Watch Dogs 2: All Skills and Upgrades

Social Engineering Skills

Social Engineering skills are used on humans, whether they be innocent civilians or enemies. To use them, you must target a human with your profiler (a white dot will appear on them), then hold L1/LB to bring up your small menu of available hacks, each of which is assigned to one of the buttons on your controller.

Create Distraction (L1 + Triangle/ LB + Y)

You probably won’t use this particular skill much, but it is useful when trying to get around certain guards that don’t want to move. It will cause their phone to either ring or vibrate making them stop in their tracks to divert all attention to their personal device.

APB: Suspect Located (L1 + Square/ LB + X) – Upgrades to APB: Wanted Criminal

This is very useful against tough enemies in open places. It calls the police on your target, taking them away. Do note that it can lead to an allout war depending on where you’re calling the police into. Upgrading it will provide armored police and a lot more firepower. The police will try their best to resolve things peacefully.

Gang Attack (L1 + Circle/ LB + B) – Upgrades to Gang Skirmish then Gang War

Works just like the APB Skill, only with a lot more violence. Summons a gang to eliminate the target and their allies. Upgrades will provide much more firepower capable of taking down even the toughest enemies. Take cover when you call them, though, as they can sometimes attack you as well if spotted.

Massive Communication Disruption (R1/RB)

A mass hack that triggers every NPCs distraction as long as their in the radius. Perfect for escaping large groups of police and enemies. Or for opening them up to your attacks.

Improved Profiler

Marks NPCs that have a large amount of cash with a blue box.

Botnet Savings: Personal Devices

Decreases the cost of all skills in this tree. 

Vehicle Hacking Skills

Vehicle Hacking is something you will use a lot while playing Watch Dogs 2. While the options are relatively simple, they will prove to be invaluable as you move through the connected San Francisco that serves as your playground. For the most part, they will be used to shift objectives out of the way, trap opponents, or to control a wily enemy that’s trying to flee. You will definitely find yourself using these hacks quite a bit.

Vehicle Directional Hack (L1 + Triangle, Square, Circle, or X/ LB + Y, X, B, or A)

This skill is the base vehicle ability you can unlock, and will be one of the first you obtain. It’s useful for creative play, just note that each use will use up two charges, so plan out your hacks well.

Engine Override (X/A while driving)

Nitro boost for all vehicles. Simply hold down X/A while driving to get a tremendous increase in speed while driving through the world of Watch Dogs 2. You’ll use one Botnet charge for every three seconds of boost or so.

Hijacker (Triangle/Y)

This should definitely be one of the first skills you unlock. Stealing cars draws attention and can take longer than you want, especially when trying to flee. With this upgrade you can simply walk up and every car is yours. No alarms, no attention, no fuss.

Massive Vehicle Hack (R1/RB)

One of Watch Dogs 2 mass hacks, this sends every vehicle in your immediate area into a frenzy. You can create a small trap area surrounding a target in a split second.

Chopper Retreat Exploit (L1/LB)

This won’t mean much early on, or if you’re the type to avoid attention. But, during the end game, and when causing mayhem in multiplayer, this will be a valuable ace up your sleeve. Look at a pursuing helicopter and tap L1/LB to send it hurling through the sky.

Botnet Savings: Vehicle Hacks

Reduces the cost of all vehicle skills. 

Remote Control Skills

Remote Control skills focus on your interactions with certain world elements and the use of your two own RC tools, the Jumper and Quadcopter. While they don’t necessarily alter the world in big ways, they allow you to get better angles on scenarios giving you a lot more freedom and supporting creativity in your approaches. Definitely consider these skills if you prefer to remain in the shadows.

Environmental RC (Square/X)

This is the first skill in this tree that you can obtain. It allows you to access things like forklifts, Climbex machines (used to get you to high places), and cameras. Once you access them, you can freely control them to view surrounding enemies or to mess with the world around you.

Proximity Scanner

This skill is a passive ability that marks all humans with a large amount of money you can take. They’ll be highlighted with a blue box.

Expert RC Engineering

Another passive that allows your Jumper (the RC car) and your Quadcopter to recharge much more quickly after being destroyed.

