In Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, you play as Star-Lord and only Star-Lord. While you can command and even unlock abilities for your allies, all of your upgrades and improvements tend to go toward Star-Lord’s various advantages. And that’s where Rocket comes in. For a handful of components, Rocket will improve your gear with a perk — so long as you’re near a workbench.
In this Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy perks guide, we’ll showcase the best perk upgrades and give you a complete list of Star-Lord’s unlockable perks.
Star-Lord’s best perks
All of Star-Lord’s perks are useful, so you never have to worry about spending your components on a dud. But some are definitely more impactful than others. Let’s run through our favorite upgrades before we get to the complete list.
Rapid Reload
Negate cooldown period due to Elemental Guns overheating
So this is a bit of an unfair start to the list because the game makes you unlock it. But this perk is an absolute game changer, and we want to shout that out. Reloading and overheating can really lower your damage output, but taking advantage of Rapid Reload actually boosts your damage with a quick speed increase. Don’t just use this perk for puzzle solving. Stay active with it, and it’ll serve you well through the entire game.
Components Localizer
Locate crafting components via tracking feedback and additional visor support
This should be the first perk you pick up. Components Localizer not only beeps when you’re nearby Components, but it also shows you where it is if you turn on your Visor. This gets you out of your Visor more often and makes sure you don’t miss a secret — you don’t need to get all the Components in the game to unlock every perk, but you’ll definitely unlock perks faster if you collect often.
Perhaps the best part of this upgrade is that it tells you when there’s a side path nearby, as Eidos Montreal almost always hides Components near skins and dialogue objects. So much of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is about exploration, so get this to help you out.
Perfect Dodge
Slow time briefly when dodging at the last second
Star-Lord can be a bit fragile, even with upgrades toward the end of the game. And while combat isn’t tough on the normal difficulty, it can go bad quickly. Perfect Dodge is a great pickup for two reasons. One, it creates an opportunity for you to run away if you get surrounded. Two, and most importantly, it gives you a window to deal damage while everyone else is slowed.
Knockdown Dash
Avoid falling prone by dashing when hit with a knockdown blow
This is an ability I ignored for quite a long time, but it made a big difference as soon as I unlocked it. Enemies love to knock you over while you’re doing your thing. Knockdown Dash alleviates that a bit, letting you get out of a bad situation before your one mistake leads to many follow-up mistakes. As a character with guns, you want to stay away from enemies most of the time, and Knockdown Dash is a great way to make that happen.
Guardians of the Galaxy perks list
Rocket has a list of perks for you to acquire, and it’s almost complete from the beginning, so you don’t need to worry about saving for something new he’ll offer you later on.
Here’s a table listing out every perk you can unlock as Star-Lord, ranked from A to C in terms of worthiness. The A perks are the handful we listed above, with the B perks sitting just below that, and C perks being good to have but passable.
Guardians of the Galaxy complete perk list
Perk name | Perk effect | Value grade |
---|---|---|
Perk name | Perk effect | Value grade |
Charged Shot | Quickly pressing fire twice charges a shot. Release to deliver a hit that inflicts both Stagger and Physical damage | B |
Consumables Magnet | Attract enemy drops from up to 15 meters away | C |
Rapid Reload | Negate cooldown period due to Elemental Guns overheating | A |
Charge Consumption | Consume less chage when firing the Elemental guns | B |
Low Life Buff | Firing rate doubled when health drops below 25% | C |
Tactical Scan | Scan enemies during combat with the Visor | C |
Air Glide | Glide around targets for a short time while shooting | B |
Perfect Dodge | Slow time briefly when dodging at the last second | A |
Knockdown Dash | Avoid falling prone by dashing when hit with a knockdown blow | A |
Super Quill Punch | Drop additional health pick-ups when landing a lethal blow after a Jet Boot dash | C |
Components Localizer | Locate crafting components via tracking feedback and additional visor support | A |
Extra Health | Increase health point total by 25% | B |
Extra Shield | Increase shield point total by 50% | B |
Shield Restoration Delay | Regenerate shield points more quickly in combat | C |
Shield Restoration Speed | Increase shield regeneration by 33% per second | C |