Charged Shot

Overview

Charged Shot is a Stamina Skill Tree ability available to Kliff, Damiane, and Oongka. While aiming, the character gathers the power of the wind to charge their shot and increase its power before releasing it. Each character fires a different projectile type: Kliff shoots an empowered arrow, Damiane fires a concentrated bullet, and Oongka launches a powerful shell.

Charged Shot is a core ranged ability that sits under the Marksmanship parent skill. It transforms basic ranged attacks into high-damage strikes by holding the aim button to build up energy before releasing. The longer you hold, the more damage the shot deals on impact.

Skill Details

How to Unlock

Kliff

Kliff can unlock Charged Shot in two ways. The first option is to spend 1 Abyss Artifact to unlock it directly from the Stamina Skill Tree. The second option is to observe the skill in action during gameplay, which teaches it for free. When learning through observation, the screen darkens and a "Learning in Progress..." notification appears in the upper left corner.

Damiane and Oongka

Both Damiane and Oongka have Charged Shot unlocked by default as part of their starting Marksmanship toolkit. No Abyss Artifacts or observation is required.

Character Variations

Kliff: Charges and releases a powerful arrow. Works with Kliff's bow-based ranged loadout and benefits from arrow type selection. Pairs naturally with the Focused Charged Shot upgrade for even higher burst damage.

Damiane: Fires a concentrated bullet from her firearm. Damiane's ranged playstyle revolves around precision shooting, and Charged Shot gives her a single devastating round to complement her rapid-fire Focused Shot ability.

Oongka: Launches a powerful shell using his heavy ranged weapon. Oongka's version has more weight behind it, fitting his brute-force combat philosophy.

Related Skills

Charged Shot connects to several related abilities in the skill tree:

• Focused Charged Shot: Combines Focus mode with Charged Shot for an even more powerful aimed strike.

• Elemental Charged Shot: Imbues the Charged Shot with an element (Flame, Frost, Lightning, or Wind) for bonus elemental damage and status effects. Costs 30 Spirit.

• Multishot: Fires multiple arrows or projectiles in quick succession rather than one charged round.

• Evasive Shot: Dodge backward while firing a quick shot, useful for maintaining distance while dealing damage.

Focus Shot Combo

The Focused Charged Shot upgrade transforms Charged Shot into the highest single-burst ability in the bow toolkit. When combined with fire Imbue Element and crit stacking, it can stagger or outright kill bosses in a single use.

How Focus Shot Works

To execute a Focus Shot, hold the bow button to enter aim mode, then activate Focus. While in Focus mode, mark targets by pressing LB (or the corresponding input). When you release, Kliff fires all marked charged shots in rapid succession. The number of shots depends on your available spirit: with a low spirit bar you fire 1 shot, at moderate spirit you fire 2, and at full spirit you fire 3 charged shots. Focus Shot completely empties your spirit bar on release, so it is an all-or-nothing commitment.

Spirit Recovery After Focus Shot

Because Focus Shot drains all of your spirit, recovery planning is critical. Slot a Spirit Siphon Abyss Core into your bow to recover spirit when the supercharged shots connect. This often provides enough spirit to immediately re-enter Focus mode for another volley. The first Spirit Siphon core is acquired during the Chapter 4 campaign, and a second is available from the Sanctum of Revelation by defeating the Atun Umbra's Spear boss.

Boss Rotation with Focus Shot

1. Enter Focus mode and mark the boss with LB.

2. Release to fire all charged shots at once, consuming all spirit.

3. If the boss staggers, swap to a two-handed weapon and empty your stamina with melee combos (Vow of the Dead King, Whirling Slash, etc.).

4. When stamina runs out, use Focus (L3+R3 or X) to regenerate spirit.

5. Swap back to bow and repeat the cycle.

This rotation can eliminate many enemies and bosses before they get a chance to counterattack. The initial Focus Shot burst combined with the melee follow-up during the stagger window deals enough damage to one-cycle most encounters.

Destroying Archer Towers From Range

Charged Shot can one-shot archer towers in enemy camps from a safe distance. Archer towers are one of the most dangerous obstacles when approaching a fortified camp, since they deal heavy damage and have long sightlines. Rather than running into range and using Turning Slash to destroy the tower foundation (which requires getting close enough to take fire), you can line up a Charged Shot from well outside the tower's engagement range and bring it down in a single hit.

Recommended strategy: Before entering any enemy camp, scout for archer towers from a high vantage point or from the approach path. Destroy all of them with Charged Shot before engaging the ground forces. This eliminates the most dangerous threats without taking any damage and makes the rest of the camp significantly easier to clear.

Combat Tips

Hold the aim button to build up charge before releasing for significantly more damage than a standard shot. The charge time is short enough to fit between enemy attack windows, making it practical during boss fights where melee openings are limited.

Charged Shot pairs well with Focused Charged Shot for devastating ranged burst combos. Enter Focus mode first to slow down time, then charge and release for a shot that hits considerably harder than either ability alone.

Use terrain and distance to safely charge your shot before engaging tougher enemies. Elevated positions give you extra time to charge since most ground-based enemies need to close the gap first.

At 10 Spirit per shot, the cost is very manageable. You can regenerate Spirit by holding Focus (L3+R3 on controller, X on keyboard), so alternate between Focus recovery and Charged Shots to maintain pressure without running dry.