Personal cover image for Horizon Forbidden West skills article.

Horizon Forbidden West: Best Skills to Unlock First

Horizon Forbidden West has been released and fans of the franchise have been rushing to get to experience the latest installment. The game has been a critical and likely commercial success already and it is a thrill to watch others enjoy everything the game has to offer. From silently striking a machine from the bushes to gliding through the landscape of the Forbidden West, there is something for everyone. If you are just starting with the game, you may be wondering what skills to unlock and this guide article will take you through some of the best skills in Horizon Forbidden West for unlocking first for Aloy to utilize.

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Best Skills To Unlock First In Horizon Forbidden West

There is a vast array of skills to unlock in the experience and at first, when you are leveling up there are indeed so many options that it can give you a lot to ponder in thought about what some of the best skills will be to unlock for Aloy in the early stages of the experience. I have personally sought to upgrade and obtain the following skills first.

Within the 6 core skill classes/trees, the ‘Hunter’ skills will likely be one of the best places to start with skill upgrading. This is due to the fact that the first skill ‘Concentration +’ will give you 50% extra time in concentration mode which will certainly give you an advantage over the many charging and agile machines rushing towards you when you need to get that perfectly aimed shot on a machine component.

Further, if you continue down the left-hand diagonal side of the skill line, you will be able to unlock the ‘High Volley’ weapon technique after unlocking the ‘Deep Concentration’ skill before that one. In terms of continuing to choose other great upgrades at first, it will all depend on your playstyle. However, I have found it excellent to unlock the first skill in every skill class at first as soon as you can. This will give you a spread of skill types for Aloy to enjoy!

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Skill Categories Explained

While you are on the topic of skills, it can also be essential to fully understand what each skill category will offer you. As aforementioned, there are 6 core skill classes/trees that you will be able to unlock skills from. The skill categories are as follows:

  • Warrior – The ‘Warrior’ skill class will give you a vast array of melee techniques for Aloy among many other skills. However, if you are planning to utilize your spear a lot, this is certainly a great class to upgrade at first to obtain all of the techniques.
  • Trapper – This skill class is as it sounds on the tin, it will give you a lot of skills based on setting up traps for machines.
  • Hunter – The ‘Hunter’ skills will ensure that your bow is the focus for damaging machines with due to the excellent skills on offer for a wide variety of ranged attacks.
  • Survivor – If you are going to be doing a lot of foraging for resources and want to stay agile and have a steady level of health throughout the experience then this skill class is the one for you!
  • Infiltrator – The ‘Infiltrator’ class will keep your stealth maneuvers always even more exciting with skills tailored to stealth and Aloy surprising machines.
  • Machine Master – The ‘Machine Master’ is the class for those who want to get more personal with the various machines throughout the experience. Whether you are wanting to keep machines overridden for longer or simply want to deal more damage to machine parts, this is the skill class for you.

As you can observe, each skill category is diverse and can be combined together for a masterclass in specific playstyle routes depending on what skill trees you focus on first within Horizon Forbidden West.

Will you be upgrading skills as soon as you can in Horizon Forbidden West this month?

Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.


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Author
Gordon Bicker
Gordon is a contributing writer for Attack of the Fanboy, a Games Design (BA) Honours student, and a Video Game Ambassador. He has been writing at AOTF for over a year and a half, with four years of games writing experience for outlets like Green Man Gaming. When he's not busy, he'll no doubt be experiencing games, writing poetry, playing guitar, adventuring, or happily starting a new Skyrim playthrough! As an avid Final Fantasy XIV player, he also hopes that you'll gain a warm feeling from his community stories. Gordon has reported on Fallout 4 and Destiny 2, whose favorite genres include action RPGs, MMORPG's and First Person Shooters but is always experimenting with many other types of games.