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Skill Tree - List of Major Skills
In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, skills and abilities have been separated, and now most upgrades now come from a robust and branching Skill Tree.
As you earn experience, Eivor will gain Skill Points to put into a constellation-like skill tree that branches into melee (Bear, Red), ranged (Wolf, Blue), and stealth (Raven, Yellow). However, many of the points you can spend as you move through the constellations are incremental upgrades to things like damage, evasion, health, and defense - as well as boosting gear that aligns with one of the three trees.
Near the center of each constellation is a major skill - some of which used to be abilities in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which do not require adrenaline to activate, or do they need to be assigned. As you invest more skill points, you can unlock new constellations with more skills, and even extra adrenaline bars.
Though much of the skill tree is obscured by fog - only appearing once you have reached the next constellation - you can still decide to unlearn a skill point, or even reset your entire skill tree whenever you like, without any penalty. Below is a map of the fully uncovered Skill Tree with all major Skills listed.
See the section below for descriptions of major Skills that you can invest in, or skip to our picks for the most essential skills to get in each tree here. Click here to jump to a section on this page.
List of Major Skills
Skill Name | Description |
---|---|
Bear Tree | |
Stomp | When an enemy falls to the ground press R3 to stomp on their face. |
Dual Swap | When Dual-wielding, hold RT + R3 to swap weapon hands. |
Perfect Attack | Press RB again during a weapon swing to do more damage the next hit. |
Parry Damage | Successful parries also deal damage to the attacker. |
Berserker's Mettle | A partially filled Adrenaline Slot will not be affected by an enemy's first strike. |
Light Bow Combo | Consecutive shots with a light bow deals extra damage. |
Warrior Takedown | Attempt a RT takedown on an unaware enemy with your melee weapon. It will alert all enemies around you but will fill your adrenaline for every one of them. |
Adrenaline Fiend | When 1 or more Adrenaline bars are filled, you gain a damage boost. This effect augments with each slot filled. |
Heavy Dual Wield | You can dual wield heavy weapons. This will alter the stats and handling of each weapon. |
Terror | After a stun finisher, weaker enemies may cower in fear. |
Battlefield Cremation | Enemies who perish from one of your fire attacks will continue to burn, damaging those around them. |
Sprint Bash | Unlocks the ability to bash through breakable objects and push NPCs to the ground while sprinting. |
Arrow Volley | Discharge all loaded arrows at once by holding and releasing R with a light bow that costs stamina. |
Raven Tree | |
Backstab | Landing a blow directly on an enemy's back will inflict increased defense damage and cause them to stagger. |
Brush with Death | Dodging just before an attack lands gives you heightened, making others around you appear to move slower for a time. |
Guided Arrow | Press RB to adjust the arrow's trajectory as it flies. |
Advanced Assassination | Unlocks the ability to assassinate high-level targets with a timing-based attack. |
Predator Bow Combo | Consecutive headshots with a predator bow deals extra damage. |
Explosive Corpse | Booby Trap a dead body to damage anyone who investigates it. Hold F near a body to load it with explosive powder. |
Chain Assassination | After performing a successful assassination, throw an axe at a second NPC standing in close proximity. |
Breakfall | Eivor automatically performs a roll when landing from a dangerous height, reducing damage taken. |
Counter Roll | Dodge towards an enemy's unblockable Rune Attack just before it hits to dodge behind them. |
Miasma | Enemies who die from one of your poison attacks will release a toxic cloud around them, infecting those who enter. |
Assassin's Cantrip | Following a successful parry, press F to throw a smoke bomb at your feet and disappear. |
Auto Loot | Loot an enemy automatically after a stealth or melee kill. |
Missile Reversal | Catch and throw virtually any projectile to its sender by pressing Q before it hits you. |
Wolf Tree | |
Stealth Recon | Automatically highlight enemies when crouched and undetected. |
