STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order

Strategy Guide & Combat Training

Tips and Tricks

Combat Mechanics

First things first. You must really understand your moves and corresponding controls before you can fight properly.

Combat Meters

You and your opponents have Health and Block meters. Keep glancing at those during a fight.

Health: zero means death & respawn.
Block: (I’ll call it Stamina too) Fills up by nailing hits, etc. Depletes when Blocking hits.
Force: Goes down when casting Force powers or attacks. Fills up by nailing hits, etc. (“etc” can mean many things, no spoilers 🙂 Important tip: also goes down when you get hit!

Combat Moves

Block: Holding the Block button will block most attacks (except the red-glow ones), so it’s powerful, but only while you have Stamina. When you’re out of Stamina, you’re wide open for hits. Be wary, you can’t block if you’re Recovering (from a move or a hit).

Parry: If you hit the Parry/Block button just at the right time (*just* before the enemy hits you), Cal will perform a Parry instead of a Block. Parrying is good. It gives you Stamina and depletes your enemy’s stamina. Moreover it often leads to really nice fight animations, and finishing moves.

Attack: This is your fast and free attack. Nailing hits raises your Block and Force meters.

Force Attack: A lightsaber attack, but more powerful and slower. Needs Force. To be used when there’s a long enough opening, or after Slow (and only when you have Force in your Force meter!).

Evade: Press once for a very quick evade maneuver. If timed right, (just as enemy is about to land a hit), it leaves you ready for an immediate action afterwards. Note that Evade can be used by itself, or with a LS direction. It costs nothing (doesn’t use any Stamina).

Important tip: Press Evade to get up more quickly after you’ve been knocked down! This usually makes the difference between getting nailed repeatedly vs. getting out of the cycle.

Roll: Press Evade twice for a Roll, along with direction stick, to roll out of the way. Longer recovery. Note that you can Roll forward, which can avoid some enemies jump attacks.

Jump: Backflips when you’re fighting. Useful to get out of the way too. However you’re still vulnerable when in the air and many hits will land anyway, so it’s not a good evasion tactic. But, very useful if you’re in a fight and want to jump off a platform. Note: if Targeting, jump direction freedom is very limited (Cal will always keep facing the Target). Also, some bosses’ attacks (ground swell etc) can only be avoided using jump.

Sprint (Run): Push in LS (Left Stick) with a direction. You don’t need to keep it pushed in as long as you keep running. Actually quite useful to get away from your enemies in larger areas (and auto-deflect laser shots if you made that upgrade). You’ll likely want to turn off Target when running away.

Target: Push in RS (Right-Stick) to toggle Targeting on/off. Use RS direction to select different enemies. Settings has auto-options for this, discussed elsewhere in this guide.

Heal (Stim BD!): Restores part of your Health. Takes a bit of setup time where you have to not initiate any other action or you’ll cancel it. Important tip: You can Evade right after Cal receives the stim shot and before the whole Stim animation is finished. This can be a lifesaver!

Single-Blade / Double-Blade select: This is required knowledge once you have the double-saber, and is easy to miss. D-pad Left to select single blade, D-pad Right to select double blade.

Recovery: A definition for this guide. Time when Cal won’t take any input from you because he’s “recovering”, i.e. finishing a movement or attack animation, or recovering from a hit. Yeah, it’s that frustrating part 🙂 BUT, can usually be shortened with Evade!

Parry/Evade Timing Window: The margin of time you have from timing it perfectly vs not. The harder the Difficulty setting, the smaller the window.

Force Powers

The Force powers affect one or multiple enemies, for varying amounts of time, as you upgrade Cal.

Force Slow: Slows time.
Force Push: Pushes object and enemies away.
Force Pull: Pulls in objects and enemies.

Important Note on Force Powers:

Quick-tapped Force power: The Force power when pressing and releasing the Force button. Usually much faster to cast (but of lesser effect), than the Held Force power.

Held Force power: Obtained via upgrades of Cal’s base Force powers. e.g. Slow, and Hold Slow. Usually slower to cast, but much more powerful.

