Gothic 1 Remake Guide | Best Early Skills & Upgrades

Here’s a guide on how to get the best early skills & upgrades in Gothic 1 Remake.

Game Guide by TauxicPandA on Jun 12, 2026

Learning the right Skills early on completely changes how you Battle Monsters and Travel through the Colony. This guide highlights the most useful starting Abilities and points you toward the NPC Trainers who can teach them to you.

Climbing

The Climbing talent is incredibly useful when you are just starting your Playthrough. It allows you to scale specific rock faces to reach high areas and grab Loot Chests that are normally out of reach. To acquire this Exploration Skill, head over to the eastern side of the Map.

Look around just north of the Swamp Camp Ruins. Walk past the northern exit toward the coastline to find an NPC Trainer named Theron in Gothic 1 Remake.

Theron will show you how to scale walls, but he expects a Quest completion first. He needs you to bring him six rolled joints of a specific type called Northern Dark.

Gothic 1 Remake, Guide, Best Early Skills & Upgrades, Climbing Skill

You can find these easily by heading to the middle of the Swamp Camp. Locate Fortuno's Shop, which is right across the path from the blacksmith. Speak with Fortuno and make sure to ask for your Free Daily Food Ration first.

There is a good chance he will hand over three free tracks of Northern Dark right away. You can simply buy the remaining joints from his store inventory. It is a smart move to purchase some Dreamcall from him too, since it gives you Mana Regeneration.

Deliver the six joints back to Theron to unlock the Climbing Skill. You can test your new moves immediately on the rock wall right next to him to claim a Treasure Chest and extra Experience Points.

Once you have it down, head over to the nearby Black Goblin Cave. The place is crawling with Enemies, but your new agility will help you clean out all the Early Game Loot inside.

Weapon Smithing

Learning Weapon Smithing is a great way to boost your Combat Stats early on and keep your pockets full of Gold. To get started with Crafting, make your way back to the Old Camp.

Head to the northeastern upper tier near the Arena. You will find a blacksmith there who will teach you the trade for a couple of Learning Points in Gothic 1 Remake.

As you help him out with tasks later on, he will give you better Weapon Blueprints, like the Lurker's Bite, which deals great damage for a Starting Weapon.

Forging can be annoying if the local smith is hogging the anvil and tools. To get around this, go sleep in a bed until Midnight. He will be asleep, leaving the entire Blacksmith Workshop completely open for you.

First, step up to the Forge and select what you want to create. For his opening quest, you need to hammer out some Sickle Blades. Heat up your Iron Ingot, then take it over to the Anvil to beat it into shape.

Gothic 1 Remake, Guide, Best Early Skills & Upgrades, Weapon Smithing

Next, dunk the hot metal into the Water Tub to cool it off. Once you have enough pieces ready, use the Workbench to handle the bulk assembly, and finish them off at the Whetstone to sharpen the edges.

You can collect more Weapon Schematics later by chatting with Wolf at the New Camp or checking in with the blacksmith over at the Swamp Camp.

Cooking

You do not level up Cooking by spending points. Instead, you have to search the open world to find written Recipes. Preparing your own meals lets you take basic Crafting Ingredients from the woods and turn them into food that restores massive amounts of Health Points.

To start your culinary journey, talk to Snaf in the northern section of the Old Camp. If you complete a quick errand for him, he will reward you with the recipe for Meatbug Ragu, which keeps you healthy in the early hours in Gothic 1 Remake.

For a much stronger option, go hunt down the recipe for Dragon's Breath Stew. This meal restores a massive 60 HP Regeneration over time. To find it, head south from the Swamp Camp until you spot a lone tower. Climb all the way to the top floor and grab the paper off the table.

Finding the plants and meats for this stew in the wild can take some time. To skip the hassle, go see Dexter in the southern section of the Old Camp. He sells a massive variety of Groceries and supplies.

You can easily forage or hunt for whatever else you need in the surrounding woods. When you are ready to start boiling your ingredients, stay away from Snaf's Cook Pot during the day because he never stops using it.

Head over to the entrance of the Arena instead, where there is a public pot that is always vacant.

