I Didn't Expect This To Be OP… Physical Skills Analysis & Tier List | Starfield Handbook

[@unclemumble]

What are your favourite skills in Starfield right now? Which skill tree have you dumped the most points into so far?

[@MrDavePed]

I maxed out research and commerce before leaving New Atlantis. I also maxed out weapons research so I could have optimal weaponry but now I find fighting without sneak or any decent suits is a death sentence. I can slog through it to get my sneak up or I can high tail it back to the Lodge and complete my suits research to gain some superior defense. Making and selling antibiotic paste and lumberjack julep gets really boring but it does level you and it does make excellent credits.

[@asianartist1]

end game hand to hand is nuts - i can stunlock starborn to death with just my hands.

[@Gentleman...Driver]

- Stealth - Concealment - Pickpocketing (at least one point, you need it for all the snow globes) - lockpicking (at least three points so you can unlock master locks, 4 points arent necessary as it gives you only the ability to eliminate all the options that dont work) - boostpack (considering how often I use my boost pack, it becomes pretty OP after a while and gives you the ability to reach areas you wouldnt normally reach - essentially you are Boba Fett) - Piloting (so you can fly larger ships, pretty easy to level up, too with the Vanguard simulator) - Ship design (so you can have better parts in your build) - Astronomy / Jump drive capability: Is handy early on, but later I dont feel it gives you much as you will probably have the best jump drives available.

[@kevinsiedenburg4955]

Piloting is probably the #1. I already had to leave 1 “B” ship behind and that was very frustrating. Targeting (the ship version) is up there as well. IMHO, weightlifting is QoL only. If you build the Bessel III-B base early, Commerce is completely unnecessary.

[@h347h]

You should level up EM weapons and the incapacitating skills to see how they effect unarmed. If at all.

[@sheik_link]

Thank you. You actually show the skills and analyze their viability, not like others who just read the descriptions, something we can all do.

[@AngryCosmonaut]

Would love to see an updated version of this video with all the fixes and gameplay updates accounted for.

[@ShurikenSean]

gymnastics rank 4 higher jump is useful for stealth builds, as jet packing takes you out of stealth, while having that higher jump would instead allow mobility while still remaining stealthed when combined with concealment 2

[@MB-sq7yn]

I imagine Environmental Conditioning, Cellular Regeneration and Decontamination are there for when Survival mode becomes a thing, where such ailments will be a lot harder to get rid of and will cause far more issues than what they do now. Oh and the food buffing skills too of course.

[@unclemumble]

Yeah I could 100% see these becoming more relevant to a survival mode of sorts, or people who do self restricted no shop playthroughs

[@tigerfalco]

@@unclemumble I think part of the issue is that they originally had mechanics in place and numbers scaled that wouldve made these thing matter more. They took it out because they figured it'd make it less enjoyable for the general public. While I agree they made the right call, I think the game should've launched with that original version of the game. I wouldnt have invested in those skills and still wouldve wanted to play it lol

[@MISTAKEWASMADE4live]

​@@tigerfalcoFor sure, the most blatant is definitely Helium-3, where it's specifically mentioned as to be needed for grav jumping, but in game its completely unlimited and free, so grave drives are almost a waste, with jump distance being the only worthwhile metric with them. To be fair, they made the right call removing it last minute, most modern gamers are absolutely braindead and hate and struggle with Starfield as is, most of the PC community in particular cheats non-stop. They should definitely add achievements though for people that only play on Very Hard with their future survival mode on console.

[@TheMrfluffi]

​@@tigerfalcoyeah read about that and found it odd they didn't at least add options for it. The planet exploration is already so limited and involves so many loading screens, not to mention the baffling (in game at least) decision to never scout with a ship or vehicle, just land randomly and walk because we've gone backwards from moon buggys. The need to set up outposts for fuel, water and food sources (even if it was just a need for crew provisions) would have at least added an immersive reason to explore.

[@theo-jamesmoulton2000]

My Soldier build being ahead of the curve XD

[@MisterBlaargh]

If you're going to be playing a stealthy git, remember to remove your spacesuit when you can or mod the suit to be quieter(slot 4 mods), it helps out a ton with stealthing around.

[@JB-xl2jc]

This is such a dramatic difference that its night and day, and explains why so many people say detection is busted while they creep around wearing 70 pounds of gear

[@darylcrow810]

Interesting, perhaps this is my issue. I swore stealth was broken in the game.

[@KidSixXx]

@@JB-xl2jc It's a Bethesda game, man, and an RPG at that. Inventory management is not a strong suit of the genre. You have to suspend your disbelief. How many times have you played Skyrim and successfully used stealth tactics despite having dozens of potions and over a hundred lockpicks on your person?

[@JB-xl2jc]

@@KidSixXx Even in prior Bethesda games sneaking in heavy armor was a very bad idea unless you were very far into the stealth tree. My char now has Stealth and Concealment completely leveled and I can sneak pretty much anywhere at any time, but earlier on sneaking with bulky 20+ pound spacesuits was tough. Doing it in the light 5-6 pound ones was easy, especially with chameleon.

