Skill Tree Analysis
So far I have noticed that all damaging skills have a base damage, which increases an equal amount based on the player's damage stat. This means when you equip an item that has five more damage than your previous item, all your skills go up by five damage. It’s a pretty simple system. You can also increase the damage by ranking the skill, which will increase the amount of blood that it takes to use the skill. Also, ranking seems to improve cool down times (sometimes)
All skills cost blood, and the amount of blood is determined by your maximum health. All rank 1 skills cost 1/33 of your total health, and all rank 2 skills cost 2/33. So basically (Skill Rank / Maximum health)
I believe all skills increase in damage when fully charged, and in some cases they can hit significantly more enemies. Charging times may vary from skill to skill.
One last note, the minimum and maximum damage of every skill is very tight. The difference is never more than 6 I believe. This makes it practically irrelevant to combat.
Unholy Force
Rank 1 available after tutorial
This is the first skill introduced to the player. This attack can hit multiple enemies, but I have never hit more than three enemies with the uncharged version. PvE I prefer the charged version, which seems to hit all enemies within range. In PvP I use uncharged because the time it takes to charge isn’t worth the boost in damage.
Shadow Dance
Rank 1 available after tutorial
This attack charges you forward to a nearby target very fast, and deals 3 more damage than unholy force. In PvP I have seen people use it to move faster with the flag.
Fatal Burst
Rank 1 available after tutorial
Fatal Burst is a long range attack that deals 3 less damage than Unholy Force. The uncharged version is the only attack I know of that doesn't hit multiple targets. The charged version has an interesting magnetic AoE effect that roots one target enemy. In PvP a charged fatal burst can drag your enemy to what seems like random nearby location. It's great for confusing and frustrating your enemies in PvP.
Sanguinary Wrath
Rank 1 available after tutorial
This one confuses me a bit, because DL stats don't make sense to me. Sanguinary Wrath is a passive skill that increases your attack by 15, but I don't know exactly how attack affects combat. It only increases damage by one. Also, it increases your health by 22. I noticed that any time your attack goes up your health goes up by 1.5 times the attack increase, even from items. This skill might be worth it at some point, but not level 3. It's too confusing for me to tell really.
Blood Shield
Rank 1 available at level 4
Another odd passive skill. This one increases your defense by 15 and your health by 30. It doesn't seem worth it, I would rather wait for Vampiric Vitality.
Hell Blade
Rank 1 available at level 5
Definitely one of the best skills in my opinion. It does 7 more damage than Unholy Force. The range is very long on this attack, but the trick is aiming it right. When I PvP I keep this attack fully charged as I look for opponents.
Unholy Blessing
Rank 1 available at level 7
The only buff in the game, Unholy Blessing increases your critical hit chance by 20% for 15 seconds, or 25 seconds if fully charged. The cool-down is 60 seconds. I have no idea how much more damage critical hits do, but Fatal Burst says it gains more from critical hits than other skills. With only four slots for skills, I prefer going all offense and maybe Curse instead.
Curse
Rank 1 available at level 7
Curse is a debuff that affects enemies within range of the caster. Cursed enemies have -2 armor and -7 damage for 10 seconds. The charged version of curse lasts 20 seconds and inflicts 14 damage. The cool-down is 40 seconds. I don’t think a fully charged curse will start a PvP battle in your favor, but a quick uncharged curse can help a lot if you hit multiple enemies.
Unholy Force
Rank 2 available at level 9
The first available Rank 2 skill is Unholy Force. The damage increase is +30. As soon as you have more than 990 health, this skill costs at least 30 more blood than Rank 1. For PvP, you would be hurting yourself more than your enemy if you have more than 990 HP. For PvE, make sure you hit more than 1 enemy so that the damage is worth the blood cost.
Vampiric Strength
Rank 1 available at level 11
Finally, a passive skill that clearly helps combat. One skill point into Vampiric Strength adds 11 damage to your skills and attacks. The great part about Vampiric Strength is that it does not increase the blood cost of your skills. This passive boost is vital to get the edge in PvP and PvE.
Shadow Dance
Rank 2 available at level 11
Fatal Burst
Rank 2 available at level 11
Rank 2 of Fatal Burst increases damage by 51. That’s a significant increase, definitely worth it.
Vampiric Vitality
Rank 1 available at level 12
One hundred more life for only one skill point! This skill is huge. I’m really disappointed that the next rank is only a fifty point increase, at level 20.
Hellblade
Rank 2 available at level 13
Hellblade’s Rank 2 increases the damage by 49. At level 13, my preferred build is:
Hell Blades – Rank 2
Fatal Burst – Rank 2
Unholy Force – Rank 1
Vampiric Strength – Rank 1
Vampiric Health – Rank 1
Leap
Rank 1 available at level 20
I am not level 20 yet, but the damage looks huge for leap. I think Vermin Swarm might be better though.
Vermin Swarm
Rank 1 available at level 20
Vermin Swarm says it deals a solid 80 DPS for 5 seconds. That’s 400 damage at rank 1. When I unqeuip my weapon, the DPS for vermin swarm doesn’t change. So I guess player damage does not affect this skill. I think Leap is going to need some killer amounts of player damage if it’s going to stand up to Vermin Swarm’s damge.
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There are four more skills that are unacceptable with the current level cap. I hope that once they are unlocked, they spice up the game a bit.
Originally Posted by omgidfk
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