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Skill Trees - Version 17 vs Version 18
Sep 11, 2026, 01:54 AM
Recorded Feral Mind as first-party attested and dated Acrid Dust to the June 2025 reveal, and noted that Shadow Walk and Planeshift appear to be two names for the same wall-and-ceiling traversal ability
Sep 11, 2026, 02:18 AM
Removed three off topic screenshots that do not show the skill tree interface (Image cleanup 2026-09-10)
11Overview22The Blood of Dawnwalker uses three distinct skill trees that reflect Coen's dual nature as a Dawnwalker: Swordmastery for weapon arts, Witchcraft for ritual magic, and Vampirism for the night-form powers. Generic perks such as stamina, health and carry weight sit across all three rather than belonging to any single tree. Earlier pre-release materials described the same split in looser terms as human, vampire and shared abilities; the three named trees above are how the playable build presents it.44Experience and Skill Points66All three trees draw on a single pool. Coen earns one kind of experience, fills one bar, and receives one kind of skill point, which can be spent across any of the three trees in whatever proportion the player likes. Nothing is ring-fenced to a discipline, so a run can be almost entirely swordplay, almost entirely magic, almost entirely vampiric, or any blend of the three.88Experience comes from defeating enemies and powerful creatures, completing quests and objectives, discovering hidden locations and secrets, and overcoming special encounters and bosses.1010Unlocking or improving an ability costs skill points and time together. The developers frame the time cost in fiction as study, or as letting the curse deepen, and the game shows the cost before the player commits, so every build decision is also a decision about the thirty day clock. Most perks cost between one and three segments to learn.1212Individual perks carry a timing label of Daytime, Nighttime or Anytime, marking the phase in which their effect applies. A perk bought for the wrong half of the cycle is dead weight until that phase comes round.1414Swordmastery and Witchcraft (Day)1616Coen's human combat is grounded in medieval fighting styles. Rebel Wolves noted that "we studied medieval fighting styles and even have a few trained swordsmen on the team." The directional combat system is at the heart of daytime fighting, allowing players to choose the direction of each swing to target gaps in an enemy's defense.1918The human tree also includes access to Rune Carving and Hex magic. The shipped Witchcraft tree carries ten active abilities. Four are taught by Anca towards the end of the prologue, and the other six are gated behind manuals found or bought out in the world. No first-party roster has been published, so the table below follows launch-week guide coverage rather than an official list.2120Witchcraft AbilityHow It UnlocksEffectCompel SoulTaught by Anca in the prologueQuestions the dead. The investigative hex that several quests are built aroundAstral CommunionTaught by Anca in the prologueNo effect text has been publishedBurning BloodTaught by Anca in the prologueDeals damage over time to a targetMercurial FervourTaught by Anca in the prologueGrants haste in exploration by briefly slowing the world around CoenRavenous FlockManualArea attack that stuns a target with a flock of crowsCycle of RuinManualExtends the duration of active Witchcraft abilities with each landed attack, block and Perfect BlockSoul ReapingManualDrains a target over time and keeps it at a distanceUnholy VitalityManualRegenerates health after using abilitiesSoul StigmaManualRaises critical chance and critical damage against the targetLife LockManualBlocks damage and reflects it back at the attacker2322Swordmastery ships a closed roster of seven abilities. Dirty Trick is unlocked from the start; the rest arrive through quests, chests in bandit and soldier camps, or purchases from Swordmastery trainers, and duplicate manuals raise an ability past its first rank.2423Swordmastery AbilityEffectDirty TrickStuns and damages a target and leaves it vulnerable to active abilities. Unlocked from the startChargeDeals damage and stuns the target and everyone in the wayBroad SwingSwings the sword in two circular arcs, damaging every enemy in the area of effectSwiftnessBoosts attack speed after a Perfect BlockAdrenaline RushIncreases attack damage after using active abilitiesArtery StrikeCritical strike with a chance of decapitating the targetWalking FortressPerfect Block restores a portion of Activation Charge2625Two ability names carried on this wiki from pre-launch material sit outside both rosters. Acrid Dust was named in the June 2025 gameplay reveal and written up at the time as a stun. Feral Mind is named directly as a spell in the publisher's own community bulletin question-and-answer and was shown in that same June 2025 deep dive. Both attestations are dated and Feral Mind's is first party, so the names themselves are on firm ground. Neither appears in the ten-ability Witchcraft list or the seven-ability Swordmastery list documented since launch, so filing either of them as a hex is not supported by the shipped build. Whether they were cut, renamed or moved to another tree has not been stated. Artery Strike, previously listed here as a hex, belongs to Swordmastery.2726Vampirism (Night)2928At night, Coen transforms and gains access to a completely different combat toolkit. His primary attacks shift from sword strikes to vampiric claws with greater strength and supernatural agility. The vampire tree includes traversal abilities that open up new areas of the map:3230AbilityDescriptionShadowstepshort-range teleportation, transforming Coen into a moving shadowPlaneshiftwalk up walls and across ceilingsClawridehigh-speed vertical drops3432One caution about naming. The wall-and-ceiling traversal ability is printed as Planeshift in the publisher's own material and as Plane Shift elsewhere, while two guides call the same effect Shadow Walk and describe it the same way, as climbing walls and crossing ceilings at the cost of stamina. These appear to be