Highlights
- Lara's skill tree in Shadow of the Tomb Raider offers more creative freedom and upgrades tailored to player preferences.
- Skills like Puma's Charge and Serpent's Strike are essential for stealth gameplay and quick combat tactics in the game.
- Unlocking skills like Crow's Charm and Raposa's Threat early on can enhance gameplay experience and make exploration easier.
Though the first two games in the Survivor Tomb Raider reboot trilogy did contain skill trees, these were quite limited in what they offered and only made small changes to the overall gameplay experience. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider though, it's clear Eidos Montreal dedicated a lot more effort to giving the player as much creative freedom as possible to upgrade Lara in ways that would suit their own preferred playstyle.
7 Hardest Tomb Raider Games, Ranked
The Tomb Raider series is known for many things, one of which is the difficulty of the games. They range from reasonable to brutally challenging.
As a result, the skill tree in this game is massive, and though there are many new abilities and buffs to choose from, it can admittedly be a little tricky knowing where to even start. Anyone who's embarking on Lara's epic journey across Mexico and Peru for the very first time should try to pick up these skills listed below as soon as possible, as they can be incredibly helpful for those first few hours.
7 Puma's Charge
Ability: Reach Full Draw Weight More Quickly. Reduce Time Between Charged Shots.
- Skill Points: 2pts
Though Lara does gradually collect a mini arsenal of weapons which players can make use of in battle, by far the best when it comes to taking out enemies from a distance without causing a fuss is the bow. Shadow of the Tomb Raider encourages players to take a stealthy approach to encounters rather than charging in with guns blazing, and therefore, the Puma's Charge skill can be extremely handy and worthwhile.
Charging up an arrow with the bow can take quite a while without this skill and can result in Lara being spotted if she's taking her sweet time, so being able to pull this off at half the speed is a huge buff. Charged shots will also become useful for durable enemies and animals, so being able to shoot one after the other without any downtime can make hunting a lot easier.
6 Puma's Feint
Ability: Incapacitate Unarmored Enemies With A Counter Attack After Dodging
- Skill Points: 2pts
While Lara can make quick work of enemies from afar, when it comes to getting up close and personal, it can be quite easy for things to go wrong pretty quickly. The main reason for this is simply the fact that Lara can't take more than a few hits before she's down for good, especially on the Deadly Obsession difficulty, but like previous games, she does come with a crawl mechanic, which allows her to escape danger.
Tomb Raider: Lara Croft's Greatest Achievements, Ranked
Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider franchise has a long list of impressive achievements, but few can deny the following are the most impressive.
As a result, players are going to be dodging a lot, especially in the first few areas where there are plenty of unarmored guards patrolling the environments. Therefore, having the ability to counter them is an easy way to deal some extra damage, especially since the dodge time-window is extremely generous, making it easy to catch an enemy off guard once they start swinging around their melee weapons.
5 Serpent's Strike
Ability: Perform Stealth Takedowns Without Alerting Nearby Enemies
- Skill Points: 1pt
As mentioned previously, Shadow of the Tomb Raider's gameplay is all about sneaking around in the shadows and getting the jump on enemies when they least expect it. Of course, just like any stealth game, this means avoiding detection is incredibly important, otherwise the enemy will gladly call for reinforcements and make an encounter much harder than it needs to be. When players first start the game, Lara's stealth kills will be a little risky since there's a chance they can attract the attention of other nearby guards.
This can become really annoying, especially when coming up against a camp of enemies who are all in close proximity to one another, so picking up Serpent's Strike sooner rather than later is heavily advised. Though it can be tempting to jump straight over to skills like Serpent's Fury, which enables Lara to execute two takedowns at once, Serpent's Strike should always be one of the first green skills players should get, considering how essential it is to the core stealth gameplay.
4 Caiman's Breath
Ability: Increase Breath Capacity When Swimming Underwater
- Skill Points: 2pts
It wouldn't be a Tomb Raider game without a few underwater sections, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider is certainly no exception. Thankfully, the swimming in this game is the best it's ever been in the series, but the only downside is Lara won't be able to hold her breath for too long while submerged. This can be an issue when trying to swim around an enemy base, but it can especially be a nuisance when there are treasures and resources which are buried at the bottom of a lake which can't be retrieved unless Lara has enough stamina.
Needless to say, Caiman's Breath can come in handy in numerous different scenarios, and because it will boost Lara's stamina by a pretty drastic amount, it's never a bad idea to unlock it early on. It should also be mentioned that Shadows of the Tomb Raider, unfortunately, doesn't carry over the rebreather which was seen in Rise, so rather than holding out in the hopes of it turning up later in the game, the better decision is to grab Caiman's Breath instead.
3 Crow's Charm
Ability: Negotiate Better Prices With Merchants
- Skill Points: 3pts
Admittedly, this skill can take a little bit of saving to get since it costs 3 Skill Points overall, but purchasing it will save a tremendous amount of time in the long run when it comes to exploration. Rather than having to search every last inch of an area to seek out even a little bit of gold, players can simply grab whatever comes their way and usually still have enough to purchase something useful thanks to the Crow's Charm skill.
5 Underrated Tomb Raider Characters
Underrated and often overshadowed, the following characters from the Tomb Raider franchise deserve more time in the spotlight.
It's also essential to acquire, given how vital a lot of the merchant's items are to pick up. For example, the pistol suppressor can be an absolute lifesaver during stealth sections when the bow is running low on arrows, while on the other hand, buying a few perception plants can make exploration much easier. There are tons of items and resources that can be bought from merchants, but it's much easier to try everything out in a single playthrough when the Crow's Charm skill has been unlocked first.
2 Raposa's Threat
Ability: Visual Assistance When Aiming At An Enemy's Head
- Skill Points: 1pt
The official description of this skill can seem a little confusing, but basically, it means whenever the player lines up a shot at the enemy's head, there will be a more precise reticle to help them with their aiming. Players should get into the habit of aiming for the head as much as humanly possible in this game since it's the only way to guarantee an instant kill, alongside stealth takedowns. If Lara accidentally fires at an enemy's body, it will simply cause them to flinch while also alerting them to her location.
As a result, headshots are always the way to go, and being able to gain that extra bit of accuracy is a big help, especially for those players who might be new to these sorts of third-person action-adventure games. As an added bonus, this skill only costs a single point, so it's well worth purchasing early on to have a much easier experience when it's time for Lara to start hunting her prey.
1 Raposa's Drop
Ability: Reduce Fall Damage. Allows Lara To Roll After Falling, Which Negates All Damage
- Skill Points: 1pt
Raposa's Drop is a skill which also appeared in the previous two games, but many players felt as though it should have been unlocked by default because of how important it was. With that being said, though, it's even more crucial this time around, considering how much verticality is incorporated into the level design.
Lara is constantly going to be balancing atop massive trees or perching on large hills while scouting out an area, so being able to negate fall damage, or at least lessen it somewhat, can be a very welcome upgrade which can help players avoid an untimely Game Over screen. The roll that Lara can perform when landing on a surface also helps to ensure she's constantly moving at a brisk pace around her environment, making it much harder for the enemy to figure out where she's hiding.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Released
- September 14, 2018
- Developer(s)
- Eidos Montreal
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
