Skills
Skills
You learn a skill by doing it. Proficiency runs from 1 to 100; every level adds a little to the skill's own bonus, but it never locks a node: only skill points do. The bonus shown is what proficiency alone gives at 100, before any tree node.
Skill points come one a level, 80 in a lifetime: level 2 pays the first and level 81 the last. A node's tier opens on the points you have already spent in that tree. Reset the web from the skills screen, all or nothing: every tree rank is refunded and every fork and end pick cleared; proficiency and mastery are untouched. The first reset of a survivor's life is free; after that it costs 120 scrip for every point currently spent, pockets first, then the Exchange wallet.
10 rows
| Firearms | Handling a gun: steady sights, quick hands, a clean action and knowing your stoppages. | -10% draw time, -15% recoil | Clean Action or Marksman |
| Melee | Bats, blades and bare hands: technique, wind, footing and the hold. | +10% melee damage | Heavy Hands or Economy of Motion |
| Fieldcraft | Moving unseen: tracking, wind, scent, the still shot and the hunt. | +60% tracking range, +20% meat and hide grade, -5% distance the infected sense you | Blood Trailer or Skinner |
| Scavenging | Everything you need is in someone else's pockets: searching, locks and knowing where to look. | +6% loot chance, -15% search time | Smash & Grab or Locksmith's Touch |
| Medicine | Stitches, antibiotics and fighting the Bloom. | +30% healing | Surgeon or Containment |
| Survival | Fire, food, water and the land: cooking, foraging, growing and keeping warm. | +30% crop yield, +20% food and water value, +10% ore and ice | Hearty Meals or Cold Hardy |
| Engineering | Repairs, builds, vehicles and keeping the lights on. | -15% repair time | Under Pressure or Welder |
| Driving | Driving and flying: trucks, boats and aircraft. | -10% fuel burned, -10% engine wear | Quiet Running or Rally |
| Crafting | Your crafting level. Better recipes, better quality, less waste. | +15% chance of better quality | Salvager or Field Kit |
| Fishing | Rivers, lakes and the open Pacific. Patience that feeds a town. | -20% wait for a bite, +12% rare catches | Drag Master or Bait Whisperer |
Skill points buy tree nodes, one a rank. There are no perk points: the old survivor perks are nodes in the trees, bought the same way.
The Fork column is the tree's tier III choice: you take one side and the other stays locked until you reset the web.
Skill web
Every tree is one connected web, drawn here as the skills screen draws it. Tier I nodes hang off the root; every other node is wired to one or two nodes before it, and you can only learn a node once you have learned one wired to it. The diamonds at tier III are the fork, one of two; the framed cluster at the end is the trio, two of three. Pick a tree, then hover or tap a node for what it does and the way to it.
A node costs one skill point per rank, and a tier opens on the points already spent in that tree: tier II after 4.
The fork opens once 8 points are spent in the tree; learn one side and the other is locked until you reset the web.
The end trio (both tier IV nodes and the capstone) hangs off both sides of the fork. You take two of the three: the first pick after 10 points spent in the tree, the second after 12.
A tree too small to hold a gate asks for every rank it holds before that point instead (Driving forks after 5).
Proficiency
The skill experience needed to reach each proficiency level. Focused play earns roughly 700 to 1,500 skill experience an hour.
11 rows
| 5 | 178 |
| 10 | 851 |
| 20 | 3,589 |
| 30 | 8,100 |
| 40 | 14,329 |
| 50 | 22,235 |
| 60 | 31,791 |
| 70 | 42,974 |
| 80 | 55,763 |
| 90 | 70,145 |
| 100 | 86,103 |
Proficiency only sizes the skill's own bonus (the Skills table). It never opens a tier or a node: skill points do.
Skill trees
Every node of every tree. A node costs one skill point per rank, and its tier needs the points shown already spent in that tree. Fork marks the tier III pair you choose one of; End marks the trio of both tier IV nodes and the capstone, of which you take two. Type a skill's name in the filter to see one tree.
