What Are The Best Skills in The Sims 4? Let's Explore! 

It actually just came to my attention that our challenge team is currently running a skill-based challenge here: www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?board=114.0 Register, do the challenge and post your score but do read up on our rules etc. You can see some things are banned because they are too OP and we want to be fair to people who do not own specific packs. Like, it'd be impossible to win if you didn't use a tiny house: www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=31126.0

"Sims crave social attention, even when they're loners..." This is probably one of my bigger issues with The Sims 4. Not even so much this specific aspect, but just the fact that most of my Sims, no matter how I've built them, seem to all want the same things -- chatting on the phone, buying a chess table, and owning at least a 1x1 swimming pool, just to name a few. Why does my angry mischievous hermit want to dance to the radio almost as much as my perky socialite teen?

I really wish more skills worked like Cooking and Gourmet Cooking. I'd like there to be "advanced" versions of skills that you can only unlock by getting to 5 in the "base" version of it. So I shouldn't be able to learn any Rocket Science skills until reaching level 5 in Logic, for example.

I wish traits had more to do with skills. The boost from traits is less than it is from even aspirations. They seem to just make random moodlets appear sometimes. Making traits have a bigger impact, and making more of them, might be useful...

Writing books is literally the best way to make money, my sim started at $0 and now makes almost $20000/day just from her books

I wanted to play a rags to riches household with a couple of broke college students. I wanted them to struggle and kinda live on a skeleton budget. That all changed when one of those damn kids fished up two gold bars in a single session. I rolled with it, had them sell the gold bars then splurge all the money on stuff that wouldn't really benefit them in the long-run. The added lot value raised their bills enough to drag them back down to that sweet, sweet poverty line.

If you have a high archaeology skill level, you can receive artifacts in the mail to uncover for a very high fee. Great money maker.

Instant upgrade from handiness is so useful, especially on things like the weather machine where it has a tonne of upgrades.

I discovered that listening to your videos while playing Sims 4, is amazing! It’s like it’s own Sims podcast to listen to, while learning things I did know. It’s amazing how much I can still learn from you, even after playing Sims for years ❤️

I realized if you read the Vampire Encyclopedia just enough to learn how to make plasma packs, you can turn any fish >$50 (or over, but that would be counterproductive) into plasma packs worth $50, then sell the entire stack of them in one go.

I pay your painting skill and raise it a photography skill that doesn't require buying absolutely anything (can do with cell phone). It can be just as profitable: the time you take to paint one small painting you can take batches and batches and batches and batches of selfies and make as much if not even more money. Photos also can have emotional auras, but that is tied to the room's emotion when the photo was taken. I love painting, but photography can be just as useful, and much much cheaper.

Flower arrangement, you make a ton of money for little effort and can make mood altering arrangements through scents.

Fishing is also good for vampires, I believe it is level 1 vampire knowledge they learn to make blood packs from fish, and frogs, side note I think every sim not just vampires can learn that, and the blood pack sells for 50 simolions instead of the fish cost so take a 12 $ fish squeeze it into a blood bag boom 50$ .. math checks out to :)

It's far more difficult to keep a Sim poor than it is to make them rich and with every new expansion it seems to get easier to get rich... and harder to remain poor (or even normally wealthy). I don't have many packs but even with the few I have, this is true. Once Sims are rich, for me they get boring to play so I tend to leave them and move on to someone else.

So glad you have a RU-vid channel now we'd love to know more about you

I like unlocking to top chef's trait that makes it so food never decays. Need Max cooking for that

The herbalism (not sure if the name is correct in english, sorry) is the most useless skill in sims 4, because the recipies requires a lot of ingredients that are hard to find, and you can do the same (or even more) with other skills and without "farming" the ingredients And something that started bother me: Why one Sim can be good in all skills? For example, in real life, not everybody can be, idk, a musician, so why they can be good in everything? This would add some depth in the gameplay. Like, sims with some caracteriscts could increase the painting skill until level 15, for example. Or, for those sims that don't have motor coordination, the skill stops at level 5, idk (Sorry if the english is bad)

