5 BEST Last Of Us Part 1 Skills

Our Last of Us Part 1 Best Skills guide breaks down five useful skills of Joel you should not sleep on and upgrade to dominate combat.

The Last of Us gives players the opportunity to improve Joel’s skills. Supplement items are found in The Last of Us Part 1, and they make completing challenges considerably less difficult. Supplements provide you the chance to improve Joel’s Skills, which in turn dramatically boosts your capacity to survive.

Key Takeaways
  • The Maximum Health skill is essential for survival, allowing you to withstand more damage and increase your chances of survival in any situation. It can be raised a total of two times and is a strong investment for the skill tree.
  • The Shiv Master skill allows players to defend against Clickers and escape their grasp , increasing survival chances. It is recommended for new players to acquire and upgrade this skill. This skill may be crucial in encounters with Clickers and is valuable for both new and returning players.
  • Listen Mode Distance is a key ability in “The Last of Us Part 1” for stealth and tracking foes at a greater distance, particularly against Clickers, on Survivor and Grounded difficulties.
  • The Weapon Sway skill improves aim and is highly recommended in The Last of Us Part 1. Unlocking it early will make targeting weapons easier and save resources.
  • The Crafting Speed skill is essential for quickly producing items and can be upgraded three times. It is recommended for its ability to quickly craft Molotovs and explosive devices. Always maintain maximum levels of necessary materials and never abandon non-essential resources.
  • To unlock and upgrade skills in The Last of Us Part 1, you must find supplements and play through the game in New Game Plus mode. To survive, you must scavenge for resources and search each location thoroughly for helpful items.

Our The Last of Us Part 1 best skills guide will take you through the most beneficial Skills for you to choose initially in order to make you as prepared as possible for Joel & Ellie’s trip that lies ahead. Here’s a quick overview:

RankSkillsCost Per levelDescription
1Maximum HealthLevel 1: 50
Level 2: 100
Maximize the overall health and heals you completely
2Shiv MasterLevel 1: 75
Level 2: 100
A shivs with complete durability can use to defend yourself
against the enemies.
Also grant joel to use Shiv when having any difficulty with the clicker
3Listen Mode DistanceLevel 1: 20
Level 2: 30
Level 3: 50
The Listen Mode radius increases, but it is unavailable two difficulties;
Surrounded and Grounded
4The Weapon Sway Level 1: 50
Level 2: 100
The Weapon sway is reduced, which directly benefits you
5Crafting SpeedLevel 1: 25
Level 2: 30
Level 3: 50
The crafting time has been reduced to half

1) Maximum Health

In The Last of Us Part 1, there is not a single scenario in which it would not be beneficial to have more health. Even in the settings that seem to be the most peaceful, you are aware that the danger posed by infected individuals might be hiding everywhere.

If you want Joel and Ellie to have a better chance of surviving, you should try to maintain as much health as you can, and that is why we recommended Maximum Health as the first Last of Us Part 1 Best Skills to unlock.

If you purchase the Maximum Health skill improvement, you will be able to withstand a greater amount of damage before succumbing to it. This applies to damage taken from gunshots, the infected, or anything else that is designed to put Joel on the ground.

In addition to this, the Maximum Health stat may be raised a total of two times. Despite the fact that acquiring both improvements isn’t technically required, doing so is strongly encouraged. Even if you decide that getting one improvement is all you need, the additional health you get from it will almost certainly be enough to keep you alive.

2) Shiv Master

Shiv Master best Last of Us part 1 skill

If you give them less consideration than the threat they possess, the Clickers will prove to be a powerful threat. Not only will they be able to surprise you amid the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us Part 1, but their mutation gives them the ability to quickly dominate you physically if they get a hold of you.

When the Clicker has you in its grasp for a fatal bite, using the Shiv Master will enable you to get away from its jaws and escape. A fantastic option for those just starting out.

Because of this skill, Joel and Ellie are able to defend themselves when they are seized by a clicker by using the Shiv blade. It may save you from dying in a number of different ways. If at all feasible, you should try to acquire at least the first level of the ability before you begin to meet more clickers.

In the Suburbs level, you will see the vast majority of clickers for the first first time. Unlocking the second level of the ability to utilize fewer blades is likewise something that is recommended to do.

The ability to wield a Shiv Master may be the difference between being torn apart by a Clicker and surviving to fight another day. What further motivation could you possibly need to acquire Shiv Master, the best skill in The Last of Us Part 1?

3) Listen Mode Distance

Listen Mode best Last of Us part 1 skill

Listen Mode Distance is the third ability that we suggest putting extra emphasis on. It is very necessary to have the ability to monitor your foes as you sneak about a level in order to avoid being overpowered and eliminate individuals one by one.

Because of this, you will be able to hear more and keep better track of everyone, enabling you to make more efficient use of the resources at your disposal.

