Overview
Beast of Reincarnation has a dual skill tree system where both Emma and Koo each have three distinct progression paths. These six total skill trees are upgraded using SP (Skill Points) earned through gameplay, and their defining characteristic is cross-character synergy. Investing in a particular path for one character directly enhances the corresponding capabilities of the other. The three paths for each character are: close-range, long-range, and stealth. This structure creates a system where players can specialize deeply in one combat philosophy or spread their points across multiple approaches for tactical flexibility.
The skill tree system is one of the primary mechanisms through which Beast of Reincarnation differentiates itself from pure action games. Rather than relying solely on player reflexes and execution, the skill trees allow strategic investment decisions that shape how the combat system feels throughout the entire game. Two players with identical manual skill but different tree investments will have different combat experiences.
Emma's Skill Trees
Emma's three skill trees correspond to her three primary combat approaches. Each tree deepens her capabilities in its respective area, unlocking new techniques, improving existing ones, and creating synergies with her weapons, Spirit Stones, and plant abilities.
Close-Range Tree
The close-range tree emphasizes melee katana combat, aggressive engagement, parry mastery, and up-close damage output. This is the tree for players who want to maximize the core parry loop. Generating FP through perfectly timed deflections, then spending that FP on Koo's most devastating Blooming Arts. Investment in this tree likely improves parry timing windows, increases FP generation per successful parry, boosts katana combo damage, and unlocks advanced melee techniques.
The close-range tree synergizes naturally with Spirit Stones that provide parry-stacking bonuses. Since Spirit Stone effects compound with each successive parry, a player deeply invested in the close-range tree (who parries more often and more effectively) will see exponentially greater returns from their equipped stones.
Long-Range Tree
The long-range tree focuses on bow and crossbow proficiency, elemental arrow and bolt effects, and maintaining distance from enemies. This tree is suited for players who prefer ranged tactics and positional gameplay. Staying at a safe distance while dealing consistent damage and exploiting enemy weaknesses through elemental effects.
Investment in this path likely improves projectile damage, extends effective range, unlocks new elemental arrow and bolt types, and enhances the tactical utility of ranged attacks. The long-range tree enables a different combat experience: rather than standing toe-to-toe with enemies and parrying their attacks, ranged-focused players control space and pick targets from afar.
Stealth Tree
The stealth tree enhances stealth approaches, silent movement, assassination techniques, and plant abilities that support sneaking and surprise attacks. This path is for players who want to avoid direct confrontation when possible, using Emma's vine-based traversal to approach enemies from unexpected angles and eliminate them before they can react.
Stealth gameplay ties into Emma's plant abilities. Using Hair-Vine Grapples to reach elevated positions for aerial assassinations, Vine Stilts to navigate around enemy patrols, and the Spider Lily Grapple to close distance for devastating surprise attacks. The stealth tree deepens these connections, making plant abilities more effective tools for covert combat.
Koo's Skill Trees
Koo's three skill trees mirror Emma's, creating natural pairings that reinforce whichever combat philosophy the player favors. Each of Koo's trees enhances his Blooming Arts in ways that complement the corresponding Emma tree.
Close-Range Support Tree
Koo's close-range support tree provides Blooming Arts that complement aggressive melee play. These abilities focus on crowd control, enemy grouping, and effects that create openings for Emma's katana combos. When Emma is deep in melee range exchanging blows and parries, Koo's close-range Blooming Arts ensure that the battlefield is shaped in her favor. Bunching enemies together for area attacks, staggering priority targets, and creating brief windows of safety during intense exchanges.
Long-Range Support Tree
This tree provides Blooming Arts that synergize with ranged tactics. Abilities in this path include aerial launches that create distance between Emma and her enemies, area denial effects that punish enemies who try to close the gap, and abilities that target or debuff enemies approaching Emma's position. For a player invested in Emma's long-range tree, Koo's long-range support abilities serve as a defensive perimeter. Keeping threats at bay while Emma deals damage from a safe distance.
