In Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, character development is structured around three primary components: Main Level, Main Stats, and Skills. Each of these components can be leveled up through different means to a maximum of Level 30. Every 2 Levels (after Level 6) in any of the Skills, Main Stats or your Main Level, you unlock new unique and powerful perks (in total there are 275 perks). Let me guide you through the different systems and highlight the best perks for each.
Main Level
This serves as an overarching measure of your character's progression, influenced by the advancement of your Main Stats (Strength, Agility, Vitality and Speech). As you enhance these attributes through various in-game activities, your Main Level increases accordingly.
Best Perks
Charming Man over Opportunist: In my opinion gaining Reputation is clearly worth a lot more than not losing it. With Charming man you get a 10% increase in reputation gains. Reputation is very useful in KCD II, almost every location has their own reputation. It will determine how easy it is to convince people and haggle for prices.
Local Hero: Once you reach at least reputation 60 you gain a +2 strength, agility, vitality and speech buff while in the specific town. It's a decent all around buff and in combination with Charming Man, you shouldn't find it all too hard to meet the requirements.
Well-Built: Increases your capacity to carry things. This scales with your strength, making it stronger every level. Inventory space is always an issue. There are some other strength perks that also increase your carrying capacity.
Martin`s Heritage or Radzig´s Heritage: Martin’s will increase experience gain for the Swords, Crafting, and Survival skills. Whilst Radzig’s will increase experience gain for Heavy Weapons, Marksmanship, and Scholarship skills. Choose the one that matches your playstyle better. If you are unsure I would suggest picking Martin`s Heritage as you can mainly stick to swords at least for the majority of early/mid-game.
Night Crawler: At night you have a +2 Strength, Agility and Vitality buff as well as +3 in Stealth. Another decent buff. This one is more focused on nightly activities.
Main Stats
There are 4 main stats (Strength, Agility, Vitality, Speech) that influence various aspects of your character’s abilities.These represent your character's core attributes and are improved through specific actions, skill books or by visiting a skill trainer.
Strength
This stat defines your character's physical power. Higher strength makes you do more damage (both armed and unarmed), increases carrying capacity and stamina as well as make it easier for you to wear heavier armor.
How to increase: You will increase your strength by fighting and through combat training as well as when carrying heavy items. The higher your weapons strength requirement, the faster you level up your strength.
Pro Tip: You can get one strength skill book while doing a side quest (“Materia Prima”) in Semine, the questline will also reward you with two Thievery skill books. The book can be found inside a haystack behind the front barrels in the first door to your left in the Troskowitz Rathaus.
Best Perks
Train Hard, Fight Easy! I & I: Reduces the required Strength for carrying weapons. This will help you wield stronger weapons earlier on.
Tight Grip: The higher your Strength skill, the easier it´ll be for you to knock someone out or kill them stealthily. Decent scaling strength perk for stealth kills.
Heracles: This Perk will have you gain 1 Charisma for every 5 Strength (totalling up to 6 Charisma at max Level). Charisma and Speech are often an underestimated stat in KCD II. It will help you with Speech checks and net you some decent profit over your journey by allowing you to increase your haggling prices.
Hard-Working Lad, Pack Mule and Strong as a Bull: Pick one or all of these if you want to increase your carrying capacity. If you want to skip one, I'd recommend skipping Pack Mule, as it is the weakest one of the three. Higher carrying capacity will also allow you to scale your strength a bit faster. So these are good early picks. (Lvl 6, 8 and 12)
Grand Slam I & II: If you plan on playing a Blunt weapon Build this will increase your damage with them further. Each grants you an additional 5% damage with them.
Vanguard: Reducing the stamina cost of shield blocks by 30%, makes it basically a must have perk if you decide to play with a shield.
Agility
Agility is another crucial stat that influences how your character moves, fights and handles weapons. Higher Agility makes your melee attacks cost less stamina and increases the speed at which you attack, reduces fall damage, lets you carry heavier armor, makes dodging and performing actions in stealth easier.
