The Last of Us 2: Best passive skills The Last of Us 2 guide, walkthrough

Ellie, Abby - best passive skills: list, tips; when can I unlock them?

Last update: 20 June 2020

This page of the guide to The Last of Us 2 has recommended passive abilities. We have listed Ellie's and Abby's best skills - you will find out what makes a particular skill particularly valuable.

• Why can't I unlock skills right away?
• Best skills in TLoU 2 - Ellie
• Best skills in TLoU 2 - Abby

Why can't I unlock skills right away?

In TLoU 2 skills within each tree are unlocked one at a time. For example, if the skill you are interested in a given skill tree is fourth, you will have to get abilities 1, 2 and 3 first.

We advise getting the best starting skills from individual trees first and then get those that require other abilities.

Best skills in TLoU 2 - Ellie

1. Increased Health (Survival tree) - Extends Ellie's health bar by 1/4, reducing the risk of losing all health points during combat.
2. Endurance (Survival tree) - The last skill from this tree. If you play on higher difficulty level, you should get this skill as soon as possible. With it, you can avoid fatal damage once, giving you one more chance to survive.
3. Craft Melee Upgrades (Crafting tree) - This is a great skill if you like using large melee weapons. With it, you are able to repair a weapon (preferably a powerful one) and increase its damage.
4. Craft Silencers (Stealth tree) - Silencers are very helpful in stealth elimination, even though they can only be installed on the weakest pistol.
5. Improved Silencers (Stealth tree) - This ability in terms increases the durability of your silencers. By default, each of them is destroyed after 3 shots. This upgrade increases the number of shots to five.
6. Hold Breath (Precision tree) - This ability allows you to hold your breath and stabilize the crosshair by pressing the L3. This is most useful when using a sniper rifle and bow to reduce the risk of missing a shot.
7. Craft More Arrows (Precision tree) - It's a good skill assuming you like to kill enemies with the bow. Ellie is able to produce three arrows instead of 2 using the same amount of crafting materials.
8. Craft Explosive Arrows (Explosives tree) - These arrows significantly increase the usefulness of the bow. You can attack not only individual enemies, but also groups of opponents standing close to each other. You also don't have to be very precise with your aiming.
9. Craft More Trap Mines (Explosives tree) - This is a great ability provided you use trap mines regularly. By unlocking this ability, Ellie can craft 2 traps simultaneously and carry up to 4 in inventory (instead of 3).
10. Craft More Explosive Arrows - Having more explosive arrows makes many difficult fights easier. Ellie is able to produce 2 arrows at a time, saving a lot of supplies. She can also carry 4 arrows.

Best skills in TLoU 2 - Abby

1. Increased Health (Survival tree) - Extends Abby's health bar by 1/4, reducing the risk of losing all health points during combat.
2. Hold Breath (Covert Ops tree) - This ability is identical to Ellie's - pressing L3 stabilizes the crosshair. This skill is even more helpful to Abby since she can use multiple weapons equipped with scopes.
3. Increased health #2 (Covert Ops tree) - you can extend Abby's health bar by another 25%. Highly recommended skill - Abby has more direct confrontations with enemies and she doesn't carry a switchblade.
4. Craft Shivs (Covert Ops tree) - A very important skill for Abby. Shivs are the only weapon that kills clickers in direct confrontations and during stealth attacks. You can also use shivs in other situations to eliminate enemies with ease.
5. Craft More Shivs (Covert Ops tree) - After unlocking this skill, Abby can simultaneously craft 3 shivs and carry up to 6 blades (instead of 4). You will be able to use them more often or to protect yourself from death.
6. Craft Incendiary Shells (Firearms tree) - Incendiary shells for the shotgun may partially replace the inability to use Molotov cocktails. You will most appreciate it when fighting against different varieties of infected.
7. Craft Hunting Pistol Ammo (Firearms tree) - Hunting Pistol is a weapon that fires single shots, but each one of them inflicts very heavy damage. A larger supply of ammunition will make it easier to quickly kill "inconvenient" enemies and weaken stronger monsters.
8. Improved Pipe Bombs (Ordinance tree) - Pipe bombs are highly effective in their basic form, but this ability improves their explosion radius by 50%. This increases the chances of killing all opponents standing close to each other.
9. Improved Silencers (Ordinance tree) - This ability has the same effect as Ellie's - it increases the durability of each silencer from 3 to 5 shots. Don't wait long to unlock this skill - it will help you eliminate enemies quietly.
10. Craft More Pipe Bombs (Ordinance tree) - This is the last skill from the tree, but it's worth getting. It will allow you to use bombs more frequently - Abby will be able to produce 3 bombs each and carry 6 of them in the inventory.