[@victorcoom5450]

​@@KidSixXxstealth archer is literally the best build in the game

[@fxlm5906]

One useful aspect of rejuvenation is that it 'negate' over time damage like running while completely out of O2, making you able to move with your pocket full of those sweet sweet resources.

[@bigpoppa1234]

You never die from o2 depletion from encumbrance so that isn't an actual benefit.

[@fxlm5906]

@@bigpoppa1234 you do lose health, I don't appreciate being close to one shotted by the first critter I pissed off, a lot of the time your inventory get full while you are in the wild, you also don't get the anoying blurry red screen from being super low in hp.

[@jeppie12]

As soon as you get starborn powers though you'll have one that gives you perpetual oxygen, so this would be a very temporary benefit.

[@foxmulder7436]

@@jeppie12 depends on how encumbered you are. If you're crafting a giga ton of items and are with 99999999/250 encumbered, the Co2 meter fills instantly even when using the oxygen power

[@discomagician547]

Heyo, I also really hated the gymnastics skill at first as well. It turns out that if you combat slide in first person with your gun out (you need to do both) the slide distance is GREATLY increased and completely controllable very weird but also super fun imo.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

You can co-opt some of these effects by going into Spacesuit Modding. The boost packs have an option to boost healing with a Medic attachment. There's also a health regen attachment at the highest rank. Of all things the Helmet has a mod that applies the Muffle effect; so hopefully you looted some of those gravity crystals near the artifacts.

[@unclemumble]

Weapon+suit mods are definitely slept on! A lot of people are missing out by not investing the points into those skills. I'll have to make a video on that soon

[@chadharger9323]

​@@unclemumbleBecause it feels like a huge investment of time and not worth the skill points. Professor background is the best background to have. Having 3 of 4 points already unlocked helps to get suit and weapon modding real early. On a fresh game I maxed weapon modding by level 15. With the Professor background I put one 1 point in geology, 1 point in astrophysics(4 points 'cause prof already those skills unl8cked). Maxed out weapon midding and research at the same time(8 points). Then unlocked special projects rank 1 to finalize the weapon branch in Research. Oh, and I put a point in Boost Training 'cause yeah.

[@deadseven3474]

@@unclemumble They are, absolutely. I'm currently doing a stealth melee character and the physical tree + spacesuit modding has become my rock. Its almost impossible to sneak up to the backs of your enemies in your spacesuit without drugs or void form if you're not modding your suit for it.

[@jaybruce6974]

Gravity crystals?????

[@-_-DatDude]

But you can't mod Starborn suits unfortunately.

[@CaptainPlyen]

About the combat slide: you slide a lot further when you have a weapon drawn and can shoot from the hip while sliding (though you immediately stop sliding if you press the aim button). And you can instantly transition back to sprinting from a crouch by hitting the sprint button. This is not only really cool but lets you dodge projectiles while unloading your weapon on an enemy AND change your position on the battlefield all at the same time. It's definitely not necessary, given the overall difficulty of the game, but it does let you stomp enemies even harder once you get the hang of it and learn the best times and places to use it.

[@unclemumble]

Hmm very interesting, I hadn't noticed that myself with weapons out, does this work for all weapon types? I'll give it a test in any case, thanks for sharing!

[@DragonHybryd]

Adding on more to this for future people, combat slide goes 1.5 to what feels like 3 times FURTHER in 1st person compared to 3rd so long as you keep holding ANY direction with a pistol. for whatever reason in 1st you keep the slides momentum while crouch walking an extra amount of time, probably a bug but it's a great one and hope it get's changed to every weapon instead of nerfed. It just feel's right. There's also a fun synergy with combat slide, stealth maxed, and concealment at level 2+ where you can in essence sprint stealth if you get the timing with running and sliding over and over. a lot easier with a pistol unsurprisingly

[@tsaageotrimm]

I love sliding around while sneaking, it speeds it up a love and it's kinda fun. Rank4 of gymnastics is not worth though

[@JoJoRogain]

​@@unclemumble off the top of my head, sliding is pretty useful if you think outside the box. Sliding off the roof and ready to stand to reduce fall distance. Sliding into cover and using the little known firing over/around cover mechanic. Sliding to clear low for a companion to fire over you. +5 combat health +25 style

[@BrianKotarski]

A great series that I know I'll reference back to regularly. Can't wait to see the next episode.

[@unclemumble]

Happy to hear, Brian!

[@dominicanastasi200]

not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet, but stealth is HIGHLY affected by your spacesuit, helmet, pack, and equipped weapon. Heard it from another video and tested it myself. was literally a night and day difference even on rank 1. snuck around one of the disciples' warehouses to steal their slate and had zero warnings come up on the sneak bar. it's obnoxious to keep unequipping your spacesuit/helmet/and pack every time on a sneak mission, but it's so much easier to move around undetected.

