Skip to main content

The best skills to buy first in Atomic Heart

Atomic Heart might look like a straightforward first-person shooter at a glance, but this action-packed adventure is actually a bit deeper than it initially seems. You’ll spend a lot of time collecting resources throughout your adventure to upgrade weapons, craft much-needed healing items, and even invest in skill trees that will grant you a variety of new abilities and enhance the ones you already have. That last point is very important, too, especially in the early part of the game as you learn the ins and outs of Atomic Heart‘s combat. In this guide, we’ll tell you the best skills to buy first to make things a bit easier on you in the opening hours.

Wild Boar

Atomic Heart skill tree
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Wild Boar can be found in the Character skill tree. This skill does exactly what you’d expect from simply looking at the icon – it increases your total health by a decent amount. This won’t make a significant difference to how much damage you can take, but it might just be enough extra health to save you from a sticky situation. Atomic Heart can be a pretty challenging game unless you bump it down to the easiest setting, so it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Morning Exercise

Atomic Heart skill tree
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Morning Exercise can be found in the Character skill tree. Atomic Heart is unique in that it doesn’t provide a sprint to you, so your movement speed is pretty much the same throughout the game regardless of the situation. As such, you’ll find that investing in Morning Exercise can make a big difference in how quickly you can move around levels. Having that extra movement speed is especially helpful when you find yourself surrounded and need to reposition, which may happen more often than you’d think – Atomic Heart loves to throw relentless packs of enemies at you frequently.

Neuro-Compression Tactical Backpack (x2)

Atomic Heart skill tree
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are two Neuro-Compression Tactical Backpack skills in the Character skill tree. You’ll want to pick them both up as soon as you reasonably can, as inventory management can play a major part in your success in Atomic Heart – even more so at higher difficulties. Since all of your healing and energy restoration items are held here alongside any weapons you’re carrying at the time, your inventory can fill up rapidly without these upgrades. Even with the upgrades, though, you’ll still need to be mindful of whether what you’re currently holding is truly valuable or not.

Power Amplifier

Atomic Heart skill tree
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Power Amplifier can be found in the Shok skill tree. You’ll get the Shok ability very early in the game, and grabbing this upgrade can help you deal with aggressive robots by allowing you to push them back a bit, giving you some extra room to breathe and reposition when needed. This is also great for general crowd control, so make sure to push away enemies you’re not otherwise actively attacking so that you can focus on your target better. The fact that it improves how much damage Shok deals is just icing on the cake.

Resistor Malfunction

Atomic Heart skill tree
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Resistor Malfunction can also be found in the Shok skill tree. This skill is immensely useful in the early hours of the game when your weapons are weaker and your ammo reserves are low, as it increases the damage enemies take when they’re electrified. This will come in handy most against higher-health enemies, but it’s worth having in general, as you should be using Shok as often as you can anyways. Grabbing this skill is also required to access an important one right after – Neuro-Polymer Accelerator – which reduces your Shok cooldown, so you can’t go wrong buying this up as soon as possible.

Editors' Recommendations

Billy Givens
Billy Givens is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience writing gaming, film, and tech content. His work can be…
The best games on PlayStation Plus, Extra, and Premium
A person plays Crash Bandicoot using a PS5 DualSense controller.

PlayStation Plus has undergone several iterations and changes since its introduction. Originally, the service wasn't required for online play at all and rewarded subscribers with extra discounts and free monthly games. Once the PlayStation 4 generation began, it was required for online play but still offered those same benefits.

Now, PS Plus is divided into three different tiers of subscriptions. The basic tier, PS Plus Essential, still gets three games per month added, while the Extra and Premium tiers will have a varying number of games added to their catalogs. With hundreds of games already and more coming and going all the time, even the most dedicated gamer won't be able to play everything on offer. To help you get the most bang for your buck and so that no hidden gems fly under your radar, here are all the best games to play on PS Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium right now.
Best PS Plus Essential games
As is usually the case, everyone with the lowest tier of PS Plus gets three games this month, two with PlayStation 5 versions and one with a PS4 version. Here's what you can play this month:

Read more
PS4 vs. PS5: which console should you buy in 2024?
PlayStation 5 controller and PS5.

PlayStation 5 has been available for several years now, and it's easier than ever to find it in stock at retailers. The new-gen hardware makes big upgrades over its predecessor, letting gamers enjoy better graphics, shorter loading times, and support for the fancy DualSense controller. It's also much more expensive than PS4, so while PS5 is better than PS4 in most regards, it might not be ideal for frugal shoppers.

But is PS4 or PS5 the better choice in 2024? Does the aging PS4 really make sense to purchase right now, or should you opt for the PS5? From pricing and available games to storage and resolution, here's a closer look at these two popular consoles.
PS5 vs. PS4 vs. PS4 Pro specs
Even a cursory glance at the specs of the PS5 shows that it’s in a different league than the PS4 (and even the PS4 Pro). Sony has improved the capabilities of its platform in every way, adding more efficient storage, faster compute parts, support for larger capacity disks, and support for higher resolutions. We know there are two versions of the PS5 -- the Standard Edition and Digital Edition -- both of which will offer the same specs (with the exception of the omission of a disc drive with the Digital Edition).

Read more
All upcoming PS5 games: 2024 and beyond
Dragon's Dogma 2 key art featuring a knight with a fiery hole in their chest.

The PlayStation 5 has been out for some time now, and its reception has been mostly positive. It includes lots of quality-of-life improvements over its predecessor, the PlayStation 4, such as faster load times, a solid-state drive (SSD) instead of a regular hard disk drive (HDD), and an improved controller in the form of the new DualSense. However, a console is only as good as the games available on it, and thankfully, the PS5 has you covered on that front as well.

While the machine already has a worthy library of great PS5 games, there are even more to look forward to, with some releasing as soon as this month, while others are still years away. In the video game world, it's not uncommon to be aware of games that are still several years out from release. It's also normal for a new game to be revealed and launched within just a couple of months. In this comprehensive list, we'll go through the major PS5 releases scheduled for 2023 and speculate on future games.

Read more