How to increase: Use a high agility weapon during combat, by sneaking around enemies without getting detected or by visiting a skill trainer.
Pro Tip: Agility works together with Stealth and Thievery. Prioritize this over strength if your playstyle mainly revolves around this.
Best Perks
Deft Hands I & II: Reduces the required Agility for carrying weapons.This will help you wield stronger weapons earlier on.
Nimble Stance: Reducing the cost of your dodges by 40%.
Finesse I & II or Viper I & II: Although these are not exclusive, similar to Grand Slam I & II, choose your points according to your playstyle. Finesse improves your slashing damage whilst viper improves your piercing damage.
Creeping Phantom I & II: These perks are amazing for your stealth build. Allowing you to sneak around faster by up to 35% and additionally gaining you extra experience in agility whilst sneaking around.
Vitality
This stat mainly affects Stamina and HP recovery (in- & outside combat). Higher Vitality lets you attack longer, run further and will decrease the rate at which you lose rest.
How to increase: Anything that uses your stamina, like: running around, hunting, exploring the open world, fighting or training.
Pro Tip: Jump over a fence many times to level up your vitality quickly at the start.
Best Perks
Hermes´ Haste and Marathon Runner: Making you sprint 20% faster and reducing the cost of sprinting by 20%. Both a welcome boost to increasing your mobility and getting around faster.
Balanced Diet: A 20% flat stamina buff, once you have been well fed (you didn't overeat, get drunk or starve) for 3 consecutive days. Just stay at an inn and eat in the morning and evening and you should be able to keep your Nourishment levels in check. Alternatively get yourself some honey, it doesn't spoil.
Die Hard: A wound that would normally kill you wont, instead you will be healed to 25% of your health. This is a great perk to ensure your survival. Especially in case you didn't drink a “Survival Schnapps” earlier.
Speech
Speech is a vital stat that influences your ability to interact with NPCs, especially when it comes to Haggling, Persuading, Threatening, Deceiving etc.
How to increase: Interact with NPCs, visit the skill trainers or read books (there is a speech book on a wooden bench not far outside of Troskowitz at the end of a field north east of town)
Pro Tip: Speech and Scholarship work together. Read as many books as you can to improve in both.
Best Perks
Jack of All Trades: Gives you a bonus of +2 on skill checks and doubles the experience from these skill checks. This is great not only for helping you with certain skill checks but also for helping you level up your skills faster. This is a good early game perk.
Hustler & Partner in Crime: For the Stealth build that wants to sell their stolen items easier and gain experience in Stealth and Thievery. On Level 20 you can unlock “Partner in Crime” (the second part of this perk), allowing you to always sell your stolen goods without consequences.
Battle Cry I & II: Increase your damage in battle for a short period of time. This in combination with Dreaded Warrior is a nice way of increasing your fighting capabilities through your speech stat.
Dreaded Warrior I & II: Strikes Fear into your enemies, causing them to occasionally flee. Great in combination with Battle Shout for a decent early/mid-game boost through your speech stat.
Skills
The Skill System has been refined and expanded to enhance character development and gameplay depth. Skills are now organized into broader categories, streamlining progression and offering a more intuitive experience. There are nine key Skills available. Let's have a look at each one and I will highlight some key perks.
Alchemy
Alchemy allows you to brew potions, perfumes, decoctions and other substances, where ingredient quality directly affects potion effectiveness. Players can brew potions of varying strengths, with precise brewing techniques yielding more potent results.
How to increase: Practice Alchemy, read Alchemy skill books or find a skill trainer.
Best Perks
Potion Seller: This is a good money making perk, allowing you to sell your potions for more groschen.
Secret of Matter I & II: Every time you brew a potion successfully you gain extra potions. Great in combination with Potion Seller to really amplify your returns when making potions. I prefer it over Secret of Equilibrium.
