Highlights

• Unlocking and investing in the right Traits is crucial in Remnant: From The Ashes for success in challenging content.
• Siphoner, Exploiter, and Trigger Happy are among the best Traits to invest points in first, offering significant benefits in healing, weak spot damage, and fire rate respectively.
• Traits like Endurance, World Walker, Triage, and Elder Knowledge provide additional advantages in stamina, stamina consumption, healing effectiveness, and experience gain.

Traits play a critical role in Remnant: From The Ashes, and anyone who has experience with the game can easily verify this. Unlocking and investing in the right ones can mean the difference between eradicating the scourge of the Rot or joining their ranks as yet another lifeless corpse. With this in mind, players will need to pay close attention to their Traits if they're to have any hope of tackling the game's hardest content.

Thankfully, in Remnant: From The Ashes, players are able to respec their Traits at a certain point in the game, but that's not for a long time, so it's good to know which ones are best to invest points in first. So, let's go over the best Traits to put points into first.

Updated December 7th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: With both Remnant: From the Ashes and Remnant 2 now coming to Xbox Game Pass, a lot of people are going to be checking out both games for the first time. And, while Remnant 2 does improve upon Remnant: From the Ashes in a ton of ways, a lot of people prefer playing games in order or aren't able to run Remnant 2 reliably. In those instances, it's good to know what Traits to look out for and unlock first. So, with that in mind, let's go over some of the best Traits out of the possible 50 Traits they'll eventually obtain in their adventures.

18 Siphoner

Obtained In Reisum

Starting things off with probably one of the last Traits players will get in their first Remnant: From the Ashes run as well as one of the most frustrating Traits to get, Siphoner. Having to re-roll Reisum over and over and over again to hopefully find the Rescue the Krall Baby event (and that's not even counting trying to get this event as well as the Krall Mother event) is such a tedious pain.

But sadly, this Trait is absolutely worth all the effort, as being able to heal off of damage done not only saves players a lot of Dragon Heart usages, but it also keeps them safer more often. By healing this way, players won't have to find the right moment to use their Relic, and they won't also have to suffer extra damage when they happen to pick the wrong moment either.

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16 Exploiter

Obtained By Completing A Specific Challenge

The amount of Weak Spot damage a player inflicts in combat really differs from player to player in any of the Remnant games. Some players just point and fire at enemies and really only 'try' and go for Weak Spots on big bosses where it's difficult to even miss the Weak Spot. But, there is also a significant portion of players (especially Hunter-type players) who go for Weak Spots constantly, and for those players, Exploiter is one of their best Traits.

There is already a ton of gear in Remnant: From the Ashes that increases Weak Spot damage, so when it's stacked on top of this Trait, a well-aimed shot can absolutely shred the bosses' health bar.

15 Trigger Happy

Obtained By Completing A Specific Challenge

There aren't a lot of guns in Remnant: From the Ashes that don't get a direct benefit from increased Fire Rate. Whether it's Long Guns or Hand Guns, most weapons in this game will have a noticeable increase in utility and DPS if their Fire Rate is buffed. Granted, weapons like the Crossbow, Devastator Skewer, Sniper Rifle, Sporebloom, and Ricochet Rifle won't gain any real benefit from the Trigger Happy Trait at all, but every other weapon will be at least 20 percent more fun to use.

Sure, the unlock condition is a bit oddly specific in requiring a +20 weapon upgrade rather than a +10 Boss weapon upgrade, but players are going to be upgrading a good number of weapons to the max anyway, so it's hard to even avoid obtaining this Trait in the first place.

14 Endurance

One Of The Game's Default Traits

Let's be honest, against some of the more 'hectic' bosses in these Soulslike games there are moments where everyone, veteran or not, spams their dodge button to stay alive. Well, with the Endurance Trait leveled up in Remnant, players will be able to do this more often without getting punished for it.

