How to Use Skill Points in Resident Evil 6

Skill Point Basics

Play through a chapter to get to the Skill Settings screen. After finishing any of the chapters in the main campaign, you, the “End of Chapter” screen should come up. This shows you your stats for the chapter (like your accuracy, clear time, and so on). After this, you'll have access to the Skill Settings menu, where you can spend your skill points (SP) and assign your different skills.

Alternatively, use the main menu to get to the Skill Settings screen. You can also access the Skill Settings menu without playing through the campaign. To do this: On the main title screen, select "Play". Select "Solo" or "Duo" on the next screen. Pick the campaign you want to play. Select "Skill Settings" from the list of options.

Pick a preset number to assign your skills. On the Skill Settings screen, you'll see a row of numbered icons on the left side of the screen that you can scroll through. These are your different skill presets. For each preset, you can assign up to three skills. Depending on the skills you want to use for the next chapter, you can pick whichever preset suits your needs best. Select the first icon (labeled "1"). Three slots will pop out to the right. Select any one of these slots, then browse through the list of skills you want on the right. Select a skill from the list to add it to your preset. You can assign the other two skills the same way.

Use your skill points to buy new skills. When you try to assign a skill, choices that you haven't bought yet will have a lock icon next to them. Their price (in SP) will be listed to the right. If you have enough SP to buy the skill, you can select it to purchase it. After you've purchased the skill, you can assign it to any of your preset slots. Note that when you highlight a skill, a description of what it does will pop up below. Use this to decide whether the skill is a good use of your SP. You can find a complete list of every skill in the game here.

Upgrade multi-level skills to improve them. Some skills can be upgraded again for extra SP after you've already purchased them the first time. Each upgrade level makes the skill more powerful. However, each level costs more to upgrade than the one before it. Some skills have a maximum of two levels, some have a maximum of three, and some don't allow any upgrades. For example, the first time you buy the "Firearm" skill for 12,000 SP, it will increase the damage your guns do by 10%. The second level, which costs 29,000 SP, increases the damage by 20%. The third and final level, which costs 75,000 SP, increases the damage by a whopping 50%.

Get more SP from item drops in the game. Eventually, you won't have any more SP to spend in the Skill Settings menu. To get more, you'll have to play the game. In the campaign, when you kill enemies, break boxes, and open chests, you'll sometimes get an item that looks like a chess piece. This item gives you SP when you pick it up. The better the chess piece, the more SP you'll get! Chess piece drops range from the very common pawn (worth just 50 SP) to the ultra-rare gold king (worth 10,000 SP). Click here for a list of all the chess pieces.

Collect SP in Mercenaries and Agent Hunt modes as well. SP points aren't just for the main campaign. You can also earn them for the Mercenaries and Agent Hunt game modes in basically the same way — by picking them up after killing enemies, breaking boxes, and so on. Note: Mercenaries and Agent Hunt modes have their own separate skills available for purchase. You can't use the campaign skills in either of these game mode. Click here for the Mercenaries and Agent Hunt skills (below the main skills).

Sample Builds

Invest in long-range damage if you favor rifles. A player that likes to use the sniper rifle and other long-range weapons should choose skills that maximize the ability to deal pinpoint damage at a great distance. With the right skills, you'll be able to deal with threats before they get anywhere near you. Recommended Skills: Firearm Level 3 (+50% damage to guns) Eagle Eye (extra zoom for sniper rifles) Rifle Ammo Pickup Increase (more likely to find rifle ammo)

Choose defensive skills if you want to be a "tank." If you find yourself dying often or you want to be able to take hits for an inexperienced partner, try a beefy "tank" build. These skills will toughen you up so that you can take a beating and keep on dishing out damage. Recommended Skills: Defense Level 3 (-50% damage from all enemies) Field Medic Level 2 (your partner gives you several health tablets when you get revived) Breakout (makes it easier to get away from enemies that grab you(

Go for stamina and pure damage if you're a melee player. If you like to save ammo by getting up close and using powerful melee attacks, pick skills that increase your melee damage. You'll also want to improve your stamina bar so that you can use these melee attacks as much as possible. Defensive skills can help as well — you'll be getting hit more often in close-quarters combat. Recommended Skills: Melee Level 3 (+50% damage to melee attacks) Combat Gauge Boost Level 2 (five extra blocks for stamina bar) Defense Level 3

Pick skills for close-up damage if you prefer shotguns. Shotguns are great for their high damage and their ability to hit multiple enemies at once. Max out shotgun damage and shorten your long reload times to make the most of these powerful weapons. Recommended Skills: Firearm Level 3 Quick Reload (makes you reload faster) Shotgun Shell Pickup Increase (more likely to find shotgun ammo)

Pick support skills to be a team player. Looking to make an effective, two-person killing machine? Playing with a partner who needs a little extra help? Supportive skills can make your and your partner a more effective team. Recommended Skills: (Have your partner choose these — you can pick whatever build you want) Team-Up (your partner's attacks do more damage when you are near each other) Field Medic Level 2 Recovery Level 2 (recover from "dying" status faster)

Go for a high-risk, high-reward play style if you dare. Looking to put a fun, challenging twist on your game? Pick skills that make you deal lots of damage, but leave you vulnerable if you make a mistake. Item-increasing skills can give you an added incentive to play the odds! Shooting Wild (removes the targeting reticule but increases your damage) Last Shot (final bullet in each clip will do extra damage) Item Drop Increase (enemies you kill will drop items more often)

"Farming" Skill Points

Try Helena's Chapter 3. In this chapter, you can find 2,000 SP in a coffin near where you talk about Simmons and Ada. There are also 5,000 SP in a coffin near the spike trap. Kill the zombies you encounter for extra SP. When you fall into the next area after pulling the levers, let the game save, then quit the level and repeat as needed. For extra SP, try shooting the zombies in the head to make them Bloodshots, which are worth more.

Try Chris's chapters 2-3 and 2-4. These chapters have lots of enemies that drop high amounts of SP. Each Ogroman enemy (the giant-like creatures with red organs on their backs) drops 4,000 SP. There are two Ogroman enemies in 2-3 — avoid using the third AA gun to be able to get the SP from the second Ogroman. In 2-4, there are several Napad enemies (the ones with hard armor shells you need to break) worth 1,500 SP each and several Strelat enemies (the lizards that spit spines at you) worth 1,000 SP each. Try using the grenade launcher to kill all the Napads in the foyer to get about 10,000 in a very short time.

Try Leon's Chapter 4. In this chapter, you're in a race against Chris. If you're quick, you can rack up tons of SP in a short amount of time. Beating Chris to the elevator nets you 2,000 SP. After, when you're hacking the locks, use the shotgun to take down the drones effectively. If you do well, you'll beat Chris and win 14,000 SP. After the Simmons cutscene, the game will save and you can repeat this process for more SP.

Try Ada's Chapter 2. A good deal of SP is scattered through the entire chapter. Napads are worth 1,500 SP each, while Whoppers (the enormous fat zombies) are worth 2,500 each and Shriekers (the zombies with the large red growth on their chests) are worth 1,000 each. There are also lots of SP drops distributed in the various boxes, including a 4,000 SP drop in the treasure chest after the first Napad. Level 2-3 is especially lucrative — killing the enemies in the underground lab can earn you about 25,000 SP in less than ten minutes.

Try running through Jake's Chapter 4 as quick as possible. Jake has one of the easiest opportunities to farm SP in the entire game. The shopping district part of Chapter 4 has no enemies and two boxes containing a total of 7,000 SP. This section can be run through very quickly, so if you're willing to repeat it over and over again, you can earn tons of SP in a short time.