The Ascent Best Skills, Attributes And Augmentations Guide for Your Builds

In this The Ascent Best Skills, Attributes And Augmentations Guide for Your Builds, I’ll be going through the different Skills and Attributes in order to enhance the raw power of your Augmentations or special abilities. I’ll also discuss how these Augmentations function and how it can affect your Builds. If you’ve been searching for the best Skills, Attributes and Augmentations to focus on in The Ascent, then this guide is for you.

The Ascent Best Skills, Attributes And Augmentations Guide for Your Builds

The Ascent is a top-down Action-shooter RPG with a Classless System. You have the freedom to choose what Skills to focus on, the Attributes to improve, and the Augmentations to chase after and equip.

There are a total of 8 Skills in the game, namely, Tactical Sense, Critical Hit Rate, Weapon Handling, Aiming, Balance, Evasion, Vital Signs, and Body Battery. Note that the maximum number of points you can invest into each Skill is 20. Additionally, you gain 3 Skill Points every time you level up, and you’re able to acquire more through exploration. Now each pair, say for instance Tactical Sense and Critical Hit Rate, correspond to an Attribute. In this case, Cybernetics increases when you raise the points of either Skill.

The Attribute then determines how effective Augmentations become. In our example, raising Cybernetics sufficiently can increase the number of affected targets or even the health of your deployed bots, to name a few. It’ll ultimately depend on the special abilities you’ll be using, which is limited to two per character. There are a lot of Augmentations to seek in The Ascent, and it’s for this reason that I’m going to talk about the best ones you can equip in the game.

Lastly, be sure to put points into the Body Battery Skill in order to raise your max Energy. This determines how frequently you’ll be able to activate your Augmentations.

The Ascent Cybernetics Attribute

To enhance the Cybernetics Attribute, you’ll have to increase Tactical Sense and Critical Hit Rate. Tactical Sense determines your Tactical’s charge rate, which is fueled by the damage you deal. This charge rate corresponds to how often you can use your Tactical Gear. Meanwhile, Critical Hit Rate identifies the effectiveness of your critical hits when you shoot enemies in quick succession. This pairs very well with Weapons that have high clip sizes such as Assault and Burst Rifles, Submachine Guns, Miniguns, and Machineguns.

For the Cybernetics Attribute, the best Augmentations to watch out for are the Joyrun Dragon, Life Transfer, Mono Defender, Mono Ranger, Spiderbots, and Volatile.

Joyrun Dragon Augmentation

Joyrun Dragon is a powerful Augmentation that lets you summon a dragon to inflict the stasis condition. Once afflicted, enemies will be frozen in place. When you continuously attack them, green bars will start to appear on top of their heads. This indicates that you’ll have to keep shooting. Upon maximizing these bars, the affected targets will explode, causing damage to any nearby accomplices.

Having a sufficiently high Cybernetics Attribute increases the number of enemies you deal stasis to. Remember to face them before using Joyrun Dragon, otherwise, the dragon you’ve deployed will have no targets, thereby wasting Energy. Additionally, if you still have enough HP and your defenses are high, try to lure the others next to these stunned enemies in order to greatly damage them after setting off the explosions.

You can use this for any Build that’s heavily focused on eliminating enemies with Tactical Gear and/or inflicting Critical Damage. For more information on Builds like these, check out our Critical Commando Rifle Build.

The Joyrun Dragon Augmentation can be found inside The Golden Satori Casino, which is located in the Arcology: HighStreet.

Life Transfer Augmentation

Life Transfer lets you mark targets within a certain radius. When marked, all of the damage they receive will be converted to HP, which will be then added to your life. You don’t necessarily have to kill them. As long as you continue dealing damage while the Life Transfer icon is active, you’ll regain HP. This is a very suitable Augmentation for Builds that wish to focus on other Skills rather than dumping points into Vital Signs to raise the character’s max HP.

To make the most out of this Augmentation, it’s best to activate it when there are a swarm of enemies in the area and while you still have half of your HP. You can then detonate grenades via your Tactical Gear or activate your next Augmentation if you have extra Energy to ensure that you get that needed HP. Increasing your Cybernetics also raises Life Transfer’s AoE.

The Life Transfer Augmentation can be purchased from the Grafter for 30,000 uCreds. To earn a lot of uCreds, check out our The Ascent Tips and Tricks Guide: Top 10 Things All Players Should Know.