I loooooove the handiness skill. I try to upgrade everything in my house, especially the washer and dryer, as it allows me to add a flower (or even a fruit) to the dryer and boost the scent 😃😃😃

I LOVE Charisma! LOVE Cheerful Introduction!😄 combine with Wellness Skill in Spa game pack. Powerful combination to boost other sim's mood in conversation.

good manners and responsible; best perks in the game

I focus on cooking, gardening, and handiness with new sims. Since they usually have cheap appliances that break and I prefer they don't burn up while cooking, lol. Produce can be eaten or sold. Great video, enjoyed it.

something ive found out is that higher levels in photography can net you ALOT of friendship with people if you take all 5 photos, i dont know if this is in combination with charisma, but with 10 photos on someone ive maxed out a sims friendship bar.

I've only found this channel recently but I wanted to say all your videos are incredibly useful resources for the sims players. I'm really attached to the game so it's wonderful to have this resource. thank you!

Tip: I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet (that I can see), but "Teleport" is a game changer when it comes to getting around in Foxbury university. The campus is a poorly designed nightmare that takes hours of walking to get around and sims tend to get late for classes for no fault of their own. Cutting out the ridiculous amount of needless walking means more time for study/socializing (meaning better grades). Teleport is almost a necessity if you are running back to back classes with an athletic scholarship. I never send a sim to uni without turning them into level 6 yogis first .... not a sentence I thought I'd ever use in life. Video games are weird.

Am I the only one who started seeing the "woohoo" skill available as a skills class in university? I have never seen that before.

The first skill that I thought of was handiness. From profit to +1 happy moodlets or useful upgrades it helps a lot!

THAT explains why i keep going back to these skills! thanks for the video!

Robotics + Engineering Career enables you to build cybernetics (helmet and suit a la Iron-Man) which gives you a permanent focus modlet. And you can build these and give to your teens/offspring for that sweet focus boost. Also it looks kind of cool IMO.

I think flower arranging skill is good too. Easy to earn money, control the moods and even killing sims!

I really like Comboing the Rocket Science with the Handiness Skill - You can repair and upgrade items so much faster :)

This is a great video. Your tips are super well thought out

You deserve a lot more recognition

8:28 It says "DOESNT's queue is full. Please try again later." *Best name ever.*

I find that if you put the sketch pad in their inventory then queue the drawing they wont skip some of the drawing.

I love your videos. I used to go to your website and read every article in my own "head" voice. Now when I read the articles on your site, I read them in your voice in my head.

Omg how did I just find you?! I love that you've answered most of my questions and have shown me stuff I didn't know was even a thing in your videos.

Good video, nice editing. Excellent info breakdown as always!

Great video! My game was getting stale so now I’m going to investigate a couple of these skills again 😁👌🏻

I really love the Vampire Lore skill. You learn so many different things, making plasma packs out of a fish and frog, the ability to order spooky plant seeds and plasma packs, making garlic decorations that keep vampires away and look awesome in your kitchen, recipes for vampire food and drinks, even the ability to cure vampirism.

You are my source of education and another you tuber my investigator, every pack I download I eventually pull up your videos, though I admit I watch for entertainment as well.

There were only 4 skills outside of the base game and two of those were from uni. The only two were from 2018 and earlier. What does this say about the game? Also, I do love the game, but I want more depth.

Gardening is my fav, I always want to different things but always end up starting off with gardening every time 😂😂😂

There you are :) i missed you

Your not going to mention that high logic sims can plead much more successfully with the reaper

Thank you again for your video...gardening or painting are the two major skills my Sims always have / make money with...i'm playing the 100 baby challenge now and the toddlers survive mostly from fresh picked vegetables and fruits /mom has her hands full with raising them and taking care of the garden, so she cooks ocasionally/... have a nice day ;)

Me: I wonder if there's a new video from Carl Also me: YES!

With max Archeology skill I get artifacts in the mail to authenticate for 3-4000 bucks each. Easy easy way to make money.

Everytime I watch one of your videos I learn something I didnt know. I didnt know that the book of life would being a sims back from the dead. Also the fishing aspiration has the ability to lose all tense emotions. I wish they had an aspiration for wellness. They could put it under the fitness tab.