Secret of Secrets: Allows you to create unique high tier potions. There are some strong potions in KCD 2, check out our full Alchemy guide (coming soon) for more info about them.
Craftsmanship
Improves Weapon Sharpening and Blacksmithing. You will become faster at repairing your items, use less repair kits and be able to create unique quality IV items.
How to increase: Washing clothes, repairing gear, skill books and trainers.
Best perks
Razor Sharp: Increases damage by 10 for your sharpened weapon (98%+ condition) until its condition falls below 75%. A strong boost to your weapons, sharpening becomes easier the more often you do it.
Locksmith: When picking locks you have +3 to your Thievery skill. This is a great perk for your mischievous activities.
Martin´s Secret: Forge unique quality IV weapons. These are the highest grade weapons in the game.
Drinking
Higher drinking-skill allows for alcohol to show effects on you slower and it becomes harder for you to get a hangover. This skill is mainly meant to allow you to not be too drunk to meet certain dialogue checks in the game.
How to increase: reading books and skill trainers or drinking a lot, although I wouldn't really recommend the last one.
Best Perks
Indomitable Drunk: The negative effects of drunkenness are reduced. Making this a decent perk to pass certain skill checks.
Nightcap: You won't get a hangover and additionally beds are 10% more comfortable (which means you gain rest and energy more quickly)
Horsemanship
This increases your horse's stamina, allowing you to ride longer, horses also panic less, and it makes it more difficult to get thrown off the saddle.
How to increase: riding long distances or reading books on horsemanship as well as by visiting skill trainers or fighting on your horse in combat.
Pro Tip: You can buy skill books for your Horsemanship from horse traders in Semine and at the Nomad´s Camp. Look for Groom Ballatay in Semine and Horse Handler Mikolai at the Nomad´s Camp.
Best Perks
Head Start I & II: When using a quick start you will have a temporary boost. This makes getting away a decent bit easier as well as just generally allowing you to travel a bit faster.
Final Stretch: When your horse is nearly out of stamina you can spur on it to recover some of its stamina. This perk has a 2min CD. It's a nice way of extending how far you can travel.
Houndmaster
Increasing your Houndmaster skills makes Mutt become stronger and more obedient as well as allowing you to teach him other new attacks and tricks.
How to increase: feeding, petting him, hunting with him and using him during combat. Use Hunt! often and training Mutt becomes fairly easy
Pro Tip: There are two Houndmaster books near Zhelejov at the thief's camp north west of town inside the woods. Defeat the thief and the dog, take the book he has on him, the second book is in the chest at his camp.
Best Perks
Hunt!: Mutt hunts for you, potentially killing smaller game for you. Mainly use this for leveling Houndmaster up quickly and farming yourself some meat.
Bark!: Mutt creates a ruckus to draw attention to himself. (Basically a taunt) Good for when you are playing a ranged or stealth character or just generally when you need to get out of a bad situation.
Rip, Tear and Sicém!: These are great attacks if you want to make Mutt a formidable ally. Depending on your desired playstyle, you could invest in Houndmaster for a ranged combat build with a strong companion.
Scholarship
General Knowledge, impacts mostly dialogue, consume and read books faster
How to increase: reading any book, interacting with different NPCs
Pro Tip: There is a scholarship book at the location “Chapel in the rocks”. Bring a spade (shovel), push the rock aside and start digging.
Best Perks
Explorer: Reveals all NPCs (such as vendors etc) on the map. This is just a nice quality of life feature to have, allowing you to see everything on the map and finding quests or locations you have forgotten about.
Wonders of Nature: Increases experience gained in skills of Survival and Alchemy by 20%. If you are keen on leveling either of these consider picking this perk.
Stealth
Get caught less while sneaking around, make less noise
How to increase: pickpocketing, picking locks, sneaking around enemies
Pro Tip: There is a stealth skill book at Nebakov Mill. Inside a building on the upper floor there is a locked chest, unlock it and the skill book is yours.