Mono Defender Augmentation

Mono Defender allows you to summon a durable monobot, which is aimed at protecting you while dealing Melee Damage. This works well when you immediately deploy the monobot at the start of an encounter so you can hide behind it right from the very beginning. You can then follow it around so you receive the least amount of damage possible.

What’s more is the monobot attracts at least one enemy so you have the option to kill them first or to focus on the others that are drawn to you instead. Furthermore, it’s able to safely approach and to hack away at targets due to its resilient shield. Similar to Life Transfer, this Augmentation is best used for Builds that aren’t as durable. Additionally, raising your Cybernetics improves the monobot’s HP, letting it stay on its feet for a longer timeframe.

The Mono Defender Augmentation can be found inside the dNexus as loot, which is located in the Arcology: DeepStink.

Mono Ranger Augmentation

Similar to the Mono Defender, Mono Ranger lets you deploy a monobot but this time instead of mostly defending you from foes, it fully joins the action alongside you. The Monobot Ranger uses a Rifle to obliterate targets in plain sight. What makes it deal more damage is your enhanced Cybernetics Attribute, allowing it to eliminate many of them.

This Augmentation is perfectly suited for risky scenarios when there aren’t that many covers in the area because it gives you the space to move from one cover to the next. Moreover, the Mono Ranger can be used by any Build because of its capability to continuously deal massive damage.

The Mono Ranger Augmentation can be bought from the Grafter for 29,000 uCreds.

Spiderbots Augmentation

Another Augmentation that lets you summon creatures is the Spiderbots. Spiderbots come in groups. Once activated, they immediately seek out the nearest enemies. Similar to the spider spawns of Megarachnoids, these spiderbots explode upon successfully following its targets, thereby annihilating them and their nearby comrades. As such, you’re able to focus on the others instead.

This makes it one of the best Augmentations in The Ascent because of how aggressive the bots are. The higher the Cybernetics, the larger the number of spiderbots deployed. The Spiderbots Augmentation is applicable to any Build since even without increasing your Cybernetics Attribute that much, you still gain the benefit of the great damage it inflicts due to the explosions.

You can check out our Terminator Tank Build to see how effective this special ability is. It can be obtained after completing the Data_Miner Main Mission. Additionally, you can also buy it from the Grafter for 29,000 uCreds.

Volatile Augmentation

The last set of best Augmentations for Cybernetics is Volatile. Upon activation, this marks enemies for explosion, which is triggered the moment they die. Like Joyrun Dragon, it’s best to lure others next to affected targets in order to damage and to kill them. Although remember that the AoE of Volatile is not as large so you’ll have to clump them all together quite closely.

To further enhance the damage dealt due to these explosions, you’ll have to raise Cybernetics. This is also the reason why Volatile works well if you focus on improving both Tactical Sense and Critical Hit Rate.

The Volatile Augmentation can be obtained from killing enemies within 2 hours of playing the game.

The Ascent Motorics Attribute

The next Attribute is Motorics, which is improved when you raise the Weapon Handling and Aiming Skills. Weapon Handling determines how fast your reload and swap Weapon times are. This lets you efficiently use both Primary and Secondary Weapons with minimal downtime. Conversely, Aiming corresponds to your spread recovery rate or the rate at which bullets actually hit enemies so you end up shooting much more efficiently. It also influences the Weapon’s stability, allowing you to aim with ease.

Both Skills are essential in all Builds, most especially Weapon Handling. The higher the Weapon Handling, the faster your reaction against different targets will be. As such, you’re able to swap to the right Weapon to deal damage effectively.

For the Motorics Attribute, the best Augmentations are Homing Mim, Hydraulic Slam, and Neutron Beam.

Homing Mim Augmentation

Homing Mim is a great Augmentation because it lets you deploy a series of homing missiles, which automatically follow and detect targets to set off massive explosions. Like other AoE Augmentations, this affects multiple enemies at once. It also allows you to multitask by focusing on other groups that remain untouched. However, remember that Homing Mim is executed at close to mid-range distances so make sure to move appropriately within distance to your targets beforehand.

This Augmentation is best used with Melee Builds that focus on Shotguns or Submachine Guns since it provides added Ranged Damage on top of the Melee Damage you deal. You can check out our Shotgun Slammer Build Guide as an example of a Melee Build. Furthermore, increasing Motorics also raises the volume of missiles you deploy. The Homing Mim Augmentation can be purchased from the Grafter for 33,000 uCreds.

