Which Skills Should You Pick First In Atomfall?

There’s no leveling up in Atomfall. It’s just you and the gear that you scavenge or craft against the countless dangers of the Quarantine Zone. Thanks to the Training Stimulants left behind by the British Atomic Research Division, however, you can learn new skills to even the odds.

Training Stimulants are quite rare, so it’s well worth considering how you want to spend them before committing to a new skill. On top of that, many skills are locked until you find the appropriate manual, so it can pay to stock up on Stims until you can get the skill you want. When in doubt, pick these key skills.

1

Kick Stun Duration

1 Training Stimulant

Cheap as can be and useful for the entire game, Kick Stun Duration is worth learning as soon as you get your hands on your first Training Stim. Kicks are vital for maintaining distance during melee combat, and adding extra room to breathe makes them even better.

You’ll be doing a lot more melee fighting in the early game before needing to rely more on guns to deal with tough enemies in the late game, but don’t discount kicks and melee weapons even in the darkest depths of the Interchange. Careful positioning and a steady rotation of kicks and regular attacks can do the job against lone opponents just as well as a gun, and won’t waste bullets.

2

Disarm Traps

3 Training Stimulants

Unless you’ve been very cautious and observant since setting out into the Zone, you’ve probably learned the hard way to watch out for tripwires. They usually have a delay that you can use to save yourself if you trigger one, but you’ve got to be quick or you’ll find yourself taking a ton of damage.

You’re on your own when it comes to spotting traps, but once you have the Disarm Trap skill you can actually do something about them. Carefully approaching a tripwire and taking it apart even lets you take its components – often including the nearby bomb meant for trespassers – and put them to your own use.

3

Charisma

4 Training Stimulants

The traders of the Quarantine Zone drive a hard bargain, and who can blame them? When they have something you need, though, it can be a tough choice deciding which of your hard-earned items you’re willing to part with.

Charisma helps alleviate that problem slightly by giving you better barter rates with every trader in the game. They won’t go giving away the store, but it does mean you can usually get away with offering one less item on any given deal, or get them to throw in a little something extra.

4

Fortitude

5 Training Stimulants

There’s no real armor to speak of in Atomfall. You can take Painkillers for a damage resistance buff, but they’re hard to come by; other than that, if you take a hit, you just have to deal with it until you’re safe enough to heal.

If you can gather enough Training Stimulants to afford Fortitude, the extra survivability that it grants is well worth the expenditure. There are very few games where additional health isn’t a good bet, after all.

5

Thick Skin

5 Training Stimulants

By the same token, some of the most dangerous attacks in the game are melee strikes. An Outlaw with an ax, or a ravenous Feral, can eat up your health bar very quickly if you make even the slightest mistake while in melee range with them.

Thick Skin reduces the damage you take from melee attacks, so while the best defense is still to avoid getting hit altogether, this skill makes it much less likely that you’ll have to load the last checkpoint you visited when a foe gets too close.

6

Quiet Takedown

2 Training Stimulants

Creeping up behind enemies to eliminate them without a fight is satisfying, but by default it’s anything but stealthy in Atomfall. Often, it’s more trouble than it’s worth as the sounds of the struggle will attract nearby enemies to see what all the commotion is about.

Quiet Takedown makes these stealth attacks much sneakier. They’re still not completely silent, but you’re much less likely to be noticed by your victim’s comrades as long as you keep your head down.

You can get the Stealth Manual, which contains Quiet Takedown, by buying it from Molly in Slatten Dale, or by killing Prudence at Datlow Hall and using her key to unlock the Conservatory out back.

7

Gunsmith

7 Training Stimulants

This is one of the most expensive skills in the game, but once you get the manual from Morris – either by barter or blackmail – it’s essential. Learning Gunsmith lets you combine guns into higher-tier variants.

Once you have Gunsmith, try ambushing lone Protocol soldiers along the shore in Wyndham or raiding their camps in Skethermoor to get top-quality guns, then use the skill to upgrade them to Pristine quality.

8

Firearms Handling

4 Training Stimulants

Skethermoor is one of the game’s most dangerous areas, as the Outlaws and Protocol soldiers alike are well-armed and hostile. When you first visit, visit Boosty along the road from Wyndham to buy the Firearms Manual.

All of the Firearms skills are excellent, but Handling gives you less sway when aiming downsight. Atomfall is the kind of game where it’s very possible to miss a lethal headshot by a hair, so you want to reduce the chance of that happening as much as possible. Firearms Handling also helps to minimize the effect of your heart rate on accuracy, which can be vital in clutch situations.