Horizon Forbidden West: Skill trees - list Horizon Forbidden West guide, walkthrough

This page of the Horizon Forbidden West guide lists the skill trees with their main uses, and basic ability information.

Last update: 23 February 2022

This page of the guide to Horizon 2 Forbidden West contains an overview of the available skill trees and explains what they apply to. We've also included information about unlocking and using the skills during the game.

• Basic information and tips about unlocking skills
• List of the skill trees

Basic information and tips about unlocking skills

There are 162 skills to unlock in Horizon Forbidden West , which come from 6 main categories/trees. Such a large number of perks may seem overwhelming at first, but fortunately unlocking them is quite easy.

To unlock new perks permanently, you need skill points, and we've described the most important ways to get them on a separate page Skill points - how to get them? in the FAQ section.

To unlock a new skill or a better version of one you already have, you must spend from 1 to 5 skill points. You won't be able to afford to buy all the interesting skills right away, but you can prioritize the best skills, which are the ones that the next pages of this chapter of the guide will focus on.

The skills in the trees fall into several main groups:

1. Active skills - These need to be activated manually by pressing/holding a hotkey, or using a key combination. You can read about how to activate a given skill in its description.
2. Passive skills - you don't have to do anything after you unlock them; they will give you all their bonuses automatically.
3. Valor Surge - These are special skills that you can unlock on the tree after purchasing all other skills connected with them. Each Valor Surge has three separately purchasable levels and becomes stronger at each successive level. In order to activate the Valor Surge, you must first accumulate Valor in combat and then activate the skill from the weapon wheel (press R1).
4. Weapon Techniques - These are unique skills linked to specific weapon types (you can read this in the skill description) and offer special types of attacks (e.g. heavy bow fire). Each activation of a weapon technique (R1) consumes stamina. It can renew on its own or with your help (e.g. if you drink a stamina potion).

Outfits and their upgrades, which you can use during the game, are also related to the skills. Wearing a specific outfit can unlock skills you don't have yet, or enhance the effects of those that you do. You can read the information about such bonuses in the outfit description. When you get a bonus, it will be added to the description of the skill (example in the picture).

It is a good idea to wear the outfits you own while doing activities associated with them. For example, if you plan to sneak into a location, you can wear an infiltrator outfit for that time. It is a good idea to have different outfits in your inventory and use them as needed.

List of the skill trees

There are 6 skill trees available in Horizon Forbidden West. Here are the available trees:

1. Warrior - The skills in this group focus on melee combat with Aloy's spear. You can unlock new hits and hit combinations, as well as strengthen and facilitate the use of the most important offensive technique - the Resonator Blast.
2. Trapper - The skills in this group are mainly related to traps. You can start crafting more traps that use fewer resources, as well as reduce the potential hazards from accidentally activating the already deployed traps.
3. Hunter - The skills in this group deal primarily with ranged combat. Aloy can unlock unique attacks for different types of ranged weapons, as well as use concentration (bullet time when aiming) more effectively and frequently.
4. Survivor - The skills in this group concern potions and healing after taking damage. You can increase the efficiency of potions and healing options, as well as produce more healing items and use fewer crafting ingredients to do so.
5. Infiltrator - The skills in this group concern sneaking and silent takedowns. You can reduce the risk of being detected by enemies, and also strengthen various stealthy attacks.
6. Machine Master -The skills in this group concern Override, i.e. "converting" machines to your side and (in some cases) using them as mounts. Machines can become stronger and more durable.

As you make progress in the game, you can easily pick your favorites based on your preferred play style, but you shouldn't buy skills only from 1 tree, because you'll miss out on a lot of useful active and passive skills from other categories. We especially recommend unlocking the best skills from the upper parts of the skill trees as early as possible, as each skill costs only 1-2 points.

Also, don't develop different Valor Surges at the same time, because only one of them can be ready to use at a time. It is best to pick your favorite early and develop it to level 3 to get the best stats.