Beating up your foes in Saints Row does seem like an easy task. After all, all you need to do is come in with guns blazing. Still, there are a few abilities that you can use as you progress to aid you in combat. Here’s our Saints Row skills guide to help you with the best level-up skills that the Boss can equip.
Note: We’ll have a Saints Row guides and features hub soon, so stay tuned.
Saints Row skills guide – The best skills for you to equip
Generally speaking, the skills in Saints Row are unlocked by earning XP and leveling up. It’s a fairly simple process. Barring some exceptions, you’ll obtain one new active skill (or passive) from level 2 onwards. However, do take note that you can only equip up to four any given time.
Level Skill Name Effect 2 Pineapple Express Drop a grenade in your enemy’s pants and throw them away 3 Smokescreen Toss a smoke bomb at your feet to confuse enemies 4 Proximity Mine Throw a mine that explodes when hostiles go near it 5 Health Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your health 6 Tough Mother Gain a temporary health boost to absorb damage and negate staggers 7 Frag Out Throw a frag grenade 8 Flow Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your flow 9 Flaming Punch Ignites your fist for an explosive punch 10 Health Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your health 11 Transfusion Heal yourself and your friends when you deal damage to foes 12 Overscope Pulls out a powerful sniper rifle; headshots cause explosions 13 Impulse Trap An anti-gravity mine suspends nearby targets in mid-air so you can line up your shots 14 Flow Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your flow 15 Health Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your health 16 Berserker Attacks deal more damage 17 Intercession Calls more Saints to join the fight 18 Quick Draw Pull out a powerful revolver and gun down up to four targets 19 Death Blossom Spin around while firing bullets in every direction 20 Flow Upgrade Passive: Permanently increases your flow N/A Quantum Aperture – Obtained as part of the Eurekabator Criminal Venture tasks Creates a field that lets you shoot through walls and obstacles; increases the damage of bullets that pass through the field
The best skills in Saints Row
Here are some of what I consider the best skills in Saints Row. A couple are integral for general combat, while others are pretty decent once you get them later in the campaign:
- Pineapple Express – This allows you to grab an opponent, including shielded troopers, before tossing them away to go kaboom. It’s a good way to eliminate specialists without having to remove their shield bar for a takedown. The only downside is that you won’t be able to aim the throw properly, so you could miss most of the target’s other pals. Proximity Mine – If you do want a throwable explosive, choose this instead of Frag Out. The Proximity Mine is more reliable, as opposed to the frag grenade that enemies tend to dodge. Flaming Punch – I think this is one of the best skills in Saints Row due to its multi-kill capabilities. If you have a lot of enemies rushing you (i.e., Los Panteros or melee elites), you can send all of them flying with this blazing punch. Death Blossom – This one is obtained a bit later in your grind/progression. It does significant damage for crowd-clearing, and it’s flashy to boot.
Saints Row is available via the Epic Games Store.