In the Saints Row series, there weren’t necessarily any defined skills or perks; instead, there was a menu where you could upgrade different stats of your character or other processes around the city. So, when the Saints Row reboot added a perks system where you could only implement up to five perks at a time out of 38 in total, it can be hard to find the best.
The major problem with this is that to unlock all of these perks, you are required to complete a minimum of 52 challenges, ranging from doing stunts in vehicles to surviving max notoriety for a certain amount of time. But with that said, this will focus mainly on the best perks that can be worked together and will include four minor, four major, and two elite perks to allow for the best customizability.
10 Breakfall (Minor)
The hardest perk in the game to get is Breakfall, and it’s not hard to understand why since it allows your character to not take any fall damage. Most likely, unless you grind out challenges early on, you probably won’t ever see this perk.
However, later in the game, when you complete enough challenges, you’ll definitely be equipping this to your perk list. This perk will make wingsuiting around easier with no chance of dying upon an unscheduled impact, and you’ll be able to jump from small ledges without getting half of your health taken away.
9 Loot Grab (Minor)
A perk you can unlock early on in the game is the minor perk, Loot Grab. It does what it says and allows you to pick up loot dropped from enemies, like ammo and money, in a larger radius. As many perks early on aren’t that great, you’ll more than likely equip this one to help out.
The situation that this perk best works with is when you’re fighting waves of enemies and can’t get too close, or when you need to pick up something on the other side of cover. It’s also better than trying to walk over every single drop and instead having everything sucked towards you.
8 In The Flow (Minor)
Another great minor perk is the perk called In The Flow. It allows you never to lose the flow you’ve acquired except when performing a skill. Without this skill, your flow slowly disappears if you’re not fighting for a time, which will negatively impact the skills you can use when you need to fight.
This perk is great for all fights, especially once you get more flow upgrades where you can hold up to five bars simultaneously. It especially pairs well with the Eurekabator upgrade Quantum Aperture, where you put up a wall that allows you to shoot through any obstacle.
7 Fire Resistant (Minor)
Out of all the other minor perks, one of the things that seems unnecessary but is needed is the Fire Resistant perk. As it’s probably apparent what it does, it allows for your character to stay in control when on fire, while also taking little to no fire damage from attacks.
The reason why this perk is so important is that this game loves fire, fireworks, and explosives that cause a fire. There are plenty of times throughout the game when you’ll be in a fight, and an enemy will throw a molotov that makes you unable to move. And in the moments right afterward, you are shot to death.
6 On The Down Low (Major)
The first major perk you unlock after completing four challenges is called On The Down Low. It is an incredibly beneficial perk as it allows for all actions you do to generate less notoriety overall. This is especially useful because notoriety is slightly broken in this game.
Most of the time, you’ll have this perk equipped because you won’t find many other valuable major perks until the end of the game. And, if you ever decide to unequip this major perk, be careful of the consequences when driving badly over pedestrians and property.
5 Scavenger (Major)
Scavenger is a perk that works best with the minor perk Loot Grab. This perk lets you pick up more ammo whenever picking up any ammo rounds or boxes. Running out of ammo is something that you will do a lot, mainly if you use SMGs as your primary weapons.
The best situations this perk is useful in are nearly every single fight in the game, as you will constantly run out of ammo when fighting enemies. Some enemies are straightforward to kill that won’t drop anything, while others are armored specialists that take two to three times the ammo for a small ammo drop.
4 Dual Wield (Major)
Dual wielding was an upgrade that could be purchased or acquired in the previous Saints Row series by simply leveling your character. However, it makes a return in the reboot by being a perk that you can only unlock after completing 19 different challenges.
Like in previous games, you can only dual-wield your pistols and SMGs. Despite that, it’s still useful in most situations for the available extended magazines. However, there is a fatal flaw with this perk at the time of writing: a bug that, whenever you go in and out of vehicles, halves your ammo capacity - just bear that in mind.
3 Lust For Life (Major)
One of the last major perks to unlock and arguably also one of the most useful is the perk called Lust For Life. What this perk does is allow your character to regenerate health after killing an enemy. And if you’ve played, you understand how vital regenerating health is in fights.
In most situations, when fighting enemies, your health will drop significantly, and the only way to typically gain back health is by performing a killing move. By doing that, you’ll at most regenerate one bar of health. With this perk, you can survive most firefights even on the verge of death.
2 Ride Eternal (Elite)
There are a very limited number of elite perks in the game, and the elite slot costs $250,000. Ride Eternal, one of the early elite perks unlocked, allows all vehicles to regain durability upon destroying enemy vehicles.
This perk is one of the only two useful elite perks in the game because vehicles are less durable than in previous games in the series. Especially when going on hit-and-run missions, more often than not, your vehicle will be destroyed quickly, so it’s helpful to have a way to recover.
1 Big Finish (Elite)
After completing 34 challenges in the game, you will unlock the elite perk called Big Finish. This perk, upon completing a takedown, allows for your character to gain double the amount of health than what you usually would receive. This essentially means that you’ll earn two bars of health instead of one.
Big Finish is one of the best perks in the game and works incredibly best with the major perk Lust For Life to make yourself nearly invincible when fighting. The only downside is that if you’re only using this perk, it’s not enough compared to how much damage you take from enemies and the environment.