[@barrospablito]

Obrigado por compartilhar. Muito importante. Sou da opinião de que traje especial é pra ser usado no espaço apenas. Bom saber que não troco de roupa à toa. 😅

[@TroyYouTube]

I feel like the lack of fist weapons is a missed opportunity

[@unclemumble]

1000% I can't believe there's no caestus or even just some knuckle dusters

[@ericm3327]

Nah, you’ve got melee for that, I hate when they call a skill unarmed and then give you a giant mechs oval robot fist. Put that shit in melee please thank you

[@bwfextreme]

⁠@@ericm3327Powerfists have been unarmed weapons since 1997, so it’s safe to say that your view on unarmed weapons is completely irrelevant

[@Z-note17]

They will come

[@TekkLuthor]

So mod it in

[@laner.845]

This is FANTASTIC! I love that you are taking into consideration variable play styles and speaking to those as well as the overall effect for general play. Keep up the great work. I'll be back for every skill tree!

[@libraryproject2007]

Regarding the concealment rank 2 perk: the penalty for "running" while crouched appears to be based on your equipped weight. The bonus provided is eliminating this penalty entirely, meaning you can equip whatever you like and maintain stealth when you have that skill.

[@mohdalnaqbi]

nah i have concealment lvl 3, but i still have to take off my heavy equipment to maintain stealth

[@death299]

partly right. it removes the penalty for running while sneaking, which is affected by the weight equipped. however, the reason suits and the like is bad for sneaking isn't running, they also have a weight check that affects stealth at all times, so having it equipped will always create issues the result is that you ALWAYS want a spacesuit setup that's light in the ship (for unbreathable stealth) like the groundcrew, pirate sniper or deep recon, and in a breathable area you'll want to wear only your clothes (they also affect stealth, but weigh so little as to rarely make a difference, and going without seems weird, and one suit just actively helps)

[@TipsinTRX]

No bs, no ads, simply empirical info. Perfection! Remove your armor or wear light weight armor to further increase your stealth ability. Thanks for the vid!

[@brentkeith3455]

I’ve been running an unarmed build (no weapons except the space ship) and pain tolerance is better than it looks. A passive buff to lower incoming physical damage matters a lot more when you spend a lot of time in punching range - especially when your foes are either creatures doing physical damage, or humans who have been disarmed.

[@cheekibreeki9155]

I'm pretty sure the perks of veteran, armored plated and sentinel stacks on top of your passive 25% damage resist as well (pain/energy tolerance 15% + martial arts 10%), so most enemies would hit like cotton candy against you.

[@johnsai4074]

I disagree about wellness, it's at least B tier. More HP is always useful no matter the scenario, and also because med packs heal by % that means med packs heal more and it also stacks with the medicine skill in the science tree.

[@laughingalex7563]

Cellular regeneration and decontamination will be far more valuable with the new difficulty settings, as treatments no longer completely remove afflictions entirely and combat afflictions are far, far more likely and faster to accumulate.

[@HuginMunin]

Quality. Evenhanded, level headed, fair minded, informative. Thumbs up, subscribed.

[@unclemumble]

Cheers!

[@Verchiel_]

This is so well done and so informative. As a jack-of-all-trades style player i was massively overwhelmed and almost frustrated with how many perks there was to unlock that would seemingly benefit me, but even on my own i realized a lot of the perks aren't all that versatile or just outright useful, which eases my mind.

[@thevoxdeus]

Something to consider with Wellness is that the good healing items in the game are % based, which means that higher health means more and faster healing in addition to having a deeper health pool. Thus, Wellness actually ends up being categorically better than medicine for its first 3 ranks, and it's arguably still much better at rank 4. Now if you're never in any threat of dying and you're swimming in healing items then this doesn't matter, but IMO this matters a lot in the early game or on harder difficulty levels, and if nothing else, it can allow you to spend the entire game wearing whatever armor you like without regard for raw damage resistance. IF you ever want more survivability, then wellness should always be your first skill choice regardless of build, IMO. For that reason I would rate it A or B.

[@unclemumble]

That's a really good point and I'll make sure to mention that when I compare to medicine! The % health items def become much more useful as your hp pool grows It probably would have been better for me to give it an alternative ranking for people who do value the survivability in which case yeah I'd probably say it's a B to A if you really need the helping hand. Personally I haven't noticed too many issues on higher difficulties unless I really Leroy Jenkins into combat and don't use cover

[@Skalli10]

I'd prefer physical damage reduction and energy weapon dissipation anytime over wellness. I just took alien DNA for my character and got over 100 medipacks alone on my ship. Rejuvenation is a huge medpack saver.

[@thevoxdeus]

@Skalli10 6 points to get the -15% physical and -15% energy ups your effective health and effective healing by ~19% vs those damage types specifically. The 4th point in each is very situational. 4 points in Wellness increases your effective health and effective healing by 40%. Take whatever you want to take for whatever reason you want, but Wellness is about 3x as effective as those skills, per point.

[@TheHuffur]

@@thevoxdeus Would be nice to know if Rejuvenation really is a static health regeneration or if it is a % tied to your max health, a sane developer would have it be a % since there is quite a difference to be regenerating 35 health per second if you have 300 health compared to if your max is like 700-1000+. I imagine a high level character with Wellness pushes their max health well beyond 1000 so if they also only have 35 health per second most people would just pop a healthkit or two instead of waiting on their slow ass regen!

