Best skills in Horizon Forbidden West

There are a lot of skills in Horizon Forbidden West. It can be hard to know where to spend those precious skill points. There are six different skill trees, each specializing in a different part of Aloy's abilities and weapons. Here are the best skills for each tree.

Warrior

The Warrior tree specializes in close-quarters combat by buffing Aloy's melee damage and effectiveness and including weapon techniques for the Warrior Bows.

• Resonator Blast - (Active Skill, 1 Skill Point) After building up energy with melee attacks, press R2 to energize the enemy. Then, pull out your bow and shoot the target to deal a huge blast of damage.
• Aerial Slash/Jump Off - (Active Skill, 1 Skill Point). Aerial Slash: Quickly damage an enemy and leap into the air (R1, R2). Jump Off: Jump off an enemy to quickly reposition yourself and create distance (R1, hold R2).
• Energy Surge - (Active Skill, 3 Skill Points). Energize your spear quickly with a powerful final strike.

Trapper

The Trapper tree specializes in food and your trap effectiveness. This includes Weapon techniques for Tripcasters and Ropecasters.

• Trap Limit - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Place more traps and tripwires on the field at the same time.
• Quick Trapper - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Place traps faster on the field.
• Quick Wire - (Tripcaster Weapon Technique, 2 Skill Points). Quickly launch a Tripwire of your currently selected type with a preset length. Wire explodes or deactivates after a limited time.

Related: What is a Valor Surge in Horizon Forbidden West?

Hunter

The Hunter tree specializes in ranged combat by buffing Aloy's ranged damage and effectiveness while also including weapon techniques for the Hunter Bows and Boltblasters.

• Ammo Expert - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Craft more ammunition from the same amount of resources.
• Weapon Stamina+ - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Increase your Weapon Stamina limit.
• Knockdown Shot - (Hunter Bow Weapon Technique, 3 Skill Points). Fire a special arrow that does no damage but can stagger or knock down machines, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up strikes.

Survivor

The Survivor tree specializes in keeping Aloy alive but increases your healing effectiveness and defenses while also including weapon techniques for the Blastslings and Shredder Gauntlets.

• Potent Medicine - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Medicinal Berries provide more healing and heal you faster.
• Burst Dodge - (Blastsling Weapon Technique, 2 Skill Points). Lob a burst of bombs in front of you while automatically dodging backwards.
• Plant Forager - (Active, 1 Skill Point). Gather more resources from plants.

Infiltrator

The Infiltrator tree specializes in stealth effectiveness and increasing stealth damage. This includes weapon techniques for Sharpshot Bows.

• Silent Strike+ - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Silent Strike deals more damage.
• Low Profile - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Reduce your visibility to enemies.
• Quiet Movement - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Move more quietly, reducing the chance of detection by enemies.
• Focused Shot - (Sharpshot Bow Weapon Technique, 3 Skill Points). Increase your weapon's zoom while aiming and fire a powerful shot that deals extra damage.

Machine Master

The Machine Master tree focuses on your effectiveness with overridden machines. This includes Weapon Techniques for Spike Throwers.

• Lasting Override - (Passive, 1 Skill Point). Increase the amount of time a machine remains overridden.
• Spike Trap - (Spike Thrower Weapon Technique, 2 Skill Points). Launch a spike that becomes a trap on impact with the environment. Arms after a short delay.
• Override Subroutines - (Active, 3 Skill Points). Set a machine to either aggressive or defensive behavior while overriding.

For more on Horizon Forbidden West guides, check out How to cook food in Horizon Forbidden West, and is it worth it? and All Valor Surges in Horizon Forbidden West