A Plague Tale Requiem Skill System [Explained]

A Plague Tale Requiem’s brand new skill system for Amicia is a fantastic innovation to the game that encourages players to try out different playstyles during each combat encounter or instance. You cannot acquire these skills by yourself and instead have to progressively unlock them by completing encounters in either stealth, action, or by strategically using your tools to take down foes and via other means. The skills are divided into three main paths: Prudence, Aggressive, and Opportunism.

The Skill Types

As you can see from our image above, these are the three main skill trees as mentioned previously, so without further delay, let’s discuss each one of them in detail and along with the skills that you will unlock:

Prudence

If you have what it takes to sneak past your foes without alerting them, as shown in the image above, then look no further than with Prudence which is the pure stealth-focused skill path in the game. You will gain experience for the tree if you successfully manage to complete encounters without altering enemies, and we suggest that because the course has some insanely helpful skills, even for players who prefer the guns-blazing route.

While the combat may have received tweaks here and there, the stealth mechanics remain mostly the same, with some additional elements, such as Amicia being able to go prone under certain structures in the environment or level. Combining that with the fact that you are now able to carry more breakable jars allows you to carefully plan out your exit strategy if you want to avoid combat or any sort of direct conflict as much as possible.

• The first tier of the skill path will allow you to unlock Light Footstep, which will greatly decrease the sound that Amicia makes while moving; it will also decrease the rate at which enemies can detect you.
• At the second threshold, you will gain access to Nimbleness which will increase the movement speed of Amicia while she is crouched, excellent for encounters towards the mid-game scenarios.
• At the third tier, you will unlock Throwing Stance, which is essential if you want to use your dispensary tools at longer distances, especially against the sniper soldiers who patrol from the high ground.
• Lastly, at the fourth and final tier of Prudence, you will unlock Armor Piercer, which will grant Amicia the ability to stab armored foes from the back, allowing for less room for error in case any armored enemies decide to block your way.

Aggressive

If you’re someone who disliked having to restart the entire encounter during the first game because your cover was blown, then, by all means, go full head-on with the Aggressive skill path in the game, as shown in the image above. It has some of the Best skills in A Plague Tale Requiem, and most players will probably level it up along with Opportunism since both go hand-in-hand regarding their overall progression.

Direct combat has been emphasized much more in A Plague Tale Requiem as one of the most significant changes now allows Amicia to stand toe-to-toe against most enemies in close range. She will be able to tank a hit or two unless you can counter or, better yet, stab your enemy if you have a knife on hand. It is one of the most welcome changes, hence why you are not restricted to just stealth this time around, as was the case in the first title.

• First things first, the starting skill called the Grappler will allow Amicia to push her enemies straight into firepits or rat hordes which are greatly beneficial if an enemy is right in your way and just happens to be in front of some trap like we mentioned.
• The second skill here, Recovery, will grant Amicia a faster healing time when she takes blows from an enemy who just so happens to be our top recommendation if you plan on going through this action-oriented play style.
• The third skill, Vital Points, is yet another excellent skill that will allow you to increase the speed of stealth takedowns, which is incredibly useful if you are trying to avoid conflict in open-ended areas.
• Finally, the Quick Fingers skill is pretty self-explanatory but super potent during late-game battles, as it will grant you a faster weapon handling speed for Amicia. She can reload her sling at a much quicker pace than before, making her feel like an artillery barrage against constantly swarming enemies.

Opportunism

As shown in the image above, Opportunism is the skill tree that features the jack-of-all-trades abilities for Amicia as she can increase her efficiency with the alchemy tools and other gadgetry in her arsenal. If you are looking to consistently pull off successful countermeasures against your enemy and expose them to environmental hazards and play every encounter smart, then this skill tree will instantly entice you to invest in it.

