All The Last of Us 2 No Return Upgrade Paths
Jan. 19, 2024Find out what Upgrade Path to pick in No Return when you have a choice
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Picking the best The Last of Us 2 No Return Upgrade Path can make or break a run. These skills can be earned as rewards for completing certain encounters, or as starter abilities for someThe Last of Us 2 No Return characters. They can have a huge impact on how far you get by enhancing stealth, certain weapons, crafting and more, so picking the right one when you see some options on the Planning Board, is vital. To help you do that, here are all the No Return Upgrade Paths in The Last of Us 2 No Return’s roguelike mode I’ve encountered so far, along with some notes on what’s best to use. I’ve also got someThe Last of Us 2 No Return tipsif you need some overall help staying alive.
Carry over your PS4 progress with this guide on how to transfer yourThe Last of Us 2 saveto Remastered.
Generally you need an item or recipe to use an Upgrade Path that lists one, as the Path alone won’t give you anything, just enhance your ability to use it. So the Double Craft Upgrade Path, for example, will let you turn Stun Bombs into Smoke Bombsbutonly if you have the Stun Bomb recipe to begin with.
Generally, whenever you get a choice on the planning board it will include two Upgrade Path options. What’s available could affect what route you end up taking, so check all the paths we have below using the list at the side and make sure you take the best one for your run.
This is Yara’s starting Upgrade Path to make use of her having Lev as a permanent Ally. As far as I’ve seen, it’s unique to her.
Archery Upgrade Path
Lev’s starter Upgrade Path helps him make use of his bow, but this option is available to other characters.
Abby’s starter Upgrade Path, which is available for other characters, focuses on melee attacks and its ability to heal from them is almost essential.
This is a general Upgrade Path available to all characters that, given how easy it is to end up in a melee fight, is a useful one to have. The health boost if you can max it out is also useful.
This general Upgrade Path is a mixed bag: faster prone movement is of limited use, but the enemy movement speed and faster stealth kills make staying hidden a lot easier.
This is Dina’s Starting Upgrade Path and its usefulness is all down to how much you’re going to be laying traps and slinging bombs.
If you want to use a lot of smoke bombs then this is useful. You’ll need to be able to craft arrows to get the best out of it as well so, realistically, it’s only really good for a very specific playstyle.
This is quite a specific Upgrade Path as you’ll need the doubled barrelled shotgun to really get the best from it.
Jesse’s starting Upgrade Path, also available to other characters, is an odd mix of stealth and extreme loudness, making it contradictory in its usefulness. You’ll also need the silencer recipe to get the best out of it (Jesse also gets that to start with).
Mel’s starting Upgrade Path (available to all) lets you really amp up your healing abilities and overall health. It’s useful to have because of that, but you might be better off with a more offensive option.
Tommy’s starting Upgrade Path appears to be a duplicate of the Precision Upgrade Path. It’s not clear if the latter is for everyone and this is just for Tommy, but they both function the same way, giving you superior accuracy to target foes.
Manny’s starting Upgrade Path is all about direct, loud combat. If you want every fight to be head on and don’t care about stealth, this is an option. You’ll need the Hunting Pistol and/or the double barrelled shotgun to get anything out of it though (Manny starts with the Hunting Pistol).
This appears to be a duplicate of Tommy’s Marksman Upgrade Path but it’s not clear if this is the version available to everyone, or just a mistake. As with Tommy’s version, it makes you much more accurate.
Ellie always starts with this Upgrade Path, and one other random selection. Improving your molotovs and health kits is always useful, but that last chance to escape death is great if you can level it up to that point.
Joel’s Starting Upgrade Path has a great starter with its ability to pull off faster stealth kills - being seen while taking out enemies is a big issue that can quickly turn a run bad. The ability to craft more shivs and move faster with a grabbed enemy just builds on that initial bonus.
This is useful for stealth when you’re not being hunted and generally you want to try and avoid direct combat whenever possible.
This can come in handy considering how much melee fighting can happen the chaos, and the health boost is definitely a boon.
This might look unimpressive but being able to locate targets and plan accordingly can make or break a run so this is well worth grabbing.
© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I’m GamesRadar’s Managing Editor for guides, which means I runGamesRadar’s guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.
“It seems we’ve missed the mark”: As their Steam review score drops to 14%, Dauntless devs wade into feedback after a disastrous update that gutted progress
How to complete the Indiana Jones Light Chamber puzzle
Get hundreds of hours of RPG goodness for $30 with this bundle of 8 games that includes the first two Baldur’s Gate games, which are absolutely worth playing