Every point in this Trait increases the player's Stamina stat by +2.5 capping out at +50 points of extra Stamina overall. Not only does this help with evasion, but it also makes it so players can run more often or swing Melee Weapons (some of which return in the sequel) more times in a row.

13 World Walker

Obtained In Rhom

Another Trait solely centered around Stamina is World Walker. This Trait, when leveled, provides a percentage decrease in Stamina Consumption overall, 1 percent per Trait Point. At max rank, this means that players quite literally spend 20 percent less Stamina than players who don't have it.

Some people may be thinking that this doesn't amount to much, given that Stamina just affects dodging and running, but outside of shooting their guns what are players doing the most? That's right, running and dodging.

12 Triage

Obtained In Yaesha

As is the case with just about any difficult game, any and all buffs to a player's overall health pool or the amount of health they regain from healing is massively impactful. The Triage Trait is one such buff, as it increases Healing Effectiveness overall and makes some builds in multiplayer a lot more overpowered.

Each Trait Point used for Triage increases Healing Effectiveness by 5 percent, capping out at a massive 100 percent extra Effectiveness as Max Rank. Healing for double the amount that players would without this Trait makes it pretty much impossible to not immediately level Triage up when possible on subsequent playthroughs, as players just get used to the extra healing juice. Medic in Remnant 2 is an Archetype obviously designed around the Trait as a whole.

11 Elder Knowledge

Obtained In Ward 13

This Trait loses out to Vigor as the 'best of the best'...but just barely, and there's an argument to be had for putting it above it. The funny thing about comparing the two Traits is that Elder Knowledge literally has nothing to do with improving the player's stats in any way. Rather, this Trait just increases the amount of EXP gained from killing enemies.

But, the more EXP gained, the more levels, which means more Trait Points, which in turn makes it easier to kill enemies, and the cycle continues. The earlier players can get access to this Trait, the better, and as soon as they do it's absolutely worth the investment to immediately focus on getting it to Max Rank ASAP to get that +20 percent EXP gained buff for the rest of the game.

10 Spirit

Obtained As The Ex-Cultist Or On Earth

When players first start in Remnant, a lot of them think that the game all comes down to which gun they use and how good their aim is. But, while these are massive factors, the most impactful gameplay mechanics overall are Weapon Mods.

These are essentially the 'magic' system in Remnant: From the Ashes, and there are a whole bunch of them, 53 to be exact, including all the ones locked to Boss Weapons. The more often a player has their Mods up and ready to use, the more they can do in combat. So, a Trait like Spirit that increases the amount of Mod Power Generation overall, is a huge boon.

9 Swiftness

Obtained In Yaesha

This next Trait is a bit of a unique case as it's purely for convenience, but that doesn't mean it's 'bad'. Swiftness is a Trait that, quite simply, increases the player's Movement Speed by +0.75 per Trait Point, capping out at an overall 15 percent Movement Speed buff.

Here's the thing, Remnant: From the Ashes is a game that, on the surface, doesn't seem like there will be too much exploration or backtracking. That's absolutely incorrect. Players will be running the majority of the time in this game and completionists will be running even more often to find hidden areas or re-explore a re-rolled Adventure Mode map, looking for a specific Event. So, making that whole process 15 percent less tedious seems like a solid investment.

8 Bark Skin

Obtained On Earth

Having a high level of armor can really make a difference in Remnant, both against mobs of enemies and just big harder-hitting ones. Increasing it to ridiculous levels can entirely negate some lower-level attacks though. Whether players are running an armored tank or not, it pays to have a few extra layers of defense against the enemy, especially given both this game's and the sequel's difficulty scaling.

Bark Skin gives the player more armor with each level, negating more and more attacks. Armor may not be as critical as health, but it certainly helps preserve what little health players do have and it’s a great feeling watching one's character shrug off weaker attacks with barely a scratch.

7 Mind’s Eye

Obtained In Ward 17

Given how weak melee builds are in Remnant: From the Ashes, which is something that the sequel at least improved upon, there's a good chance that most players' builds are going to be gun-dependant. Mind’s Eye is a Trait that increases the damage that players deal at any range.