You won’t be able to go crazy killing foes for a great amount of your time in The Last of Us Part 1, so prepare yourself. On their journey across an overgrown America, Joel and Ellie are nearly always surrounded and outmatched by the individuals they encounter.

Listen Mode is an extremely useful skill that allows you to monitor the movements of the adversary and plan assaults in response to those movements. By increasing the distance of the listen mode, you will be able to detect more adversaries, which will, in turn, reduce the likelihood that you will make a mistake. It is important to keep in mind that players on the Survivor and Grounded difficulties do not have access to this skill.

Because of this, being aware of the whereabouts of potential adversaries will provide you with an advantage in battle or perhaps in avoiding the adversary entirely. The ability is very helpful when used against the infected, and in particular the Clicker, because of the fact that it will continuously make clicking sounds.

4) Weapon Sway

Weapon Sway best Last of Us part 1 skills

The Weapon Sway skill is highly recommended to be unlocked as it is the fourth-best skill in The Last of Us Part 1. One of the most unexpected characteristics of the game is called “Weapon Sway,” and the ability to control it is critical to maintaining your aim and making sure your rounds hit their mark.

You won’t be able to avoid the influence of weapon sway after maxing out the skill tree, but it will improve your ability to line up shots with your handgun or arrows from a longer range. The added advantage makes it as the Last of Us Part 1 Best Skill players should not sleep on.

This talent, as the name indicates, lessens the amount of weapon sway that occurs while aiming, making it simpler for you to make adjustments to your aim. If you are unsure about your aim, particularly from a distance, having the ability may be of assistance to you.

You may choose Crafting Speed instead of this option if you have experience with handling firearms and positioning the reticle correctly.

5) Crafting Speed

Crafting Speed best Last of Us part 1 skills

The Crafting Speed is the fifth best skill in The Last of Us Part 1 that we recommend that you should not sleep on. It may appear as an underwhelming skill when you read the description for the first time, but trust us and max it out. 

Using these enhancements, you will be able to produce items at a quicker rate. It is not of much value, although it might be handy if you want to construct healing kits or explosives on the go while you are engaged in battle. You have three opportunities to enhance it, each of which costs 25, 30, and 50 points correspondingly.

The skill will help you craft Molotov on the fly and construct explosive devices such as Nail bombs within seconds. You need this kind of speed when you run out of these helpful craftable resources, and two clickers along with a bunch of infected rush you. 

Otherwise, the slow or basic crafting speed is super slow, and you will be grabbed by a clicker in such a challenging situation. That is why we recommend investing in your important supplements to upgrade the crafting speed skill in The Last of Us Part 1.

After that, open up the crafting menu whenever you have enough of the necessary components, such as a healing kit or a Molotov cocktail, in order to construct a useful item like one of those two things.

How To Upgrade Character Skills In The Last Of Us Part 1?

Your character will level up and grow more powerful as you play through The Last of Us Part 1, just like they do in the vast majority of role-playing video games. You will, however, need supplements in order to level up your existing skills.

To unlock skills, you will need to find supplements. Along with a variety of other forms of equipment, they may be discovered in the environment of the game. With each new supplement you get, you have the ability to assign either 5 or 10 points.

Because you won’t locate enough supplements to buy them all within a single go-through of the game, you won’t be able to buy all of Joel’s skills. You will need to begin the game in the New Game Plus mode so that all previously earned improvements and unlocked skills will be carried over.

You will need a specific number of these supplements in order to upgrade any skill, but once you have met the prerequisites, you are free to perform the upgrade in any location you choose. Unlike weapon upgrades, which require a workbench, skill upgrades are performed independently of any physical structure.

Utilizing the various supplements that you find in the post-apocalyptic world can improve a wide range of Joel’s skills, such as the Listening Mode Range, Weapon Sway, Healing Speed, and even more. You will most likely come across a lot of these supplements in the form of plants and pills strewn about the landscape.

Because you won’t discover enough supplements in one playthrough to level up every skill, you need to be careful not to throw them away on things that won’t actually make a difference in the long run. The vast majority of gamers will probably gain the most from putting their supplements into Maximum Health and Weapon Sway.

If you are able to collect enough supplements to proceed to improve your skills as the game progresses and the difficulty level rises, you should consider investing a point or two into your Healing Speed ability so that you can recover your health more quickly in the event that you are incapacitated.

That is all that we had to mention about Last of Us Part 1 Best Skills in our guide. Let us know if you have other favorite skills than the ones we listed.

Also read:

Was this article helpful?

Thanks! Do share your feedback with us. ⚡

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. ✍

Moiz Banoori.


Having worked at various Video Game sites, coupled with 7 years of Content Writing Experience. I presently monitor teams, create strategies, and publish qualified pieces through my aptitude.

Related Articles