As you travel across the town of Union in The Evil Within 2, you will encounter numerous zombie-like enemies and other horrific creations that will make your journey difficult. We’ve already went over the best weapon upgrades, but what about Sebastian himself?
In The Evil Within 2, Sebastian is able to be upgraded even further than he was in the original. His ability skill tree is composed of five different branches – Health, Athleticism, Recovery, Stealth, and Combat – that each have several different skills within that you can upgrade to your liking.
Each branch has a few different paths that branch off even further, usually to abilities that are more unique and unexpected. As such, we’ve played through the entire game, tried out several upgrades and skills, and now have the definitive best ability upgrades that you should pick while playing The Evil Within 2.
Also: The Evil Within 2 Best Weapon Upgrades
The Evil Within 2 – Best Skill and Ability Upgrades
Not every branch is created equal, so don’t feel like you have to evenly distribute your green gel in each of the five categories. If you aren’t a stealthy person, that’s fine. Ignore that branch and apply your precious green gel to something more to your liking.
You actually upgrade your stats by going to Sebastian’s safe house. In there, you will want to go to the end of the hallway and sit in the suspicious chair to teleport to meet a familiar face who will help you. Here are the best skill and ability upgrades in The Evil Within 2 that you should consider:
Toughness: This is an upgrade that is fairly obvious, but its usefulness should not be underestimated. As a survival horror game, health should be one of your primary concerns. At the beginning, health can particularly be an issue due to limited weapons and skills.
There are four upgrades to this one, and we recommend at least grabbing the first two Toughness to increase your overall health. This is mostly for players having a hard time and is best done first before any other upgrades to give the biggest advantage to you in combat.
Defiance: One of the skills that are deep in the Health branch, Defiance is a surprisingly useful ability. It and its upgraded version allows you to survive attacks that would normally kill you. This is handy for players that are having a hard time and can save you in a tricky situation, like a boss fight. Though the second Defiance is helpful, you’re fine with just the first Defiance.
Second Chance: This ability is one that many might overlook and ignore. It is deep within the Recovery branch for Sebastian, but is extremely useful against bosses. Upon taking fatal damage, Sebastian will automatically use a Syringe to recover. This makes it so you don’t have to worry about running away and using precious time and stamina to heal yourself during intense fights.
Bottle Break: Throughout The Evil Within 2, you will collect seemingly endless amounts of bottles as well as be grabbed by enemies. This skill puts the two together, sacrificing the bottle to immediately break free from their grasp. This quick recovery will save you time to get ready to fight back and some health in the process.
Brawler: At the beginning of The Evil Within 2, you will be forced to resort to using your trusty knife or a temporary fire axe a lot of the time. This skill upgrades your melee damage up to 150% (with a second upgrade to 200%). When you run out of ammo, it can take several swings of your knife to take out a single enemy and this will allow you to do that much easier and faster.
Synaptic Focus: Unfortunately, this skill not only costs the most on this list but in the entire game. It costs a whopping 75,000 green gel to use, while also being locked deep in the Combat branch. It is worth it for those nearing the end of the game, though. Synaptic Focus allows you to at a press of a button slow down time while aiming your gun. It uses up your stamina to do so, but it is invaluable in hitting an enemy’s head or weak spot without a cinch.
