Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links, one of the many game installations of the Yu-Gi-Oh series. It is a free-to-play, digital collectible card game that was released in November 2016. While not the most popular of games, it does have some good points to it. One of them would be the different characters and skills you can play with.

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For those unfamiliar, Skills in the game are unique abilities depending on the character. They are used to either draw cards, gain Life Points, and more. There are a number of characters and skills to choose from in the game. Here are some of the best and the worst skills that you can get in the game.

Updated March 25, 2021, by Johnny Garcia: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links is one of the most active Yu-Gi-Oh! games out there, and is constantly being updated with new cards and characters every month. Recently, the release of Zexal World has introduced Xyz Monsters to the Extra Deck pool, joining Fusions and Synchros. Their premiere was much stronger, almost immediately joining the meta has a defining mechanic. Recent banlist changes as also thrown the meta ito chaos, with decks that have been apart of it for a long time finally laying to rest. With new characters being added, tons of new skills have come along with them. In addition, some original characters got new toys to play with as well.

14 Best: Sealed Tombs

yugioh ishizu in the anime and necrovalley art

Sealed Tombs was one of the biggest skill staples in the entire game. It has been buffed and nerfed multiple times, and it still remains one of the best ones in the game. When your Life Points are 1000 less than your opponent's, you can prevent either player from banishing or Special Summoning cards from the Graveyard until the end of your opponent's next turn.

Many Monsters have effects in the Graveyard that activate by banishing, and shutting down the ability to revive Monsters is also great. Sealed Tombs has always been a meta-defining skill, largely in thanks to its ability to counter entire decks.

13 Worst: Super Strength!

yugioh tristan in the anime and cyber commander

Pretty much all of Tristan's exclusive skills are jokes, and Super Strength! is the worst of the lot. For starters, it can't be used until turn five and onward. It's rare for a duel to even last three turns, let alone five. Sorry, Tristan's hair and his other voice actor.

The reward for all that waiting is making the Attack of a Monster you control 2000. Despite how awful this already is, Super Strength! is only usable once per duel. Most relevant Monsters in Duel Links already have 2000 or more Attack, making it even more useless and a skill no one should ever use.

12 Best: Level Duplication (Multiple)

yugioh yusei in the anime and stardust dragon

Level Duplication was introduced in 5Ds World and is one of the most recent meta-defining skills of Duel Links. You reveal one Monster in your hand and target a Monster on the field. The Monster on the field will then gain the Level of the Monster revealed.

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This is great for both Synchro and Xyz Summoning. It allows you to fix your levels in order to go into powerful Synchro and Xyz Monsters. It negates the need for high-level Monsters on the field to go into the best Synchros and makes it stand out as the best way to help cheat out Extra Deck Monsters.

11 Worst: Smile Bright!

yugioh scud art and sparks art

Scud was a character jokingly added in the introduction of DSOD World. Being a joke character, his skills are also all terrible. The worst offender of the lot would be Smile Bright! This is a skill that does burn damage, a whole 50 of Life Point damage to your opponent at the start of your turn.

50 Points of burn damage is laughably bad, and to add to it, it won't activate if the opponent's Life Points are 1000 or less. Even without this restriction, this skill would still be one of the worst in the game, so the fact it has it shows just how bad this skill is meant to be.

10 Best: Harpie’s Hunting Ground (Mai Valentine)

yugioh mai valentine in anime and harpies hunting ground art

One of the drop skills of the game, this is one skill that will give you a strong start in the duel. The skill activates the Field Spell Harpies’ Hunting Ground when you begin the duel. What does this do? It increases the Winged Beast-Type monster’s ATK and DEF by 200. More than this, you can destroy a target when they conduct a Summon and target 1 Spell/Trap Card on the field.

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However, only when there is a "Harpie Lady" or "Harpie Lady Sisters" who were Normal or Special Summoned to the field. It’s a powerful skill to have, but with any other skill, a player needs to be careful with it.

9 Worst: LP Boost Y (Multiple)

yugioh tea in the anime and childs play art

Similar to Draw Sense, there are different LP Boost Skills. What lands the skill on the bottom layer is that in comparison, it has a bigger drawback. Sure, it gives 2500 Life Points at the starting point, but it takes away not 1, but 2 cards.

In the grand scheme of things, this can affect the duel in unexpected ways. One cannot enjoy the upside if the downside is much bigger. So yes, this skill has earned a spot on as one of the worst skills in the game. Card advantage is so important, more so than Life Points, making the tradeoff far from worth it.

