In Shadow Warrior 2 you have free reign to build your character. Each time you level up you will earn 1 Skill Point that can be spent on a wide variety of skill upgrades that have a potentially significant impact on your character's effectiveness.
Today, we're going to go over what each of these skills are, and how well they stack up against one another.
Life
Life Mastery
Description: Increases the amount of maximum Hit Points.
Final Rank: Hit Points +50 (5 points)
Rating: 2/5
Explanation: Life Mastery can provide a useful buffer of health, especially on higher difficulties. However, avoiding damage and replenishing it is a much more reliable means of survivability. You could also argue that increasing your damage will allow you to kill quicker and avoid needing to have more health.
Call for Medic [RECOMMENDED]
Description: Increases drop chance of Medkits from fallen enemies.
Final Rank: Medkit drop chance +40% (3 points)
Rating: 4/5
Explanation: Medkits are a valuable way to keep yourself alive, especially when your Chi is low. Call for Medic will greatly increase your survivability by providing many more Medkits over time. This skill tends to be more effective in single-player where you can't rely on a teammate to draw attention away from you.
Warrior
Sting [RECOMMENDED]
Description: Powerful stabbing attack, best for going mano a mano.
Final Rank: Sting damage +30%. Sting range +50% (5 points)
Rating: 4/5
Explanation: This skill greatly increases the effectiveness of the right-click ability when using melee weapons. Sting is much more reliable than Vortex in most situations, making this the premier skill for players who enjoy using melee often.
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Vortex
Description: 360 degree spin technique, perfect for damaging multiple enemies in a single move.
Final Rank: Vortex damage +50%. Vortex range +50% (5 points)
Rating: 2/5
Explanation: Vortex is useful for clearing groups of weaker mobs, but leaves you very vulnerable to enemy attack due to its long animation. It is advisable that you use and invest in Sting instead.
Powers
Healing Flame [RECOMMENDED]
Description: Soothing flame of Chi energy, restoring every damaged cell of one's body.
Final Rank: Heal amount +25%. Healing wave cast time -25% (4 points)
Rating: 5/5
Explanation: Healing Flame is your main way of staying alive under pressure. This skill will greatly increase its effectiveness, making you harder to kill.
Vanish
Description: Ancient ninja technique, allowing for hiding one's presence.
Final Rank: Vanish cast cost -25%. Vanish duration +25%. Vanish melee damage bonus +50% (4 points)
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: Sneak attacks using Vanish aren't particularly effective due to the sheer number of enemies you face on a regular basis. This skill is very fun to use, but is outperformed by most other options.
Chi-Blast
Description: Transforms Chi into a powerful blast of energy.
Final Rank: Chi-Blast range +25%, Chi-Blast now affects large enemies. Chi-Blast now affects all enemies around you (4 points).
Rating: 2/5
Explanation: Similar to Vortex, Chi-Blast is great for clearing groups of smaller enemies. It doesn't work on Superior or Elite enemies, which greatly impacts its effectiveness. It's a fun ability to use, but on higher difficulties you'll want to save your Chi for Healing Flame.
Grip of Darkness [RECOMMENDED]
Description: Summons demonic spikes from the depths of Shadow Realm.
Final Rank: Grip of Darkness now affects all enemies around you. Grip of Darkness duration +40%. Grip of Darkness now affects large enemies (4 points).
Rating: 4/5
Explanation: Grip of Darkness is the best power next to Healing Flame. It can be used to crowd control enemies when pressured, although it doesn't work on Superior or Elite enemies. It is great for allowing yourself to create distance from enemies, as well as setting up huge offensive combos.
Chi Mastery
Description: Increases the amount of maximum Chi.
Final Rank: Chi capacity +50 (5 points).
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: Chi Mastery isn't bad, but is significantly outperformed by Serene Mind. Skip this skill.
Serene Mind [RECOMMENDED]
Description: Improves chi regeneration.
Final Rank: Slowly regenerate up to a max Chi of 100%. Regnerate +10 Chi per second. (5 points).
Rating: 4/5
Explanation: Serene Mind will allow you to cast many more Powers over time. Once you have Healing Flame and Grip of Darkness upgraded, this skill becomes highly potent. Be sure to place a point or two into this skill early on to gain some form of Chi regeneration.
Resource
Ammo Collector
Description: Increases the amount of ammo found.
Final Rank: Ammo found +100% (5 points).
Rating: 2/5
Explanation: Running out of ammo is a problem that happens often, which would make you think that this skill is great. However, the melee weapons don't require any ammo, so you can use them to keep yourself going under dire circumstances. So, this is a decent talent, but overshadowed by most other options.
Karma Harvester
Description: Increases the amount of gained Karma.
Final Rank: Karma gained +15% (3 points).
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: Karma is an important element of the game. The problem with this skill is it just doesn't net you enough gains to validate spending three skill points. Doing more damage or having more effective Powers will go much farther for you.
Bullets Pouch
Description: Increases the maximum amount of carried bullets.
Final Rank: Bullets light max +50%, bullets medium max +50% (4 points).
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: Ammo Collector is a better skill, and even then it's not very good. This skill is next to useless.
Projectiles Pouch
Description: Increases the maximum amount of carried Projectiles.
Final Rank: Projectiles max +50% (4 points).
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: This might be handy for players who really want to use the bow often, but it's simply not a recommendable skill.
Greedy Collector
Description: Increases auto-collect radius for money and consumables dropped from enemies.
Final Rank: Auto-collect radius +5m (3 points).
Rating: 1/5
Explanation: This is more of a quality of life skill that can allow you to move through levels quicker and without as much downtime. It won't pick up everything, which makes it low value.
