10 Most Useless Video Game Skills, Perks & Abilities

Video
games
usually
hand
you
flashy
powers
and
badass
perks
to
make
you
feel
like
a
god
among
NPCs.
But
sometimes,
either
by
accident
or
with
a
wink
from
the
developers,
you’re
handed
an
“ability”
that’s
so
spectacularly
pointless
you’ll
wonder
if
it
was
designed
purely
to
make
you
suffer.
Here
are
ten
of
the
worst
offenders—skills,
perks,
and
upgrades
so
hilariously
useless
that
spending
points
on
them
should
come
with
a
warning
label.

Of
course,
this
list
is
purely
for
fun,
and
some
people
have
managed
to
find
intriguing
and
crazy
uses
for
some
of
the
entries.

1.
Inspire
–

Borderlands:
The
Pre-Sequel

Forget
buffs
or
damage
bonuses—Handsome
Jack’s
“Inspire”
skill
is
just
him
yelling
vaguely
encouraging
nonsense
at
you.
When
activated,
he
bellows
things
like
“You
can
do
it!”
while
a
glittery
“Inspired!”
splashes
across
the
screen
like
a
bad
motivational
meme.
And
if
you
die?
He
mocks
you
with
“Disillusioned,”
complete
with
falling
tears.
Functionally
useless,
it
does
absolutely
nothing.
It’s
a
joke
ability—literally.
And
if
you
spent
a
point
on
it…
congrats,
you’ve
been
Handsome
Jack’d.

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2.
Graug
Hunter
–

Middle-Earth:
Shadow
of
Mordor

While
Handsome
Jack’s
jokey
ability
was
by
design,
this
next
one
is
due
to
stupidity.
This
skill
lets
you
tame
and
ride
massive
Graugs—epic,
right?
Except
if
you’re
playing
on
PS3
or
Xbox
360,
Graugs
are
rarer
than
Gollum’s
moments
of
sanity.
They
were
cut
almost
entirely
due
to
hardware
limitations,
but
the
skill
still
shows
up
in
your
tree
like
some
cruel
joke.
So
if
you
followed
a
guide
meant
for
newer
consoles,
you
were
in
for
a
rude,
Graug-less
awakening.
In
total,
only
three
Graugs
exist
in
the
PS3
and
Xbox
360
versions
of
the
game,
and
they
only
pop
up
in
missions.
There
are
zero
to
be
found
in
free-roam.
As
such,
all
the
Graug-based
Achievements/Trophies
were
removed.
But
not
the
skill
itself.

3.
In
Shining
Armor
–

Fallout:
New
Vegas
–
Dead
Money
DLC

On
paper,
this
perk
sounds
like
a
passable
use
for
a
skill
point:
bonus
damage
resistance
from
energy
weapons
while
wearing
metal
armour
and
sunglasses.
Very
“post-apocalyptic
chic.”
Unfortunately,
it’s
completely
broken.
Due
to
a
coding
oversight,
the
perk
looks
for
a
nonexistent
“energy”
damage
type,
meaning
it
never
activates.
It’s
the
equivalent
of
putting
sunglasses
on
your
hopes
and
dreams—cool-looking,
but
ultimately
pointless.

The
perk
was
never
officially
fixed,
but
unofficially,
some
mods
sort
out
the
problem.

4.
Commando
–

Cyberpunk
2077
(Removed)

This
stealth
perk
let
you
remain
undetected
underwater.
Useful,
if
Cyberpunk
had
meaningful
underwater
content.
It
doesn’t.
There’s
one
mission
where
you
have
to
swim,
and
it
has
no
enemies.
Outside
of
that,
bodies
of
water
are
tricky
to
find,
probably

because
of
the
whole
cyberpunk
city
vibe.
CD
Projekt
Red
eventually
patched
it
out
entirely
in
update
1.5,
replacing
it
with
Look
Sharp,
a
perk
that
blinded
enemies
when
they
were
hit
with
a
throwing
knife
in
the
face.
No
one
noticed
Commando
had
vanished.
Or
cared.

As
for
the
Looking
Sharp
perk
that
replaced
Commando,
I’d
argue
that
being
blinded
by
a
knife
to
the
face
is
something
that
kind
of
happens
regardless
of
whether
there’s
a
perk
involved.

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5.
Speed
Demon
–

Project
Zomboid

Want
to
drive
fast
during
the
zombie
apocalypse?
Speed
Demon’s
your
perk…
if
you
like
wrapping
your
car
around
a
tree.
Faster
driving
in

Project
Zomboid
usually
just
means
faster
death.
The
game’s
janky
physics,
narrow
roads,
and
slow
zombies
make
speed
unnecessary
and
dangerous.
With
Speed
Demon
equipped,
by
the
time
a
corner
appears
it’s
already
too
late
to
brake,
and
too
late
to
kiss
your
ass
goodbye.
Any
time
you
saved
by
travelling
at
the
speed
of
sound
was
negated
by
the
constant
crashing.

6.
Here
and
Now
–

Fallout
Series

This
perk
shows
up
across
multiple

Fallout
games,
offering
one
free
level
instantly.
Sounds
tempting—until
you
realise
XP
is
unlimited,
while
perk
slots
are
not.
You’re
basically
trading
a
rare,
finite
upgrade
slot
for
something
you’d
get
anyway
just
by
playing.
Even
the
game
itself
tries
to
warn
you
by
locking
this
perk
behind
early-level
requirements,
which
is
the
perk
equivalent
of
the
devs
muttering
“Don’t
do
it,
man.”

Fun
fact:
in
Fallout:
New
Vegas,
the
Here
and
Now
perk
can
be
even
more
useless!
How?
Because
if
you
get
the
skill
trait
at
the
start
of
the
game
which
reduces
XP
by
10%,
Here
and
Now
will
give
you
90%
of
the
XP
required
to
level
up.
So
it
doesn’t
even
do
the
one
thing
it’s
supposed
to
do.
Neat!

7.
Swimming
Skill
–

Deus
Ex
(and
friends)

Hey,
look!
It’s
another
water-based
skill!
The
OG
“why
is
this
even
here?”
skill,
in
fact.
In

Deus
Ex,
upgrading
swimming
lets
you
stay
underwater
longer
and
swim
faster—which
would
be
great
if
the
game
had
more
than,
like,
two
underwater
sections.
You’re
better
off
holding
your
breath
and
running
through
the
water
with
no
upgrades
at
all,
or
just
grabbing
a
rebreather.

Honourable
mention
goes
to
games
like
Two
Worlds,
where
you
can
spend
points
to
wear
armour
while
swimming…
even
though
drowning
isn’t
a
thing
and
there
are
no
enemies
in
the
water.
Seriously.
Technically,
this
could
have
been
entry
number
8,
but
I
didn’t
want
to
put
3
water-based
perks
in
one
list.

8.
Crafty
–

LEGO
Star
Wars:
The
Skywalker
Saga

The
Scavenger
class’s
“Crafty”
perk
lets
you…
give
your
tools
a
fresh
coat
of
paint.
That’s
it.
No
stat
boost,
no
bonus
abilities—just
aesthetics.
In
a
game
where
Kyber
Bricks
are
valuable
and
upgrades
matter,
blowing
them
on
a
glorified
spray
paint
can
feels
like
the
Jedi
equivalent
of
trading
Master
status
for
a
nicer
robe.