unlock first. We've included their unlock requirements, descriptions, and why you should target these particular abilities.

Vault Kick

Unlock Requirements: N/A

Description: Jump over staggered enemies and follow up with a kick.

This is the very first Combat skill you'll unlock in the game; there's no getting around it so Vault Kick is an essential pick up. It allows you to climb up an enemy after performing a perfect block and use them as leverage to launch yourself at another foe. Pressing R2 whilst in the air will kick a nearby enemy and deal damage. The skill can be used to get out of a tight spot and create some distance between yourself and enemies, all the while dealing damage.

Perfect Dodge

Unlock Requirements: Vault Kick

Description: Dodge at just the right time to stagger your enemy.

Dodging just before an enemy's attack lands will leave them wide open for hits, allowing you to deal damage of your own. This should be used in combination with blocking, keeping yourself light on your feet but knowing when it's the right time to defend your person with your own trusty melee weapon.

Perfect Parry

Unlock Requirements: Vault Kick, 120 Health

Description: Perform a perfect block to stagger your enemy for longer and trigger a slo-mo effect that allows additional follow-up actions to be executed more easily.

This is essentially the type of parry we're all used to in other games. If you time your parry correctly, time slows down and allows you to get some free hits in on the enemy. An essential tool alongside dodging and blocking.

Power Attack

Unlock Requirements: Vault Kick, 120 Health

Description: Perform a powerful attack that deals more damage, interrupts enemy attacks and blocks.

This ability does exactly what it says on the tin: it adds a more powerful attack to your arsenal that slices enemy health bars in half and can break through their block. It has a fairly long wind up time, but get it right and enemies won't stand a chance.

Block Projectiles

Unlock Requirements: Perfect Parry, 160 Health

Description: Block incoming projectiles like knives and arrows.

Every so often, you'll come up against a group of enemies who also happen to have an archer along with them. Unlocking this ability allows you to block their arrows and mitigate any damage taken. Some foes also come equipped with throwing knives, which won't deal any damage either when you block with this skill unlocked.

Head Stomp

Unlock Requirements: Vault Power Kick, 180 Health

Description: Headstomp enemies that lay on the ground.

If you happen to knock an enemy to the ground — undead or alive — you'll receive a prompt to smash their head in with this skill unlocked. It's essentially a one-hit kill and makes fights much easier to deal with.

Best Parkour Skills to Unlock First

Here are the best Parkour skills you should try and unlock first. We've included their unlock requirements, descriptions, and why you should target these particular abilities.

High Jump

Unlock Requirements: N/A

Description: Allows you to jump higher and reach higher ledges.

Just like Vault Kick from the Combat skill tree, High Jump is the first ability on the Parkour skill tree and must be unlocked in order to access the rest. It'll let you jump higher and grab onto higher ledges. For a game all about running and jumping, the skill is pretty essential anyway.

Active Landing

Unlock Requirements: High Jump

Description: Reduce fall damage and keep your momentum.

If there's one thing you take away from this guide, it's that you need to unlock Active Landing as soon as possible. Since you're running across rooftops all the time, the easiest way to get back down to ground level is to simply jump off. Without this ability unlocked, you'll be taking all sorts of needless damage constantly. With Active Landing in your arsenal, you can simply hold the circle button and do a forward roll to keep your health bar intact. Some jumps will still result in damage, but they'll be few and far between.

Firm Grip

Unlock Requirements: High Jump

Description: Make the last climb on ledges even when your stamina is gone and briefly maintain your grip when you land on ledges from great heights.

This skill is all about making sure you successfully climb an object or building even when you're about to run out of stamina. Incredibly useful in the early game when your stamina bar is at its smallest, you'll be able to give yourself that last little push to get your body over the line and to safety.

Far Jump

Unlock Requirements: High Jump, 120 Stamina

Description: Use any obstacle to spring from it and jump further.

When you jump up onto a small object that doesn't break your stride, you can press L1 and use it as a springboard to launch yourself even further into the air. This ability is perfect for crossing gaps you wouldn't be able to traverse with the standard jump.

Safe Landing

Unlock Requirements: Active Landing, 140 Stamina

Description: Increases the height from which you can land without taking any damage.

Building upon Active Landing, you can jump from even greater heights and safely land on the floor by holding the circle button. It's just the absurdly high drops that'll kill you now.

Fast Climb

Unlock Requirements: Firm Grip, 140 Stamina

Description: Move faster on ledges when moving up and to either side.

This skill speeds up the rate at which you climb buildings and objects. Therefore, you can travel further and not use up as much stamina.

Do you have any other ability recommendations? Share them in the comments below and check out our Dying Light 2 guide for much more help and information.