[@thevoxdeus]

@@TheHuffur In my limited testing, level 4 rejuvenation restores exactly 2% of max health per second outside of combat and 0% in combat. I'm going to speculate that it's .5% per level out of combat, and it's supposed to be ,5% and 1% IN combat at level 3 and level 4, except that it doesn't work. If someone with lower level rejuvenation wants to test it, let us know.

[@astroboy314]

Love the actual visual comparison of the different levels and how these skills work. Looking forward to the other skill trees.

[@Shiftry87]

If u wanna Stealth past enemys then just unequip everything but your suit and u can sneak past enemys without even having Rank 1 Stealth. I did the entire Ryujin questline stealth without even having Rank 1. Having that Stealth meter is nice but its not needed. The main benefit u want from Stealth is that sneak attack bonus. In this test hes wearing full gear which is why hes getting detected so easily.

[@inkarozu2309]

I agree with this breakdown wholeheartedly. Just unlocked Concealment yesterday and it was absolutely worth the 13 skill points to unlock. I maxed stealth and weight lifting initially but NONE of the other tier 1-3 skills really interested me so I did wellness to unlock master skills.

[@LokiZemy]

Great stuff unc! I constantly sit for 10s of minutes with a skill point contemplating 😊 Can't wait for more ✌️❤️

[@ChefBoyareB]

Stealth was the first skill I maxed out. That Ryujin mission is basically impossible without it.

[@ssef3232]

I did it without stealth, first half was pretty easy and second half had to EM run and gun, it was a pain lol.

[@andreib1234]

No it is not. You cannot wear full armor. Imagine yourself wearing an astronaut full armor while playing the game and then sneaking around a base..... the shoes on that thing need to be at least lead lined to protect you on other planets. take off the armor and sneaking is simple. the guard from the video here that he has. i even managed to sneak up to the guard on the right and pickpocket him, but with armor on, i cannot do that

[@death299]

while the stealth skill is worth it, ryujin is really really simple, as the company points out it's not killing anyone, you can freely shoot them with an EM weapon (that they give you freel) and no one will complain. take everything but your outfit off and shoot them in the face with the disrupter. frankly the disrupter is downright broken anyway, as you can easily stun most hard human enemies and then just swap back and forth from sneak attacks to sneak stuns that'll instantly incap them really you don't "need" to sneak for any missions, just don't use normal guns or get caught doing things like lockpicking/stealing

[@veronicareagan5587]

@@andreib1234brother 😭😭 thank you so much I didn’t even think about what I’m wearing cause I play fp instead of 3rd person😭 your awesome

[@aca99da]

Great video! The Fitness skill is very helpful if you like surveying planets fully as this tends to involve a lot of running around!

[@who9722]

I love tier list videos. Thanks for making some on Starfield.

[@unclemumble]

Glad you enjoyed! More to come :)

[@TheWozbo]

For stealth, I think it's also based on your equip weight. If you take off your spacesuit etc., even rank 1 you will be faring better than you are in this video at rank 4. You'll also notice the spacesuit equip mod to make you stealthier reduces weight of the gear. Bigger impact on heavier armor.

[@thatoneguy7119]

Wearing armor vs wearing just clothes has a big effect on being detected.

[@darylcrow810]

Thanks for the video! Rejuvenation rank 3 and 4 are bugged for me as well. As long as there is an enemy showing on the compass, even if they are not firing at me or even in a different room my health won’t regenerate until they no longer show on the compass which can be frustrating when I can’t even find them and my health won’t regenerate. Looks like you have better luck with stealth than I have. I have stealth maxed and I’m on rank 3 of concealment. I’ll be crouched with chameleon activated and enemies will come up stairs or around corners at a distance and start firing at me. Also having a silencer hasn’t done me any good as I get lit up by enemies even though I took out a target at a distance. I don’t know if anyone else has had problems with the stealth skills or chameleon not having an effect. After reaching level 41 on my character I started a new character because I thought stealth was bugged. I have the same result on my second character as well. Between my two characters I have over 140 hours into the game and one skill that I wouldn’t recommend at all is Decontamination. I’m on rank 1 and It’s either bugged or I’ve never had an infection in the game. While Cellular Regeneration isn’t really needed it’s a decent QOL once you have other skills maxed out.

[@russwilson8457]

If you go to Bessel III-B to Temple Alpha and secure your second power (Personal Atmosphere), this power will give you the ability to instantly refill your oxygen. A huge help when over-encumbered. You get this power doing the Power From Beyond quest.

[@jacobwilliams1356]

Great video! I do want to provide some context for why you should invest into Pain Tolerance, Health, and Unarmed abilities. There are several chances when you go NG+ that make it to where you can either NOT save, or NOT use items so if you’re wanting to complete these unique instances, it would be a good idea to put skill points into these abilities

[@gotyam]

Late to the party, and someone might've said it, but rejuvination is % hp based. Higher level, and even more so with Wellness, makes you first survive for long, and then after combat heal right back up in a minute without the need to use medpacks... if you for some reason run low at the higher levels. In combat regen is bugged though, as I have seen many mention, which is a shame

[@tyronewaker8583]

Love how you break down everything and the side by side comparisons great video. You got my like 👍🏿

[@GamingPsychologist]

Can't wait to see the breakdowns for the rest of the skills. I've done some of my own analysis (nothing this in depth) trying to optimize my skill points because leveling is sooooooo slow. Even with mods to help boost it up, you need so many levels to have full viable builds.

