Serious Sam 4 is finally available for owners of an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5; PC gamers have been able to play this game for a while now, so, they already know about this game's incredible level of difficulty. That's one of the biggest complaints about the game — it's too hard. For fans of the Serious Sam series, this increased difficulty is nothing new. (Here is a quick helpful hint before getting to the best skills: learn to circle-strafe. This game almost requires that player skill to survive.)

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There are 17 skills, in total, divided into skill trees in a system the game calls S.A.M. (Sirian Artefacts of Might). As a "tree system", some skills must be selected in order to make others available. A player can have up to ten skills at a time. Here we list the best of the bunch.

10 Healing Punch

Using Healing Punch in Serious Sam 4 to get back a little life

This is a starting branch of the skill tree, and a useful skill to have. This skill allows the player to heal a little damage for every melee kill. In Serious Sam 4, the best strategy is to try and maintain as much distance between Sam and the enemy as possible. This isn't always going to be an option, since this game throws hundreds of enemies at the player.

Players should stick with distance weapons, and then when an enemy group has been thinned-out, switch to killing the few remaining enemies with a melee weapon to get some quick healing. Any amount of health regeneration in helpful in this game.

9 Looter Shooter

Looter Shooter skill leaves ammo on the ground in Serious Sam 4

The Serious Sam games are (in)famous for having swarms of enemies rush the player. It can get overwhelming at times - especially in terms of ammunition usage. Running out of ammunition is a real possibility in this game. This skill helps with that problem.

Looter Shooter causes enemies to sometimes drop ammunition when they are killed. There tons of enemies constantly attacking the player - this doesn't give the player much time to look around for ammunition lying around. Looter Shooter is also a starting branch of skills tree.

8 Footsure

Aiming down the sights with an assault rifle in Serious Sam 4

Staying mobile and staying alive in Serious Sam 4 go hand-in-hand. If a player stays still they will be surrounded in a matter of seconds, and once that happens that player will be restarting the level in a matter seconds. Seriously, stay moving in this game.

This poses a problem to players, because when a player aims down their weapon's sights they move slower than normal speed. Seeing as how many enemies move faster than Sam's normal speed (or at least as fast), or have a distance weapon of some kind, moving slower is a critical negative. Footsure allows the player to move at normal speed while aiming down a gun's sights. This allows a player to remain mobile while boosting accuracy.

7 Berserker

Using a shotgun against a Gnaar in Serious Sam 4

In most games, skills that operate on the formula of X gets better when health is lowered are not typically that popular. Most gamers don't play games hoping, or trying, to take damage. Serious Sam 4 is a little different in that you are going to take damage. It doesn't matter how well a player performs — damage will be taken. In fact, expect your health to always be around the 50% area.

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Berserker increases the damage a player deals to enemies as their health decreases. So, a player that selects this skill will almost always be making use of the skill.

6 The Quick And The Dead

Reloading a pistol in Serious Sam 4

Serious Sam is an unrelenting game; whatever finger a player uses to press the trigger button on the controller is going to be sore after about a half an hour. Constantly having to fire a gun means constantly having to reload the gun — and when a group of Gnaar are charging, the time it takes to reload matters.

The Quick And The Dead skill significantly cuts down on reloading times. The Full Speed Ahead skill didn't make this list, but it's a great skill to take with The Quick And The Dead as it increases a weapons rate-of-fire after reloading.

5 The Harder They Fall

Dual wielding knives in Serious Sam 4

One of the ways enemies are classified in Serious Sam 4 is by size. Without investing in certain skills there will be many enemies that cannot be attacked with melee weapons due to their size. However, melee weapons are a valid weapon choice in Serious Sam 4 — no, really.

Melee weapons don't need to be reloaded; this helps negate those brief moments of vulnerability. Also, many enemies in this game mindlessly rush the player - this makes the probability of there being an enemy within range of a melee weapon very likely. The Harder They Fall allows the player to make melee attacks against enemies of any size.

4 Unflinching

Unflinching_Serious Sam Best Skills
Fighting a Reptiloid in Serious Sam 4

As stated numerous times already, this is a tough game in which players will be attacked by crazed hordes of creatures by the hundreds. The enemies have varying types of weapons that have various effects. One form of damage that can kill a player quickly is splash damage.

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There are many enemies in Serious Sam 4 whose weapons cause splash damage. The Beheaded Bomber's bombs can be considered splash damage, and the Emetic Anthropolyp's gas explosion is literal splash damage — these are just two examples, there are many more. The Unflinching skill reduces splash damage by half.

3 Dual Wield With A Vengeance

Dual Wielding shotguns in Serious Sam 4

Dual-wielding weapons is nothing new to first-person shooters. It not only looks really cool, but it also doubles the player's firepower. Dual-wielding can also be used as a means of attacking the enemy while reloading, by alternating fire between the two weapons.

This skill allows players to dual wield any weapon in the game. There are two skills before this one, Dual Wield and Dual Wield Harder, that allow for dual-wielding small and medium weapons, but for brevity's sake this skill was chosen to represent the all three. Two SBC Cannons really help lower this games difficulty — a little.

2 Mix It Up

Using the Mix It Up skill to wield a SBC Cannon and Minigun at the same time in Serious Sam 4

This skill takes the Dual Wield With A Vengeance skill to the next level. The Mix It Up skill allows the player to wield two different weapons at the same time. This allows the player to not only increase their firepower, but to mix up the type of damage.

Using this skill, a player could use an XPML21 Rocket Launcher and XL2 Laser at the same time. This load-out can deliver powerful explosions to clear the weaker enemies from the battlefield; then the Laser can be used to quickly finish-off the tougher enemies.

1 Rodeo Time

Using the Rodeo Time skill to ride an enemy creature in Serious Sam 4

Some of the larger enemies in Serious Sam 4 can be ridden like a mount. While riding these "mounts" the player can also direct them to attack with whatever weapon they have, and these weapons are usually very powerful. Here's the thing though, players can only do all this if they pick the Rodeo Time skill.

Riding an enemy creature around has two big benefits. The first benefit is that players are killing enemies without having to expend their own ammunition. The second benefit, and arguably the more important of the two, is that Sam doesn't take damage while riding an enemy creature. In Mario terms, this skill is like having an almost infinite supply of gold stars.

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