109 rows
| Firearms | 1 | 0 | Steady Hands | 3 | The kick and the sway settle 5% more per rank. | |
| Firearms | 1 | 0 | Quick Draw | 2 | You draw and put away a weapon 10% quicker per rank. | |
| Firearms | 1 | 0 | Fast Hands | 2 | Magazine changes, speedloaders and single rounds go in 10% quicker per rank. | |
| Firearms | 2 | 4 | Immediate Action | 2 | You clear a stoppage 15% faster per rank. | |
| Firearms | 2 | 4 | Know Your Weapon | 1 | A magazine check gives you the exact count, and you see a double feed for what it is the moment it happens, whatever your proficiency. | |
| Firearms | 2 | 4 | Cold Blood | 1 | Frights land 20% lighter, and fear shakes your aim and your heart 20% less. | |
| Firearms | 3 | 8 | Clean Action | Fork | 2 | You wipe the action down between fights: fouling builds 15% slower per rank. |
| Firearms | 3 | 8 | Marksman | Fork | 2 | The kick settles 6% more and the sights drift 8% less per rank. |
| Firearms | 4 | 10 | Handloader | End | 1 | Rounds you load yourself come out a grade better. |
| Firearms | 4 | 10 | Fire Control | End | 1 | The kick settles 8% more. |
| Firearms | 5 | 10 | Dead Calm | End | 1 | Press your Dead Calm key while aiming and let your breath out: the sights go still for four seconds, with the kick and the sway down 70%. It costs stamina, and your breathing takes 20 seconds to settle before you can do it again. |
| Melee | 1 | 0 | Technique | 2 | Your swings land where they count: +4% melee damage per rank. | |
| Melee | 1 | 0 | Wind | 2 | You get your breath back faster between swings. | |
| Melee | 1 | 0 | Footing | 2 | A blow knocks you off your feet 10% less often per rank. | |
| Melee | 2 | 4 | Break the Hold | 2 | When one of them has hold of you, you get 15% longer per rank to read the struggle and tear free. | |
| Melee | 2 | 4 | Hard to Put Down | 1 | A blow knocks you off your feet 25% less often. | |
| Melee | 3 | 8 | Heavy Hands | Fork | 1 | You put your weight behind it: +6% melee damage. |
| Melee | 3 | 8 | Economy of Motion | Fork | 2 | Swings, climbs and sprints cost 8% less stamina per rank. |
| Melee | 4 | 10 | Iron Grip | End | 1 | You get 20% longer to break a hold, and a blow knocks you down 10% less often. |
| Melee | 4 | 10 | Calm in the Clinch | End | 1 | Fear shakes your hands and your heart 15% less when it is close enough to touch. |
| Melee | 5 | 10 | Second Wind | End | 1 | A kill with your hands or a blade brings your stamina all the way back. |
| Fieldcraft | 1 | 0 | Soft Feet | 3 | Animals sense you 6% less far and the infected 3% less far per rank. | |
| Fieldcraft | 1 | 0 | Reading Sign | 2 | Hunter sense picks up prints, blood and sign 15% further per rank. | |
| Fieldcraft | 1 | 0 | Sharp Knife | 2 | Field dress, skin and quarter 10% faster per rank. | |
| Fieldcraft | 1 | 0 | Long Legs | 1 | Sprints and climbs cost 15% less stamina. | |
| Fieldcraft | 2 | 4 | Wind Sense | 2 | You keep the wind in your face and pack your meat wrapped: animals sense you 8% less far and what you carry smells 15% less, per rank. | |
| Fieldcraft | 2 | 4 | Still as Stone | 1 | Standing still, you are part of the hillside: the infected see you 30% less far. | |
| Fieldcraft | 2 | 4 | Second Breath | 1 | You get your breath back faster. | |
| Fieldcraft | 2 | 4 | Warm Blooded | 1 | The cold takes longer to get into you: nearly one more layer. | |