[@sestenwhen]

Gymnastics was the most useful skill for me because I was constantly getting sprains with the power boost pack. Like a stupid amount! Not sure why but I really needed the fall damage perk.

[@travisg2619]

Have you been jumping around on high gravity planets? That's how I got mine.

[@beavermos]

Power boost packs eat all your energy and can get you very high up. But they also let you boost with whatever amount of energy you currently have. So a tiny boost just before you hit the ground should usually do the trick.

[@thrubeingcool82]

Cos you're shit.

[@eXponentia]

The combat regeneration is bugged, there's a multiplier that gets applied to your regen whenever you enter combat of 0, and they forgot to disable the multiplier or at least put the rejuvenation regen separate from other regen. So instead if it being like "x+y*0 + rejuv" it's "x+y+rejuv*0".

[@unclemumble]

Ha that's pretty funny and would actually make sense. It's weird because some people said it worked for them pre patch so I wonder how the spaghetti code managed to break here

[@LaughJunkie]

I agree with almost everything. I do think energy resistance is significantly better than physical because all the combat stims or heart+ give you a lot of physical res, but very few things, besides the suit itself, give you energy res. So taking 15% off the top is pretty good damage mitigation.

[@A7XfoREVer531]

The 2x jump height is S tier in my opinion when combined with the final boost pack skill that lets you hover

[@MadChickenz42]

I think I know what my next perk line is going to be. Great idea.

[@pixelizedshadow]

if you have the boost pack ability to hover when aiming you can cancel out your upward momentum on a jump works great for low grav planets

[@frankieb9444]

FYI: The example he is using for stealth is in the Ryujin questline (think Thieves Guild) and is the first mission in that line that gives your stealth skills a genuine test.

[@Turk3YbAstEr]

It would be nice to see a reevaluation of perks like environmental conditioning now that survival features are being added

[@alexkaine4625]

Just subscribed. Starfield can be a tad overwhelming so appreciate the clear info you have provided.

[@ReallyMrDarcy]

I think some of these point to Bethesda's intent to release a survival mode, which would make them more useful.

[@papifrancisco]

I love these videos. Thank you so much for this series! Insanely helpful & straight to the point.

[@null6634]

One thing i like about these videos is, they give just an overview and explanation of what the skills actually do. I don't need a long explanation of how to make a completely game breaking, over the top build. I just want a functional one that isn't wasting points on useless skills. Now that i have real information i can make decisions based on that. With that said, after you're done with the skill trees, can you make an outpost tutorial? Its really difficult to find one that just tells you what you need to know and how many resources you need to gather in advance to build it. Like imagine if this game did the normal tutorial missions. I don't need to go to Besslle 3 B and find the one pixel on my potato graphics screen that gets all the resources ever. I just need to know how to build a basic outpost that provides a few, self sustaining resources.

[@unclemumble]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the style. I of course inject a degree of my opinion to the video but the core purpose was to highlight what the heck these skills actually do, particularly the ones with vague descriptions. I will definitely be looking into outpost and ship building guides as well. There are some out there but I'm not sure everyone is looking for an xp farm type build vs just how the heck you should set these up for general functionality (to your point). Lots of stuff on the way :)

[@jacobwilliams1356]

rejuvenation perk has been fixed

[@teraisdead3091]

Great video, love the in depth testing/comparisons. Looking forward to the other skill tree videos, definitely informative and time saving for anyone starting out and deciding which to level.

[@C0bbsalad]

It must be the missions I'm doing cuz the mines pop up everywhere. I see the red mines pop up on screen and I gotta take off running. Lol.

[@MrJudicater]

An additional perk to Rejuvenation that makes it S tier for me is that it allows you to essentially be overencumbered and sprint indefinitely. When you're O2 depletes the health rejuvenation almost matches your health loss from running. I pick up everything and sprint everywhere, so this could be the single best skill in the game for me.

[@Syisulis]

Great video I'm looking forward to a full breakdown of all the skills. Thanks for the video.

[@SapphirosCZ]

Great vid, cant wait for next categories Concealment is great skill, but hated leveling it up. Having to deal melee sneak damage was ordeal. Melee weapons in starfield are boring and unimaginative, so i didnt really want to use them untill mods adding new weapons come out, but i went through and realized its even worse. The real issue is that most of them have almost zero range, your character has this weirdly slow attack animation when sneaking (almost expected winding animation like when cartoon punch), which often results in you missing the attack and alerting your enemy, especially when leveling to lvl2 when you still have to move slowly. In the end i leveled it up using Void Form spell, which makes you invisible, quickly breaking Danger state and even allowing you to score multiple sneak attacks on same enemy in one use of the spell even at lvl1.

