Mechanics

Our Far Cry Primal skill tree page lists 80 skills in eight trees, and our village building page lists eight huts, each with a level-1 and a level-2 build. The two lists are the same list read from opposite ends. A tree opens when its specialist is brought to the Wenja village and given a roof, so the question of which skill to buy first is really the question of whose hut to build first. This guide joins the two pages on that hinge: one row per specialist, with the mission that fetches them, what their hut costs, which tree it opens and which of its skills the page tags as essential or recommended. The materials in those builds are sorted by how far they send you in the resources and recipes guide, and the main Far Cry Primal guide works through the game hazard by hazard.

One hut, one tree

The eight tree sizes add up to the page's 80 skills, and the split is lopsided: the first six specialists carry 71 of them, the two captured-fort specialists nine. The first six huts are also built from the same three western materials, Alder Wood, Slate and Reeds, plus one skin, and adding their level-1 lines gives 22 Alder Wood, 20 Slate and 14 Reeds for all six. Dah and Roshani break the pattern in every column. Their huts are paid in the northern and southern material sets, they each want a rare skin and a village of 40 before even the first build, and they are the only two specialists whose recruitment starts with taking a fort.

Three of the missions do double duty. Beast Master, the one that lets you build the village at all, delivers Sayla and Tensay together, and those two huts standing is what triggers Attack of the Udam, which in turn is what puts On the Hunt, and so Jayma, on the board. Blood of Oros fetches Wogah and is also the name of the rare material that afterwards turns up in North Black Rock.

What the huts hand over besides skills

Every level-1 build pays 1,500 XP and every level 2 pays 3,000, so a fully built village is worth 36,000 XP on its own. The gear rides on top. Takkar's Cave gives a bow upgrade, a club upgrade and the Sting Bomb; Sayla's Hut gives her missions, the Speed Boost, Scent Camouflage and Fireproof recipes and free items in the Reward Stash; Tensay's gives his missions; Wogah's is the biggest haul, the Pack, the Trap, the Berserk Shard and the Club, Spear, Hunter and Throwing Shard Belts in one build; Jayma's gives the Sling and Long Bow; Karoosh's gives the Two-Handed Club and Winter Clothing. Dah's and Roshani's level-1 huts give their trees and the XP and nothing else, and the village page ties the Berserker Bomb to Dah and the Fire Bomb to Roshani through their recruitment missions rather than their builds.

Level 2: forty villagers and, usually, a rare skin

Only four upgrades carry anything beyond XP: Sayla's two six-bar recipes, Wogah's Bomb Belt, Jayma's Double Bow and a mission of Dah's own. If you are upgrading for a reason rather than for completeness, those are the four. The village page says every upgrade needs a specific rare skin, but its own lines are softer than that: five of the eight do (Tensay, Jayma, Karoosh, Dah and Roshani), while Takkar's Badger Skins, Sayla's Mammoth Skins and Wogah's Cave Bear Skins are all listed as ordinary pickups on the resources page. Four of the rare-skin lines give no quantity, which we have left as the page has it.

Adding the columns shows where the second tier of the village is really built. The north supplies 100 North Cedar, 90 North Black Rock and 65 North Clay across Wogah's level 2, Karoosh's level 2 and both of Dah's builds. The south supplies 120 South Maple, 90 South Stone and 60 South Rock Dust across Jayma's level 2 and both of Roshani's. The western materials that built the whole first tier are only needed again for Takkar, Sayla and Tensay.

Population: what the headcount buys

The village fills up as you rescue tribespeople and finish story and optional missions, and the page gives the payouts as a ladder: at 20 people one bag of weapon resources and food, at 40 two bags, at 60 three, and after 60 a 2% XP bonus for every further ten people, capped at 40%. Forty is the number to watch, because it is the level-2 threshold for six huts and the level-1 threshold for Dah and Roshani, and fifty is asked only twice, for the two level-2 builds of those same two.

Spending the points: what the page tags

The page prints a point cost for 52 of the 80 skills, 135 points in all, and marks six as already learned when you arrive: Primitive Takedowns, Hunter Vision, Primitive Agility, Primitive Stealth and Primitive Fire in Survival, and the Owl Companion once Tensay is in the village. It tags 28 skills: two as essential, Tag Enemies in Hunting and Heavy Takedown in Fighting, the takedown being what lets you drop Chieftains; eleven as highly recommended, six of them in the Beast Master tree; and fifteen as recommended. Six of the eleven highly recommended skills therefore sit behind Tensay's hut, which at two of everything is also the cheapest build on the village page.

The most expensive single skills are 6 points each: Extra Health IV, Animal Wounds and Fire Master I, the last one recommended specifically for cave exploring because it removes the Animal Fat cost of lighting a weapon. Within the trees the ladders are stated plainly. Taming goes Canines free with the Beast Master mission, Wildcats for 1 point once Tensay's hut stands, Apex Predators for 2 after taming five beasts, Cunning Beasts for 3 after taming eight. The owl's attack cooldown drops by 15 seconds and then 25. Reveal Terrain grows from 200 feet to 400. Craft Arrows goes from two arrows per craft to four to eight for the same materials. Melee Resistance I and II in the Udam tree cost 2 and 4, Primitive Heal III raises manual healing to three bars for 4, and the Izila tree's Fire Resistance is 2 points for less fire damage, the one skill in either fort tree tagged highly recommended.

FAQ

How do you unlock skill trees in Far Cry Primal?

Bring the matching specialist to the village and build their hut. Survival comes with Takkar's Cave, Gathering with Sayla, Beast Master with Tensay, Hunting with Jayma, Fighting with Karoosh, Crafting with Wogah, Udam with Dah and Izila with Roshani.

Which skills should you get first?

The page marks two as essential: Tag Enemies from Jayma's Hunting tree and Heavy Takedown from Karoosh's Fighting tree. Its highly recommended list is Crouch Sprint, Quiet Sprint, Beast Reviving, Tame Wildcats, Tame Apex Predators, Tame Cunning Beasts, Owl: Weapon Drop, Owl: Tagging Range, Owl: Attack II, Bow Handling and Fire Resistance.

How many skills are there?

Eighty across eight trees, six of them learned before you buy anything.

How do you reach 40 villagers?

The village page lists three sources: rescuing tribespeople, story missions and optional missions. Forty unlocks the level-2 builds for the first six huts and the level-1 builds for Dah and Roshani.