There are a number of different skill trees in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, with a multitude of different skills you can purchase for your character. You unlock the skills via the Skill Points from finishing side quests and finding Tarsyu Flowers and Tarsyu Saplings. However, there is one type of skill that cannot be earned this way, which is the Apex Skill sitting atop each of the skill trees. You will need to acquire every skill in a tree to unlock a quest, which when completed, will finally give you the Apex Skill.
Each of the skill trees will have an Apex Skill at the top of it.
How to Unlock Apex Skills in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora¶
It was briefly outlined in the opening paragraph, but Apex Skills are the ultimate skill in a tree. Whenever you open one of your skill trees, look at the top and you will see the Apex Skill, but they are locked from the beginning. In order to unlock them, you first have to get every other skill in that tree. For example, once you unlock the Rider skill tree a little ways into the game, you will have to purchase all 9 of the skills before you unlock the Apex Challenge.
That is the other requirement to fully unlock the Apex Skill, which is completing the Apex Challenge. Depending on the skill, you will need to do specific tasks, usually killing an enemy/wildlife in a certain manner or crafting an item. Once you complete the Apex Challenge, then you will have that Apex Skill as part of your character.
Apex Challenge: The Perfect Hunt¶
In order to unlock the Apex Skill for the Survivor tree, Second Wind, you will need to take down both a Feral Viperwolf and a Feral Thanator with clean kills. To do this, you simply need a strong weapon (Heavy Bow probably works best) and hit them in their weakspot with a single arrow to fell the beast. You can find the Feral Viperwolves/Thanators in a lot of places, but if you’ve done any of the Severed Bonds side quests, then you will encounter a lot of those creatures in those areas.
(1 of 3) The Severed Bond side quests will always pit you against the feral enemies.
Getting clean kills on the creatures can be a little annoying, simply because they move around quickly. Both of their weakspots should be on the sides of their necks and in the case of the Viperwolves, it can be harder to hit since they are smaller. If you can get to higher ground, you should have a better chance to get the animals before they get you. Once you have gotten a clean kill on both, then you will finally unlock the Second Wind skill. Basically, this allows you to revive yourself on the spot, should you run out of health and have 50% or more energy.
Apex Challenge: Powerful Shots¶
The Apex Skill for the Warrior skill tree will have you taking on the most powerful of the RDA, the AMP Commandos. These enemies, and their variants, are usually found in the Outposts in the Upper Plains and the Clouded Forest. Your best bet here is to go to one of those outposts and raise the alarm, which will usually cause a transport to drop some of these enemies off at the outpost. Your goal is to use both a Heavy Bow and Spear-Thrower to defeat these Commandos by only hitting their armor or weakspots. Basically, don’t knock off the armor plating on the front to reveal the pilot.
Also, you cannot stun them and melee the Commandos to defeat them in that manner (requires the Eject Ancestor Skill). One nice way you can go about things here is to use a grenade to temporarily stun them, giving you a few seconds to go after the weakspots. If you go through the entire game and clear all of the RDA facilities, then you will need to hunt down the Commandos in the open world. There appears to be one instance of RDA troops just west of the First Zakru spot in the Upper Plains, which can spawn some Commandos if you are far enough in the game.
(1 of 2) You need the Commando AMPs for this Apex Skill.
You need the Commando AMPs for this Apex Skill. (left), Hacking them with SID will help in getting access to their weakspots. (right)
Additionally, if you haven’t cleared all of the facilities, then there are sometimes empty AMP suits sitting at the outposts. If you use your Na’vi Sense to see if they are Commandos or not, then they are literal sitting ducks. The Powerful Shots ability essentially makes it so you have a chance to stun enemies for a short duration if you use your bow or spear-thrower.
Apex Challenge: Restoring Harmony¶
For the Hunter skill tree, you will be required to get clean kills on two of the game’s wildlife, the Hammerhead Titanothere and the Soundblast Colossus. The former is found in the Bamboo Grove biomes of the Kinglor Forest, while the latter is found in the Windswept Grasslands biomes of the Upper Plains. Remember that to get a clean kill, you will pretty much need to hit their weakspot. The Hammerhead’s weakspot is on their neck, on either side, and it can be pretty small. Similarly, the Colossus’ weakspot is by their front legs, not too far from their belly. Having a strong Heavy Bow for this is ideal and it’s best to not alert them, instead coming after them before they notice you.
(1 of 2) The Hammerhead’s weakspots is on the side of their neck.
The Hammerhead’s weakspots is on the side of their neck. (left), The Colossus’ weakspots are on either side, by its front legs. (right)
The Pandoran Harmony Apex Skill will have you become “peaceful” to wildlife, whenever your weapon is holstered. This only works on non-predator wildlife, though, and any threatening action, like drawing a weapon, will end the benefit immediately. Considering the number of hostile wildlife increases in the later regions, this doesn’t seem like a great skill.
How to Craft the Energizing Longbow Apex Challenge¶
You won’t need to do any fighting to unlock the Maker Tree’s Apex Skill. It will ask you to craft an Exquisite-tier bow, which will require you to find Exquisite versions of three materials. These items are a Dawnsheen Branch, Shaded Waterweed Bast, and a Hammerhead Horn (remember, all Exquisite). There is one item per region, so while you could unlock the challenge in the Upper Plains, you will need to wait until you have the Clouded Forest available to get everything. The Hammerhead Horn can be found in the Kinglor Forest and you can actually find a few of the beasts in the Dyer’s Bowl area. Just make sure they are Exquisite before you kill them.
For the Shaded Waterweed Bast, you will be going to the Pillar Canyon biome of the Upper Plains. Specifically, go towards the northeast portion and look for the Tranquility Bulbs underneath the arches there. They spawn inside those bulbs, so you’ll either have to jump in or fly overhead with your Ikran. The last item is the Dawnsheen Branch, which you will find in the Clouded Forest. Head on over to the Stone Sentinels portion and look at the top of those arches there to find them.
Once you have one of all three items, go and craft the Energizing Longbow and you will finally unlock the Apex Skill. Note that this should probably be the first Apex Skill you unlock, as it is extremely useful to get some extra power out of all your craftable equipment.
Apex Challenge: Death On Wings¶
The Rider Tree’s Apex Skill will have you using your Ikran to take out some RDA aircraft. To be specific, you have to use the aerial takedown maneuver on both a Samson Helicopter and a Scorpion Helicopter. You can find these all around the world, but you will always have better luck searching those floating platforms the RDA uses. To perform the aerial takedown, you will first have to stun the helicopter, which isn’t going to be too simple if you just attack it normally.
(1 of 2) Take to the skies, by the RDA balloons, to find the helicopters.
Take to the skies, by the RDA balloons, to find the helicopters. (left), After stunning them, get close to see the prompt for an aerial takedown. (right)
Instead, and probably the easiest method, is to use a weapon that has storm ammo. Note that all Shotguns will have storm ammo and most of the Shortbows also have storm arrows. With either of these two in hand, you will simply find the appropriate helicopter, shoot it with the storm ammo to stun it and you will see the prompt to perform the takedown (you have to be up close for this to appear). Do this on both of the helicopters mentioned above (use your Na’vi Sense to show what kind they are) and you’ll unlock the Apex Skill.
More Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Guides¶
For more guides on the game, including more tips and tricks, check out the following pages:
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