Best Non-Combat Skills To Level Up In Kingdom Come Deliverance

Summary

• Developing different skills complements various playstyles in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, aiding player goals.
• Herbalism, Reading, and Maintenance offer benefits such as boosted stats, improved maps, and easier combat.
• The Pickpocketing, Hunting, and Houndmaster skills provide unique gameplay mechanics and perks for players to explore.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance prides itself on being a deeply realistic game, with there being plenty of grinding required to develop the best skills that make surviving (and perhaps even thriving) easier. The game offers eleven non-combat skills, some of which are exclusive to DLCs, and all of them have certain uses within the story. Some are more useful than others, however, but every one has its place in the successful development of Henry’s journey to avenge his family.

Ultimately, different skills complement different playstyles and are specific to the goals and ideals of the player. Here’s an overview of the most beneficial and useful skills available to players throughout the game, as well a rundown on the most useful combinations for practical gameplay.

8

Herbalism

Works Well With The Alchemy Skill

• An easy skill to level up
• Offers good perks for Charisma, Strength, and Vitality

On the surface, the Herbalism skill does not seem like the most helpful thing to invest time into, simply allowing players to pick herbs faster and with greater ease. Herbalism actually offers players some great perks, and it is reasonably easy to level up, going hand-in-hand with the Alchemy skill.

At level 5 Herbalism, players can gain a +2 charisma boost, or horses with enough fragrant herbs in their saddlebag become less shy. Higher level benefits include a 15% higher selling price on all herbs, an enhanced Strength stat, and after gathering 100 Nettles, players permanently gain +2 vitality. While these are not the best perks available in the game, they are certainly not to be ignored if players wish to make their lives easier.

7

Reading

Level Up For The Cartographer Perk

• A challenging and unusual skill
• Huge rewards at high levels

Reading is an unusual skill to find in an RPG, and it speaks to the extremely realistic nature of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, wherein the player must work to develop skills gradually. In the Middle Ages, reading was an incredibly rare skill, and a blacksmith’s son like Henry would not have access to that ordinarily. Players can read the book series Primer in order to level up this skill.

The benefits of developing the Reading skill are huge. Low level perks include cheaper books, reduced hunger and tiredness, and speech and charisma bonuses. High level reading can unlock the Cartographer perk, upgrading the map completely and removing all the clouds covering vital locations like caves and hunting spots.

6

Maintenance

Repair Clothes, Armor, And Weapons

• Beneficial for clothes, tools, and weapons
• Offers significant time-saving perks

The maintenance skill is equally useful for combat and non-combat items and situations. It allows Henry to repair items like clothes and weapons using Repair Kits and the Grindstone. Leveling up this skill makes it easier to use the grindstone, and it means Repair Kits last longer. One way players can level up this skill is by reading the Sharp as a Knife book.

Low level Maintenance perks include a +1 charisma boost for wearing laundered clothes and better stamina when running in boots that have been repaired by Henry himself. Higher level perks are mainly combat oriented, providing some neat bonuses like increased armor damage and bleeding from self-sharpened weapons, as well as stronger attack. Overall, Maintenance offers a lot of time-saving perks that make combat and daily life in Kingdom Come: Deliverance easier.

5

Pickpocketing

A Tricky Skill But Worthwhile For Villainous Runs

• A challenging but useful skill to adopt
• High level perks make grinding worthwhile

Understandably, this skill pairs well with Stealth and, alongside lockpicking, makes for a valuable skill if players are looking to go down a rogue path in Kingdom Come, Deliverance. Pickpocketing is harder than lockpicking, though, as targets are usually moving and much nearer. Players should increase this skill to reduce their chances of getting caught, which could result in a fine or some time in jail. Keen pickpockets should aim to reduce their noise, visibility, and conspicuousness if they aim to become experts.

It’s currently unknown exactly how XP is calculated for the Pickpocketing skill, but it’s speculated that the monetary value of stolen items contributes to it. Low level perks are not especially helpful for this skill, simply allowing players to pickpocket characters with similar charisma and increasing the money found on corpses. Level 8 offers some of the best perks, including ‘Friendly Neighbour,’ where anyone who likes Henry won’t call the guard if they catch him, and ‘Hidden Pockets’, which allows players to maintain some of their inventory when arrested. Perks revealed after reaching Level 10 are extremely helpful and should make pickpocketing a quicker and easier experience altogether.

4

Hunting

One Of The Most Useful Skills For Survival

• Perhaps the most helpful skills across all aspects of the game
• Early and late perks all offer great bonuses

Hunting is such a useful skill for a plethora of reasons. It provides food, it provides money, and it ties in nicely with the Stealth skill. The easiest way for players to level up their hunting skill is by killing lots of boar, but there are lots of animals to hunt in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, including Red Deer, Roe Deer, and Hares. Hunting is also significantly easier once players have completed the mission, ‘Cherchez la Femme,’ after which they get permission to hunt in the woods. This means that any spoils won while hunting won’t be considered stolen, risking one’s reputation.

Early level perks increase the types of material players can source from animals, including antlers, tusks, offal, and skin. Later skills actually improve the player’s hunting ability, including stealth, animal damage, and animal skittishness. The final level perk allows players to eat raw meat.

3

Lockpicking

An Easy Way To Get Better Gear

• Significantly easier than Pickpocketing but not without risk
• Perks refer mostly to Lockpicking

To start picking locks, players will need access to at least one pick in their inventory, but more are recommended because, like all tools, these get worn out, especially if one is using the lockpicking skill to its full potential. Most of the perks for the Lockpicking skill refer solely to the Lockpicking skill itself, rather than synergizing with other skills. That said, lockpicking makes it easier to get expensive gear or items you would not find otherwise.

Level 3 Lockpicking perks on offer include more durable picks and an increased chance of broken picks returning to one’s inventory. By Level 6, this increases to easier starting points for picking locks and picking locks gets easier when drunk. Many of the advanced levels follow this pattern.

2

Houndmaster

Training Dogs Has Numerous Benefits

• Can be leveled without the DLC
• Mutt makes a great companion for hunting and combat

Dogs became a significant part of the game after the release of A Woman’s Lot DLC. With this DLC, players are able to own a dog, Mutt, the only companion character available in the whole game. Despite this, the Houndmaster skill can be leveled without the DLC, with players being able to interact with other dogs that appear throughout the game.

Even the low level perks of the Houndmaster skill can come in extremely handy in everyday gameplay. The level 3 perk, Hunt, allows Mutt to help players hunt game and deer. At level 3, owning a dog can also gain players a charisma bonus. Dogs are also helpful in combative and hostile situations; at level 5 they have the option to attack on command, or they can sniff out enemies from a distance. All in all, having a dog and pursuing the Houndmaster skill is one of the most useful things players can do to improve their gameplay experience without having to do too much grinding.

1

Stealth

Useful For Almost Every Other Skill In The Game

• A valuable skill in almost every aspect of the game, especially combat and low-honor runs
• Higher levels make sneaking around a lot easier

Stealth, in essence, shortens the distance at which an enemy will notice the player. Not only is Stealth an extremely beneficial skill in itself, but it synergizes with a number of other non-combat skills, heightening its helpfulness significantly. Stealth goes hand in hand with lockpicking, hunting, and pickpocketing.

For obvious reasons, the stealth skill also helps in a bunch of combat scenarios. The different perks associated with stealth and combat include low level perks like ‘Takedown,’ which involves knocking people down from a crouching position, and ‘Stealth Kill,’ which allows the player to kill using stealth (and a dagger). High level stealth benefits include players being ignored by dogs, lowered armor noise, and a less recognizable face.