one ability under two names rather than two separate powers, and the Vampirism row further down this page lists it as Shadow Walk for that reason.3533Vampire form also lets Coen bite enemies mid-combat for health regeneration and perform stealth takedowns. Full exploration of Svartrau is only possible using these nighttime traversal abilities.3735Unlike the other two trees, Vampirism has no published roster or count. Its perks and passives open as Coen's Corruption rises, while several of its active abilities are granted by drinking the blood of named vrakhiri rather than bought at all. See Vampire Combat and Night Abilities for the night-side ability list.3937Shared Tree4139What earlier materials called a shared tree is, in the playable build, the band of generic perks that spans all three trees: stamina, health, carry weight and similar quality-of-life upgrades. They are not gathered into a fourth tree of their own. Their purpose is the same either way, which is to make sure investment carries value regardless of whether Coen is in his day or night form.4441Progression and Time4643Because the game uses a 30-day time limit, players cannot max out all three trees in a single playthrough. This forces meaningful choices about which abilities to prioritize. A player who invests heavily in vampire abilities will have a very different experience from one who focuses on human swordsmanship and Hex magic. The shared tree offers a middle ground for players who want versatility across both forms.4845Manuals and Shrine Perks5047Skill points from leveling up are not the only source of progression. Rebel Wolves confirmed in April 2026 that perks live across two systems: shrine purchases and world manuals. Road shrines act as the main perk vendor, with each unlock costing skill points plus a slice of in-game time. Manuals are physical books hidden across Vale Sangora, and they gate which abilities can be bought at all. Finding the manual makes the ability available; skill points and time still pay for it. Swordmastery manuals turn up on soldiers and bandits or are sold by fencers and blade instructors, while witchcraft manuals sit in ancient ruins, haunted places and searchable bookcases, or are sold by practitioners of magic. The Precision perk was named as an example of the manual track. This means that combing through ruins, libraries, and quiet villages can produce real character-build progress, not only loot, and it gives daytime exploration a payoff that does not depend on the 30-day clock advancing.5249In the shipped build perks are bought with perk points at road Shrines, and perk points arrive with each level. Most cost between one and three time segments to learn on top of the point price, and the cost is shown before the purchase is confirmed. Manuals are inventory items consumed on reading. They are sold by merchants, handed out as quest rewards, and turn up at random in searchable bookshelves. A few abilities sit behind quests or boss fights rather than behind manuals, so not every run will even have the option to buy every perk.5451Level Cap and Mastery5653Level 50 is confirmed reachable, marked by its own achievement. The developers have not said outright that 50 is the hard ceiling, so it is best read as a confirmed floor for the cap rather than a stated maximum. A separate achievement covers levelling a single Swordmastery, Witchcraft, or Vampiric ability to its full potential, so individual abilities have their own upgrade track on top of the tree they sit in.5855Because levelling itself spends a segment of the 30-day clock, reaching the cap competes directly with everything else the player wants to do. Growth is framed by the developers as more than raising numbers: the point is to settle on a fighting style for Coen rather than to fill every node.6057How Each Tree Unlocks6259The three trees do not unlock the same way, which is one of the more unusual parts of the progression design.6461TreeHow New Entries UnlockNamed ExamplesSwordmasteryManuals found out in the world teach the technique. Levelling alone does not open them.Stinging Blade, OmniblockWitchcraftAlso manual-gated: the spell must be found before points can be spent on it.Hex Magic abilities such as Burning BloodVampirismGated by Corruption rather than by manuals. Feeding on blood raises Coen’s Corruption, and each tier of vampiric power needs a higher level of it.Shadow Walk, Shapeshift, Hastening6663Points are only spendable at an activated Shrine, and spending them costs in-game time on top of the point price, so building Coen stronger is itself a draw against the 30-Day Cycle. Each of the three trees ends in an Ultimate Perk, confirmed by separate achievements for unlocking one in Swordmastery, in Witchcraft, and in Vampirism. Each tree in fact holds three Ultimate Perks, nine across the game, and only one per tree can be unlocked in a playthrough, which permanently closes off the other two in that tree. That makes the choice within each tree the sharpest build commitment in the game. The Swordmastery and Witchcraft ultimates open once thirty-five perk points have been spent in that tree, while the Vampirism ultimate needs a Corruption level of fifteen.6764Where the Perks Sit6966Beyond the ultimates, launch coverage has named a spread of ordinary perks across the three trees. The lists below are partial. Each tree holds far more nodes than these, and no full tree diagram has been published.7168TreeNamed PerksSwordmasterySustained Focus, Second Skin II, Perfect Block, Sharp Eye, Master Fencer, Endless Effort, Armor Proficiency, Walking FortressWitchcraftFrugal Witchcraft, Forbidden Sigils, Amalgam, Life LockVampirismShapeshift, Death From Above, Voracious Bite, Endless Hunger, Nourishing Blood, Hastened Corruption, Shadow Dweller7370Shadow Dweller is worth singling out because it does more than raise a number: its second rank extends the range of Shadow Step far enough to cross terrain that is otherwise impassable, which is how one of the game's early endings is reached.7471The nine Ultimate Perks and the effects documented for them so far are collected on Ultimate Perks.