Yo, Carl--keep doing it! You're good at these thorough analyses! We need this info, and it's not been provided to us other than through you. Mother's milk.

As more and more stuff comes out for the Sims 4 that makes skill gain trivial, Snaggle fluster becomes next to useless. 1) You have to first rank up to level 9 of the Mixology Career. 2) You get it from a random event AT that level (if you rank up again you can't get it) 3) You can't TEACH the drink to some other sim meaning... 4) If are doing something like a Legacy challenge where you may not make your sims immortal after your sim dies of old age the knowledge of that drink is LOST. The time it takes to rank up to level 9 in the Mixology Career and then earn the recipe could easily be spent doing something else. Thus Mixology is a pointless skill and shouldn't be on this list of useful skills. Heck if we could PICK our sims favorite drink in some way then I might like this skill, but I've had my sim go to the bar and told them to order their favorite drink and for some reason the game randomly picked the drink intended for PETS as my sim's favorite drink, meaning my sim didn't actually like it. I can't remember if the Vampire Trait reset drink requires Mixology skill or not but if it does that is a redeeming quality of the Mixology skill as often after I max out a vampire's power I like to reset their skills to more useful powers.

Painting is the best skill, as it pays well, and it also gives you points towards being famous as well.

i like the aspiration cheats it quite helpful especially when there hidden traits you want your Sims to have but you can't bc you have to complete the aspiration

I love the woodworking skill. Its so cool to make ur own furniture using parts from fixing the toilet

I think that EA should make an item that can be created when a sim has maxed out all skills that makes them immortal

Fun fact: you can learn Gourmet Cooking from reading books even before your cooking skill is high enough to start cooking gourmet dishes.

I like the play hooky ability that comes with mischief

Missed your guides. Glad you're back! ❤❤

I did not know that about modding games, and now I want to test it out.

I find that baking is a pretty decent money maker. If you’re making high level, quality dishes they can be sold for a lot. My sim sold a plate of creme brûlée for over $1000

Great stuff, thank you

Great video!

I used the home-grown produce all the time with toddlers. It takes them so damm long to waddle over pick up a plate or food, or even eat in the high chair. I just put a bunch of apples or tomatoes down and make them eat 6 of them at a time. It takes way less time

I don't understand English very much but i really like to watch your videos. Hi from Brazil :)

Having an over clocked pc and getting focused for 16 straight hours is pretty nice 👍🏻

Programming has a wonderful skill gain after you complete the Computer Nerd aspiration. If you have any base game skill up to 2 you will have unlocked on the WEB, a feature called RESEARCH BINGE. It will take skills up to level 6 and it helps to be focused. I also have used snagglefluster after completing the nerd aspiration in combination. If you save a sim who has snagglefluster and transplant it in another game the snagglefluster recipe will not carry over.

Taste of Diet flavor ice cream (kitchen pack) is how I keep my sims slim.

I loooove uuuuu and wish you were more popular. Ill be sharing again tomorrow when im not post blocked on facebook ;)

Thank you for your beautiful videos with good commentary and pleasant cuts. I would like to know who your favourite sim is, and what your favourite building is. (Both self made and from the game, so four choices total). I think I see Elsa around a lot. Is that coincidence? ;) I like your videos a lot!

I'm amazed you didn't mention the mermaids for the fitness. The mermaids can easily max out their fitness (espicially if you have them be a child of the ocean).

Wait so you're telling me I didn't have to suffer by working for ambrosia (that did not work so I had to cheat anyways) and could have just worked on my sims already existing writing skill and such to revive her boyfriend? Gosh. MUCH Time wasted.

This game I love it but. Every too seconds I lag, even starting over and having nothing. My traits lag out and don't work,friend of the world they still loose intrest! I put (living off grid) and still get Bill I don't have to pay. My vampire I change there weakness from hissing to guilty drinker and still hiss, OMG It's so buggy i wish thay cared.....

I love that you just told us who to get loans from.

GREAT VIDEO 👍🏽

very helpful, just as always :)

I wanted to make the video speed abit faster and I pressed 2 on the keyboard. If this doesn't say that I play Sims too much then IDK what does.

