That’s where this guide comes in. Here, we’ll take a look at the best traits for beating the game’s many bosses. We’ll break down each of them, tell you how useful they are, and, like a sommelier of death, pair each with the best builds.
Don’t worry if you already spent all your trait points: just respec your character and min/max them to the top.
The Best Traits in Remnant: From the Ashes
While these are the traits that make up the best builds in the game, they are also useful for almost any build. Most of these are focused on dealing massive damage or giving you superior late-game survivability.
Executioner
The Executioner trait increases your chance of scoring critical hits. Enemies in Remnant’s late-game have big health pools and do a ton of damage, so dropping them quickly is extremely important.
Critical hit builds tend to dominate the metagame, and for good reason. You’ll want to have points in this if you are trying to advance to later stages in the game.
Exploiter
Exploiter increases your weak spot damage. Beating enemies by targeting weak points is another popular build in the late game, and the damage increase given by this trait makes you a death dealer if you have decent aim.
Glutton
You’re going to need consumables to survive some of the tougher battles, and the Glutton trait allows you to use them quickly. This is one of the weaker top-tier trait, but it’s still useful in nearly any build.
Kingslayer
If you’re running a critical hit build, Kingslayer is where a big chunk of your points will go. The damage increase to critical hits is massive. Coupled with Executioner, Kingslayer makes any build much more fearsome.
Mind’s Eye
A very strong perk that helps any class, Mind’s Eye increases your ranged damage. The increase isn’t as big as some other specific traits, but its versatility makes up for that. This is a solid pick early while you’re still figuring out your style.
Quick Hands
Increasing reload speed is extremely important for many builds, especially ones that utilize powerful weapons like rifles and shotguns. Quick Hands helps you deal massive damage faster.
Shadow Walker
Reducing enemy awareness allows you to utilize your build’s strengths more often. Pick enemies off one by one, scoring critical hits or weak point hits one after another. Putting many points in this trait will make you almost undetectable.
Trigger Happy
Increase your fire rate. This works really well with guns that spit out a lot of bullets, but it can also give you a little extra support in sniper and shotgun builds. It’s a strong choice.
Solid Traits
These traits will be useful no matter what, but they aren’t as powerful as the ones listed above. They also might be useful in the early game, but fall by the wayside when you start running into tougher enemies.
Elder Knowledge
Increasing your experience gain is key if you want to max out your other traits. Eventually, you’ll want to respec the points you used here to actually make your character stronger. However, Elder Knowledge is a great way to bulk up quickly.
Handling
In the right build, Handling can be devastating. Turn your SMGs into accuracy machines and watch enemies melt. If you’re planning for the “lots of bullets” approach, this is the right trait for you.
Mother’s Blessing
This one stays relevant even once you’ve become pretty darn good at Remnant: From the Ashes. You’re going to get hit on occasion, and it’s usually going to be by ranged attacks. This trait will help you stay alive long enough to fight back.
Triage
This trait increases your health regeneration. There are plenty of builds and certain items that can make good use of this. It’s great for staying alive early. However, you’ll probably want to shift away from it in the later game.
Vigor
Despite being a starting trait, Vigor is pretty useful, even in the late game. Increasing your health keeps you alive early and gives you a parachute if you make a mistake in the late game. There are sexier traits, but Vigor does good work.
You Could Do Better Traits
These are traits that are either fine but mediocre or extremely build-specific. In general, you’ll be able to find a better option than these traits unless you are on a very specific path.
Catalyst
There are some powerful status effects in Remnant: From the Ashes, and this trait will better let you inflict them on enemies. If status effects are the focus of your build, you can’t go wrong here.
Endurance
Increasing your stamina is… fine. In general, if you’re dodging this much, you probably aren’t doing it right.
Guardian’s Blessing
Reducing melee damage is useful in the early game. In the late game, however, you should be killing enemies before they get close enough or you should be dodging their attacks, negating this trait.
Keeper’s Blessing
Reducing elemental damage is nice when you’re figuring the game out. But once you’ve learned enemies and bosses, it becomes obsolete.
Rapid Strike
Unless you are running a dedicated melee build, which can be very powerful, increasing your melee attack speed is pretty worthless. This trait is devastating in a specific build, but it should be ignored otherwise.
Spirit
Increasing your mod power generation can be good in a support role, as there are some really powerful mods out there. At the same time, wouldn’t you rather just kill something faster?
Warrior
Increasing your melee damage can be powerful on a melee only build, but it’s pretty much useless in any other context.
Bottom Tier Traits
You’ll probably want to avoid these.
Arcane Strike
Increase mod generation from melee attacks. Take two very specific and unimpressive traits and combine them. Not a great pick.
Bark Skin
You probably shouldn’t be getting hit enough that armor effectiveness matters, and there are better traits with similar outcomes.
Cold as Ice
Increasing damage when you attack enemies from behind sounds powerful, but this trait is outclassed in nearly any build by other options.
Recovery
Better stamina regeneration is not going to help you win many fights.
Revivalist
Bringing back fallen teammates is not great for two reasons: it’s only useful in multiplayer, and good teams shouldn’t need this. Skip it.
Scavenger
A better way of getting more scrap is by killing more enemies.
Suspicion
Friendly fire is always on in Remnant: From the Ashes, but on the right team, you wouldn’t know it. If this trait is helping you by decreasing friendly fire damage, you should find new teammates.
Swiftness
Meh: You’ll find better uses for your trait points than increasing your movement speed.
Teamwork
Increasing teamwork range is only useful in multiplayer, and not much there either. Skip.
Will to Live
This increases your health when you’re wounded. Again, there are far better ways to spend your trait points.
World Walker
This decreases your stamina usage. You’d have to put far too many points into this trait to notice the effects. Points that are better spent elsewhere.
There you have it. These are the traits you should focus your trait points on, whether now or in your next playthrough of Remnant: From the Ashes. If you can’t get enough of this Soulslike developed by Gunfire Games, check out our review here and all our guides right here! Happy hunting!
