Honestly, SSDs are always on the top of my priority list. If I had to choose between another 980 or an SSD, I would definitely get an SSD, since the performance impact is incredible. It seriously is just something I couldn't live without at this point. It takes about seven seconds for my PC to boot up fully, and I'm playing games with twenty seconds.

If you have the money I would HIGHLY consider getting one, or even downgrading some of your other parts to fit in an SSD.

I just picked up a GTX 970 that was on sale for $285. Should be getting it in the mail in the next few weeks. Hopefully this was a good decision.

for that price it is incredibly good

Yeah, I guess they were having some insane deal at NCIXUS, can't wait to get it in. All I'm missing is an SSD, my mobo, and that new CPU. I'm considering getting the i5-4690k instead of the 6500 though, since the 4690k is cheaper right now.

That is a good CPU from what I've heard. And now that an SSD is in the priority list may I ask what form factor your getting? 2.5"?

according to PC partpicker the smallest port in my case is 3.5", so probably that one? or maybe i'd need an adapter for it? tbh i'd like to get my mobo and cpu first though

The 3.5" bays are for harddrives.

Doesn't matter if you use a 3.5" or 2.5" bay aslong as it got the mounting holes.
Skylake CPU's are all overclockable by the baseclock (usually 100mhz per multiplier) now, requires a specific bios and mobo (right now almost all MSI Z170 boards). If you really want to safe money on a tricky route I'd go for a 6400 and overclock it with the BCLK. Skylake offers you more cpu bound commands and instructions, native USB 3.1, more PCIe lanes and a lower power bill. Personally I'd never buy something "outdated" (Haswell isn't outdated in terms of shitty, but outdated in terms of there exist more advanced stuff for the same money).

A friend just told me that using my current RAM may damage my CPU if I choose to get the Skylake one, as Skylake doesn't support DDR3 RAM. That adds another $50 to my upgrade and I'm wondering if it's really worth it over the previous generation.

Skylake has so many problems and incompatibilities, I'd suggest getting a 4690k or 4790k honestly.