Best skills to unlock first in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

Picking the best Skills in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight enhances moment-to-moment gameplay. While a few of them are straight up overpowered, equipping the top Skills makes the game much more comfortable — and therefore fun — to play. Skills don't add any game-changing mechanics, but you'll have more resources to use in combat, more options during exploration, and won't need to be as careful about searching for and collecting items.

There's one catch, though. While you eventually do acquire enough Skill Bricks to fill out Batman's entire Skill tree, you'll need to grind for at least some of them. That's why unlocking the best Skills first is so important, as it makes going for that 100% completion grind, or just campaign completion, a more enjoyable task.

In this guide, we'll share the 13 Skills you should unlock first, organised by chapter. Much of the skill tree is locked when you start the game, and you only get full access in Chapter 4. Let's get started.

In this guide:

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Best Skills to unlock first in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight

There are plenty of Skills to unlock to ensure that Batman, Catwoman, and all of the other playable characters can tackle Gotham's worst. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/TT Games

Skills in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight come from two categories: Combat and Exploration. The Combat upgrades provide either additional moves or otherwise enhance your combat experience. Exploration Skills make finding items, navigating the world, or collecting resources easier, among other things.

By the start of Chapter Four, however, you'll only have 13 Skill Bricks, so unless you're fully clearing zones as you unlock them, you're unlikely to have too many more Bricks to spend on Skills.

Best Chapter One Skills

The first set of Skills you should unlock sets the stage for many that come after. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/TT Games

You can only choose between three Skills in Chapter One, and only a couple are really worth your points. They include:

• Critical Hits (Combat): This Skill asks a little of you, with properly timed attacks dealing additional damage and providing more Focus. There aren't many ways to improve your combat effectiveness so universally in the game, so Critical Hits is an easy pickup.
• Stud Magnet (Exploration): This other Skill worth your time widens the radius where you automatically pick up Studs. If you use our best Stud farming methods guide, you'll find that you need to do much less to gather the little things with this Skill active.

Best Chapter Two Skills

Chapter Two's Skill selection is fantastic, but the best ones are a head above the rest. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/TT Games

The Skills you unlock in Chapter Two are some real heaters, so choosing between them can be tough. However, the following three are your best overall options:

• Combat Focus (Combat): More Focus means more automatic takedowns (or heavy damage on bosses), and with this Skill, you earn a bit of extra Focus for each hit of a basic attack. It didn't take too long to build enough Focus before, but with some of the later Skills on this list, taking this one early will save you time and effort.
• Glide Takedown (Combat): A staple of Batman games past, being able to do a takedown as you glide around Gotham makes starting fights both easier and more cinematic. It doesn't have quite as much use in missions, but while exploring the world, it can be a massive boon.
• Ejector Seat (Exploration): The Batmobile is the best way to move about the streets of Gotham, and the Ejector Seat is a free way to get some vertical momentum from the ground. With the map divided by bodies of water passable only by bridges, having an easy way to get airborne when you drive to a new region is a lovely addition to your skillset.
• Alternate - Healthy Hero (Combat): You can always grab Healthy Hero in place of Ejector Seat or Glide Takedown, because extra health is never bad to have.

Best Chapter Three Skills

The Skills you can unlock after Chapter Three can be flashy or functional. I like functional. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/TT Games

Chapter Three is the first time you'll encounter Skills more orientated around Exploration in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, at least for your initial unlocks. The Combat options are more specialised and while they're nice to have if you want to dig more into the fighting mechanics, they're not strictly necessary.

• Extra Focus (Combat): Having an additional Focus bar to fill means more time before it's completely full, but you're also doubling the potential Focus takedowns. Combine that with the Combat Focus Skill we took earlier, and you'll have plenty of free damage or KOs to go around.
• Collectible Detective (Exploration): If you're having trouble finding any of the more puzzling or well-hidden collectibles in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, this Skill is a godsend.
• Focused Maneuvers (Exploration): Those of you out to find and complete the many challenges in Gotham City will love having the extra Focus you get by traversing the world with this Skill. It's a straight, passive buff.

Best Chapter Four Skills

The final selection of Skills will almost complete a strong build, but you can always do more. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/TT Games

Save at least four Skill Points for when you reach Chapter 4, as you'll gain access to four of the best Skills in the game. One of them is an extension of an earlier Skill we grabbed, and another just makes the game easier.

• Takedown Chaining (Combat): Why this is so far down the list, I'm not sure, but being able to chain together stealth takedowns makes keeping things quiet exponentially easier, in a mission or otherwise.
• Extra Focus (Combat): Three Focus bars are not too many, I assure you. We've got multiple ways to increase our Focus gain, and you'll earn more Skill Points from later Chapter Four missions to pick up those you've not chosen so far.
• Healthy Hero (Combat): Max out Batman's health stat with the second Healthy Hero Skill, or give him extra staying power for the first time if you haven't previously taken this great Skill.
• Hyper Combo (Exploration): We've ignored the Stud Multipler for too long at this point, and adding Hyper Combo as you near endgame ensures you have all the tools to efficiently gather as many points of Lego currency as possible.

Those are our picks for the best Skills you should get first in Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. Many of the other Combat Skills are good to pick up if you find the standard fighting cadence a bit bland, but I don't think they're necessary to enjoy the game. Skills like Collectible Detective are also great if you're going for 100% completion. If you are heading that direction, check out our complete guide to the Iceberg Lounge for all the findables there, and our list of all 126 suits you can find and unlock.