Best Early Perks in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Combat and survivability first

• Train Hard, Fight Easy I (Strength, unlocked at level 2) — lowers the Strength requirement for all weapons, letting you wield better gear than your stats would normally allow. The single best first perk for any fighter.
• Showtime (Swords) — restores stamina after combos and Master Strikes. Since stamina is your health bar, this keeps you alive.
• Steadfast (Warfare) — blocks cost 20% less stamina and wear your shield down slower.
• Vanguard (Strength) — if you use a shield, this extends defensive endurance dramatically.
• Against All Odds (Warfare) — buffs Strength and Agility when outnumbered, essential for the ambushes KCD2 throws at you.

Quality-of-life perks

• Liberal Arts (Scholarship) — shows the difficulty of dialogue skill checks before you attempt them, so you never blindly fail a check that could lock a quest branch.
• Explorer (Scholarship/General) — reveals points of interest on the map when you enter a region: hidden chests, traders, side-quest markers, alchemy labs. One of the most broadly useful perks regardless of build.
• Next to Godliness (Vitality) — a bath restores 10 health and clean sleep heals faster.
• Pack Mule (Strength) — +12 carry capacity, so you stop dropping loot.
• Flower Power (Survival) — +2 Charisma while carrying 30+ herbs, which feeds Speech checks for free.
• Jack of All Trades (Speech) — +2 to all skill checks and double XP from them.

Alchemy and crafting

• Secret of Matter and Water of Life (Alchemy) — boost potion potency and healing speed; the potion guide explains why alchemy is your income engine.
• Razor-Sharp (Craftsmanship) — +10% damage on sharpened weapons.
• Thorough Maintenance and Keen Eye (Craftsmanship) — weapons last longer and repairs improve. Take the defensive stamina perks, the unlocking perks (Train Hard), and the quality-of-life perks (Liberal Arts, Explorer) before investing deep in any single tree. Match the rest to your build direction.