Flintlock: The Six Best Skills To Grab First

One of the most important means of survival in soulslike Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is having plenty of points invested in skills. Not only does each skill provide you with a helpful new active or passive ability, but each also improves your damage with one of the game’s three main attack types, Powder, Magic, and Steel.

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You can invest points in whichever of these skill paths speaks to your tastes and build, but we feel that the following six skills are essential early purchases that will benefit you regardless of your playstyle.

Dodge Attack

Skill Tree: Steel

Grab Dodge Attack first. It’s a no brainer.

Dodge Attack is the Steel tree’s first skill and as you’ll be doing a lot of dodging in Flintlock, it will immediately come in handy. This skill grants you the ability to instigate an immediate follow-up attack after a dodge, meaning you can stay mobile and avoid attacks while continuing to pummel your foes into submission.

Charged Attack

Skill Tree: Steel

After picking up Dodge Attack, you can snag Charged Attack, which lets you hold the attack button down to—you guessed it—charge a powerful attack. The longer you hold the charge, the more powerful the blow will be.

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This devastating attack can demolish many smaller enemies in a single hit and it’s an excellent option against larger foes who have just finished their attack strings.

Momentum

Skill Tree: Steel

After the previous two Steel skills are purchased, you’ll be able to buy Momentum. This passive ability gives you a 10-percent damage boost and improves your swing speed every time you press the attack button at the exact moment your last attack hits the enemy.

It can be tricky to time this just right in the heat of battle, but once you get the rhythm down, you’d be surprised at how quickly 10-percent extra damage per swing adds up—especially against bosses.

Rend Spirit

Skill Tree: Magic

The first skill in the Magic tree is called Rend Spirit. It grants you the ability to hold down the Enki attack button to have him suspend an enemy in the air. By doing so, you’ll not only be able to take a quick breather, but you’ll also build up Enki’s Withering gauge. This will let you unleash powerful attacks that can completely change the course of a tough battle.

Taunt

Skill Tree: Magic

With Rend Spirit purchased, grab Taunt from the Magic skill tree next. With this skill, Enki will taunt your opponents in combat when there’s more than one enemy. This helps to keep the battlefield under control in larger-scale encounters, making it one of the most useful skill purchases in the game.

Restrain

Skill Tree: Magic

After you buy Taunt, you’ll be able to grab Restrain. This will cause Enki to jump on enemies in combat and restrain them for a while. The frequency in which he’ll perform this action is based on how much danger you’re in, but rest assured that when you’re overwhelmed by enemies, he’ll frequently take action and help you out to give you some breathing room.

While there are many great skills in Flintlock, and you should mix and match as you can easily refund skills, these six will provide an excellent foundation for a variety of playstyles.