| Fieldcraft | 3 | 8 | Blood Trailer | Fork | 2 | Hunter sense reaches 25% further per rank. Blood reads like a map. |
| Fieldcraft | 3 | 8 | Skinner | Fork | 2 | Better meat and pelt grades: +8% per rank. |
| Fieldcraft | 4 | 10 | Ghost | End | 1 | The infected sense you 12% less far, and what you carry smells 25% less. |
| Fieldcraft | 4 | 10 | Camp Butcher | End | 1 | +10% meat and pelt grade, and you process a carcass 20% faster. |
| Fieldcraft | 5 | 10 | Old Hunter | End | 1 | The hills know you: legendary animals show up twice as often for you. |
| Scavenging | 1 | 0 | Keen Eye | 3 | +3% chance on every loot roll per rank. | |
| Scavenging | 1 | 0 | Quick Hands | 2 | You search 12% faster per rank. | |
| Scavenging | 1 | 0 | Feel for the Pins | 2 | Picking a lock, you can feel which pin is binding, and the sweet spot on the wrench and the pins is 12% wider per rank. | |
| Scavenging | 1 | 0 | Strong Back | 1 | You carry 6.6 lb more before a load starts to slow you down. | |
| Scavenging | 2 | 4 | Gentle Hands | 1 | Your picks snap 40% less often, on base locks and locked cabinets alike. | |
| Scavenging | 2 | 4 | Treasure Sense | 2 | +5% chance on every loot roll per rank. | |
| Scavenging | 2 | 4 | Haggler | 1 | Traders deal with you 8% in your favor, buying and selling. | |
| Scavenging | 3 | 8 | Smash & Grab | Fork | 1 | You search 20% faster. |
| Scavenging | 3 | 8 | Locksmith's Touch | Fork | 1 | The sweet spot on the wrench and the pins is 19% wider, and the wrench shows where the right tension sits. |
| Scavenging | 4 | 10 | Fortune Favors | End | 2 | +6% chance on every loot roll per rank. |
| Scavenging | 4 | 10 | Gun Room | End | 1 | You know where people kept their ammunition: +15% on every ammo roll. |
| Scavenging | 5 | 10 | Trained Eye | End | 1 | Bodies nobody has been through yet catch your eye within 82 ft. |
| Medicine | 1 | 0 | Field Dressing | 3 | Your treatments do 10% more per rank. | |
| Medicine | 1 | 0 | Quick Hands | 2 | You dress and treat a wound 10% faster per rank. | |
| Medicine | 1 | 0 | Clean Technique | 2 | 10% more often per rank, a dirty wound you dress or stitch gets cleaned out first. | |
| Medicine | 1 | 0 | Careful | 1 | You dress a wound quickly and clean: 15% more often the dirt comes out first, 10% faster. | |
| Medicine | 2 | 4 | Bite Protocol | 2 | You scrub and flush a bite at once: 8% less infection per rank. | |
| Medicine | 2 | 4 | Steady on Yourself | 1 | Suturing or digging a fragment out of your own body needs no more skill than doing it to someone else. | |
| Medicine | 2 | 4 | Resilient | 1 | Every dose of the Bloom lands 10% lighter on you. | |
| Medicine | 2 | 4 | Stubborn | 1 | Down and bleeding, you last 25% longer. | |
| Medicine | 3 | 8 | Surgeon | Fork | 2 | Your treatments do 20% more and go 5% faster per rank. |
| Medicine | 3 | 8 | Containment | Fork | 2 | The Bloom spreads on its own 15% slower per rank. |
| Medicine | 4 | 10 | Antivirals | End | 1 | An antiviral dose in your hands goes 25% further. |
| Medicine | 4 | 10 | Pressure | End | 1 | Down and bleeding, you know where to press: you lose blood 30% slower. |
| Medicine | 5 | 10 | Bloom Specialist | End | 1 | You know the Bloom better than anyone: it spreads on its own 40% slower, your antivirals go 25% further still, and a dose lands 10% lighter. |
| Survival | 1 | 0 | Home Cook | 3 | Food and water restore 8% more per rank. | |