In combat, time is of essence, so learn how to use your Quick-tapped powers separately, *especially* after you’ve bought the corresponding Held Force power! Likewise, when you want to cast the Held version, make sure you have enough time to do it!

Combat Tactics

Read and understand the Combat Mechanics descriptions above, there are key combat tactics in there.
Prioritize Defensive over offensive. You’re a Jedi, not a Sith. Keep a cool head and study your opponent.
But you can’t just be Defensive: you’ll run out of Block meter or they’ll pick away at you.
You have to put in some attacks in there.
Attack, but don’t get greedy. Get 1-2 hits in, then Evade away and assess. The 3rd Attack will usually get you into trouble.
Timing window for Parry/Evade is just before you get hit. This requires studying your enemies’ attack sequences.
Fights are rarely “clean” in this game, it’s normal to get hit. Even pros get damaged, especially against groups or Bosses.
Enemy combos/Hit flurries: some harder enemies will start hitting you and get 2,3,4 hits in on you and you might feel frustratingly helpless mashing the Block and Evade buttons. There’s little you can do about it once they’ve started, when they don’t give you enough Recovery time to do anything. For example: fast monsters, special troopers. What you *can* do is: hit the Evade button just before the next hit lands, because an Evade can be faster than movement/attack recovery). Ideally, prevent this sequence from landing the first hits on you by using Evade (especially), Block or Roll.
Block is useful, to learn you enemy’s attack patterns. Try to learn one pattern at a time and memorize it. Then the next pattern. If you try to remember them all at once, you won’t remember anything. Identify the end of attack patterns when the enemy takes a break. That’s your Stim or attack window! Then switch to Evade once you know some timings. Parry once you’re confident.
The risk with Block: if you run out of Block meter, then can’t Block anymore and if you try you’re wide open for enemy hits.
Evade is your friend. It’s safer/better than Parry (1 press, not double press). It has almost no Recovery time and puts you behind opponent ready to land a free hit. Not as risky as Parry for flurry of hits.
Roll (double-press Evade) is risky because you need recovery time. If attacks come in fast sequence, the enemy will catch you on its 2nd or 3rd attack. So be cool and Evade at what seems like the right time, you’ll be surprised at how much that opens up the fight for you.
Roll is indeed necessary sometimes to get you far enough out of reach, especially from Red attacks.
Parries are cooler though: they opens up cool animations, finishing moves and better fighting enjoyment, once you’ve learned your enemy’s timings well.
Some non-Red enemy attacks can’t be Parried, I believe, or are very hard to time properly.
Humanoids and monsters fight quite differently; develop tactics for each.
Humans: Evade is very useful against them, and later Perfect Evade. Block works well too.
Monsters: Evade and Roll are your go-to defenses. Successful Parry can freeze many monsters instantly as they often don’t have a Stamina meter.
Perfect Evade (an upgrade) rocks.
The basic Attack is also a combo: 1 Attack doesn’t do much damage, but a 1-2 Attack is decent, and 3 Attacks in a row do as much damage as the Force Attack. It doesn’t use any Force (in fact it gains you Force), has a much faster launch, and you can abort after 1 or 2 attacks with an Evade if you see that the enemy is readying a counter attack.
Attack is your go-to offense, learn to use it a lot.
Slow: Combining Attack with Slow is very powerful. Example: do a 1-2 Attack, Slow, then 1-2 again. Or a 1 Attack, Slow, 1-2-3-Evade, and your Force is right back where it was.
Keep in mind that Slow doesn’t last as long once you start hitting the enemy, so don’t get greedy with your attacks.
Maneuver strategically: Hit from the side or behind. This usually gives you a safer attack window, and it seems to me it does more damage.
Time your hits with the enemy’s recovery: a great time to use your Force Attack is when the enemy is just finishing a combo. It gives you wind-up time. Alternatively, you might consider using Attack-(Attack)-Slow-Attack-(Attack)-Evade instead, and you’ll come out ahead in your Force meter.
Use the environment to your advantage: Push off ledges, use crates as protection from ranged attacks, etc.