Stealth Support Tree
Koo's stealth support tree provides abilities that complement stealth gameplay: distractions that draw enemy attention away from Emma's approach, repositioning effects that help Emma maintain stealth after an engagement, and abilities that capitalize on surprise attacks for increased damage or additional effects. This tree transforms Koo from a combat companion into a tactical partner, coordinating with Emma to control enemy awareness and create assassination opportunities.
Cross-Character Synergies
The cross-character synergy system is the skill tree design's most distinctive feature. Skills from one character's tree can directly impact the other character's effectiveness. For example, investing in Emma's close-range tree may unlock bonuses to FP generation from parries, which directly fuels more frequent use of Koo's close-range Blooming Arts. Conversely, investing in Koo's close-range support tree may enhance the openings his abilities create, allowing Emma's melee combos to deal more damage during those windows.
These synergies extend across all three paths. A player who invests heavily in both Emma's long-range tree and Koo's long-range support tree will find that the two systems amplify each other. Emma's ranged attacks become more effective while Koo's support abilities become more impactful at maintaining the distance those attacks require. The system rewards focus on a cohesive strategy while still allowing hybrid approaches for players who prefer versatility.
Multiple Playstyle Approaches
The three-tree structure per character creates a wide range of viable playstyles, each altering how the game feels:
Build | Description |
|---|---|
Pure Melee | Invest fully in both characters' close-range trees. Emma fights toe-to-toe with enemies, parrying constantly, generating massive FP reserves. Koo's Blooming Arts focus on crowd control and creating melee openings. Spirit Stones with parry-stacking bonuses amplify this approach exponentially. |
Dedicated Ranged | Invest in both long-range trees. Emma fights exclusively from distance with her bow and crossbow, relying on elemental effects and positioning. Koo's abilities maintain space and punish enemies who advance. This approach minimizes parry dependency but requires careful resource management. |
Full Stealth | Invest in both stealth trees. Emma avoids direct confrontation, using plant abilities to approach unseen and eliminate targets with assassination techniques. Koo is a tactical distraction and repositioning tool. This approach rewards patience and environmental awareness. |
Koo-Led Combat | A unique approach enabled by heavy investment in Koo's trees. Rather than focusing on Emma's action combat, this build maximizes Koo's Blooming Arts effectiveness, having Koo lead engagements while Emma focuses primarily on generating FP through safe parries. This turns the game's hybrid system toward its command-based side. |
Hybrid Builds | Draw from multiple trees for versatility. A player might invest in Emma's close-range tree for parry mastery while spreading Koo's points across long-range and stealth support, creating a flexible toolkit that adapts to different encounter types. |
SP (Skill Points)
SP is the currency used to upgrade both characters' skill trees. It is earned through gameplay progression. Defeating enemies, completing objectives, and advancing through the game's district levels. SP investment is shared between Emma and Koo, meaning players must decide how to allocate their limited points across six total trees (three per character). This allocation decision is one of the game's most consequential strategic choices, as it shapes the entire combat experience from that point forward.
The shared SP pool creates a meaningful tension: every point spent on Emma's abilities is a point not spent on Koo's, and vice versa. This forces players to think holistically about their build rather than upgrading everything simultaneously. The system rewards focused investment strategies while allowing respecialization for players who want to experiment with different approaches.
Relationship to Other Systems
Skill trees interact with every other progression system in Beast of Reincarnation. Spirit Stones amplify the bonuses from whichever tree a player has invested in. Close-range Spirit Stones compound with close-range tree investments, stealth-focused stones enhance stealth tree abilities. Blooming Arts mods further customize the abilities unlocked through Koo's trees. Weapons (particularly the multiple katanas discoverable through exploration) each favor different tree investments with their unique stat distributions and combo properties. Together, these interlocking systems create what the developers designed as a deep build-crafting experience where no two players' Emma and Koo will feel exactly the same.