Best Perks
Rodent vs Weasel Boy: Rodent allows you to make 25% less noise when sneaking indoors and the door opening will be half as loud. Weasel Boy allows you to make 35% less noise when sneaking around outside. Personally I find it to be more difficult to sneak around inside, than outside, therefore I'd recommend Rodent over Weasel Boy.
Ambusher: When hitting an unaware target you deal 20% more damage. This perk is great for a Stealth build that wants to quickly and easily get rid of unaware enemies.
Surprise Attack: If you hit someone who doesn’t know of your presence with a ranged weapon, your target will suffer combat skill debuff, making them easier to deal with. They might even panic and flee. This is great if you use it in combination with Ambusher for a ranged Stealth build.
Escape Artist I & II: Makes it easier to escape undiscovered. A good perk for your thievery build, because let's face it you are gonna get caught at some point.
Survival
Higher Skill in Survival makes it easier to hunt game and gather meat from them, it also allows you to gather herbs quicker and escape faster.
How to increase: hunting, gathering herbs, drying and smoking or discovering new places. There is a Scholarship perk called “Wonders of Nature that gives you increases your Survival experience gain by 20%.
Pro Tip: There is a skill book inside a chest with an easy-to-pick lock at the base of a tree in the woods east of Tachov. Near the location “Abandoned beehives”.
Best Perks
Heartseeker I & II: Increases ranged damage when hitting enemies in the chest. Great perk for a ranged build. Hitting someone in the chest is also considerably easier than in the head.
Master Fletcher: Your arrows and bolts fly faster, farther and penetrate deeper. In combination with Heartseeker one of the best ways to increase your damage with ranged weapons.
Leshy: While in the forest your scent is halved, your stamina recovery is boosted by 15%, your strength, vitality and agility will be increased by 1 and your stealth by 2.
Flower Power and Leg Day: Two ways to make, collecting and carrying around herbs more useful. Flower Power gives you 2 extra charisma (you need to have 30 herbs in your inventory). Whilst Leg Day will give you a way to gain a small amount of strength when collecting herbs.
Thievery
Thievery is a skill that involves various criminal activities and stealth-based actions. Improving this skill allows you to become a more effective thief. A higher Thievery skill makes lockpicking, pickpocketing, fence dealing and stealth kills easier and reduces the chances of getting caught. These activities are also your best way of leveling up thievery, besides skill books or skill trainers.
Pro Tip: You can get two Thievery skill books by completing the Side Quest “Materia Prima” from Miller Krezyl in lower Semine.
Best Perks
Silent Fiddler: This is a strong early perk, reducing the sound you make when pickpocketing and when the lock happens to break.
Tool Master: This makes your lockpicks more durable and they will last 15% longer. A perk that comes in handy especially for more difficult chests.
Nimble Fingers: This Is another very strong perk for any of your thievery activities, giving you more time to find better items.
Inconspicuous: Without this perk robbing front pouches feels almost impossible. There you will find the better items, making this perk well worth considering.
Master Thief: This late game perk is great since it lets you skip easier chests almost instantly. Great reward for reaching max level in thievery.
Combat Skills
Combat skills are integral to your character's effectiveness in battle. These skills encompass various weapon proficiencies and defensive abilities, each improving through practice and use.
Warfare
This overarching skill measures your total fighting proficiency, influencing the speed of your attacks and the difficulty opponents have in defending against them. Higher levels in Warfare also reduce the wear and tear on your weapons during combat.
Increased by: Engaging in combat and practicing various forms of fighting.
Best Perks
Against All Odds: When fighting against superior numbers you gain +2 strength, agility and warfare. Since you are outnumbered quite a lot and the buff is decent, I chose this perk. Similar reasoning applies to Unbreakable and One Man Army.
Unbreakable: If you are outnumbered your stamina recovers 20% faster.
