As you start out in Dying Light: The Beast fighting your way through the hordes of the undead can be tiring work. While it's sometimes better to just run away from a fight, other times you'll need to face the threat head-on. Regardless of whether you're escaping or engaging zombies in a fight, there are some skills in Dying Light: The Beast you should get first to make the early hours of the game that little bit easier.
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The Best Early Game Skills in Dying Light: The Beast
Dying Light: The Beast's skill trees require players to unlock skills in some sort of order. That means that you'll need to unlock those closest to the center before you can unlock those that extend further out in each direction. While this means that you're fairly limited to which skills you should get first, there are a handful that you should prioritize unlocking before others.
- Active Landing (Agility Skill)
- Dash (Agility Skill)
- Enemy Jump (Agility Skill)
- Charged Kick (Power Skill)
- Power Shot (Power Skill)
- Stealth Expert (Survival Skill)
- Flamethrower (Survival Skill)
- Advanced Grenades (Survival Skill)
- Grenade Launcher (Survival Skill)
Active Landing
While it might not sound glamorous, being able to jump from pretty much any height and not take any fall damage as long as you press B/Circle just before hitting the ground can come in really useful when escaping a Chase during the night. It can also save an XP loss (and some embarrassment) if you misjudge a gap when heading to a quest objective and would otherwise plummet to your death.
Dash
A simple but effective skill, Dash allows you to move faster while running by pressing and holding L3. This comes in particualrly useful if you're alerted a Volatile during nighttime and triggered a chase, as it can give you the boost you need to just keep out of harm's reach. Keep in mind, however, that you'll need to carefully manage your Stamina, as it can't be used if you run out.
Enemy Jump
Another great skill for avoiding taking damage, Enemy Jump allows you to jump off enemies while you're dashing by pressing the RB button. This is particularly useful if you find yourself in an open area with no objects or buildings nearby that you can use to dodge enemies in close quarters.
Charged Kick
Unlocking Charged Kick requires you to unlock Dropkick first, but it's this skill that is more useful during the early hours. Being able to deal increased damage and push enemies further away with a kick press and hold of the A/X button comes in particularly useful if you're finding yourself getting overwhelmed.
It also uses less stamina than Dropkick, which admittedly works slightly better for clearing a bit of space if you find yourself getting swarmed. However, with the Dropkick you end up on the ground and it takes time to get back up. With a Charged Kick, you can knock enemies off rooftops, clear a bit of space, and still have the mobility to quickly escape.
Power Shot
Given how limited ammo for guns can be throughout the majority of your time in Dying Light: The Beast unlocking a skill that can help your bow deal bonus damage as well as inflicting piercing is well worth picking up as soon as possible. It does require you to perfectly time your shot, but once you've used the bow for a while, this will become second nature.
Stealth Expert
If you've run out of healing items or don't have a weapon in good condition, sometimes it's better to just sneak past enemies, or perform a stealth takedown by creeping up behind them. With Stealth Expert, enemies will take more time to notice you. It essentially makes the stealth elements of the gameplay more forgiving, which can come in clutch when faced with large crowds of dormant zombies just waiting to be alerted to your presence.
Flamethrower
The Flamethrower is easily one of the best weapons you can get early on in Dying Light: The Beast, and potentially in the entire game. It's an absolute beast for crowd control, setting enemies ablaze and dealing chip damage that'll soon have undead and human enemies alike collapsing to the ground.
Unlocking the skill will unlock the crafting recipe, but after a few hours in the game, chances are you'll have picked up all the resources you need to craft it anyway. Once that's done, as long as you keep your fuel topped up, you'll always be ready to set a crowd of the undead ablaze in a matter of seconds should you start to get overwhelmed.
To craft the Flamethrower, you'll need: 100 Scraps, 10 Weights, 3 Oxidizers, and 1 Fuel.
Advanced Grenades
While this comes along a little later in the Survival skill tree, if you're unlocked the other skills on this list already, chances are you'll almost be ready to unlock it anyway. Advanced Grenades grants you the ability to craft the Flash Grenade, Pipe Bomb, and Gas Grenade. Much like the flamethrower, these are great options for crowd controlling enemies. However, if you're looking for something that's particularly useful against the more intelligent human enemies, flash grenades are going to quickly become your best friend.
Grenade Launcher
What's better than having a flamethrower in your arsenal? Having a flamethrower and a grenade launcher. While the flamethrower is great for taking out enemies that have got a little too close for comfort, the grenade launcher is perfect for taking out crowds of enemies that are a little further away. Plus, it has the added benefit of allowing you to craft UV Grenades, which can keep Volatiles and Virals at bay in a way that no other weapon in the game can.
Dying Light: The Beast
