Best skills in Donkey Kong Bananza to unlock first

The best Donkey Kong Bananza skills will power up DK in incredibly useful ways for the journey to the Planet Core, and there are some clear standouts that you should absolutely get as early as possible. For example, I think upgrading your sonar and collection abilities early makes your life a lot easier. The problem is that since DK has so many skills and upgrades to unlock across his personal skill path and the five transformations in Donkey Kong Bananza, knowing which ones to prioritize or avoid is tricky. So, having played through the whole game, I've laid out what I think are the best skills in DK Bananza to unlock first to help you spend your skill points wisely.

How to earn Skill Points in Donkey Kong Bananza and reset them

To quickly cover the basics, every five Donkey Kong Bananza Bananas you eat grants you one Skill Point that you can put towards a skill – press the Up directional button to open the "Skills" menu at any time and spend your Skill Points.

You can also respec your Skill Points by visiting any Elder after you have unlocked their Bananza form. Speak to one and you'll notice an option to "reset my skills!" which refunds all your Skill Points for free, letting you allocate them differently (be aware that extra Apple and Melon Juice items you have will be converted into gold).

Best Donkey Kong Bananza Skills

There are more than enough bananas in Donkey Kong Bananza to unlock every skill in the game, but there are some skills that, in my opinion, aren't worth wasting Skill Points on unless you've got nothing else to spend them on.

Bearing that in mind, here are the best DK skills for you to unlock as early as possible, focusing on the yellow, non-Bananza skills on the left side of the Skills menu (If it's not listed below, it's probably not worth unlocking):

• Health levels 1-4: Going up to level 4 will cost you 10 Skill Points in total but will leave you with seven hearts, which should be more than enough Health to see you through to the end of the game. I recommend having at least six hearts by the time you reach SL 900. Although, if you're playing with Donkey Kong Bananza Assist Mode on, you can probably get away with just five hearts.
• Apple Juice level 1: Apple juice is very handy, essentially giving you an extra life if your health gets depleted, but this is an expensive skill to invest in. Unlock level 2 only if you feel you need it.
• Bananergy levels 1-3: This skill increases your Bananza time which is a very handy upgrade since it applies to all Bananzas. Certain Pauline outfits can increase a specific Bananza's duration, so swap between those as you gradually level this skill and move through the different Donkey Kong Bananza sublayers.
• Punch Power levels 1-4: DK can break most types of terrain, but more durable terrain with a higher strength rating takes more punches. This skill makes it so that DK can break stronger terrain faster. Upgrade this one as you go to ensure DK rarely struggles to break things in any sublayer.
• Better Collecting levels 1-3: DK's Hand Slap has a pitifully small pick-up radius for Gold and other items when you start the game. Unlocking level 1 of this skill should be an early priority, then you can unlock levels 2 and 3 gradually.
• Better Sonar levels 1 and 2: Like Better Collecting, DK's sonar range isn't great either. Since sonar helps you find Bananas, fossils, and treasure chests, all of which are incredibly useful, I recommend getting level 1 as soon as possible. However, level 3 is very expensive, so you could stop at level 2.
• Better Turf Surfing: Turf Surfing is a very useful traversal technique to bear in mind in the more hazardous sublayers, and this skill is a one-off boost that lets you surf for longer.
• Surf Surf: Another one-off upgrade for Turf Surfing, this one lets you surf on water, including poison water, without taking damage, which the Zebra Bananza can't even do.

So those are the best skills for regular DK, but each of the five Donkey Kong Bananza transformations has its own Skills too. Some Bananzas benefit massively from upgrades, though some just aren't worth investing that many Skill Points into. Here are the best Donkey Kong Bananza Skills for each Bananza form:

Best Kong Bananza skills

The Kong Bananza is effectively just a big upgrade for DK, increasing his punching power massively. As our Donkey Kong Bananza tips say, I recommend unlocking every skill for this Bananza form because they're that good:

• All of them: With all levels of Charge Punch, Fast Charge, and Kong Armor, DK becomes an unstoppable, rampaging ape in Kong Bananza form, capable of destroying basically anything.

Best Zebra Bananza skills

The Zebra Bananza is arguably the weakest of the five and isn't worth spending many of your Skill Points on, in my opinion:

• Charge Dash level 1: This is a cheap skill that helps you move faster for longer, which is all this Bananza is good for.

Best Ostrich Bananza skills

Like the Zebra, the Ostrich Bananza's flight is its main trick and isn't great for much else. But flying is far more useful, so it's worth grabbing a couple of upgrades:

• Glide level 1 and 2: Continue to hold ZL after fluttering to glide. At level 2, the glide angle is much shallower, letting you go very far.
• Better Flutter: A cheap and simple boost to flutter's speed and duration.

Best Elephant Bananza skills

The Elephant Bananza is absurdly strong and useful due to its destructive inhalation and ability to create spheres of whatever you suck up which have several uses. I recommend fully upgrading the Elephant if you can:

• All of them: Unlocking level 1 of Better Inhaling and Stronger Lungs is essential, making the Elephant form's trunk much better at inhaling terrain. Getting these skills to level 2 is also useful, but I recommend unlocking Trunk Room and Quick Storage next to massively improve the material sphere aspect.

Best Snake Bananza skills

The Snake Bananza is unlocked too late in the game for it to be worth heavily investing Skill Points in, and it's not as good for fighting or destroying terrain as the Kong and Elephant forms:

• Better Glare level 1 and 2: The time slow effect of Glare doesn't last long at all, so get level 1 of this skill as soon as possible and then level 2 to double its duration.
• Better Charge Jump: This skill is quite expensive at 3 Skill Points but massively improves the vertical height from Charge Jumping. If you double Charge Jump and then switch to the Ostrich Bananza, you can glide far!

While the Bananza skills are a bit of mixed bag overall, it's worth highlighting that you should try and fully upgrade all of them as it'll help a lot when it comes to tackling the Donkey Kong Bananza post-game quest. You'll also unlock an additional golden skill for each Bananza when doing so!

Want to know how long it takes to beat Donkey Kong Bananza? We've got answers to that question here with several estimates. You can also check out our Donkey Kong Bananza review.

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