Gothic 1 Remake, Guide, Best Early Skills & Upgrades, Cooking Skill

Melee and Ranged Combat Expertise

To survive the wildlife and rogue bandits out in the colony, you need to upgrade your Weapon Handling. Turn right around from the arena cooking pot and you will run into Scatty, the Arena Master. He trains players in One-Handed Expertise.

Investing points here makes your regular swings hit harder and raises your chances of landing Critical Strikes.

It also unlocks advanced moves, such as quick Attack Combos, defensive Parries followed by instant Counter-Attacks, and heavy strikes that knock your targets backward. These upgrades cost a lot of points, but they make early encounters much safer.

If you prefer using a bow, go track down Cavalorn. He sets up camp in a small valley inside the woods just west of the Old Camp. Cavalorn acts as a Merchant who sells Bows, Arrows, and animal trophies, and he can teach you Bow Expertise.

This training allows you to pull back your bowstring and aim significantly faster. Your arrows will fly truer over long distances and deal much higher Critical Damage.

Keep in mind that this skill does not apply to Crossbows. Crossbows already hit incredibly hard right out of the box without any point investment.

A great Combat Strategy is to walk into an area with a pre-loaded crossbow to get a heavy opening shot on an enemy, then quickly pull out your regular bow to finish them off with rapid fire.

Hunting Upgrades

Do not bother skinning monsters or beasts until you pick up some Hunting Upgrades. You can learn these tricks from Drax, who hangs out near the starting paths, or from various other woodsmen scattered across the land.

Gothic 1 Remake, Guide, Best Early Skills & Upgrades, Hunting Upgrades

They teach you the correct way to harvest Animal Trophies from dead wildlife. If you do not have these skills, you leave valuable items rotting on the ground.

Once trained, you can pull Teeth, Fur, Claws, and Reptile Hides off your kills and sell them to camp traders for quick Gold Profit in Gothic 1 Remake.

Scavenger Riding

You can travel across the colony much faster by unlocking Scavenger Riding. Go look for an NPC named Cohsel, who lives deep in the same forest area west of Cavalorn's spot.

If you talk to him, he will give you a quest to train your very own bird Mount. One of the items he needs for his task is an underwater weed called King Tide. Gathering this plant from the lake bed can be a real pain unless you know how to dive properly.

Diving and Lockpicking

The Diving skill expands your lung capacity significantly, letting you stay underwater for more than two minutes. This gives you plenty of time for Underwater Exploration to find submerged treasures.

You can pick up this skill at the New Camp by visiting Homer, who hangs out on top of the massive wooden dam right in the center of the camp.

Once you learn to hold your breath, dive into the deep lake surrounding the local tavern. You will find the King Tide plants growing down there, along with a hidden Treasure Chest.

Opening that underwater chest is very difficult because the timer is ticking down. You need high Lockpicking Skills or you will drown before the pins align.

To boost your sleight of hand, go find Wedge inside the massive cave system that serves as the New Camp Headquarters. He can teach you Pickpocketing and Lockpicking. Upgrading your lockpicking is incredibly useful early on.

Once you reach the Master Lockpicker tier, your Lockpicks will no longer snap the moment you make a wrong move.

You get six blunders before a pick breaks, and the overall complexity of mechanical locks is permanently reduced. This saves you an immense amount of money on items over time.

Gothic 1 Remake, Guide, Best Early Skills & Upgrades, Lockpicking Skill

Acrobatics

If you prefer fast-paced Melee Combat, you should definitely grab Acrobatics. You can learn it from Buster at the New Camp. Climb up the wooden ladders to the upper huts inside the cavern to find him.

For 10 Learning Points, he will teach you how to execute quick Dodge Rolls to get away from enemy swings. It also cuts all Fall Damage by 50%. This keeps you alive when you accidentally slip off high cliffs or rocky ridges.

If you are already hanging around the New Camp and just want straightforward weapon training, you do not have to trek all the way back to Scatty at the start. Follow the mountain path heading west out of the camp to find Cord in Gothic 1 Remake.

He teaches One-Handed Weapon skills as well. As a bonus, if you jump off the cliffside right near Cord's spot, you will land near a small fishing hole next to a waterfall that has a free Supply Chest waiting to be opened.

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