[@elbalerto]

use an EM weapon like the disruptor to stun a bunch of baddies. unequip disruptor, sneak, smack them 3 times with your fists, then stun again once they get up. if you have it, use sunless space to freeze baddies. the freeze will hold them down longer, allowing you to put in more sneak attacks before they get up. each sneak attack with these will count to leveling concealment.

[@unclemumble]

Yeah melee in general has been a massive bummer. I get that it is fitting for it to not be viable in a space setting but it would have been nice to have at least a semi viable non-stealth melee build in the base game

[@AinzDArc]

Maybe what we need is a stronger katana. So we kill with 1-2 strikes.

[@captain4318]

With the upcoming extreme options for combat, my opinion on certain skills have changed a bit haha!

[@Axolotl_Speaker]

For the combat sliding, if you have a pistol out, you'll slide much further, and you can sprint and slide again repeatedly. Im pretty sure it's faster than sprinting, saves up 02, and you'll stay in sneak mode so you can slide through bases undetected.

[@thepunisherxxx6804]

This is a God send, thank you! Developers really need to let players experiment and detail how their mechanics work. In general games do such a poor job of onboarding and obfuscating mechanics. Whole parts of KZbin gaming is solely dedicated to teaching just like this. It feels so shitty to invest hours or days grinding to get the last skill option only to find out its actually pretty underwhelming.

[@unclemumble]

This is a HUGE gripe of mine and exactly why I'm enjoying making this kind of content right now. It's absurd that I have to run tests like this in half the games I play just to figure out something that could have been part of the tooltips

[@zecuse]

This wouldn't be so bad if you could pay something to reallocate skill points. I hear NG+ doesn't let you do this either. That's a problem if quests don't scale with level either.

[@FlawlessRhythmGG]

I would recommend rank 2 of Gymnastics simply for the temple quests. The last light moves so quick, it takes a lot of the headache out of it. Again, I would only do it if you're also struggling with hitting that last light and tired of spending time on the temples.

[@47CryXMA]

Not the video I was expecting, but very informative! I think I'll be investing more points into carry weight.

[@Thrano]

"It can bei difficult to decide where to spend your skill points." Understatement of the year. I am level 87 now and I don't have enough skill points to go around.

[@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken]

Before the most "recent" patch Rejuvenation worked for me in combat, although it was PAINFULLY slow. good in a pinch though.

[@lance134679]

Good analysis. I did a character that only put points into Physical skills and it's actually pretty good - extra health, health regen, stealth, extra carry weight are all very useful. Thanks.

[@KREDANS]

I'm leveling a new character from scratch in hindsight of my level 252 character who had most perks. I'm opting for nutrition over rejuvenation this time around as constant health regeneration trivialized a lot of the games challenging aspects. Why duck for cover or play tactically when whatever damage you incur will be regenerated quickly? Relying on food for health also makes looting an area more thoroughly more worthwhile. I've also discovered large caches of food items on some ships which helps to recover health after boarding and taking out the crew. Although strong perks are great, it makes the game boring sometimes.

[@WarMonkeyPlays]

Great video! Thought the format was a perfect way to discuss this.

[@Xyos212]

Thanks for this. Hope you do all the tiers. I was wondering about the weapon skill "targeting" where it says greatly increased hip fire accuracy. I am curious if that makes it any better when hip firing while moving. If its just for standing still I feel like there are attachments that do the same thing without the heavy investment.

[@unclemumble]

I'll be sure to put those skills with vague descriptors through the wringer and find out just how good/bad they are!

[@toddabbott781]

I found rank 1 and 2 in stealth to be near worthless.... even with chameleon on and in the shadows. They could be over 100 feet away too, but if they looked my way I was always instantly spotted. Rank 3 made a huge difference and rank 4 was even better. Weight lifting I found more useful when your ship's cargo was full so you could not unload when needed. It took me a bit to figure out how to put a cargo hold on my ship and what the red numbers meant at the time. I agree that the slide sucks. It should be farther and increased on slopes maybe (like Far Cry 5... but not that much). When I got my boosted pack it was hard to avoid fall damage. The balanced one is much better, but I still broke and sprained myself a lot. Reduced fall damage was actually nice. I only managed rank 2 because it was late game and I needed zero-G kills. The thing is I was getting it mostly for the points I needed for Concealment. While crafting was nice and so was starship design... and base building was pretty lame all together, I think I will skip these all and do a full stealth build next time. I have not put any points into weapons. I was going to do Athletics 2, Stealth 4, Gymnastics 4, Conceal 4, Persuasion 4, Security 4, Jet Pack 4, Pilot 4,and some weapon perks. I found a killed rifle Captain's something. I have never seen anybody else talking about it. I modded it up and it has a silencer and scout scope. It does 281 damage without any points in weapons skills and only a few magazines. With sneak attacks with Stealth 4 and a silencer I do 2.3x damage. Not too many things can take a head shot that way and live.

[@captainpandabear1422]

My assessment is pretty different, but good to see your take. I think your perspective on what skills are valuable changes radically when you play Ironman style, dead is dead. In my playthroughs I consider Wellness to be S+, must take as early as is practical to avoid the risk of one shot kills.