Sprint Attack | Press RB while sprinting to do a sprint attack. |
Bow to Melee Link | Alternating between bow and melee attacks deals extra damage for a short time |
Emergency Aim | Holding LT will snap your aim to the enemy as they detect you, giving you an opportunity to kill them and remain undetected. |
Last Chance Healing | When your health reaches a critical state, time will slow around you, allowing you to flee or heal. |
Battleground Bolt | Press E to pick up the nearest discarded weapon and automatically throw it at an enemy in sight. |
Stealth Adrenaline | While in stealth, gain adrenaline by looting a chest or pickpocketing in a restricted area. |
Hunter Bow Combo | Release your arrows as you finish drawing it to make the next one draw faster. |
Grit | Regain the red portion of lost health on your bar when landing successful melee attacks. |
Charged Shot | Fire two fully charged arrows with the Hunter Bow in an attack that cannot be cancelled. |
Bow Stun Finisher | Press R3 when aiming at a stunned enemy head to trigger a bow stun finisher. |
Arrow Reinforcement | Loosed arrows will never break and may be collected from fallen enemies. |
Essential Skills Video Guide
Video Guide: Get These Essential Skills
There are many ways to branch out and acquire different skills in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, but you may find that some are more useful than others depending on your playstyle. As you branch out and get more points, keep these particular skills in mind from each of the three trees:
Essential Bear Skills
- Stomp - There’s nothing that says Viking quite like an intense physical display of force. The stomp does just that. Not only is it very satisfying, it’s actually useful for finishing off prone enemies. Since it does so much damage, experiment with heavy attacks and different weapons to reliably knock down opponents and then quickly finish them off.
- Berserker's Mettle - Not everyone is perfect. Sometimes you miss a parry, but that doesn’t mean you have to lose your adrenaline. Berserker’s Mettle protects your adrenaline from the first strike an enemy lands, so you can attack harder and keep using skills even when taking damage. Building up your adrenaline is pretty important for gaining the edge against tougher boss battles, where one hit taken can spell the difference between victory and defeat - getting a freebie from this skill can keep you moving to unleash your next big attack.
- Heavy Dual Wield - This one is just plain fun, and unlocks a huge range of versatile attacks. Unlocking the ability to dual wield heavy weapons, or pair heavy weapons with light ones. You could also equip a shield in your offhand so you don’t sacrifice blocking, while keeping the range that a heavy weapon provides. The bottom line is that this skill increases your flexibility in combat enormously, and we consider it a must-have. The damage for the individual weapons may be reduced somewhat, but the range and weight of the attacks can more than make up.
Essential Wolf Skills
- Bow Stun Finisher - While you'll soon find that a stun finisher is a great way to take out opponents, it lacks stopping power on those who fight at a distance. The Bow Stun Finisher provides a flashier way to finish off enemies just as quickly as you'd take out a melee fighter. After shooting them in their weak points or taking them down to a knee, complete the job with a homing shot. Combining this with the time-slowing ranged ability can let you snipe multiple targets to stun them, and finish them off in rapid succession while remaining at a safe distance.
- Battleground Bolt - The battlefield is often littered with weapons, especially in raids and larger-scale skirmishes. With Battleground Bolt, you can pick up a weapon off the ground and hurl it into the nearest Saxon’s face. Essentially its a free ranged attack that doesn't cost arrows and can't be interrupted, making it a huge boost to your ability to clear a crowd in a raid environment, or killing a bosses henchmen and using their own weapons against them.
- Grit - This skill gives Assassin's Creed a bit of Bloodborne flair. With the Grit skill, you can reclaim some of the health you just lost in battle by retaliating against your enemy. Just hit them back and retrieve some of your lost health. This works well in both larger melee battles and even 1 on 1 boss fights, allowing you to soak through an unblockable attack and reclaim your lost HP if you counter quickly enough.