8 Best: Destiny Draw (Yami Yugi)

yugioh yami yugi in the anime and draw of fate art

Those who know the anime series will be able to recognize this. Destiny Draw allows you to be able to draw from the heart of the cards themselves. It lets you draw any card of your choice from your deck, rather than drawing like normal. However, you can only utilize this skill when your Life Points are decreased by 2000.

It’s a good skill in a pinch and rather versatile too. It also helps in building up combos that you may have in your play. This is one of the drop skills that is character exclusive, that being Yami Yugi.

7 Worst: Master of Rites (Pegasus/Alexis)

yugioh pegasus in the anime and Relinquished

This is a skill that offers a rather 50/50 chance for the duel, and for the most part, this is not good. The skill can be used during the Main Phase and when your Life Points have decreased by 1000. With this skill, you can return a card from your hand to the deck in order to add either a random Ritual Monster or Ritual Spell from your deck to your hand.

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The skill can be obtained at Level 20 for Pegasus. It seems like a rather good skill to have on one hand. On the other hand, the randomness of the card can either make or break the duel. The unpredictability and high chances of not affecting things are why this skill landed on the lesser side of skills.

6 Best: Life Cost 0 (Multiple)

yugioh odion and mako in the anime

Four different characters can obtain Life Cost 0 as a reward drop, with Tea unlocking at Level 20 for a guaranteed unlock. It is a good skill to acquire. When activated, the skill allows you to pay Life Point costs for free until the opponent’s next turn.

Basically, it helps in saving Life Points when activating a card. As such, you have a chance for more moves in the game. That and conserving Fife Points can help in prolonging the game when done right. It used to be commonly used with Cyber-Stien before it was banned to cheat out powerful Monsters. The skill can be utilized once Life Points are 1000 or less. It can only be used once per duel though so you have to be smart when using this skill.

5 Worst: Draw Sense: Low Level (Multiple)

yugioh weevil in the anime and man eater bug art

The Draw Sense Skills in Duel Links are generally among the weaker ones. Since they only allow you to draw out a specific kind of card, they tend to be too specific to be good. Not only that, but for Draw Sense Low Level, the card you draw is completely random.

The skill allows you to draw a monster Level 1-4 card rather than a normal card when in a Draw Phase. It can be utilized when Life Points are decreased by 1800. Draw Sense Low Level isn't even one of the better Draw Sense, since it's too broad for its own good. It's essentially a worse, more situational version of Destiny Draw.

4 Best: Last Gamble (Joey Wheeler)

yugioh joey wheeler and gamble card art

As its name states, this is a gamble of a skill because you can never be sure if luck will be on your side. It reduces your Life Points to 100 and shuffles two cards from your hand into your deck. Then, you roll a dice and attain the number of cards that it drops on.

What makes this skill so good? It helps in attaining a Duel Assessment LP useful for farming decks. While it may seem a risky move to those who don’t know the game well, it has become a popular skill in ranked matches, mainly ones with using One Turn Kill decks. The skill is activated after the seventh turn during the your Main Phase.

3 Worst: Creator (Pegasus)

yugioh pegasus in the anime and monster reborn art

This is one of the lesser evils when it comes to the worst of skills. It can in theory be a good skill, but random factors prevent it from being viable in any way. When Life Points are at 2000 or below, you can use this skill to add a powerful card from outside your deck. It’s a powerful move to have.

On the other hand, though, the pick is random, and while the cards may be strong, there is also a chance it may not be one that could help in the duel. So yes, it’s not a terrible skill to have, but it is a random card makes it so it's much better to use other ones instead.

2 Best: Duel, Standby! (Tea)

yugioh tea in anime and cup of ace art

For those who are more into strategizing in duels, this skill can be helpful. It allows you to receive one more card in your starting hand. While it may not seem much of a skill, this may help in forming a strategy for either the start or later in the game. More than that, it’s a good skill for fast burn decks.

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One must be smart when utilizing this skill though. A skill like this is mainly good for PvP matches. It’s not a long-run skill to have but it helps in working fast. Simply put, this is a good skill that will have you thinking on your feet.

1 Worst: Fatal Five (Zane)

yugioh zane in the anime and chimeratech overdragon art

While this is a drop skill that can be achieved through Duelist Zane, it’s not really great. The idea of it is nice though. The skill allows you to win a duel when a monster attacks five times during one turn. On the outside, it seems like a way to an easy win.

However, the problem is that there's a max of three monster zones in Duel Links. What’s more, it’s a very low chance that an opponent could give you the proper setup for this skill. It’s a skill that has a pretty description to it, that’s for sure. Managing to actually use it though? That’s not as pretty.

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