Combat Tactics Continued

Study your enemy:

1) Identify Stim opportunities. Study enemy attack pauses, and remember them. They’re usually after red attacks or long attack combo sequences. Remember these as times for you to use a Stim. If the enemy is really fast, you can stretch the time with Force Slow.
2) Be defensive first. Study their attack sequences, while Blocking or Evading. Blocking meter goes down with hits, but it refills pretty quickly once you release Block; just use Evade, Roll or Run for 1-2 seconds and you’re good for another bunch of Blocks.
3) Launch 1 or 2 standard Attacks and fall back. This will refill your Block and Force meters too.
Don’t get greedy! You’ll get punished if you try to put in too many attacks in one go.

Getting hit really hurts!

No kidding right? I’m sure you know that already… especially at Grand Master difficulty!
But that’s not my point…
Every time you get hit, you lose Health and Force!!
It’s a double-whammy, and that’s why it feels like everything just falls apart sometimes! That’s why when you get pounded by a boss, you always wind up with no Force left to use somehow.
This is why Parry is much riskier than Evade. If you miss, you lose Health and Force, and are open for more hits during your Recovery time.
If you Evade as much as needed, then Attack, repeat, you’ll gain Force, which you can then use to help you land more Attacks.
Block is also free, with no Recovery time, as long as your Block meter doesn’t run out. It fills back up too when not blocking.
But, Parry really reveals the Jedi Grand Master in you. So build up to it, and you’ll feel great when you use it!

Target function:

Learn to use and control the Target function (push in RightStick on consoles). Cal maneuvers very differently if Targeting vs not Targeting. When targeting, Cal always faces the enemy, and aims his attacks at the Targeted enemy. This is useful most of the time. You’ll want to choose and Target the desired enemy (using RS), and finish him off before moving to the next one.
In some instances (to use a Stim or gather your wits) you’ll actively want to run away, and to do that you’ll need to turn off Target in the middle of the fight. If you’re trying to run away and Cal’s just going around the enemy in circles, it’s because you’re Targeting that enemy.
I strongly recommend quickly learning to control Targeting.
There are Target options in the menus: I personally have them both off, but it’s your call.
Auto lock target in combat=OFF: allows me to handle the distanc ranged attackers freely
Auto switch target on enemy death=OFF (I don’t like the visible enemies only option, because if enemies are visible it’ll Target, if behind you it won’t – I find it’s an inconsistent experience which distracts me in the heat of combat).

Groups: There’s an order to this madness!

1) Defeat ranged attackers first. Run toward them (esp. if you bought the run&parry skill) and kill them. If they’re out of reach, use your lightsaber’s Parry, just before the shot hits you.
2) Defeat weaker melee enemies.
3) Defeat stronger enemies.

Tips:

Use the double-saber if you have it: it lands hits all around you and/or forces enemies to block therefore preventing them from attacking you.
Evade and Roll; Keep on moving: you’ll avoid ranged attacks and attacks from side/behind.
Run when needed. Use your Force powers to get rid of the weaker enemies (Push…). Note that you can still get hit while running. The laser-deflect-while-running skill (Agile Deflection – once available) is very useful for that.
Try to split the enemies up, don’t let them gang up on you. Get around them so they’re all in front of you, ideally with 1 or 2 near you that you can attack before the others get there.
Target one enemy at a time until you’ve killed it, then the next one. You don’t want to be lightly damaging everyone here and there; you want to reduce their numbers asap: 5 heavily damaged enemies make as many attacks and cause as much damage as 5 full-life enemies.

Laser shots:

Block deflects laser shots even if you’re not looking towards it.
You can Parry and reflect laser shots back directly at the attacker. It’s timed, and easier with the single lightsaber. The Parry timing from when the shot is fired varies with the distance of the trooper, because the timing window is just before the shot hits you. Give yourself room, wait for it, kill them off one by one. Note that you don’t even have to be looking at who’s shooting at you. Listen for the shot firing, then hit your Parry, like a true Jedi!
The Agile Deflection skill is very effective for large groups with ranged attackers, see the Recommended Skill Point upgrades section.

Stims:

Get to know how much Health your Stim will restore. During combat, keep an eye on your health, and as soon as you’re below that threshold, make it a priority to find a time window to use a Stim. This way you’re not wasting any Stim potential, while keeping your Health at maximum margin. Don’t wait until you’re almost dead. Also, wasting a bit of Stim health isn’t so bad, vs dying which has you start over completely.

