Watch Dogs 2 sees the rogue security system, ctOS, posing a threat to the public once again, but this time you're not tackling it alone as a vigilante. Rather, you have the support of a Bay Area hacker organization called DedSec, and their Research App. The app hosts a sizable skill tree of seven branches filled with some of the wildest hacking skills you can imagine.
Some of these skills can make your life easier as you carry out your quest to derail ctOS, while others let your imagination run amok with destruction. So here are the most awesome abilities you can unlock.
10 Hijacker
Hijacker is a skill that becomes available once you initiate the first tier of the Vehicle Hacking branch. It costs a mere four research points and significantly improves the ease of acquiring a car, which is extremely necessary for getting around the distant locations around the map. Before learning Hijacker, you steal cars the old-fashioned way by lock picking.
That creates the problem of taking longer to get in the car and potential witnesses seeing you break in, who then alert the police and cause you more trouble. Hijacker allows you to hack into the car's electronic lock mechanisms and unlock them at the push of a button, totally undetected by pedestrians.
9 Proximity Scanner
This skill is attached to the Quadcopter drone, one of two new devices at your disposal in Watch Dogs 2. You can unlock the Quadcopter pretty early in the game using the 3D printer at a DedSec hideout during the second story mission, but it'll cost you a lot of money. It's especially worth it, however, as when you obtain it and you can assign the first upgrade of Proximity Scanner.
This ability essentially acts like Assassin’s Creed eagle vision, and provides a more detailed scan highlighting enemies and key objects hidden around the area. Stealth is a big part of the game, so this is immensely useful for those situations.
8 Enhanced Spring
The RC Jumper is a small remote-controlled machine that runs on wheels and is the second of two tools you can equip from your inventory in this game. Its functions include hacking and distracting enemies, but its primary uses are getting into tight spaces such as vents and windows to scout unreachable areas and collect items.
Enhanced Spring is an excellent ability upgrade for the Jumper because it allows for an increased jump distance, making it easier to reach taller openings. Unlike the Quadcopter, the Jumper comes free in the game, but this skill will cost you six research points and Key Data from Palo Alto.
7 Traffic Control Exploit
Traffic Control Exploit is the third node in the center of the City Disruption branch and a direct upgrade for Auto Takedown, the first skill you unlock. Auto Takedown will allow you to hack open gates and steam pipes to divert enemies, but Traffic Control Exploit takes things even further and allows you to control the traffic light systems using one button.
By toggling the lights from red to green, you can get cars to stop when you need a clear pathway across and then throw off pursuers by switching them back again to green. It may also trigger car accidents, which would be a good diversion for police or other enemies on your tail.
6 Vehicle Directional Hack
This vehicle hacking skill starts to bring some fun car action into the gameplay experience, and it's relatively inexpensive, considering it's the base node for the Vehicle Hacking branch of the tree. It allows you to control all the directions other cars on the road are driving in, either forward-backward or right-left.
It's one of the earliest you could acquire, and very effective for missions involving chases to cause accidents more directly by getting random cars to ram foes off the road, or when there are opportunities to eliminate enemies standing near vehicles from cover. Another perk is that it puts you one step closer to the Hijacker skill.
5 Massive Communication Disruption
Hacking skills can create pandemonium with vehicles and traffic, but they can also unleash cyberattacks on civilian electronic devices. Massive Communication Disruption sends out an interconnected burst of a hack to everyone around you, distracting them from making 911 calls if they see you do something illegal. It's quite an upgrade from Create Distraction, which is limited to only a select civilian's phone.
It's the second to last node on the top section of the Social Engineering branch and costs six research points to acquire. Massive Communication Disruption is nice to have, though, because achieving your criminal activities for DedSec in public locations would run more swiftly.
4 Massive Vehicle Hack
Massive Vehicle Hack is a recipe for pure chaos on the road and makes Vehicle Directional Hack look like child's play. It's the third node along the bottom from the first upgrade, costing six research and a Key Data point from the Chinatown district. It has different effects depending on whether you're in a car or on the ground.
If you use it while on foot, vehicles in your vicinity will be hacked all at once and sent swerving in different directions. If driving, the skill will distract other drivers and clear pathways for you on the road, presenting a more daring alternative to the Traffic Control Exploit.
3 Gang War
Aside from hacking virtually everything to disrupt the natural order of things and evade combatants, gangs are another option to consider. There are three tiers to the gang section of the Social Engineering branch, and Gang War is the top upgrade for it. It's certainly a step up from the basic Gang Attack, where only two small members take out a target for you.
Gang War calls down an entire group of strong gang members to deal with the target assigned to them. It’s a welcoming ability to save you from massive sticky situations, since enemies will engage with the gang, and you'll be free to leave the scene.
2 System Crash Upgrade: Blackout
As established, stealth becomes a pivotal route in the world of Watch Dogs 2. However, using Quadcopters, RC Jumpers, silent takedowns, and non-lethal weapons to incapacitate enemies carefully can sometimes go wrong. Guards can still detect you, and you might soon find yourself in a bind. The Blackout skill offers a perfect solution for that.
It’s the final upgrade node above the Massive Crash System in the City Disruption branch, and can shut down all power in the area for you to remain hidden from enemies under cover of darkness.
1 Remote Gadgets
Remote Gadgets is one of the last skills you can unlock in the Remote CTRL branch, and it counts toward both the RC Jumper and Quadcopter devices. It gives you the ability to modify those machines into something more lethal by equipping them with explosives such as zappers and IEDs.
This skill becomes particularly overpowered when you can use the Quadcopter to drop an explosive on a helicopter, thereby destroying it to get it off your tail. Sure, you can use the Chopper Retreat Exploit for this purpose, which is cheaper anyway, but an explosive drone sounds like a much more epic way to resolve your helicopter issue.