AC Valhalla Skills & Skill Tree

Skills are passive and active abilities in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Unlike the previous games, where you had a clear and clean skill tree, this time there’s a messy web which only reveals itself slowly as you unlock more and more of them. If you have trouble wrapping your head around the concepts, this guide will show you all AC Valhalla skills, how to get skill points, how to reset skills and more.

How skills work in AC Valhalla?

When you start the game, you’ll see three skill groups, each belonging to a different tree – Wolf, Bear and Raven. One favors stealth, one pure melee combat and one ranged attacks. When you unlock enough nodes around a skill, the game will reveal another one, one that’s connected to it.

As you invest points into each tree, more and more skills will become visible, showing you what’s going to be available down the line. Only the one with the big icons are actual skills; the small ones are stat boosts – a healt upgrade here, an attack increase there.

How to get skill points?

You can get skill points by earning experience, which is awarded for pretty much anything you do, like completing quests, winning fights, discovering synchronization points and exploring the map. Each cairn memory puzzle will give you one skill point, and killing a jormsviking or daughter of Lerion will give you two.

How to reset skills & respec in AC Valhalla?

You can reset all your skill by holding down square (X on Xbox) while in the skills menu, if you want to completely respec. If you’re not happy with just some of the choices you’ve made, you can reset individual skills by hovering over them and pressing the appropriate button.

All skills in AC Valhalla – Full Skill Tree Map

• Wolf tree (blue) – Archery and ranged attacks:
  1. Stealth Recon – Automatically highlight enemies when crouched and undetected.
  2. Sprint Attack – Press R1 while sprinting to do a sprint attack.
  3. Last Chance Healing – When your health reaches a critical state in conflict, everything around you will appear to move slower, giving you time to heal or flee.
  4. Emergency Aim – Holding L2 will snap your aim to an enemy as they detect you, giving you an opportunity to kill them and remain undetected.
  5. Bow to Melee Link – Alternating between bow and melee attacks deals extra damage for a short time.
  6. Battleground Bolt – Press Triangle to pick up the nearest discarded weapon, and automatically throw it at an enemy in sight.
  7. Grit – Regain the “red portion” of your health bar when landing successful melee hits on enemies.
  8. Hunter Bow Combo – Release your arrow as you finish drawing it to make the next one draw faster.
  9. Stealth Adrenaline – While in stealth, gain Adrenaline by looting a chest or pick-pocketing in a restricted area.
  10. Charged Shot – Fire two fully charged arrows by pressing R1 with the Hunter Bow. This attack cannot be canceled.
  11. Arrow Reinforcement – With this skill, loosed arrows will never break and may be collected from fallen enemies.
  12. Bow Stun Finisher – Stunned enemy’s head to trigger a Bow Stun Finisher.
• Bear tree (red) – Melee and heavy attacks:
  1. Stomp – When an enemy falls to the ground, press r3 to stomp on their face.
  2. Perfect Attack – Press r1 again during a weapon swing to do more damage on the next hit.
  3. Warrior Takedown – unaware enemy with your melee weapon. It will alert all enemies around you but will fill your Adrenaline for every one of them.
  4. Parry Damage – Successful parries also deal damage to the attacker.
  5. Adrenaline Fiend – When 1 or more Adrenaline Slots are filled, you gain a damage boost and attack speed boost. This effect augments with each slot filled.
  6. Sprint Bash – Unlocks the ability to bash through breakable objects and push NPCs to the ground while sprinting.
  7. Arrow Volley – Discharge all loaded arrows at once by holding and releasing r1 with a Light Bow. Each volley of arrows has a stamina cost.
  8. Dual Swap – When Dual-Wielding, hold R2 + R3 to swap weapon hands.
  9. Light Bow Combo – Consecutive shots with a Light Bow deals extra damage.
  10. Battlefied Cremation – Enemies who preish from one of your fire attacks will continue to burn, dealing fire damage to enemies nearby.
  11. Berserker’s Mettle – Fight with reckless abandon. A partially filled Adrenaline Slot will not be affected by an enemy’s first strike.
  12. Terror – After a Stun Finisher, weak enemies nearby may cower in fear.
  13. Heavy Dual Wield – You can dual wield heavy weapons. This will alter the stats and handling of each weapon.
• Wolf tree (yellow) – Stealth and assassinations:
  1. Backstab – Landing a blow directly on an enemy’s back will inflict increased defense damage and cause them to stagger.
  2. Advanced Assassination – Unlocks the ability to assassinate high-level targets with a timing-based attack.
  3. Breakfall – Eivor automatically performs a roll when landing from a dangerous height, reducing the amount of damage taken.
  4. Missile Reversal – Send it right back at ’em. Catch and throw back virtually any projectile to its sender by pressing L1 just before it hits you.
  5. Brush With Death – Dodging just before an attack lands grants you heightened senses, making others around you appear to move slower for a time.
  6. Guided Arrow – Your mastery with the Predator Bow allows you to perform unbelievable feats of accuracy. Press R1 to adjust the arrow’s trajectory as it flies.
  7. Chain Assassination – After performing a successful assassination, throw an axe at a second NPC standing in close proximity.
  8. Auto-Loot – Loot an enemy automatically after a melee kill or a stealth takedown.
  9. Predator Bow Combo – Consecutive headshots with a Predator Bow deal extra damage.
  10. Explosive Corpse – Booby-trap a dead body to damage anyone who investigates it. Hold R3 near a dead body to load it with explosive powder.
  11. Assassin’s Cantrip – Following a successful parry, quickly press Triangle to throw a smoke bomb at your feet and disappear.
  12. Counter Roll – Dodge towards an enemy’s Rune Attack just before it lands to vault directly behind him.
  13. Miasma – Enemies who die from one of your poison attacks will release a toxic cloud around them, infecting those who enter.

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