Sounds:

Cal’s oofs and grunts don’t always mean you got hit, don’t let that faze you.
Look for and learn the monster animations, and also the sounds that give you hint as to when they’re about to hit you.

Animations are sometimes counter-intuitive to your dodge/roll direction ex.: with some very large monsters, you can roll *toward* their attacking arm as they’re sweeping at you to both avoid the hit and get to its side for you to get a free hit in on its side or back. Experiment with all directions, and whether just dodge, or roll needed. Bigger dudes often need Roll.

Range and Realism

Normally, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). If the animation shows you hit, or got hit, it happens.

Evade is a bit “magical” and that’s why it’s misunderstood. It’s NOT WYSIWYG. If your timing is right, the animation of the hit will go right through you with no damage. For everything else, there’s Mastercard. Ahem, for everything else, if the animation hits you, you’ll get damaged. Oh one more thing about Evade, if your timing is NOT right, but it got Cal out of the way enough, the animation misses you so you won’t get hit.

Jump, on the other hand, seems very “unmagical”; contrary to many games, most attacks will hit you when you’re in the air. So use jump carefully. Except for ground-swell type attacks, where you need to jump to avoid them.

Contrary to other games, when you hit Attack, Cal will swing, but the game does not make him get closer to the enemy before swinging. So, if you’re too far away you’ll miss. Enemies know your range and they’ll back out of range. Consequently, in this game attacking is also about moving your character within hitting range. Yes that takes a bit of time and it breaks your momentum, but that’s how it is. So get used to actively moving toward your target between attacks. Moving is an integral and essential part of combat. Moving away is critical too, usually via Evade, Roll, or Run, or double-jump once you have it.

So combos are not pre-programmed to hit like in some fighting games, they’re more realistic really. Whether they land all depends on your position relative to your opponent’s, their reactions, your respective timings etc. In this system you kind of make you own combos on the spot by reacting and using the appropriate counter-moves on the fly!

Get to know your range(s): Practise all this with no enemy around. Swing your main attack, it has a certain range. Now if you have Delay Thrust (X + X), try it, you’ll see how much further the 2nd hit goes. That’s what makes that attack so useful, plus it doesn’t get blocked most of the time. Try Force Attack. It doesn’t stop here! Time to really get to know the tools at your disposal: Try Evade while holding up&right, then Attack. Now you hopped in closer to your enemy and landed a quick attack! Try Roll then Attack… slower but long range! Try your Run + Attack skill (if you bought it), see its range once you hit the Attack button.. pretty far. Now check how long you have to actually Run before hitting Attack to get it to trigger… maybe 1/2 a second? not that long right! So you can Run for 1/2 a second then Attack and you’ve covered a lot of distance in a short time! Useful as a combo with Hold when opponent is medium range. Also try Run+Attack, Hold, Attack+Attack, for example.
Get to know all these. They are all basic combat “combo” options you have at your disposal, and should get familiar with and use the right one at the right time.

Get to know your speed(s): Same as above, get a feel for how fast or slow your attacks are. Force Attack is pretty slow; so you’ll have to use it only when you have an opportunity. Try Attack-Attack-Attack, as fast as you can mash it. Pretty fast right? 1-2 faster than 3. Now try doing it a bit slower.. you have control… but if you’re not hitting Attack-Attack-Attack fast enough, you’re also wasting opportunities. So you can somewhat mash these, but stop before it’s too late! (better yet, time them just right). Alternatively, you can do 2 quick Attacks, then wait a while and Attack again, to trigger your Delay Thrust attack; a pretty powerful combo.

Any enemy that gets hit by your saber in the animation gets hit. Not just the one you’re targeting, or intending on hitting, or even seeing. If you line up 2 enemies and make an overhead attack you’ll hit them both with one Attack, even with the single-saber.

The double-saber swings wide all around, and anything touching it in the animation gets hit; that’s what makes it potent against groups of enemies, you’re hitting stuff you’re not actively focusing on.

