skills above 8 (including specialization and items)

[Snome]

I'm doing a replay of the Avadon series and i'm wondering if it's smart or necessary to increase skills above 8. In my previous run, i had a lot of skills at 8, plus 3 from specialisations (in one column), plus 2 to some skills from items. I know going from 6 to 8 increases the effect of the skill a lot, but is above 8 useful in any way ? Or is it smarter to put them to 6 with skill points and use specialization to increase one column to 8 and one column to 7 ? And have around 10 skill points more available for other skills ?

[Randomizer]

Increasing the skills above 8 increases them more than just a point and it maybe helpful for your primary damage and healing abilities. Specialization gives more benefit than having more abilities.