[@unclemumble]

Totally fair, these are all so dependent on playstyle!

[@TheRazor124]

Fantastic video. Appreciate the amount of effort that clearly went into this. After this series, I'd love to see a video breakdown of weapon archetypes and how damage scales. Some say the Revenant is the best weapon I'm the game. It has 14 damage. Why is that better than my 398 damage shotgun? Why do snipers only deal 78 damage? Can you help me (and I'm sure many others) understand this?

[@Turk3YbAstEr]

rank 2 gymnastics is actually really helpful for that dang minigame in each temple to get a power, something to consider if you're about to embark on some quick ng+ runs where you just grab all the artifacts and powers

[@poisonouslead85]

Nutrition Combos very well with Rank 4 Gastronomy + Special Projects. The final food items you learn how to make are already pretty game breaking. Big movement speed buffs and big damage mitigation buffs.

[@bfish9700]

In general, since there are so many skills, my general process is not to spend skill points on things that either increase money or you can buy with money. I used to always max weightlifting right away. Currently, I just built a ship with 12,000kg of cargo space, everything goes into the ship, I sell from the ship. I'll eventually pick up weightlifting, fitness, stealth & concealment but I don't know when/at what level.

[@wyattthealchemist]

Especially because you lose it all in NG+ lol

[@Hunter-fu7qx]

make more of these for all of the skill trees. its a huge help for my run.

[@ScottTroiano]

Awesome video! Please do the rest of the trees! Great format and wonderful analysis. Worth the watch, and +1 subscribe! Keep up the good work! And Thanks!

[@unclemumble]

Welcome aboard! Rest of the trees on the way :)

[@DuVtrell]

This is exactly what I'm looking for. You got yourself a sub. Can't wait to see the rest!! Thank you.

[@unclemumble]

Welcome aboard! More on the way :)

[@zengrath]

this is a good breakdown, I enjoyed seeing what the actual difference was of some of these are that is otherwise difficult to understand by the description. overall however I agree with your assessment of these skills and look forward to your review of the other skill trees.

[@Pirtosi]

This is a great comprehensive breakdown on the Physical Tier! Thanks!

[@abraxis59]

Great video. I will be watching your other analysis as well, You definitely saved me some points I may have wasted in the future. So I have played the game for about 120 hours and I agree with almost all of your assessments. The one huge difference I have is stealth and concealment. Without rank 4 in stealth, it is almost completely useless and the chameleon ability can be found on numerous pieces of armor in the game. Also, stealth is greatly hampered as a playstyle if you have ANY companions with you. So, just like playing melee, unless you are investing heavily in this to force stealth into a game that has none, it is utterly useless.

[@fairlane32]

This is an EXCELLENT video. Thank you, I have been waiting for someone to do a video analysis on the skill trees. Looking forward to seeing what you have to say about the others!’ ❤❤😊😊

[@jordanstark5924]

I like the extra jump height from gymnastics because using the boost pack will break stealth but you can still jump while crouched so you can climb stuff while in stealth still

[@leopoldkain6815]

Thanks for this info. ❤ As a Melee Build this is going to take my hands ability to the next level😅

[@FinrodFelagundTheFair]

Just something I've noticed with the combat slide, when you are in combat you will slide a substantial amount farther. I actually use it all the time to weave around the battle field and get advantageous positions.

[@aLwE17]

Great ranking and analysis! Will be watching out for the other skills analysis and ranking

[@joden3]

I've watched a couple of videos before this one but hadn't subbed for whatever reason, but the "sneaky snakes and beefy boys" line had me click that sub button immediately!

[@reverendsaul]

Very helpful video. I was on the fence about putting points in gymnastics, glad I didn't.

[@ZerqTM]

note that you can still sneak without sealth especially if you learn the enemys sound ques they give so your aware of their reactions its not as useful as the sneack bar but basically you could think of it as level 0 sneak

[@SimplestUsername]

8:00 Yeah, I once unlocked Gymnastics then immediately reverted to an old save after testing the combat slide.

[@unclemumble]

Lol that was probably wise 😅 Someone let me know that the slide is a bit better with pistols equipped but for some reason it only works in first person after I did some testing. Still not worth it Imo though, I'd take my skill point back too

[@SimplestUsername]

@@unclemumble I also have little to no faith that they'd ever buff or improve this perk. A good powerslide, such as the slide found in Apex legends, requires press to crouch functionality, unfortunately, this game only has toggle to crouch functionality. We'll see, but I have a feeling this perk will be quickly improved by the modding community.

[@unclemumble]

Man I love apex sliding, easily one of the cleanest in any game I've played. Sadly I think you're right about no changes coming

[@SleepyGrapes]

Great videos, I’m glad I didn’t have these for my first playthrough just to experience it all myself at first but these are going to be very useful for when I do my second and third play throughs bc it’ll allow me to streamline my level up’s and not have to level grind if I don’t want to

[@coeldstarfield]

Great video! Thanks for saving me hours of gameplay. I'm going to reference your video in future videos!