Lastly, always try get around your opponent, to its side or back. The face-to-face position is the hardest because that’s where your enemies’ attacks are the strongest, and so are their defenses. Most monsters are completely vulnerable from the side or back. If you attack humanoids from the side or back, you’ll usually get hits in regardless of their block meter! Use move (the joystick), Evade-with-direction, Roll, (sometimes jump) to do so. You can use Slow on fast enemies, then get to the side or back and launch a few Attacks.

Combat Training

Here’s a strategy, you can take a bit of time here and there to train and get more comfortable with combat, and then you’ll enjoy it even more! This game could really have used a Practice Arena. There’s not much guidance given to you on how to fight, and for players not familiar with other Souls-like games, the ramp-up can be harsh, sometimes discouraging.

If you just play the game along the storyline and keep going, you may find you’re always just behind the skill level you’d like to be at, because they keep throwing more stuff at you. Wow you scaped by, just defeating your 1st Purge Trooper, that was tough! Then a bit later they throw 2 of them at you…!

BUT, you can create your own Training Grounds!

Identify Practice areas, as you progress through the game, that have good fights near a Save/Respawn point. Then make a Saved Game backup if you can (see next section). Then go fight, learn, die, and repeat. Since you know you’ll respawn close by, there’s no pressure, and you can relax and start really paying attention to the enemies, try things and learn. When you start winning the fight, don’t stop there! Go back to the Respawn point, Rest (so enemies come back), and redo the fight over and over.

Get into this idea of practice sessions early in the game, and it’ll really pay off with your enjoyment and ability. It’s usually easier to do this when you’ve finished a section of a map and you’re backtracking.

Nurture your inner Jedi: Be calm and distant from your emotions. Getting killed is part of the learning process, don’t get mad when you do just take it in stride.

Practice against single opponents whenever possible, taking your time to test out Evade and Parry timing and attack sequences etc. Timing your Roll, Run or Jump to get away from its various Red attacks.

Split your learning up in small bits. Focus on a specific thing to learn before every (planned) fight, for example:

Practise Combat while NOT using Force moves (or maybe just Slow for Stims).
Then practise inserting specific Force moves (Slow, Pull & attack, Push over ledge).
Enemy attack sequences
Evade/Parry Timing
Experiment Force powers with each enemy type: some are highly susceptible to some Force moves, such as Push (off ledge), or Pull-attack (massive damage).
Time your use of Slow + move around sidestep.
Check how much damage some moves do; try to find ways to use them (Hold Y, X + X). Not applicable to all monster types.
Target select/deselect; target change.

Become the Jedi you were meant to be!

Make and Use Saved Game Backups!

It’s a good idea to make backups of your saved game at good fight areas (not to mention in general in case there’s a bug).

Then you can copy the file to a spare saved game location, and load it up to practice, change it to another saved area to practice other enemies, etc.
Or replay cool boss fights…! …like the arena for example…

This is easy to do on PC (C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\Respawn\JediFallenOrder\SaveGame00.sav to SaveGame04.sav). You can make copies of the saved game by just doing Alt-Tab out of the game and copy. Do this for example when you die the first time at a boss fight. You’ll have access to replaying that boss fight anytime later!

To restore, the game is friendly to you replacing / renaming saved game files, but I only tested doing this when I’ve quit out and the game is not running.

I don’t know about the console versions, but it’s worth exploring too.

Exploration

Briefly speaking: Exploration is rewarded not only with lore, but with Skill Points (sometimes lots), and permanent boosts to your health and force, and Stims. This really adds up to your Combat abilities, so it’s definitely worth doing some exploration, unless you really hate doing it. Look for alternate paths, and yellow-wall areas on the map you haven’t explored.

Recommended Planet Order

The main storyline is linear, but you do have some choice as to when you go to which planets, and when to go back to planets you’ve already been to.

Minor spoiler alert: You can find more Stims, in special yellow crates, for BD-1 to hold for you. Having more Stims makes a huge difference: you’ll last much longer in any given battle, avoiding many respawns and speeding up your combat learning experience. I think it just makes the game more fun and less punishing. It makes a huge difference especially for Boss fights. This section guides you through multiple Stim locations on the way.

