The best skills in Dying Light 2

Will you favour combat or parkour?

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Struggling to decide which Dying Light 2 skills to choose? To fend off zombies in the virus-infested city of Villedor you need every boon you can get. Whether you prefer to keep to the quieter rooftops or drop right into the action, skills will make sure you’re well prepared for whatever the game throws at you.

There are lots of skills to pick from, and as you don’t get to choose new skills often, you should think carefully before deciding which to settle on. That said, here’s a list of all the Dying Light 2 skills and which ones you should prioritise to get the greatest advantage in movement or combat with living and infected enemies alike.

Dying Light 2 skills: What to pick first

Your first combat skill has to beVault Kick: it’s the only available choice for beginners and needs to be unlocked before the rest of the skill tree becomes available. Luckily, it’s a great one, letting you use a stunned enemy as a springboard to launch a two-footed kick at another enemy. If you kick stuns someone, you can vault right back over them and launch another kick, so it’s a fun, damage-chaining skill to have.

Perfect Dodgemakes a nice companion to it, since a well-timed dodge will stagger an enemy performing a light attack, letting you launch into a Vault Kick, so it’s a nice pick for your second combat skill. Rather than going for Grapple or Grapple Throw as your next two picks, however, go forAir Kick, which lets you drop down on enemies from above with a power kick. More importantly, it opens upDropkickfor your next choice, the utterly awesome two-footed flying kick that sends bandits and zombies soaring off rooftops or flying into spiked walls. It’s the best (or at least the most fun) combat skill in Dying Light 2.

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Unless you’re heavily into stealth I’d hold off on picking Stab or Stab Followup for a while—you can already choke out unaware enemies from behind (yes, even zombies) and while stabbing them is a little quicker it requires you to have a throwing knife. Instead opt forPower Attack, great for big two-handed weapons aimed at stunned or slow enemies.Perfect Parryalso staggers opponents with a well-timed block, but more importantly leads toBlock Projectiles. In big fights, a few enemy bandits love hanging back and shooting arrows or throwing knives.

For Parkour skills, your first pick has to beHigh Jump, and you should spend your second onFirm Grip. It lets you make one last grab when your stamina is spent and lets you hold on when you land on a ledge after a long fall or jump. It’s critical for avoiding a deadly plunge. WithActive Landingyou can tap Ctrl after a long fall to take less damage and roll through the landing, important when you’re being chased.Far Jumpwill let you push off obstacles like they’re springboards, so pick that next. Eventually spend a point onDart, which lets you sprint (yes, sprinting requires its own skill), andBashwhich lets you plow through enemies, scattering them like bowling pins, while Dart is active.

Sleek Runnerspeeds up your parkour, but it also leads toSlide, which isn’t strictly necessary, but is extremely fun to do. Finally, you want to wall run, right? Nothing else makes you feel like a parkour expert like running along a wall. When you’ve raised your stamina enough, unlockTic Tac(wall running),Wall Run(run up walls with no handholds) andWall Run Jump(run up a smooth wall and leap). No building can stop you from climbing it now.

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Dying Light 2 skills list

Combat

Parkour

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she’s quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.

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