Essential Raven Skills
- Brush With Death - Fans of Assassin's Creed Odyssey may be missing that perfect dodge maneuver, but not to worry, because you can still unlock it. Dodging at the last second with this skill slows everything down. It’s CRUCIAL for zealot and other boss fights that employ lots of unblockable attacks, or those made by heavily armored enemies to expose weak spots.
- Chain Assassination - This one’s a bit self-explanatory, but it gives you the capability of chaining assassinations together, much like how the Spear of Leonidas could be used in Odyssey. Useful for beginning, or even quickly ending, group encounters, it also allows you to take out two targets silently without alerting guards if you are unable to separate them.
- Missile Reversal - And speaking of zealot fights, this one is almost mandatory for those miniboss encounters. Missile Reversal lets you send projectiles back at enemies with a timed button press. That means spears, mines, bombs, and even arrows can all be returned to sender. If you're cunning enough, you can even bait out ranged attacks from tough foes that you know will defer to ranged attacks if you give them enough space.
Expanding Skill Tree
A series of game updates has added several new skills to AC Valhalla. As of update 1.5.0, there are now 135 more skills in the skill tree, including 30 new major skills. Below is the list of major skills that have been added.
Skill Name | Description |
---|---|
Bear Tree | |
Fight Ready | Always start a fight with an adrenaline-filled slot. |
Longship Brace | When you are in command of the longship, the crew will raise their shields with you. |
Fearless Leaper | When activated, the leap attack damage has a larger area of effect and can be done at any height. |
Cold Rage | Ignore hit interruptions while performing successive regular melee attacks. This effect recharges after a few seconds. |
Shield Master | Eivor automatically rotates to block incoming attacks by holding up their shield. |
Heidrun Slam | Knock enemies back with a powerful knee slam while sprinting. |
Idunn's Heart | Passively regenerate recent health loss after a short delay. |
Perfect Parry | Parry in the nick of time to deal additional damage to the attacker. |
Heal on Kill | Killing an enemy restores some Health if you are at low Health and have no Rations. |
Single-Hand Defense | When at full Health and with your Off-Hand free, the first successful enemy attack deals no damage to you and knocks them back. |
Wolf Tree | |
Power Stroke | Trigger a speed boost on the longship at the cost of stamina. |
Arrow Looter | Eivor has a greater chance of looting arrows from archers. |
Loot Food | Eivor now has a higher chance of looting food from dead bodies. |
Eye of the North | Prevents flinching from hits while aiming with your bow. This effect recharges after a few seconds. |
Unstoppable | While in combat, Eivor's sprint becomes unblockable and knocks enemies back at the cost of stamina. |
Survival Instinct | When at less than a third health, hold the "Heal" command for partial healing (exchange adrenaline for health). |
Wolf Warrior | Your damage increases the lower your health. |
Improved Bow Stun Finisher | Initiating the Bow Stun Finisher will now shoot arrows at all stunned enemies in view. |
Combat Dive | You're immune to all damage while performing a roll. |
Cunning Shot | Performing an Alternate Shot with any kind of Bow will award some Adrenaline. |
Raven Tree | |
Assassin Carry | Automatically carry a body after a successful assassination. |
Assassin Slide | Slide into enemies and knock them off balance while sprinting. |
Raven's Loot | Your raven gathers loot from targets killed with ranged attacks. |
Intense Rage | Ignore hit interruptions while performing your next off-hand parry or special attack. This effect recharges after a few seconds. |
Mounted Archer | Eivor can use their bow ability while mounted. |
Light Fingered | Eivor will now automatically pick up nearby loot with a quick flick of the wrist (without having to press the interact button). |
Thrill of War | Gain adrenaline as long as you remain in conflict. |
Master Counter Roll | Adds a Hidden Blade strike while executing a Counter Roll. |
Riposte | With your Off-Hand free, hitting an enemy immediately after a successful Parry deals Critical damage. |
Single-Hand Versatility | Within seconds of an Ability ending, and with your Off-Hand free, using another Ability from the opposite Ability Wheel will not cost any Adrenaline. |