To this effect I recommend you go visit/revisit some planets at certain points in the storyline:

Story: Bogano; when done and ready to leave, you can get a Stim: not too far from the Mantis (needs wall-run).
Story: Zeffo (1st time): make sure to find the extra Stim before you leave. Location Hint 1: It’s in Derelict Hangar… 2nd hint: in the cave not far after you see the 2 Skazz rats chomping on the dead stormtrooper.
Recommended: go back to Bogano, as tipped off by Cere. Just go to get the 2nd stim there, very close to the Mantis, and double-back, you’ll come back for more later.
Story: Kashyyyk (1st time)
Story: Zeffo (2nd time) BUT we’ll cut this one short. Just go far enough to get the Scomp Link, then go back to the Mantis before you reach a point of no-return. (Point of no return happens when you pass through the huge Venator reactor with 3 flying robots in the Crash Site map, to Imperial Dig section.)
NOTE: Game difficulty cranks up a solid notch at the 2nd Zeffo tomb (Tomb of Miktrull) and afterwards; it’ll be more fun if you’re prepared, so follow the next few steps, especially if you’re playing on Jedi Grand Master. Refer to the Recommended Upgrades section to spend your Skill Points wisely! (you’ll want to keep some aside ideally!)
Recommended: go back to Bogano, as tipped off by Cere. Upgrade Location: Go to the Abandoned Workshop, make your way almost to the top inside the area that’s flooded at the bottom and has stairs going up (with the squirrel-like animals leading the way :). There’s an actual Workshop near the top behind a door you can get through with the Scomp Link now. This will give you… a nice saber upgrade, along with a short explanatory cutscene, and a practise fight! (you can get this same upgrade in Dathomir’s 1st section without that cutscene.)
Recommended: Dathomir. There’s a 1st section you can do anytime, which has 2 life essences (you need 3 for a life boost) and the monsters give you a lot of XP’s. You can easily gain 2 Skill Points here. This planet can be more punishing, but it’s made to feel worse than it is because of the ominous music and NPC comments. If you’re patient and figure out your enemies you’ll be fine. Now is a good time to at least try. Eventually you’ll need to go in the storyline, and you could do it all then.
NOTE: Last chance to accumulate and keep 2 to 4 Skill Points unspent, if possible, before going to Zeffo’s Imperial Dig. You’ll gain access to new skills which cost 2-3 points each, so you don’t want to waste points on not-so-useful skills. This isn’t so critical at Jedi Knight difficulty, but very useful in Grand Master. You can farm skill points in Dathomir.
Story: Zeffo (back for 3rd time). Now go to Crash Site, get this bonus: (make sure to go up the rope along the wall to the right of the arena with the big bad dude; life essence) Then make your way to the left to Imperial Dig etc, which will lead you toward the Tomb of Miktrull.
After Tomb of Miktrull: NOW you can Spend your accumulated Skill Points, to buy Personalized Stims(2pts), and Power of Friendship(3pts).
The way back can be confusing. Choose this route to get a Stim: when you come back up to the surface, after you’ve platformed your way a bit and killed that trooper standing outside: head inside, then you have 2 choices of where to go: take the elevator to your left (instead of going to your right). Cal will comment that it’s convenient, and it “unlocks a shortcut” I believe. It’s a long way down this elevator. Fight off enemies, and look on your holomap for the green ropes that are looped-up. You can now Pull these. Make your way toward these on the map, and look for a rope you can pull to your left immediately after a door. Going up this will bring you back to Ice Caves, but you’ll get another Stim upgrade before you do. Then continue you way into the central Ice Caves area using the 2 ropes you can pull.
Story: (new area, you’ll see 🙂 If you got your Power of Friendship upgrade, you’ll really appreciate it.
Story: Kashyyyk 2nd time: don’t miss the Stim you can get before you leave the area with the bouncy plants.
Dathomir: Once you have double-jump and can get to the new area you couldn’t before, if you want a boost before entering the Tomb of Kujet: turn so your back is to the entrance (and you’re looking back at the areas you just double-jumped, and go off to your left, to do a section that’ll give you another Stim.
… and there is a lot more to do, but you have grown much young Padawan! Now is the time for you to seek guidance from within. Trust your instincts, go forth and become the Jedi you were meant to be!

