**Far Cry 4 skills: the Tiger, the Elephant and what to unlock first**

**Far Cry 4 skills: the Tiger, the Elephant and what to unlock first** Spoiler level: skill names, activity requirements and a few campaign mission names. Base-game campaign rules. Extra health, a quicker reload and a way to deal with armored soldiers can make a much bigger difference than another expensive gun. Far Cry 4 spreads those improvements across the Tiger and Elephant trees, and you can buy skills from both. The catch is that earning enough skill points is only part of the job. Later skills also require the earlier nodes in their branch, and some ask you to complete a particular activity. A pile of unused points will not get you past a story gate. **A useful early order** Start with room to survive mistakes. Capable Strength and Forceful Strength expand Ajay's health; Healing Syringe Level 2 helps you refill it. Those upgrades are useful whether you sneak or charge in. Then address the part of combat that is actually slowing you down. If reloading keeps trapping you in place, take Running Reload and work toward Ammo Wrangler. If nearby enemies keep spotting bodies, take Loot Takedown and Drag Takedown so the cleanup becomes less awkward. If you use foliage to stay supplied, Harvester is a practical investment. Elephant Rider is an early option too. It opens up a very different way to approach certain fights, although you still need an elephant nearby. Buy it because you want to use that approach, rather than expecting it to help in every mission. **Every Tiger skill, grouped by branch** Read each line from left to right for its branch order. Additional activity requirements appear below. - **Death from Above → Death from Below → Cover Takedown → Grenade Takedown:** aerial, ledge, cover and explosive takedown options. - **Knife Throw Takedown → Handgun Takedown → Vehicle Takedown → Chain Takedown:** follow-up attacks, vehicle hijacking and linked close-range kills. - **Loot Takedown → Drag Takedown → Bullet Sponge → Heavy Takedown:** looting, body movement, armor protection and takedowns against heavy enemies. - **Running Reload → At the Ready → Stay on Target → Ammo Wrangler:** mobile reloads, faster handling, aimed reloads and general reload speed. - **Moving Target → Casual Marksman → Huntsman → Breath Control:** firing while moving bodies, hip fire, bow stability and breath duration. - **Focused Driving → Moving Mountains → Soft Landing → Non-Stop:** vehicle durability, moving heavy bodies, reduced fall damage and sustained movement. Tiger skills reward preparation. A takedown can be very efficient when the target is isolated, but buying the animation does not make a crowded approach safe. Check the patrol behind your target before you move. **Every Elephant skill, grouped by branch** - **Capable Strength → Forceful Strength → Dominant Strength → Unyielding Strength:** successive health increases. - **Healing Syringe Level 2 → Inner Strength → Improvised Surgery → Healing Syringe Level 3:** stronger healing, regeneration and better manual treatment. - **Gadget Training → Trade Agreement → Overdose Syringe → Karma Boosts:** improved tools, special ammunition access, a damage trade-off syringe and Karma gains. - **Harvester → Hunting Syringe → Hunting Syringe Level 2 → Duration Boosts:** gathering and tracking support. - **Rhino Skin → Survival Syringe → Survival Syringe Level 2 → Duration Boosts:** protection and defensive syringe improvements. - **Elephant Rider → Focus Syringe → Focus Syringe Level 2 → Duration Boosts:** elephant use and focus-syringe improvements. The three Duration Boosts belong to different syringes. Check the branch before spending a point. Karma Boosts and duration upgrades are repeatable nodes, so learning a node once and fully upgrading it are different milestones. **Clear the activity gates deliberately** These are the extra requirements for the relevant nodes, in addition to their branch prerequisites and point costs: - Eye for an Eye, one completed: Cover Takedown. - Bomb Defusal, one: Grenade Takedown. - Kyrati Films race, one: Vehicle Takedown. - Retaliation party, one defeated: Chain Takedown. - Three regular takedowns: Bullet Sponge. - Pagan's Wrath convoy, one destroyed: Heavy Takedown. - Three headshots: Stay on Target. - Longinus mission, one: Ammo Wrangler. - Two Shangri-La Bells of Enlightenment: Huntsman. - Two Hostage Rescue quests: Breath Control. - Two undetected outpost liberations: Soft Landing. - Karma level four: Non-Stop. - Armed Escort, one: Improvised Surgery. - Three crafted syringes: Healing Syringe Level 3. - Kyrat Fashion Week, one: Overdose Syringe and the Focus duration node. - Homestead upgrade, one purchased: Karma Boosts. - Yogi and Reggie bonus mission, one: Hunting duration node. - Signature weapon, one purchased: Survival Syringe Level 2. - Arena rank two: Survival duration node. Story gates matter as well. A Key to the North opens Dominant Strength and Focus Syringe Level 2; Payback gates Unyielding Strength; Truth and Justice gates Hunting Syringe Level 2. **Spend for the next problem** Before a difficult mission, look at what repeatedly ends the attempt. Running out of health calls for a different purchase than failing an undetected approach. A reload improvement will do very little for a jump you keep mistiming. When several useful skills are gated, combine the errands. Finish a missing activity, visit the shop, then spend the newly available points before the next major mission. You will get more out of the upgrade when it is bought before the difficult encounter rather than noticed after it.