One Man Army: When you are outnumbered you deal 10% more damage
Swords
Swords are fast, good for combos and many consecutive attacks and can bleed enemies but are weaker against heavily armored enemies.
Pro Tip: There is a Sword skill book inside the thieves´ chest found northeast of Zhelejov. Another one can be found inside the
Best Perks
Master Strike: Special attack that blocks enemies attack and hits them with an unblockable attack. Unblockable attacks are strong, thus making this an easy choice.
Opening strike I & II: If you successfully wound an opponent by an unblocked strike, it makes it more difficult for enemies to block subsequent attacks. In combination with Master Strike your way of winning battles easily with a sword.
Slice and Dice: This perk increases the damage of each consecutive successive strike bringing the other perks together to make you a true master swordsman.
Heavy Weapons
Heavy Weapons are slower but deal more damage, and are best against heavily armored enemies, due to their blunt damage. There are less different attacks for heavy weapons compared to swords.
Best Perks
Shield Breaker: Increases your effectiveness with heavy weapons against shields.
Sundering Blow I & II: When you hit an enemy with a heavy weapon their armor will count as if it were 20 lower. This is a decent debuff especially against armored enemies.
Brute Force I & II: The damage increasing perk for all heavy weapons.
Hack and Slash: Your subsequent successful heavy weapon attacks will deal more damage. The final perk for Heavy Weapons.
If you plan on using maces or warhammers I would also recommend Bonebreaker and Concussing Blow. While if you use Axes I recommend Aim to maim! and Green Knight.
Polearms
Polearms are long-range melee weapons designed to keep enemies at bay or reach foes on horseback. They are effective against lightly armored and unarmored enemies and feature a three-directional attack system.
Best Perks:
Keeping a Distance: Makes blocking with polearms easier and more effective, thus costing less stamina. A good early pick.
Long Reach: Decreases the stamina consumption of Polearms. Allowing you to fight for longer.
Impaler I & II: Increases 10% piercing damage. Basic but good damage boost.
Artery Slash: Increases the chance of causing bleeding to your opponent. This is a big part of polearm gameplay. Combined with the warfare perk “Bloodletter”, you can poke and bleed your opponents to death.
Iron Rain: Similar to other weapon types this is polearms version of a bonus for consecutive successful strikes. A very strong perk and your reward for leveling polearms to 18.
Unarmed
Fistfights can become a frequent occurrence. Especially if you enjoy the various fight clubs. Training it might not be the worst idea. Especially when you can level other stats with it.
Best Perks
No Pain no Gain: This makes you level up your other stats such as Strength, Agility and Vitality faster. I would recommend taking this as soon as possible to maximize its benefits.
Sting like A Bee: After 30 seconds in combat your damage will be increased by 30% and your stamina will recover 30% quicker. Strategically fight until this buff kicks in and start going on the offense.
Jawbreaker: This is your ultimate unarmed perk. Every subsequent unarmed strike will do more damage, making it harder and harder for your opponent to come back.
Marksmanship
Higher Marksmanship skill makes it easier to aim and hit things with your ranged weapons. The best way to improve at Marksmanship is by hunting, going to competitions, visiting the shooting range or by reading skill books.
Pro Tip: There is a marksmanship skill book near the location “target on a tree”, found alongside the northwest road from Troskowitz. Other than that shooting competitions really are your best friend when it comes to leveling it up quickly.
Best Perks
Hal Shot First I & II: This makes your first strike more powerful. Getting off a good first shot can help you start off the fight already ahead. A no brainer pick for any build really.
Salvo: Increasing your reload speed after each shot, making you able to fight and kite at range much more easily. Getting off more than one shot during a fight can be difficult, with this perk it should get easier.
One Shot at Glory: This is a must pick for any ranged build that wants to engage multiple enemies. When you kill an enemy with a ranged weapon, your next shot will deal 50% more damage.