Whether up close with a shotgun or at a distance with a sniper rifle, this Trait will boost the damage output by a noticeable amount. This is a great Trait for increasing DPS and benefits any and all ranged weapons, making it a solid choice for just about any build. The only downside is this absolutely isn't a Trait that players can max early on, as it requires killing the last boss of the base game in order to obtain it.

6 Kingslayer

Obtained In Rhom

Many of the most powerful builds in the game, or any game really, rely on dealing critical hits as often as possible. There's a good reason for this, as getting that added boost from a critical hit can save a ton of ammo and bring down bosses very quickly. Kingslayer increases the amount of damage that’s dealt when players do trigger a critical hit.

Even if players aren’t trying to raise their critical hit chance, having that extra boost of damage every now and again can be a great surprise and will likely save players' lives on multiple occasions throughout a typical run. It's therefore a useful Trait to have hidden away up one's sleeve.

5 Executioner

Obtained In Corsus

While on the subject of critical hit builds, the Executioner Trait is an absolute necessity for those hoping to make them work. Executioner raises the chances of players striking a critical hit by a total of 25 percent at Max Rank, which can be a real game-changer when up against some of the game's harder content.

That 25 percent is huge when players are trying to nudge their critical hit chance up to 100 percent and picking this Trait can provide some flexibility when it comes to gear loadouts too. Even for non-critical hit builds, a few points in this Trait can still offer some much-needed bonus damage every now and then.

4 Glutton

Obtained In Corsus

Consumables play a big role in Remnant: From the Ashes, which may surprise some people. Consumables in other games tend not to have a large impact, but they do here, especially in the late game. As players step into the final parts of this nightmarish world, they'll find themselves using all sorts of items like Bloodwort. Adrenaline, or even Frenzy dust. Well, the Glutton Trait enables players to consume those items faster, which is great for bosses especially.

Each point increases the effect by 1.75 percent. At Max Rank, players can therefore slug down Consumables so fast that it actually becomes a little comical. While the value in maxing out this Trait is debatable, most players will definitely need to invest a few points into it for endgame boss fights.

3 Mother’s Blessing

Obtained On Earth

For as many horrifying melee enemies as there are across the 'Realms' of Remnant's world, there are still far more ranged enemies. This makes the Mother’s Blessing Trait absolutely essential for long-term survival. It has the effect of reducing the damage that players receive from attacks coming from range.

It’s a great defensive Trait, as players are effectively negating a portion of all types of ranged damage. This gives them some survivability against everything from the little guys to the largest bosses. Regardless of a player's build, they should be sure to invest a few points into this Trait.

2 Quick Hands

Obtained On Earth

Having the ability to get more bullets into one's weapon sooner is key to achieving high levels of DPS. Quick Hands is a Trait that increases players' reload speed with any kind of weapon that uses ammo.

At high enough levels, sniper rifles can be reloaded like assault rifles and assault rifles will feel like it’s on a belt feed. It’s also handy for weapons like the Devastator or Crossbow that need to be reloaded after every shot. The only downside to this Trait is that it can make it easier to burn through ammo without realizing it, so make sure and bring Ammo Boxes too.

1 Vigor

One Of The Game's Default Traits

Vigor is the best Trait in Remnant: From the Ashes. Whether they're a lowly beginner or a seasoned veteran, players should be trying to max this Trait out as soon as possible. In fact, unless players are going for a very specific build and know exactly what they're doing, the first 20 Trait points are probably best spent here, as it gets this bit of tedium out of the way and then they can spend the rest of their playthrough 'individualizing' their build.

This is because each point in Vigor increases total health by 2.5. Maxed out, this means that players have an extra 50 points of health to play around with. And, when players first start out in Remnant, they only have 100 Max HP, so this Trait at Max Rank literally adds a 50 percent total increase in health overall.