How do you unlock signature abilities in Saints Row? Here's how to do a barrel roll!
Make your mark with a signature ability!
From unlimited nitrous oxide boosts to death-defying jumps and tire-shredding kneecappers, the signature abilities in Saints Row turn your regular old vehicles into certified mayhem-making machines.
However, aside from the more straightforward challenges like “sideswipe enemy vehicles”, it’s not immediately clear how you’re meant to complete the prerequisites to unlock a lot of the signature abilities, as well as how to apply them to your vehicle once you have.
Here’s how to complete all of the major signature ability challenges - like barrel rolls - in Saints Row and enable them on your ride.
How do you enable signature abilities in Saints Row?
Once you’ve completed a signature ability challenge, you need to enable the modification for each kind of vehicle in your garage.
Depending on where you are in the game, either head to the garage outside your apartment or Neenah’s garage on the side of the Church Headquarters. In the garage menu, select the vehicle you want to modify and choose customize.
At the bottom of the customization menu there’s a slider called “Signature Ability” that can be turned on and off - enable it to be able to use your special mod.
You can then activate a signature ability while you’re driving out in Santo Ileso by pressing L1 or the Left Bumper.
How do you “Barrel Roll” and 360 Spin in Saints Row?
To do a barrel roll, steer hard left or right and hold the drift button (X on PlayStation, A on Xbox) as you leave the ground after a jump.
Alternatively, steer hard left or right without holding drift to do a 360 spin.
It’s not immediately obvious, but when you drive off a jump in Saints Row you have a lot more control in the air than you might think.
There are lots of hills to jump off in the bumpy desert areas around the sides of the map, or you could always ride off the freeway.
These are both much easier to do with nitrous installed on your car, but aren't difficult once you know what you're doing, just make sure you have enough speed. Maybe one of the best cars in Saints Row would make it easier?
How do you do “Full Nitrous Burns” in Saints Row?
To unlock the Infinite Boost signature ability, you need to complete 3 “Full Nitrous Burns” in a given car.
To do this, you first need to modify the car to have nitrous installed. You do this in the customization section of the garage menu under “Equipment”. It costs $7500.
Then all you need to do is boost with Circle or B for the entire duration of your nitrous bar without hitting another vehicle. Fast travel out to the Lone Wolf point for some long, unbroken stretches.
How do you do “Towing payload smashes” in Saints Row?
To get this signature ability, you need to have a towing cable installed on your vehicle, which costs $7500 from the same menu as you install nitrous in the garage customization menu.
Once installed, press L1 to attach the cable to something, then drive and weave between obstacles to smash them with the payload you’re carrying.
This eventually unlocks the giant ball and chain for your ride.
How do you “car to wingsuit” in Saints Row?
There are loads of vehicles going about their business in Santo Ileso and you can ride on top of any of them.
Jump on top of a moving car and you will get a button prompt to ride on top of it.
From here, you get another button prompt to engage your wingsuit, which sends you flying off into the air.