If you’re diving into The First Berserker: Khazan, you may have taken a glance at its skill trees and felt a bit overwhelmed. There are a lot of skills to choose from, and it can be difficult to figure out which suits you best. We’re always trying to make things easier for you, though, so we’ve decided to list our picks for the best skills to buy first from each tree, which should make the game’s opening hours slightly more manageable.

Note: Remember that while Common Skills are used across any build, weapon skills are exclusive to that weapon. As such, only invest skill points in the weapon you’re currently using. You can always unlearn them for free at any time and move them to another skill tree if you decide to swap weapons.

Common Skills

• Berserk Spirit – Berserk Spirit is found in the Resources sub-tree. This skill increases how much Spirit you can when attacking. Since you’ll need Spirit to use many of your active abilities, this is an important skill to have as early as possible.
• Brutal Attack: Reap – Brutal Attack: Reap is found in the Brutal Attack sub-tree. Having this skill means you’ll always earn a bit of health when performing a brutal attack from the front. This is especially helpful early in the game when your healing resources are so limited, and it could be just enough to save your life against a tough boss.
• Javelin: Charge – Javelin: Charge is found in the Javelin sub-tree. This skill allows you to charge your javelin throws at the cost of an additional Spirit charge. Since there are a lot of situations where archers are pinging you from afar, this helps you make quick work of them. It can also be used to deal a huge chunk of surprise damage to an enemy you’re trying to pull, giving you a leg up in battle by the time they reach you.

Dual Wield Skills

• Blazing Assault – Blazing Assault is found in the Swift Attack sub-tree. This skill provides you with a fifth strike when using a swift attack combo. It doesn’t sound too exciting on paper, but more strikes mean more damage, and more damage means dead enemies.
• Whirlwind – Whirlwind is found in the Switch Attack sub-tree. With this skill, you can use a heavy attack after a swift attack to send yourself into a whirlwind leap that spins you into an enemy for huge damage. This is one of the best ways to chip away at bosses, and it’s only made better once you reach level 18 and pick up Phantom: Sword Dance, which offers a huge damage buff when using this skill.
• Blowback – Blowback is found in the Guard sub-tree. Having this skill unlocked will cause you to deal damage to enemies when you pull off a successful brink guard. If you’re particularly adept at brink guarding, this can boost your overall damage output by a surprising amount, especially against extremely aggressive enemies.

Greatsword Skills

• Mortal Blow – Mortal Blow is found in the Swift Attack sub-tree. This skill lets you follow up a swift attack with a fast, high-damage heavy attack. Since the greatsword is very slow by default, this can be especially useful during the early hours of the game by letting you land extra damage without leaving yourself open too long.
• Heat of Battle – Heat of Battle is found in the Unbreakable sub-tree. With this skill unlocked, you’ll have more poise and take less damage when you’re hit mid-attack. More poise means you’ll be less likely to be interrupted by an attack, making this a must-have against enemies that you know will be trying to sneak in hits during your combos.
• Armor Breaker – Armor Breaker is found in the Guard sub-tree. This skill allows you to follow up a block or brink guard with two swift slashes. While it won’t suit every person’s playstyle, defense-minded folks can use this to “turtle” behind their blocks, deal quick damage at the end of an enemy’s combo, and then return to a guard stance to repeat the process. At level 18, you can grab the Heart Piercer skill, too, which gives you the option for a nice stab attack after the initial Armor Breaker combo.

Spear Skills

• Moonlight Stance – Moonlight Stance is found in the Swift Attack sub-tree. This skill applies a 15-second buff to your Spear after you complete a swift attack combo, granting you afterimage attacks with all subsequent strikes. This is the bread and butter of the Spear, so your goal should be to always keep it active. The extra damage this buff provides is invaluable, and picking up Moonlight Stance: Vitality at level 10 can increase your stamina recovery rate while under its effects.
• Crescent Strike – Crescent Strike is found in the Shrewd sub-tree. This skill sends you leaping into the air to slam down on a foe. It also deals extra damage to weak points. Nearly all of the active abilities you can use with the Spear are fantastic, so which is truly the best will come down to preference. But in our opinion, this skill is a great early-game choice due to how quickly it activates, which makes it easy to use during tense, rapidly-paced battles.
• Breakdown – Breakdown is found in the Guard sub-tree. With this skill in your repertoire, you’ll deal increased stamina damage to any enemies affected by brink guards. The Spear is already a great tool for eating through an enemy’s stamina, and this just speeds things along even more!