| Survival | 1 | 0 | Fire Craft | 2 | You keep a fire right: food on it is done 10% sooner and burns 15% later, per rank. | |
| Survival | 1 | 0 | Forager | 2 | You pick the patch clean: 10% more of what you gather and find, and 5% more from a seam or a pan, per rank. | |
| Survival | 1 | 0 | Sound Sleeper | 1 | Sleep and a sit by the fire do you 20% more good. | |
| Survival | 2 | 4 | Green Thumb | 2 | Your garden gives 12% more per rank. | |
| Survival | 2 | 4 | Boiled Clean | 1 | You boil what you are not sure of: 8% less infection. | |
| Survival | 2 | 4 | Pace Yourself | 2 | Hunger and thirst come on 6% slower per rank. | |
| Survival | 2 | 4 | Cast-Iron Gut | 1 | Hunger and thirst come on 7% slower, and half the time bad food does not get you at all. | |
| Survival | 3 | 8 | Hearty Meals | Fork | 2 | Meals you cook fill 10% more per rank. |
| Survival | 3 | 8 | Cold Hardy | Fork | 1 | The cold takes longer to get into you: as good as one more layer. |
| Survival | 4 | 10 | Preserver | End | 1 | Food on the fire burns 20% later. |
| Survival | 4 | 10 | Soil Science | End | 1 | Your garden gives 20% more. |
| Survival | 5 | 10 | Master Chef | End | 1 | A cooked meal does you real good: every one also restores 10 health. |
| Engineering | 1 | 0 | Tinkerer | 3 | Repairs and interactions go 7% faster per rank. | |
| Engineering | 1 | 0 | Builder | 2 | Structures cost 5% fewer materials per rank. | |
| Engineering | 1 | 0 | Scrapper | 2 | Recycling returns 10% more per rank. | |
| Engineering | 2 | 4 | Mechanic's Ear | 1 | You read a machine by its sound: the inspect card shows bars at Engineering 5 and numbers at 15. | |
| Engineering | 2 | 4 | Hotwire | 2 | The window that counts in a hotwire sweep is 5% wider per rank. | |
| Engineering | 3 | 8 | Under Pressure | Fork | 2 | Repairs go 10% faster per rank. |
| Engineering | 3 | 8 | Welder | Fork | 1 | Structures cost 10% fewer materials. |
| Engineering | 4 | 10 | Fabricator | End | 1 | Builds and stations come together 15% faster. |
| Engineering | 4 | 10 | Grease Monkey | End | 1 | An engine wears 15% slower with you behind the wheel. |
| Engineering | 5 | 10 | Jury-Rig | End | 1 | Repairs, builds and objective interactions take 30% less time, and crafting 10% less. |
| Driving | 1 | 0 | Light Foot | 3 | You burn 5% less fuel per rank. | |
| Driving | 2 | 3 | Smooth Hands | 2 | The engine wears 8% slower under you per rank. | |
| Driving | 3 | 5 | Quiet Running | Fork | 2 | You keep the revs down: your engine carries 10% less far to the infected per rank. |
| Driving | 3 | 5 | Rally | Fork | 2 | 8% less fuel and 10% less wear per rank. |
| Driving | 4 | 7 | Night Runner | End | 1 | Your engine carries 20% less far to the infected. |
| Driving | 4 | 7 | Long Haul | End | 1 | You burn 10% less fuel. |
| Driving | 5 | 7 | Wheelman | End | 1 | You drive like the machine is part of you: 10% less fuel, 15% less wear and 10% less noise. |
| Crafting | 1 | 0 | Handy | 3 | You craft 6% faster per rank. | |
| Crafting | 1 | 0 | Frugal | 2 | 8% chance per rank to get one material back. | |
| Crafting | 1 | 0 | Steady Hand | 2 | Precision work is easier per rank. | |
| Crafting | 2 | 4 | Batch Work | 2 | You run batches 2 bigger per rank. | |
| Crafting | 2 | 4 | Quality Control | 2 | +6% chance per rank to craft one quality higher. | |
| Crafting | 3 | 8 | Salvager | Fork | 2 | Recycling returns 15% more per rank. |
