Each character in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has different skills to unlock, which is done by earning experience points and skill points. As Star-Lord, the number of skill points unlocked depends on how high your Style rating is after each fight. Deal enough damage without taking any hits and the Style rating will be pretty good. The skill point bar will thus fill up and dole out a skill point.
Unfortunately, skill points are in a pool rather than available for each character. This means that the skill points you earn must be spent to each character’s skills separately, instead of just Star-Lord. Fortunately, it’s well worth investing in your teammates since they each play unique roles. Each Guardian has four different skills – let’s take a look at all of them, starting with Star-Lord.
- Vantage Point – Rise high into the air with your jet boots and either provide orders to teammates or attack enemies. Good for whenever you get swarmed or just want a quick overview of the battlefield.
- Fan the Hammer – Rapidly fire blaster shots which can damage multiple foes. Very strong but most effective up close. Use this on staggered foes.
- Eye of the Hurricane – Fly into the air and throw several grenades at enemies which cause decent damage and immense Stagger damage.
- Shield of Spartax – Gain a temporary shield that resists all attacks. A nice “Oh s**t” ability for surviving a massive amount of incoming damage.
Next up is Gamora who is very good at inflicting single-target damage but can also handily dispatch multiple enemies. Her skills are:
- Deadly Strike – Strikes a single foe for massive damage. Best used for tougher targets instead of fodder.
- Shadow Strike – Gamora dashes around, hitting multiple enemies for average damage. Can also be used to hit a single enemy with multiple strikes (but this is only recommended if Executioner is on cooldown).
- Stagger Wave – Strike a single foe and then deliver Stagger damage to enemies behind the first target with an energy wave.
- Executioner – Strike a single enemy multiple times and deal massive damage. Best utilized when a tougher enemy has been staggered.
Drax specializes in Stagger damage which can be very useful in fights with tankier foes. Staggered foes take more damage and become immobilized for a brief period so it’s definitely worth investing in Drax’s skills. Let’s take a look at all of them here:
- Destroy – Hit an enemy with an attack that deals light damage but inflicts heavy Stagger damage.
- Katathian Charge – Dash through enemies in a straight line, dealing average Stagger damage to those hit.
- Pound and Pummel – Smash the ground and deal average damage to a single foe. Surrounding enemies take light damage.
- Wrath of Katath – Hit an enemy with an attack that deals heavy Stagger damage to a single foe and average Stagger damage to foes that are close by. Deal more Stagger damage as Drax’s rage builds.
Rocket is the ranged DPS of the group that specializes in clearing out hordes of foes. Check out all of his unlockable skills below:
- Cluster Flark Bomb – Throw a grenade at a target, dealing average damage in a radius around them.
- Gravistack Grenade – Toss a grenade that gathers surrounding enemies towards a target and then follow up with an attack.
- Glowing Pains Grenade – Throw a grenade that unleashes numerous darts which briefly shock and inflicts light Stagger damage to foes. All affected enemies also take more Stagger damage during this time.
- Five Barrel Barrage – Unleash a vast amount of firepower on an enemy which also inflicts significant damage to the area around them. Perfect for dealing immense damage to tougher foes that have been staggered or quickly clearing out a room full of enemies.
Finally, there’s Groot who specializes in crowd-control, specifically binding enemies in place. He’s also capable of acting as a decent support when the team is down and out. Check out all of his abilities below:
- Entangle – Grapples several enemies, trapping them in place. Great for comboing with Rocket’s Cluster Flark Bomb or with Drax’s Pound and Pummel.
- Uproot – Fire roots from the ground which deals average damage and launches small and medium sized enemies into the air. Combos well with Star-Lord’s Eye of the Hurricane.
- Mammoth Grab – Grapples a single large foe and deals average Stagger damage.
- Gift of the Florae – Resurrects all fallen Guardians while also bringing their abilities off cooldown. If Star-Lord goes down and Gift of the Florae is off cooldown, then Groot will revive him automatically.
Some abilities are better than others in different situations – for instance, using Groot’s Mammoth Grab and Drax’s Destroy to stagger a foe before following up with Gamora’s Deadly Strike or Execution and Rocket’s Five Barrel Barrage. Even the “best” abilities for Star-Lord depend on whether you’re keen on taking stock of the battlefield and coordinating your party (Vantage Point) from a distance or being up-close in the action (Fan the Hammer and Shield of Spartax). It’s all up to you.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is available now for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch. For more combat advice along with general tips and tricks, head here. You can also read our official review here.