If you’re playing on Jedi Grand Master difficulty, I recommend you make sure you have at least 5-6 Stims before Zeffo’s Imperial Dig (toward Tomb of Miktrull), and 8 before you enter the Tomb of Kujet the 2nd time in Dathomir. If you’re playing on Jedi Knight, you can have 2-3 less than that.

Recommended Skill PointUupgrades

Ideally, you’ll want to keep 2 spare (unspent) Skill Points points before you get into Imperial Dig. This is because the combat difficulty goes up a big notch there, and there’s no way back, AND you’ll gain access to several very useful skills once you complete Tomb of Miktrull. But they cost 2 or 3 skill points, and you won’t make enough skill points to buy them before you need them.
Note that once you’ve gained a Skill Point (or more), you never lose it, even if you die many times. You can only lose progress toward a full skill point.
I’m using the Xbox controller conventions (see controller picture above).
Here are my recommended upgrades, in order.

Overhead Slash (Y): You don’t have a choice to buy that one. Use sparingly because it uses Force and you want to keep some force to Slow enemy & stim. It also is slow to execute so time it well. It does good pretty damage though, can be useful at the start and end of fight.
Survival Skills: Increase Life
Superior Blocking: Really helps you to survive attacks and figure out enemies, especially when new to the game.
Force Attunement: Increase Force, which helps you survive via Slow mostly initially (to Heal or attack).
Improved Stims: Improve your Stims before Life (Enhanced Survival Skills). Because its bonus is effectively multiplied by the number of Stims! Whereas a Life boost is only once, when you Rest. See note below.
Dash Strike (Hold Y): Useful to get an initial hit on tough enemies. (and gives you access to other good skills)
Delay Thrust (X + X): Very useful because it gives you extra range, and a powerful strike WITHOUT using Force! A key attack for tough enemies.
Agile Deflection (Run): very useful to automatically deflect blaster bolts while running toward shooting enemies, and/or away from melee enemies
Enhanced Force Recovery: Better Force Recovery. Before that, it seems you’re always out of Force… And opens access toward Power of Friendship.
Greater Force Attunement: More Force meter, BUT more importantly gives you access to the Power of Friendship.
The Power of Friendship (3pts): An awesome upgrade, one of the best ones and most fun! Brings the Force back in your game. Every time you Stim, you get your full Force meter back! This allows you to use Force powers a LOT MORE, and makes a huge difference in the difficult fights. Plus it makes you become a badass Jedi.
Delay Combo (X + X) for double-saber. Makes group critter fights much easier (Dathomir spiders, rats etc), because your attack combo is non-stop, and does good damage.
Personalized Stims (2pts)
others to your taste…
Expert Survival Skills (2pts): You don’t need that one for a while, make sure to get the above upgrades before, and consider others too.
etc.

A note about Life vs. Stim upgrades. Keep in mind your Life bar is only filled to the top when you Rest. After that, it’s only filled by the Stim amount. If you have 5 stims, you’ll benefit 5 times from a bigger Stim boost, whereas you benefitted only once from a higher Life. So, Stim boosts give you much more total Life. On the other hand, if your Life bar is too short, it’s hard to use your Stim in time, so decide per your preference.

Lightsaber Throw (3pts): very expensive, but it does give you a ranged Attack, which you don’t get otherwise. And it looks really cool! Important info to know: you still keep your other half of the saber to block/parry/attack with, while your other saber is flying. I didn’t buy it until very late in the game because I thought Cal would be vulnerable to other enemies during the flying time. It’s not the case. Also, saber can hit multiple times, multiple enemies if lined up well, on the way out then back toward you. So, more powerful than it initially seems. Some enemies block it.

Perfect Evade: A very powerful upgrade. When you time an Evade correctly, enemy slows down for a bit giving you more time to Attack. Get it once it’s available (fairly late).

Life Essence upgrades: These are found by exploring in the game. Every 3 you find gives you a Life boost. They do add up and make a difference! Likewise for the Force ones.

STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order – Strategy Guide