Remote Gadgets

Taunt (R2/RT on Jumper)

Want to lead enemies away while using the Jumper? Tap R2/RT to draw attention and then scurry away. Perfect for leading enemies into traps.

Enhanced Spring (Hold X/A to jump higher with Jumper)

Increased the jump ability of your Jumper.

Speed Boost (L3/LS while controlling Jumper or Quadcopter)

While your RC gadgets are useful, they aren’t particularly fast. This adds a small speed boost to each that runs on a short cooldown. 

City Disruption Skills

City Disruption skills are for you big time hackers that love to start a lot of trouble. These are most useful for escaping the law and other enemies as they use San Francisco’s infrastructure to create deadly traps and obstacles for opponents.

Auto-Takedown (Square/X when prompted)

Brings up a prompt to help you trap enemies you can’t see. While driving (or running) from enemies, a quick prompt will appear at the bottom of your screen if they’re within range of a hackable part of the city such as a steam pipe, or dividers.

Robot Exploits (Hold L1 to bring up Robot menu when aiming at one)

A small menu that is added to robots aside from the standard Botnet charge We recommend trying the heart one.

Traffic Control Exploit (Square/X when prompted)

Works just like the Auto-Takedown skill, only it opens your interactions up to traffic lights, allowing you to create huge crashes.

Massive System Crash (R1/RB) – Upgrades to Blackout

Another mass hack available in Watch Dogs 2. It disables all hackable items in a large radius surrounding you. Perfect for when you’re online and want to remove any advantages from an enemy hacker. Equip it by holding up on the d-pad and highlighting it. Then tap R1/RB to trigger it.

Security System Shutdown (L1 + Triangle/ LB + Y)

Allows you to temporarily shut off security devices such as cameras and lasers. Lasts about 10 seconds.

Botnet Savings: City Hacking

Lowers the cost of all city hacks. 

Tinkering Skills

Tinkering is all about bombs and explosions. It replaces the crafting abilities of the first game, and instead works on a charge mechanic. After the use, you have to wait a set amount of time before using a device again. You start out with a limited amount you can carry, but it can be upgraded. Creative players will find lots of ways to use these items without ever stepping foot into dangerous areas.

Electro Shock Device (R1/RB to throw, L1/LB to pull up menu on one, L1 + R1/ LB + RB to detonate all deployed devices)

Non-lethal charges that stick to whatever you throw them on.

Electro Shock Optimization

Raises the amount of shock devices you can carry from two to five.

Explosive Device (R1/RB to throw, L1/LB to pull up menu on one, L1 + R1/ LB + RB to detonate all deployed devices)

Lethal charges that stick to whatever you throw them on. Do note that using lethal means will draw the attention of the law.

Explosive Optimization

Raises the amount of explosive devices you can carry from two to five.

Tweaked Blast

Increases the blast radius of your devices.

Expert Tinkering

Devices recharge much quicker. 

Marksmanship Skills

Combat is optional for the most part in Watch Dogs 2. You always have the option to run or use technology to rid yourself of aggressive pursuers. However, sometimes you may just want to bring the fight directly to your enemies, so you may want to stock up on these skills to give yourself a leg up on the opposition.

Sleight of Hand

Allows you to reload your Stun Gun and pistols much faster.

Steady Aim

Allows the Stun Gun to fire much further which is good if you’re trying to keep things non-lethal. The base Stun Gun doesn’t fire very far at all.

Stun Amp Up

Lowers the amount of Stun Gun Shots needed against an armored enemy.

Fast Trigger Finger

You can fire pistols as fast as you can pull the trigger now. Maybe you can see what it feels like to be Overwatch’s McCree now.

Advanced Sleight of Hand

Same as the standard Sleight of Hand, only for two handed weapons (assault rifles, shotguns, etc.).

Strong Grip

Increases the stability of two-handed weapons making the recoil much more manageable.

Steady Hands

Lowers the amount of sway you experience while aiming down a scope.

Keen Eye

Increases the damage of sniper rifles.

Target Weakness

This is very useful especially for aggressive players as well as online play. Increased the damage of shotguns against vehicles and armored targets, allowing you to shred through them like paper.