[@unclemumble]

Cheers!

[@XCal1bur23]

What a great video. Thank you for all of this detailed information. I am now subscribed and look forward to more like this.

[@solitaryangel722]

I just did the final Ryujin mission (Infiltrating Infinity Ltd. Skill 4 stealth, wearing the Operative suit that adds a further 25% stealth. I made it to the turret above and a guard on the balcony near the computer that can switch turret settings (Directly above the Neuroamp prototype room) and every single time he saw me, through the wall, not moving so making no noise. This skill is broken or some npcs in certain missions are broken I can't decide which. It was so frustrating that I just shot him and the turret, hacked the computer then used the keycard to open the door, turn the alarm off/close the shutters and steal the neuroamp prototype. Back at Ryujin I got a bollocking from the boss for leaving a mess but 12 reloads was my limit and I lost my temper....sorry boss.

[@AngryCosmonaut]

Did you remove your spacesuit? Wearing a spacesuit makes you easier to detect because of the weight and noise.

[@domicci4460]

Regen I'm combat worked once for me when I was fighting a tone of robots but no where else. Also great video I'm level 253 already so point arnt a problem but amazing video non the less

[@failuretocommunicate4976]

Thanks, this was a very helpful video. 🤘🏻

[@laughingalex7563]

So far, id been playing the new settings qith cellular regen 2, it doesnt seem to really heal things very fast, i hope 3 does but so far im being forced to wait long times in places in some areas(londinium and the final main quest both come to mind) due to the fact that rng seems to have more a say than anything on healing injuries. This makes me really lower cellular regens value, as its turned into a “get shot up, wait ten minutes” in those quests.

[@gadman85]

I'd say this list seems pretty fair. A lot of the Physical perks don't make much sense outside of an unarmed/melee build. That being said, I've been having a blast with my unarmed guy on Normal. Rough at first because you need to heal a good bit, so it would be a bad idea to have the Alien DNA trait since it makes healing less effective. Pain tolerance is very useful if you do mostly unarmed. Same goes for energy weapon dissipation though less so since most enemies use regular guns. It makes a big difference, especially if you are full throttle type of a fighter. Charging in there with those perks means you have a good bit more health usually. I will admit having maxed boxing seems to be slowing down Martial Arts progress though. Can't "disarm" opponents if they spend most of their time flat on their backs or otherwise downed. It can get even more of a slog because unarmed power attacks will knock down and fill up the EM gauge a lot of the time, so again can't "disarm" your opponents like that. lol. I also wish I put more into fitness sooner. So many Big Bad Pirates and Spacers end up more or less saying, "F this!" and run away screaming from the punchy guy, even the higher leveled ones, so having more 02 is a huge plus when chasing after them. If they improve unarmed and boost the damage just a bit more to be further in-line with other late game builds, or let us hit faster and more than just the three hit combo. Unarmed is going to really freaking bad ass and even more fun. Probably close to how I felt it was in Elden Ring. Or Skyrim with Ordinator installed, which adds a fully realized unarmed branch to the Light Armor perk tree.

[@mindofmarte]

Great vid bro! Subscribed to see the other skill categories you do!

[@kmcd6140]

The Gymnastics skill, in my opinion, is better thought of as a traversal skill. Combined with a pack, you can be zooming across a map. For anyone that likes to keep moving, and move FAST, Gymnastics is where it's at.

[@OneSaltyBoi]

Honestly just getting rank 2 for those annoying zero g puzzles are worth it if you're on console and can't mod them yet.

[@unclemumble]

I'm not sure I agree here, gymnastics rank 2 and 3 are specifically for 0g which no planets are so this only ever works in space/temples. There's a very small use case for the temple minigame if you struggle with them but otherwise gymnastics isn't doing anything for you planetside. You can do a buffed combat slide with a pistol in first person but that's about it and it only requires rank 1

[@squid262]

Regarding Stealth, if you remove your spacesuit (even indoors when you have it hidden) it will make you MUCH harder to detect. In the scenario you showed I doubt the stealth meter would have even slightly turned orange.

[@Z-note17]

I wondered if weight mattered here again...thank you!

[@RobVespa]

Nice and helpful commentary. Thanks! It'll be interesting to see how the tiers change when/if the original sim mechanics are restored.

[@englishvoodoo676]

Great list thank you!! Fitness is made redundant by a later spoiler skill for oxygen, so it should be F, instead of weightlifting you can use less points to give your companion 50kg extra capacity in social for just 2 points. Don't Forget!! If you are attacking a base your ship landed near, while outside you can go to you radial menu, select ship, cargo, inventory & then place all your loot directly into the ship & continue looting. between the extra 50kg for your companion, you never need points in weightlifting.

[@khrachvikkhrachvik7049]

So, something to consider regarding the “tank” and damage resistance skills. They are very very good to have depending on what items you’re using. For my melee build, I use a berserker, stagger, reflect wakizashi and so I need to keep my armor score very low because of how good the berserker perk is with no or low DT space suits. These skills keep me tankie enough to zip in, slice, dice, and zip out.