The Undead hordes in Evil West are great in number and variety. There's an assortment of rotting and mutated monsters for our hero Jessie Rentier to take down, and having the right skill set to get through some of those fights can make a difference.
This is managed through a Perk system which lets you mix and match enhancements to your character as you go through the game. Some of them are stronger than others and thankfully you can respec your character if an upgrade isn't working for you. To set you on the right track to building a god-like Gunslinger, here are the best Perks in Evil West.
10 Projectile Block
It sounds odd, but unfortunately for a small chunk of the early game you can't block. Which means unless you're quick on the dodge button you're going to be taking a lot of cheap hits, especially from range as they're often hard to see coming or they're homing.
After you get the Zap Gauntlet it's highly recommended you unlock this Perk. It's honestly a must-have as it blocks all projectiles and there are a lot of them in this game. Especially towards the later missions where the arena fights are almost constant and the number of projectile-firing Ghouls only increases.
9 On The Spot
Staying on the topic of ranged attacks for just a moment, another of the best Perks in Evil West is On The Spot. This nifty little addon can help you gain some extra health when your healing ability is in a cooldown and considering how some hits can chunk your health bar, having little healing nibbles can help you squeeze through some pretty tough fights.
When On The Spot is unlocked it gives a 15 percent chance to drop a healing orb when an enemy is hit with a ranged attack. Available by following the Pump Jack node in the Perk Tree, it's a great Perk to fall back on if you're running low on the old health bar.
8 Short Circuit
Your punches will get you pretty far, but you really want to focus on Jessie's lightning abilities as they can create a lot of breathing room and help you set up new combo strings on stunned Vamps. However, to use these you need energy and it's not exactly going spare. The best Evil West Perk to use to get around that is Short Circuit.
It's another that's pretty much mandatory. This is because it drops energy on enemy death, which makes it good for farming drops from squishy minions in the middle of fights. With how often you'll have to rely on these abilities as you get further into the game, it's a worthwhile upgrade. Especially around the midpoint when the tanky Vampire Noble mini-bosses become more common.
7 On A Roll
On A Roll is an apt way to describe this next Perk because it incentivizes you to keep rolling through those steam-powered piston punches. When this addon is activated it can help you build up that energy bar, plus it synergizes with Short Circuit to fill the arena with energy orbs.
Unlocked at level 12, it’s a guaranteed energy drop on every fifth Finisher. Which is when a Vampire or Monster is flashing and in a stunned state, it's the same as the Glory Kill mechanic from Doom and it's always fun to watch. Even though it only triggers on the fifth Finisher, because of how clogged fights get with Vampires, it's easy to hit that number pretty quickly. So it's a noticeable enhancement.
6 Aftershock
Jessie's Quake Punch is a good problem solver, and on its own it can get you through most of the game without a problem. But it's always worth giving that big lightning-blasting ground pound a bit of a boost, and that's where the Aftershock Perk comes in.
Aftershock creates a follow-up slam to the Quake Punch that allows you to chain the slam faster, with higher damage. It uses up one energy pip for each hit and looped right it can clear an arena of minions in seconds. It's available by following the Hero Punch Skill Tree, so it's not too hard to get your hands on it.
5 Enhanced Combo
Enhanced Combo is one for those circling around the endgame as it can turn some pretty solid brawls and bosses into absolute pushovers. Unlocked at level 16, this perk adds more punches and increases the speed of the E-Combo. So you can go full JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure on a Vampire as you shred its health bar.
Why it’s useful is that the base version can already guarantee a kill on most minions and take off at least half or a quarter of a mini-boss bar. So you can zip in and become an absolute DPS fiend on some of Evil West's tanky monsters. It's an upgrade that's definitely noticeable as it lets you blow through a Ghoul's health bar and make it explode into a gore-filled mess.
4 Death Defied
Dying in Evil West is incredibly easy and often comes absolutely out of nowhere. On Hard and above you can be one-shot extremely quickly whilst on Normal and below your health bar can disappear in big brutal chunks. Thankfully the checkpoints are fairly lenient, but an extra life is always handy and that's kind of what Death Defied does.
Unlocked at level 14, instead of dying, Jesse heals for 25 percent of his health and gets three-second invulnerability. It's enough to tank a game-ending hit from a boss for a coup de grace smack of your own, or for getting out of a big blob of Undead minions if you get swamped. It's a recommended Perk to have and even though it's locked off for a while, it's a worthy investment of your Skill Points.
3 Punch The Bunch
Whilst Jessie's flying fists of fury pack a meaty punch, unfortunately it's all single-target focused. In a game like Evil West where you're constantly fending off large groups it can make good crowd control extremely difficult and a little frustrating. There are no big sweep attacks sadly, but you can get around it somewhat with the Punch The Bunch Perk.
This helpful addon results in uppercuts and the Touchdown move hitting multiple enemies. Which is perfect as it allows for satisfying group launches and big AOEs. It also makes additional Gauntlet hits and Revolver fans count on groups, so you can juggle a large bunch of Vamps at once. It's unlocked at level 14, so it's a great endgame Perk to have and something to work towards as you plow through the story of Evil West.
2 Discharge Block
Just like how Jessie's ham hock hands can only deal with one Undead creep at a time, so too does his Zap Block. For those not aware, on a well-timed block it applies an Electrocution debuff on a target which stuns and locks them in place for a few seconds as they frazzle from the High Voltage. Unfortunately, it only applies to one target at a time, but you can change this with the Discharge Block Perk.
After it's unlocked, any blocking applies the Electrocution effect on multiple enemies at once instead of just one unlucky Vamp. Combined with Wider Audience, which allows multiple mobs to be reeled in with the Zap Pull, it allows you to stun-lock large groups of Vampires at once, or set them up for a nice launch attack. It's a great Perk and it lets you crowd control super easily, so get it if you can after you hit level 12.
1 Very Very Frightening
To round things out it's worth recommending perhaps the best Perk in Evil West. Very Very Frightening is a lot of fun and it just absolutely melts through minions and takes a suitably large chunk out of a mini-bosses health bar.
Unlocked at level 16, this Perk spawns lightning bolts whenever Supercharged mode is activated. These high-voltage helpers blast down from above on the battlefield and damage enemies at random. Whilst it is unpredictable, it can mostly Oneshot weaker minions and clear out a room pretty easily, and that's before you go zipping about in Supercharged mode.