Skill Tree
The permanent skill tree — node types, keystones, pathing, the 100 SP lifetime cap, and which keystones pair with which builds.
Skill Tree
The skill tree is your permanent progression across runs. Points earned from one run stay forever — you can respec freely, but the total you've earned is your ceiling. It's deliberately impossible to fill the whole tree; pick a direction.
Structure
A Path-of-Exile-style web, about 146 nodes total.
- Center: Starting node (all runs begin here)
- 4 elemental branches: Ice (north), Fire (east), Wind (south), Lightning (west)
- 4 general branches: HP / Defense (NE), Damage / Chips (SE), Utility / Rerolls (SW), Economy / Gold (NW)
Branches interconnect at the edges, so you can path from Fire → Damage → Lightning without returning to center.
Node types
| Type | Cost | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 1 SP | Incremental stat gains: +1% elemental chance, +2 max HP, +1 base chips, +0.05 mult, +1 gold/combat, +1% Burn, +1% Freeze. |
| Notable | 3 SP | Meaningful bonuses at branch intersections: +5% Fire chance, "Burn lasts +1 turn", "+1 reroll per encounter", "+10% combo damage", "Consumables have 15% chance to not be consumed", "+3 chips to all Pair-type hands". |
| Keystone | 5 SP | Build-defining, with tradeoffs. See the full list below. |
The 100-SP lifetime cap
- Earn SP through runs and achievements (see Run Structure)
- Hard cap: 100 lifetime SP across your entire account
- 100 SP fills roughly 55–65 of the ~95 allocatable nodes (with choice locks at branch forks)
- A focused keystone build costs about 30–40 SP
- Respec is free — click to toggle nodes off, no cost, no penalty
The cap exists so you can't end up playing the same "everything" build on every run. Eventually every player specializes into 2–3 preferred paths and rotates between them.
Keystones
Ten confirmed keystones. Each is end-of-branch or at a major intersection, and each carries a tradeoff that shapes your whole run.
Elemental keystones
| Keystone | Effect | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Pyromaniac | All elemental dice are Fire. Burn deals ×3 damage. | No other elements ever appear. No non-Fire combos. |
| Permafrost | Freeze duration +2 turns. Ice combo damage +50%. | Fire dice chance = 0%. No Fire combos. |
| Stormcaller | Lightning combos chain +2 targets. +20% Lightning combo damage. | −1 reroll |
| Gale Force | Wind combos +2 hits. +15% Wind combo damage. | −1 reroll per encounter |
| Elementalist (center) | All 4 elements equally likely. Combo damage +30%. | Small nodes give 50% value |
General keystones
| Keystone | Effect | Tradeoff |
|---|---|---|
| Purist | No elemental dice ever appear. All hand scores ×1.5. +1 reroll. | Zero elemental interaction |
| Glass Cannon | All damage ×1.75. | Max HP halved |
| Gambler | +2 rerolls. 15% chance each reroll upgrades a die to elemental. | −20% combo damage |
| Thick Hide | +30 max HP. Heal 5 HP per combat. | −20% all damage dealt |
| Merchant Prince | Shops cost 20% less. +10 gold per elite/boss. | −10% combo damage |
Pathing by build
- Pairs / Straights / High Value / Variety → Glass Cannon (flat ×1.75), plus Damage / Chips notables along the way.
- Elemental combo (mono) → Pyromaniac / Permafrost / Gale Force / Stormcaller depending on which element you're going all-in on. Path through the matching elemental branch and bank every small-node element chance you see.
- Elemental combo (rainbow) → Elementalist center keystone. Cheaper center, balanced combo damage.
- Purist: a contrarian build that rejects elementals entirely for a flat ×1.5 on all hands and +1 reroll. Pairs with Glass Cannon or Gambler for multiplicative scaling.
- Economy → Merchant Prince. Pair with The Wanderer or The Trickster for compounding gold.
- Tank / long-run → Thick Hide. Best for Scaling builds (Warming Up, Momentum) that need turns to come online.
Some paths to avoid
- Don't take Stormcaller + Gale Force together — both cost rerolls and stack with Purist's +1. You can end up with 0 rerolls on the Strategist.
- Don't take Thick Hide with Glass Cannon — their damage modifiers multiply and cancel. You get Thick Hide's +30 HP for a 16% net damage cut.
- Don't rush a keystone from an empty tree. You need 4–5 notables in-branch to make the keystone worth its 5-SP cost. A keystone without supporting nodes is often worse than 5 small nodes elsewhere.
Earning more SP
The fastest ways to add to your lifetime total:
- Beat each act's boss for the first time — the achievement bonuses are front-loaded (Clear Act 1 +5, First Victory +8)
- Complete runs with each of the 6 archetypes — +3 SP each, ×6 = +18 SP
- Go deep — base SP scales sharply past floor 14
- Trigger your first Five-of-a-Kind, Six-of-a-Kind — one-time milestones
See Run Structure for the full SP formula.
Related: Build Archetypes · Run Structure · Archetypes
