Among the new additions to the Tomb Raider gameplay formula is skill management. In this game Lara posses three different types of skills, related to the three main aspects of the game: surviving, hunting and fighting. The skills are really diverse and all serve a certain, useful purpose: leveling them up will be bring some good advantages whenever you level them up. In the end it all depends on your playstyle: some gamers may be better and uncovering treasures and areas or discovering enemies while some other may be better in the combat sequences of the game. You can improve these skills to improve your abilities in your best field or get some help in some other field where you are not so good. We’re not talking about role playing game level of customization but having a choice is better than having none at all! The inclusion of skills also makes the gameplay experience somewhat deeper. To improve your skills you’ll have to fill Lara’s experience shield, obtaining a single skill point used to improve unlocked skills or unlocking new skills. You will have to invest 7 skill points in rookie skills to unlock the higher tier; to unlock the final tier, seven more points must be used. Get as much experience as you can and you will be able to unlock most skills in the game as soon as possible.
Survivalist
The Survivalist skill is a novice skill which increases exp gained by hunting and harvesting by around 20-25%, looting animal corpses and food caches, to be precise. The percentage seems to vary depending on the type of animal and plant. This skill is incredibly useful if you like hunting a lot since you’ll get more experience for your efforts. At the same time, if you don’t hunt too much, this is not going to help you. I suggest you do invest some time in hunting not only because it is fun but also because it will help you ease into the game’s mechanics and help you gathering experience which is never enough in this game. At the same time don’t get too much into hunting in the same area, since the game will remove all animals from an area for a set period of time if you have hunted too much: using the survivalist skill will allow you to gain more experience without going too far with the hunting and having to wait a longer animals respawn time.