| Crafting | 3 | 8 | Field Kit | Fork | 1 | Workbench recipes can be crafted anywhere, by hand. |
| Crafting | 4 | 10 | Gunsmith | End | 2 | Weapons you make start with 10% more durability per rank. |
| Crafting | 4 | 10 | Efficient | End | 1 | Bench recipes cost 10% fewer materials. |
| Crafting | 5 | 10 | Masterwork | End | 1 | 10% chance for a Masterwork: top quality, your name engraved, double durability. |
| Fishing | 1 | 0 | Patience | 3 | Fish bite 6% sooner per rank. | |
| Fishing | 1 | 0 | Good Knots | 2 | Your line holds 5% more strain per rank. | |
| Fishing | 1 | 0 | Clean Cuts | 2 | +12% fillets from every catch per rank. | |
| Fishing | 2 | 4 | Quiet Water | 2 | Reeling and splashing carry 20% less far to the infected per rank. | |
| Fishing | 2 | 4 | Water Reader | 2 | +5% odds on rare and heavy fish per rank. | |
| Fishing | 3 | 8 | Drag Master | Fork | 2 | Your line holds 8% more strain per rank. |
| Fishing | 3 | 8 | Bait Whisperer | Fork | 1 | A missed bite keeps your bait half the time. |
| Fishing | 4 | 10 | Deep Water | End | 2 | +8% odds on rare and heavy fish per rank. |
| Fishing | 4 | 10 | Dock Butcher | End | 1 | +30% fillets, and gutting is twice as fast. |
| Fishing | 5 | 10 | Old Salt | End | 1 | Legendary fish take your line half again as often, and you gut a catch in no time. |
Perks
There are no perk points any more. What were survivor perks are nodes in the skill trees, bought with skill points like any other node.
12 rows
| Cold Blood | Firearms | 2 | Frights land 20% lighter, and fear shakes your aim and your heart 20% less. |
| Hard to Put Down | Melee | 2 | A blow knocks you off your feet 25% less often. |
| Long Legs | Fieldcraft | 1 | Sprints and climbs cost 15% less stamina. |
| Second Breath | Fieldcraft | 2 | You get your breath back faster. |
| Warm Blooded | Fieldcraft | 2 | The cold takes longer to get into you: nearly one more layer. |
| Strong Back | Scavenging | 1 | You carry 6.6 lb more before a load starts to slow you down. |
| Haggler | Scavenging | 2 | Traders deal with you 8% in your favor, buying and selling. |
| Careful | Medicine | 1 | You dress a wound quickly and clean: 15% more often the dirt comes out first, 10% faster. |
| Resilient | Medicine | 2 | Every dose of the Bloom lands 10% lighter on you. |
| Stubborn | Medicine | 2 | Down and bleeding, you last 25% longer. |
| Sound Sleeper | Survival | 1 | Sleep and a sit by the fire do you 20% more good. |
| Cast-Iron Gut | Survival | 2 | Hunger and thirst come on 7% slower, and half the time bad food does not get you at all. |
Weapon mastery
Each weapon class has its own mastery, from 0 to 50, earned by kills with that class. Mastery tames recoil, kick and sway for that class.
| Handguns | Sidearms and revolvers. Always within reach. |
| SMGs | Close work, fast and messy. |
| Rifles | Carbines and battle rifles. The backbone of any fight. |
| Shotguns | Doors, faces, hordes. Nothing argues back. |
| Marksman | One breath, one shot, one fewer. |
| Heavy weapons | Machine guns and launchers. Loud enough to wake the dead. |
| Crossbows | A string and a thump. Nothing past a few steps hears it. |
A kill is worth 8 mastery experience on an ordinary infected, 22 on a special infected and 40 on a survivor. A headshot pays 50% more.
Mastery experience: level 10 needs 1,932, level 20 needs 9,766, level 30 needs 28,336, level 50 needs 115,220.