In Beast of Reincarnation, you unlock skills by spending skill points, but it takes a while until you have enough to pay the cost for most passive and active abilities in Emma and Koo's skill trees.
If you want to explore the game's early areas without too much trouble, here are the best skills to unlock early in Beast of Reincarnation for both Emma and Koo.
Beast of Reincarnation's skill tree, explained
The character progression system in Beast of Reincarnation is based on increasing Emma and Koo's attributes to unlock sections of their skill trees, and then spending skill points to unlock skill nodes in the different branches.
When you kill enemies, you earn experience points. Once the experience bar is filled, both Emma and Koo receive one attribute point each. These can be allocated to one of three attributes: strength, vitality, and florescence. Each of these governs one of the skill tree's branches. For example, one part of Emma's skill tree is the "Hair" branch. By leveling it up, you can access skills that involve hitting enemies with plants. You can only level up the "Hair" branch by spending attribute points to increase Emma's vitality.
Skill points work differently from attribute points: you only get them from killing enemies, and the amount differs depending on the type of enemy. Emma and Koo share the same pool of skill points, and you can spend them on the nodes in the skill tree as long as you have unlocked the corresponding branch tier. If you haven't met the attribute prerequisites and leveled up the branch, you can't unlock their skill nodes, even if you have enough skill points to do so.
Best early skills in Beast of Reincarnation
We put together this list with the goal of helping you navigate the quite overwhelming skill trees featured in the game. Once you have unlocked the respec system, we suggest that you start experimenting with other skills as well.
Here are all the best early skills to unlock:
- Recovery Effect Boost (Emma)
- Roll (Emma)
- Helm Splitter (Emma)
- Enhance Bow (Emma)
- Mod: Status Effect Amp (Koo)
- Detect Hidden item (Koo)
- Healing Bouquet (Koo)
Below you find more detailed explanations of what these skills do.
Recovery Effect Boost (Emma)
The first passive skill in Emma's "Entanglement Overdrive" branch is "Recovery Effect Boost" and it's extremely useful as you prepare to face the first Nushi in the game. Each point invested in this skill increases the amount of health restored by recovery effects, which includes your limited potions as well as Koo's "Healing Bouquet" and "Healing Garden" skills.
Recovering more health is not only a matter of staying alive longer — it also allows you to make more mistakes. If you have been hit, you want to be ready for the next sequence of enemy attacks as quickly as possible. If your potions aren't capable of recovering large amounts of health, any extra hit can kill you. On the other hand, if your recovery items get you back on your feet quickly, missing a parry is not that much of a problem.
Roll (Emma)
Roll is your official emergency button in Beast of Reincarnation. Part of the "Tracking Shot" branch, this skill lets you roll away from attacks by pressing the dodge button twice.
Parry is Emma's main defensive move in the game, but she can't deflect every attack from enemies — especially the ones preceded by a red light, which are unblockable. By default, your only option to escape these dangerous attacks is to dodge their attack. However, doing so often leaves you close to the enemy, forcing you to either parry the next attack or run away to give some space to heal. This is the perfect moment to roll out of danger, create some distance and prepare for your next move.
Helm Splitter (Emma)
Early in the game, getting surrounded by enemies is extremely dangerous. You don't have good armor, and Emma's initial set of skills lacks any area-of-effect ability. That's why you should unlock "Helm Splitter", in the "Hair" branch, as soon as you can.
This active skill will help deal with groups of enemies from a safer place. To use it, hold the jump button to elevate Emma and keep her away from enemies' attacks. Then, as you fall, hold the attack command to unleash an area-of-effect attack and damage all nearby enemies. You can just repeat this move multiple times or use the momentum after landing Helm Splitter to roll out of the combat zone.
Enhance Bow (Emma)
After progressing a bit through Emma's skill tree, you should definitely prioritize unlocking and upgrading the "Enhance Bow" skill in the "Tracking Shot" branch. Of her two ranged weapons, the bow is stronger and more than capable of finishing a fight for you.
Like other weapons in the game, you must raise Bauera's attribute ranks to unlock the bow upgrades. Since it will take a while for you to collect the materials required, the best way to make your bow more powerful is by unlocking the "Enhance Bow" to increase the damage caused by your bow.
Mod: Status Effect Amp (Koo)
When choosing which skill to unlock with Koo, it's important to understand that many of them are mods that you use with the malefact's bloom arts, and you can only equip one mod per skill. From the "Incantion" branch, the "Status Effect Amp" mod is by far the best one in early levels because it doubles the buildup of effects on enemies, making Koo a great support for Emma. Whether you're shooting fire arrows or poison bolts, Koo's ability will remain useful in battle, triggering effects like "burn" faster. Consider equipping this mod with a low-cost skill to extend the double buildup's uptime.
Detect Hidden Item (Koo)
One of the nodes in the "Pounce" branch in Koo's skill tree, "Detect Hidden Item," won't help you kill bosses. Even so, it's extremely useful. Once you unlock this skill, Koo starts finding items hidden on the ground that you would not be able to obtain otherwise.
Koo might appear with some ember, crafting materials, and even rare items like memory chips and electronic brains in its mouth. This is one of few passive abilities Koo has access to that is not a mod, so it remains active all the time, and can help you maintain a good pool of crafting materials.
Healing Bouquet (Koo)
The "Healing Bouquet" is a third-tier skill in the "Pounce" branch, so you will have to spend a good amount of skill and attribute points to unlock it. Even so, it's worthwhile. By equipping this skill in one of Koo's six slots, Emma's partner will bring her flowers to restore her health during battle.
The bouquet works as a healing-over-time ability, slowly restoring a certain amount of health. It's not enough to bring you back to full health quickly, but it is a powerful tool for increasing your survivability during a boss fight. It reduces the need to find the right opening to pop a healing potion, letting you focus on parrying attacks and using your skills.