It is worth keeping in mind that it is one of the three types of skill trees which will gradually increase the experience regardless of any major changes in your play style. It is because you will be taking down quite a few of the enemies in each encounter via your alchemy gear, such as shooting ‘Saltpeter’ to blow off torches and let the rats do the dirty work or use Extinguish in conjunction with pots to blindside multiple enemies.

• The first skill, called Alchemy Knowledge, is pretty simple as it will allow you to craft the alchemical items much faster, meaning you can quickly prepare them if you are running low on them during combat.
• The second tier of the Opportunism skill tree will award you with Nothing Lost, which is a skill that will grant you a chance to save a resource when crafting the alchemical tools, which is useful if you’re running low on crafting components.
• The third skill, called Material Division, is pretty useful towards the late-game if you’re trying to min-max and acquire fear components used in workbench tool upgrades. It essentially allows you to receive these upgrade materials when crafting alchemical ammo, which sounds ridiculously helpful to get everything fully upgraded.
• Lastly, the final skill in the tree is called Pure Product, and it allows you to craft additional alchemical ammo, so you will essentially be getting the two-for-one deal with the skill in your arsenal. If you are trying to conserve the ammo or want to double down on it, then it will be pretty useful to grab this toward the end game.

The Best Skills In A Plague Tale Requiem

Following are our recommended skills that you should grab as soon as possible. It is preferred that in order to level up Prudence, you will need to avoid direct conflicts with enemies and not alert them of your presence. As stated previously, Aggressive and Opportunism will eventually be upgraded using common play styles.

Quick Fingers

As shown in the image above, Quick Fingers will prove to be incredibly useful in late-game battles because the game will literally swarm you with multiple foes. So if you end up investing in the Aggressive route as much as possible, then you will surely unlock that final skill here. The skill is fantastic for picking off enemies from larger distances, and since you will be rapidly reloading, it will be easy to take down multiple non-armored targets.

Furthermore, it will also improve the swap time between each of the primary weapons that Amicia uses, so you will notice a considerably smoother experience when switching between the crossbow and the traditional sling.

Pure Product

As shown in the image above, Pure Product is the final skill in the Opportunism tree that will become essential if you’re someone who relies on alchemical tools a lot and uses them quite often during each combat encounter of the game from start to end.

The skill will allow you to craft double the amount of ammo of the tool for the price of one. It is one of the significant upgrades to your skill system, which will become quite helpful during the final encounters of A Plague Tale Requiem.

Light Footsteps

Light footsteps are one of the starting skills located in the Prudence tree, and it is easily our favorite skill that helped us out the most during the beginning chapters of the game. Most of the encounters toward the mid-game will heavily feature stealth so grabbing this skill is pretty much a no-brainer to get in the game. The skill is easily the best to get because it will work incredibly well with almost any type of play style.

Nimbleness

As you can see from the image above, Nimbleness will perfect your stealth manoeuvrability in the game because you will already have Light Footsteps in your arsenal prior to obtaining it. Moving faster while crouching will allow you to have a major advantage over the enemy and their positions. Moving from cover to cover while in each encounter will drastically increase your chances of not alerting the enemies.

Vital Points

The Vital Points is the third skill tier in the Aggressive tree, and it will easily be one of the quintessential upgrades for Amicia’s action-based play style as it will speed up her takedowns. The standard animation of the takedown takes a few seconds to execute, and it will more than likely cause you to be detected by nearby enemies. So investing in this skill as soon as possible is key to quickly completing encounters without any risk or conflict.

Lastly, it will also reduce the sound at which you take down the enemies, reassuring the fact that it will be another skill that will go hand-in-hand with the Prudence or stealth playstyle too.

This wraps up our guide on the Skill system in A Plague Tale Requiem and how it works, as well as a brief list of our personal favorite skills from each category. Although the question remains, are you enjoying the game so far? How does it compare for you to the original? Let us know all about your experience with it in the comments section below!

Next:

• Best Settings For A Plague Tale Requiem
• Secret Bracer Armor
• All Flower Locations