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Saint's Row

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How to Unlock New Skills in Saints Row

By
Nathan Garvin

This page is a guide for Skills in Saints Row (2022), including how to unlock and equip them.

(1 of 2) As you level up, you’ll unlock new Skills. Assign active Skills to your skill slots,

As you level up, you’ll unlock new Skills. Assign active Skills to your skill slots, (left), and you’ll be able to use them at will… provided you’ve got enough Flow. (right)

How to Unlock New Skills in Saints Row

Just about every action you perform in Saints Row will earn you experience, be it from obvious sources like defeating enemies, completing Missions, Discoveries, Side Hustles or Ventures, or rather more odd endeavors, like performing all sorts of vehicle tricks (driving into oncoming traffic, getting near misses, drifting, etc.) or from even more mundane activities like simply buying a new gun or article of clothing from a store for the first time. Gain enough XP and you’ll level up, and each time you level up you’ll unlock a new Skill.

Skills come in two varieties, passive and active. Passive Skills are typically Health Upgrades (levels 5, 10 and 15) or Flow Upgrades (levels 8, 14 and 20), with active Skills taking up every other level from 2 to 19. In total, there are thirteen active Skills in the game - stiff competition, as there are only four Skill slots available at a time. Skills are unlocked automatically when you level up, to assign Skills, go to the “Skills” menu on your phone, select the Skill, press the DualSense-ButtonCross / Xbox-ButtonA button, then choose what slot you want to equip the Skill to. Once equipped, Skills can be activated while on foot by holding down the
DualSense-R1 / Xbox-BumperLeft button and selecting the DualSense-DPad button the Skill is assigned to.

A list of all the Skills you can earn can be found below:

Level Skill Effect Flow Cost
2 Pineapple Express Grab an enemy, drop a grenade down their pants, and throw them. 1
3 Smokescreen Drop a smoke bomb at your feet to confuse your enemies. 1
4 Proximity Mine Place a sticky mine that explodes when enemies are near. Damage increases shortly after placement. 1
5 Health Upgrade Maximum Health increased permanently. n/a
6 Tough Mother Gain a temporary health boost to absorb damage from enemies and negate staggers. 2
7 Frag Out Throw an explosive anti-personnel device. 1
8 Flow Upgrade Maximum Flow increased permanently. n/a
9 Flaming Punch Ignite your fist for an explosive punch. 1
10 Health Upgrade Maximum Health increased permanently. n/a
11 Transfusion While active, heal yourself and your friends by hurting your enemies. 2
12 Overscope Pull out a powerful sniper rifle. Headshots explode and damage nearby enemies. 2
13 Impulse Trap Throw an anti-gravity device that lifts enemies into the air, making them vulnerable to a quick shot. 2
14 Flow Upgrade Maximum Flow increased permanently. n/a
15 Health Upgrade Maximum Health increased permanently. n/a
16 Berserker While active, your melee attacks do more damage. 2
17 Intercession Call in some Saints to help you fight. 2
18 Quick Draw Pull out a powerful revolver then DualSense-R1 quickly to gun down up to four enemies. 2
19 D4th Blossom Spin around and fire bullets in every direction. 3
20 Flow Upgrade Maximum Flow increased permanently. n/a

Each active Skill requires Flow in order to use; the more Flow you have, the more skills you can use. You start out with two tabs of Flow, but can acquire up to five Flow by leveling. You regain Flow by defeating enemies.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Deep Silver
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, XB One, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Action Adventure
  • Guide Release
    22 August 2022
  • Last Updated
    24 September 2022
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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