Hydraulic Slam Augmentation

Like Homing Mim, Hydraulic Slam is well-suited for Melee Builds. It lets you deal a powerful punch at Melee Range that obliterates enemies while knocking back the others. To use the Augmentation efficiently, you’ll have to gather a handful of them before activating it. As such, you’re able to kill multiple groups with a single punch. You can then follow through with a Shotgun to eliminate the ones who are still alive.

Just be careful to manage the number of enemies you’ll be consolidating especially when your level is low because you’ll end up dying. To reap the full benefits of Hydraulic Slam, you’ll have to sufficiently increase Motorics to about 30 points to greatly enhance its damage.

The Hydraulic Slam Augmentation can be bought from the Grafter for 26,000 uCreds.

Neutron Beam Augmentation

Neutron Beam is a robust force of energy in a straight line that melts Armor to cause great damage. Just remember that it takes 1 second to activate it so you’ll have to stay away from enemies beforehand. Furthermore, you’ll have to be careful of strong hits such as Papa Ferals’ swipes because it’s able to disable your Neutron Beam. Remember to avoid using evasion when the Augmentation is in use since this action also disables it.

The Neutron Beam Augmentation is best for Builds that utilize high Weapon Handling and Aiming Skills as they lengthens its duration when your Motorics is enhanced. It can be purchased from the Grafter for 30,000 uCreds.

The Ascent Frame Attribute

The third Attribute is Frame, which is increased when Balance and Evasion Skills are improved. Balance reduces the movement penalty you incur when you fire with Heavy or Excessive Weapons such as Miniguns and Rocket Launchers. It also determines your resistance from stuns and knockbacks. Meanwhile, Evasion reduces the cooldown period of your ability to dodge attacks. The higher it is, the more frequent you can evade.

For the Frame Attribute, the best Augmentations to seek are Propulsion Leap and Stasis Stomp.

Propulsion Leap Augmentation

Propulsion Leap launches you midair. After a millisecond, you slam into the ground causing an enormous explosion that destroys enemies within the area of the blast. What’s amazing about this Augmentation is its range because you can control how near or far you have to jump. Simply pay attention to the red circles underneath your targets and then activate Propulsion Leap.

For best results, ensure that there are several of them in the AoE to blow them all up. Although, remember to avoid launching from any cover such as counters because your jump will be limited so you won’t be able to land where you intend to. To maximize the benefits of this Augmentation, it’s best to equip it when you create a Build that utilizes Heavy Weapons coupled with agile movements for quick evasion tactics. The more points you put into both Balance and Evasion, the more damage you inflict.

The Propulsion Leap Augmentation can be obtained by completing the Foreign_Code Main Mission or the Dark Horse Side Mission.

Stasis Stomp Augmentation

Stasis Stomp sends your enemies floating in the air while inflicting stasis thanks to the sheer strength of your stomp. You’ll have to keep shooting at them by aiming high to trigger their explosions. The key with Stasis Stomp is to activate it at close range, making this Augmentation best for Melee and Tank Builds. With a highly durable character, you’ll be able to approach targets without hesitation.

Like Volatile, you’ll have to lump enemies together. Those who are unaffected should also be lured into the AoE to be damaged by the explosions. Because of the Frame Attribute’s influence on the duration of stasis, you’ll have to raise its corresponding Skills accordingly.

The Stasis Stomp Augmentation can be obtained after completing the Double Charge Side Mission.

The Ascent Biometrics Attribute

The last Attribute is Biometrics, which is raised when you enhance Vital Signs and Body Battery. Vital Signs boosts your max HP to improve your survivability whereas Body Battery increases your max Energy, as mentioned earlier.

For the Biometrics Attribute, the best Augmentation to get is Overclock.

Overclock Augmentation

Overclock is a support Augmentation in that it increases the time by which you reload, regain HP, and regenerate your Tactical Gear’s charge. You’d want to activate this first if your HP is less than 50% to adequately prepare yourself in combat.

The Overclock Augmentation is best used for Builds that aren’t heavy duty, meaning, those with little to no Vital Signs points. It can be acquired after finishing the One More Rep Side Mission.

Be sure to check out our The Ascent Builds and Guides as well as the official The Ascent Wiki if you have questions about the game! What did you think of this guide? What Builds have you been creating? Let us know in the comments below!