Shared Abilities in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name have a lot to do with increasing the strength of your Heat Gauge and expanding upon your other stats and capabilities. However, they cost you precious Yen and Akame Network points, so you should prioritize the best.
Best Shared Abilities to upgrade in Like a Dragon Gaiden
In Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, you'll want to continue to grow your strength, learn new fighting styles, and upgrade your abilities as you progress through the story. Your Shared Abilities can be upgraded with the Upgrade Abilities menu. They must be unlocked by progressing far enough into the story and earning the proper catalogs; usually, this happens directly in the main story.
Then, to upgrade your abilities, you must spend Yen and Akame Network points. Some upgrades have multiple levels that will enhance the ability even more. These are a few Shared Abilities I found to be the most helpful to upgrade.
Increase Equippable Gear
This must-get Shared Ability will allow you to expand your Gear Slots, equipping more of them simultaneously. This can be upgraded a total of three times, eventually allowing you to equip four Gear items at the same time. It will cost you 1,000 Akame Network Points and ¥100,000 for the first upgrade and then progressively more expensive for the following upgrades.
Heat Action: Essence of Face Stomp
This is an epic Heat Action upgrade that allows you to learn a new skill. You will perform a running kick to the face of your enemy by pressing your Finishing Blow button after a sprinting attack. With the momentum of this kick, you can send enemies flying backward and deal a nice hefty bit of damage to them. Thankfully, it will only cost you Yen, making it one of the easier upgrades to obtain.
Ultimate Counter (Damage Up)
One of my all-time favorite moves in the game is the counter moves, and probably one of the most crucial, allowing you to avoid the enemy's ultimate blow and instead return a powerful attack back at them. With this Ultimate Counter upgrade, you can increase the damage you do on these moves, making them far more deadly.
Extreme Heat Mode (Damage Up)
Activating your Heat already makes you more powerful, but with this Extreme Heat Mode upgrade, you can increase that damage even more, allowing you to tap into your full potential while your Heat is activated and unleash your fury on the enemies around you.
Extreme Heat Mode (Unflinching)
Tired of enemies getting lucky shots on you and knocking you down? This Extreme Heat Mode (Unflinching) upgrade will solve that problem altogether, allowing you to resist all knockdown moves as long as your Heat is activated; press your Heat button at low health.
Extreme Heat Mode (Undying)
This upgrade makes your Heat mode even more significant, allowing you even to cheat death. If you activate your Heat at low health, you can avoid being killed until your heat mode runs out. Use this opportunity to finish off your opponents before they get the chance to do so to you.
Heat Gauge Auto Charge
Once your Heat Gauge runs out, you deliver as many successful blows as possible to build it back up. This is fairly easy in a battle with multiple targets, but it could prove to be more difficult during a boss fight. With this Heat Gauge Auto Charge, you can automatically restore your Heat Gauge over time, activating when you're in low health.
Devastating Taunt (All Enemies)
Let's be honest. Taunting not only instills fear into your enemies, but it's also very satisfying when you're in the middle of kicking everyone's butt. This Devastating Taunt upgrade will allow you to taunt all enemies at the same time, no matter if you're in ready stance or not, as long as one enemy is knocked onto the ground.
Boost Recovery Amounts at Restaurants
If you're grinding street goons in the open areas or had a tough battle to face and lost some HP, restaurants can be great spots to stop by to restore it to the max. Unfortunately, one meal doesn't always cut it, depending on how much health you lose. With this Boost Recovery Amounts upgrade, you will earn more HP recovery with each meal, making it more worth the Yen.
No Reservations
Like the Boost Recovery Amounts upgrade, the No Reservations upgrade makes health restoration at restaurants much more worthwhile. You will no longer be limited to the amount of meals you can, meaning you can stop by and purchase a meal repeatedly to restore health without getting full. All gains, no pain!
These are just the upgrades we would suggest focusing on first in the Shared Abilities selection. However, if you have the Yen and points to spare, why not work on maxing out all the upgrades eventually? You will definitely see and feel the difference in power as you do.
Looking for more Pro Game Guides Like a Dragon Gaiden content? Check out our guides on Best Weapons in Like a Dragon Gaiden or How to earn Yen fast in Like a Dragon Gaiden!
Abby Smith is a super nerd and video game fanatic who grew up playing games on a variety of platforms. She likes to spend her free time binge-watching Netflix, reading all genres of novels, and playing all the best new video games. She is currently a full-time Staff Writer for Pro Game Guides, and as an alumni from Full Sail University, also enjoys dabbling in creative writing such as short stories, scripts, and comics on the side.