You do not spend skill points in No More Room in Hell 2. You get nine choices across a character's entire life, each one a pick from three offered options. Knowing which offers are worth taking is what this page is for.
How skill selection works
- The game has 40+ skills. Your class grants a starting skill; beyond that you choose nine.
- Choices trigger at character levels 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75 and 100.
- Each is a choice of three, and you can re-roll for a different set — re-rolling costs Credits.
- Expert variants unlock at higher levels: the same effect, stronger. Thick Skin's +10% health becomes +20%. Expert Marathon Runner removes sprint stamina drain outright rather than reducing it.
- Skills belong to the character, not the account. Permanent death takes them with it.
Level 100 is genuinely far away. The global achievement rates make the shape of the curve clear:
| Achievement | Requirement | Global completion |
|---|---|---|
| Expert Responder | A Responder reaches level 50 | 6.0% |
| Legendary Responder | A Responder reaches level 100 | 1.0% |
| All-Star Cast | Three Responders at level 50 or above at once | 0.6% |
| Getting The Hang of This | Account level 50 | 1.5% |
| Apocalypse Hobbyist | Account level 100 | 0.1% |
One player in a hundred has ever taken a Responder to the level where the ninth pick unlocks. Plan builds around the first six or seven choices.
What 1.0 changed
Added: Handgun Reloading, Rifle Reloading, Shotgun Reloading — each speeds up reloads for its matching firearm family. Removed: Averaging, Guts, Teddy Bear. Some published tier lists still do not include the three new Reloading skills, so cross-check anything you read against that.
The full skill list with values
Top tier
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Skilled Medic | Healing self and others +50% |
| Stayin' Alive | Revive others 50% faster |
| Butcher | Melee damage +20%, easier dismemberment |
| Thick Skin | Max health +10% |
| Sturdy Body | Damage taken −10% |
| Athlete | Total stamina +10% |
| Marathon Runner | Sprint stamina cost −15% |
| Headhunter | Melee headshot damage +10% |
| Hitman | One-handed melee stamina cost +15%, damage +15% |
| Scavenger | Ammunition pickups +15% |
| Resident Genes | Restore 15 HP when taking pills |
| Lucky Pathogen | 10% damage resistance while infected |
| Quiet Steps | Walk, crouch, jump and run noise −10% |
| Healing Item Stack | Medical item weight −20% |
| Builder | Tool item weight −15% |
| Grenadier | Thrown and deployable weight −10% |
| Vulture | Ammunition weight −10% |
| Mule | Backpack capacity up, max health −15% |
| Caravan | Carry weight +2kg, max stamina −15% |
Second tier
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hard Blow | Two-handed melee consistent damage +15% |
| Rush | Two-handed melee stamina −10% |
| Adrenaline Rush | Melee stamina cost −10% at critical health |
| Headblown | Handgun headshot damage +20% |
| Overkill | 15% more pellets per shotgun shell |
| Mohawk | Rifles pierce one extra target, penetration falloff −30% |
| Penetrating Shot | Heavy rifles pierce one extra target, falloff −50% |
| Locked On | SMG recoil −20% |
| Limbo | Last 15% longer while downed |
| Resilience | Environmental damage resistance +15% |
| Acquired Immunity | Infection resistance +10% |
| Longer Battery | Flashlight drain −25% |
Third tier
| Skill | Effect |
|---|---|
| Steel Chamber | Heavy rifle damage +30% |
| Doorbreaker | Kick damage to doors and barricades +50% |
| Icarus | Shotgun range +30% |
| Winged | SMG range +25% |
| Eagle Eye | Heavy rifle falloff −40% |
| Tight Shot | Shotgun pellet spread −15% |
| Steady Hand | Handgun spread −20% |
| Steady Shot | Rifle recoil −15% |
| Hellfire | Rifle hipfire accuracy +15% |
| Wicked | Handgun limb damage +10% |
| Heavy Shoves | Shove damage to zombies +10 |
| Foreman | Kick damage to zombies +10 |
| Deprived | Carry limit −2kg, health +10% |
Which to actually take
Take survivability over damage, every time. Thick Skin, Sturdy Body and Skilled Medic look boring next to +20% melee damage, but a dead character loses its level, its skills and its purchased loadout at once. Nothing recovers that.
Skilled Medic and Stayin' Alive are the squad picks. +50% healing effectiveness and 50% faster revives change what your squad can survive, not just what you can.
Butcher is the exception on the damage side. Melee damage +20% with easier dismemberment feeds directly into the leg-focused crowd control that carries higher difficulties, so it is doing two jobs.
Be careful with the trade-off skills. Mule, Caravan and Deprived all give with one hand and take with the other. Mule costing 15% of your max health and Caravan costing 15% of your stamina are real losses on Hard and Nightmare, where one bad grab ends the character. Carry capacity is a convenience; survival is not.
Firearm specialisations are for committed builds only. Steel Chamber's +30% heavy rifle damage is excellent if that is your character's identity and you buy that gun every run. It is worth nothing on a character that picks up whatever the map provides.