The best skill upgrades for Ellie in The last of Us Part II

Ellie has access to five different skill trees to help hone her fight against the infected, the Scars, and the WLF in Seattle. However, there is no way to max out all the skill trees you’ll unlock (which is done by picking up training manuals) in a single playthrough. This, to a degree, encourages you to commit to a playstyle and pump supplements into the skills that will best benefit your preferred approach.

Skills in each tree are unlocked in order, with each skill requiring the skill before it to be unlocked. There is no right or wrong way to play The Last of Us Part II, but we’ve rounded up what we think are the best upgrades in each of the five skill trees.

Survival tree

This skill tree is given to you from the get-go and is great for anyone just trying to survive. If you find you’re having a difficult time getting through encounters, the third skill in this tree is Increased Health. The fifth and final skill, Endurance, is a must-have—especially on harder difficulties—as it will allow you to survive one-hit kills.

Crafting tree

Crafting is a necessity throughout the game, but the pacing and variation between combat and traversal tends to give you plenty of time to craft when not in the heat of the battle. We’d recommend going no further than the first skill in this tree, Craft Melee Upgrades. This will let you repair and improve melee weapons, but even this can sometimes be a waste of resources.

Stealth tree

Stealth, or at least attempting stealth until situations go haywire, is often the best strategy to take throughout the game. This is a vital tree to invest in and unlock all skills. Having a five-shot silencer can be a lifesaver in a pinch, and being able to speed up both prone movement and stealth killing makes the sneaky approach much more viable.

Explosives tree

Blowing things up is pretty effective (albeit horrifyingly gory), but by-and-large your base explosives will serve you just fine for most situations. That said, the first skill in this tree, Craft Explosive Arrows, should definitely be purchased. Explosive arrows work wonders against groups and don’t need to be particularly precise to get the job done.

Precision tree

This is an important one, but it’s best to spend your supplements on the Survival and Stealth trees first since many of the Precision skills that affect aiming can be boosted through individual weapon upgrades as well. Once you feel comfortable with your Survival and Stealth skills, though, it’s a good idea to max out your Precision tree, especially to get the final skill, Craft More Arrows. More arrows mean more stealth kills.

Again, there is no right or wrong way to play The Last of Us Part II, and the game encourages you to customize your experience to whatever feels right for you. Nevertheless, these skills should help out new and veteran players alike.