Best Skills to Get First

Upon unlocking Primary in the main area in Saros, you can start spending your Lucenite and Halcyon to upgrade your armor. These greatly increase the chances of your survival while fighting through the horde of creatures throughout Carcosa, but there are some better choices than others. These are some of the best skills that you should get first while playing Saros.

Best Skills to Unlock First in Saros

Although the skill tree from Primary is fairly linear, there are branching paths that you can choose and focus on before others. You’ll be able to fill out the paths that you miss as you acquire more Halcyon and Lucenite, but we encourage you to focus on these choices above the others to help make progression that much easier!

Proficiency Upgrades

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There are multiple Proficiency Enhancements littered throughout the Armor Matrix for you to pick up as you work through the skill tree. Whenever these appear in the tree, these should be one of your top priorities. You’ll find that these upgrades give you a higher starting Proficiency level when you set out into Saros, increasing the overall power of your weapons and the Power Weapons that you find.

Normally, the amount of Lucenite you receive is how you increase your Proficiency level. This can take time and involve risking yourself to get to these levels. Each Proficiency upgrade stacks with the other, meaning you’ll become stronger at a faster rate, and you’ll be able to dispatch additional enemies, increasing how much Lucenite, thereby giving you even more Proficiency levels! It’s a helpful cycle.

Drive Upgrades

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Drive is one of the three primary stats that you’re leveling up and upgrading with your Artifacts throughout your time playing Saros. You’ll find that you have to pick between Drive, Command, or Resilience trees, and whenever you have the choice, we recommend going with Drive. Our reasoning is that this increases the amount of Lucenite you receive from enemy drops and what you pick up during a run.

It’s a similar reasoning for why you want to get Proficiency Upgrades first. If you have a higher Drive stat, you’ll receive more Lucenite, and your Proficiency meter goes up during a run. You do have to defeat foes and explore side paths to acquire Lucenite, but you’ll steadily receive more at the end of a run, which also allows you to purchase Armor Matrix upgrades. You cannot go wrong with having a higher Drive stat!

Restoration and Aether Upgrades

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Another critical upgrade that you want to lock down as quickly as possible is Aether Upgrades. They’re unfortunately locked behind defeating Bastion, the second boss in Saros, so you may need to wait a little before you can start any upgrades. Once you unlock them, more Aether Upgrades appear throughout the skill tree, and these become must-have purchases, although they are costly. These are especially useful if you’re trying to activate more of the Carcosan Modifiers, the in-game difficulty changes, before setting out to complete a run.

The first Aether Upgrades give you further Aether drops, which is always a huge plus. You’ll have a higher chance of them dropping upon defeating an enemy. You’ll also want to look out for Restoration Upgrades, where Aether becomes more effective, giving you additional health back whenever you heal. Both are great upgrades you can find in the Armor Matrix, and we cannot recommend them enough.

Artifact Slots

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You start Saros with 10 Artifact slots, and as you progress through the Armor Matrix, there are Halcyon upgrade slots where you can choose to expand how many Artifacts you can hold during a run. These are another excellent way of increasing your survival chances, as Artifacts provide a variety of upgrades to you throughout your run, changing your playstyle and offering unique rewards.

There are 10 additional Artfact Slots you can unlock. It can be time-consuming to unlock them, but if you can look ahead at the Armor Matrix to map out your progress, it’s always worth it. Having as many Artifacts as possible during a run is a great way to keep yourself alive, especially if you’re able to find a worthwhile healing one halfway.

Attribute Enhancements

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The Attribute Enhancements are upgrades you can grab that increase all three of your stats. You’ll get a point for your Resilience, Command, and Drive, giving you benefits across everything. You can’t go wrong with grabbing these, although they are expensive compared to the smaller upgrades. We recommend unlocking the first three Attribute Enhancement slots on either side of the Armor Matrix tree, and stopping before they cost 1,200 Lucenite.

Although these are a great upgrade, you don’t want to spend too much on them. You don’t get as much for these upgrade slots when they go beyond 1,000 Lucenite, unless you’re starting to get into the end-game of Saros. So hold off on these purchases, unless there’s a permanent upgrade you're also gunning for, such as the Greater Integrity, Key Storage, or the Increased Power slots.

Up Next: Best Weapons