Watched this twice and took notes. 😁

At level 9 Archaeology, you get an item in the mail, every other day or so, which you have to authenticate and send back. You get payed 3-4k for that. :) Also - I might be wrong - but you need Research & Debate at around maybe 7? to be able to "contribute to knowledge" on the research machine? That also gets you several hundreds, I think it depends on your level of skill for that specific knowledge contribution.

thanks for video buddy

I can never get the fish traps to work, and if I set it with bait it takes all my stack of what I use. I go back to the trap and says not set, I dunno if it is a bug.

if you get attacked while having expedition in selvadorada, high logic skill may help to pat away the bats that attack u and help to stay calm

Clean bots work well with get to work if you have a business and need an extra employee to clean all those shelves

1. parenting 2. gardening 3. charisma 4. cooking and gourmet 5. fishing 6. fitness 7. handiness 8. logic 9. mixology 10. painting 11. programming 12. research and debate 13. robotic 14. wellbeing 15. writing 16. archeology

For me the best skill is Painting.. it can always be used and its a great money maker.. I only wish when we were done painting a painting, that they had good frames and that they would disappear on the wall when you lower the walls.. and of coarse, it would be nice to have a lot bigger selection of paintings to paint.. beyond painting.. Gardening is another great skill..

Caleb 😱. What a nice vampire.

I didn't hear any mention that you can upgrade beds with the handiness skill line

I tried so hard to make the robotics skill work for me, I had a scientist sim who was a kind of absent minded professor type so it made sense to get her some utilibots for work in the garden and around the house. I ended up with one gardening utilibot, one cleaner and two repair bots. even with the repair bots running on alternate recharge times my sim spent more time repairing those bots than doing important science stuff. They were constantly breaking down or getting fried by rain and some times I didn't notice a broken bot until it was too late, the first time one disappeared from being broken too long I didn't realize and was looking all over wonder where it could have gotten to. In the end they were more trouble than the massive investment of my sims time and money than they were worth.

If you mentor a skill or are mentored it causes a fast gain in friendship but does not help with social .

painting, music and writing is my base money making

Best skill in the game? Handiness, hands down. :p

What a great idea. Small Claims Court. 8D Learned things and appreciate your knowledge. :D

unrelated, but kind of an exploit with the tiny homes relationship boost? I took a set of 5 pictures with a visiting sim and went from 0 to 100 on the friendship scale instantly. it's so ridiculous. (on the phone option "Take photo with...")

Thank you

What is that in 3:43 ? Is that plumbob? And how did you get him? I know discover university is nedeed but still you cant create him, am i right or not 🤔

If you play with vampires, the fishing skill is excellent for creating plasma packs for guilty drinkers. My vampires tend to loathe drinking from humans unless they have to.

gardening skills has a small hidden gift making a death flower - would save a sim become a ghost in the first place is would be overpowered if the sim used it auto cheat death so a death flower keeps him from sims who dies going into their graves and returning back to how they was

Hey, I have a very bad problem. I've been able to redownload the Sims 4 (Due to issues activating it and after repeated differing methods) and even recover my save files. But I CANNOT move my mods to the new Sims files no matter what I do. How can I do this? My games are very mod-dependent and I just cannot redownload over 200 mods and cc, most of which I can't retrace anyway due to being impulse downloads. I have script mods enabled, by the way. I've checked.

Uhhhh.. gardening... when you have rare planta such as orchird death flower stacks up and sheltered.. every morning it could just 5-unlimited money everyday. Crazy!!

hard to find answer to a question I have.....I built a house, one I like....am I able to move the whole house on to another larger lot size? I can buy a lot and build a new home but have yet to find an option to move house to larger lot......seems like a waste of time building house up if cant move it to a larger lot. Do I bite the bullet and buy a new lot and possibly go through a whole family tree to save up the money Id need to replace just the house and then make it bigger? I know I can keep furniture when moving, just dont want to leave the house behind in the move lol

You can make pretty good money with handiness if you woodwork.

Could you use the command skill from the debate skill to make a ghost eat Ambrosia?