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'''Skills''' represent your character's ability to perform several different offensive, defensive and magical activities. Starting skill levels depend on character [[species]] and [[background]]. As characters earn [[experience]], XP is spread across different skills according to the distribution specified on the Skill Screen ('''m'''), with bonuses based on species [[aptitudes]]. Skill levels are capped at [[27]].
+
'''Skills''' represent your character's effectiveness in offensive, defensive, and magical disciplines. Starting skill levels depend on character [[species]] and [[background]]. As characters earn [[experience]], the XP is spread across different skills, according to the distribution specified on the Skill Screen ('''m'''). Species [[aptitudes]] will make certain skills easier or harder to train. Skill levels are capped at [[27]].
  
Skill management is central to strategic play. Focusing your skill points to align with your [[aptitudes]], available [[Item|equipment]], and play style will make or break a character.  
+
Every species is rated from -5 to +11 in each skill, with higher scores yielding faster skill progress. Training skills with poor aptitudes is possible, but notably slower.
  
Every species is rated from -5 to +5 in each skill, with higher scores giving faster skill progress. Training low-aptitude skills is possible, but may leave characters under-prepared for later content.
+
==Skill Types==
 +
Skills can be divided into three categories:
  
==Skill Types==
+
===Offense===
Skills are divided into three categories:
+
*'''[[Fighting]]:''' Improves melee damage, melee accuracy, and max [[HP]].
 +
*'''Weapon skills:''' Improve damage, accuracy, and attack speed with a weapon group. Training a weapon skill also gives a bonus to any skills that [[cross-train]] with it.
 +
**'''Strength-based:''' Damage scales with [[strength]]:
 +
***'''[[Maces & Flails]]:''' Maces, flails, and whips. The most straightforward weapons. ''(Cross-trains with [[Axes]] and [[Staves]])''
 +
***'''[[Axes]]:''' Axes. These weapons are able to [[cleave]]. ''(Cross-trains with [[Maces & Flails]] and [[Polearms]])''
 +
***'''[[Polearms]]:''' Spears, tridents, etc. These weapons are able to [[reach]]. ''(Cross-trains with [[Axes]] and [[Staves]])''
 +
***'''[[Staves]]:''' Quarterstaves, lajatangs, and magical staves. ''(Cross-trains with [[Maces & Flails]] and [[Polearms]])''
 +
***'''[[Unarmed Combat]]:''' Fighting without a wielded weapon. Most [[auxiliary attacks]] are ''not'' improved.
 +
***'''[[Throwing]]:'''  [[Stone]]s, [[dart]]s, [[boomerang]]s, [[javelin]]s and [[large rock]]s. Also increases the success chance of [[atropa]] and [[datura]] darts.
 +
**'''Dexterity-based:''' Damage scales with [[dexterity]]:
 +
***'''[[Short Blades]]:''' Daggers, short swords, rapiers etc. ''(Cross-trains with [[Long Blades]])''
 +
***'''[[Long Blades]]:''' Swords. ''(Cross-trains with [[Short Blades]])''
 +
***'''[[Ranged Weapons]]''': Bows, crossbows, and slings.
  
'''Offense'''
+
===Defense===
*[[Fighting]]: Improves your damage in melee, increases your max [[HP]].
+
*'''[[Armour (skill)|Armour]]:''' Improves the [[AC]] bonus from wearing armour (more effective with heavier armour). Somewhat reduces the impact of armour [[encumbrance]] penalties.
*Weapon skills: Improve your damage, accuracy, and attack speed with a specific weapon group. Training a weapon skill will also give a bonus to any skills that [[crosstrain]]s with it.
+
*'''[[Dodging]]:''' Improves [[EV]]. More effective with lighter [[armour]] and higher [[dexterity]].
**[[Axes]]: Axes.  ''x-trains:'' [[Maces & Flails]] and [[Polearms]]
+
*'''[[Shields (skill)|Shields]]:''' Improves the [[SH]] bonus from wearing a [[shield]]. Reduces and eliminates the impact of shield [[EV]] and [[spell success]] penalties.
**[[Bows]]: Bows.  ''x-trains:'' [[Crossbows]]
+
*'''[[Stealth]]:''' Reduces the likelihood of unaware monsters detecting you, increases the chance of out-of-sight monsters losing track of you, and improves [[stab]]bing damage. More effective with lighter [[armour]] and higher [[dexterity]].
**[[Crossbows]]: Crossbows.  ''x-trains:'' [[Bows]]
 
**[[Long Blades]]: Swords. ''x-trains:'' [[Short Blades]]
 
**[[Maces & Flails]]: Blunt instruments.  ''x-trains:'' [[Axes]] and [[Staves]]
 
**[[Polearms]]: Spears, tridents, etc. ''x-trains:'' [[Axes]] and [[Staves]]
 
**[[Short Blades]]: Stabbing knives.  ''x-trains:'' [[Long Blades]]
 
**[[Slings]]: Slings.  ''x-trains:'' [[Throwing]]
 
**[[Staves]]: Staffs.  ''x-trains:'' [[Maces & Flails]] and [[Polearms]]
 
**[[Throwing]]:  Thrown weapons & blowguns. ''x-trains: [[Slings]]
 
**[[Unarmed Combat]]: Use without a wielded weapon.  [[Auxiliary attacks]] are '''not''' improved.
 
  
'''Defense'''
+
===Magic===
*[[Armour (skill)|Armour]]: Improves the [[AC]] bonus armour gives (more effective with heavier armour).  Reduces the impact of armour [[EV]] and [[spell success]] penalties.
+
*'''[[Spellcasting]]:''' Slightly increases the [[spell power]] and [[spell success|success rate]] of any spell you cast, increases your max [[MP]], and grants you extra spell levels to memorize more spells.
*[[Dodging]]: Improves [[EV]].  More effective with lighter [[armour]].
 
*[[Shields (skill)|Shields]]: Improves the [[SH]] bonus [[shields]] gives you. Reduces or even eliminates the impact of shield [[EV]] and [[spell success]] penalties.
 
*[[Stealth]]: Reduces the likelihood of unaware monsters detecting you. Increases the changes of out of sight monsters losing track of you.
 
  
'''Magic'''
+
*'''[[Spell school]] skills:''' Improve [[spell power]] and [[spell success|success rate]] for all spells of that school. Many spells rely on more than one skill.
*[[Spellcasting]]: Slightly increases the [[spell power]] and [[spell success|success rate]] of any spell you cast, reduces the [[spell hunger]] generated, increases your max [[MP]], and grants you extra spell levels to memorize more spells.
+
**'''[[Conjurations]]:''' Direct attack magic.
*[[Invocations]]: Improves the effectiveness of powers granted by the [[gods]], increases your max [[MP]].
+
**'''[[Hexes]]:''' Magic used to weaken enemies.
*[[Evocations]]: Improves the effectiveness of using magical items. Increases your max [[MP]].
+
**'''[[Summonings]]:''' Spells that temporarily create allies.
 +
**'''[[Necromancy]]:''' Spells involving manipulation of life, [[negative energy]], and the [[undead]].
 +
**'''[[Translocations]]:''' Move yourself, enemies, or objects.
 +
**'''[[Alchemy]]:''' Spells about transmuting matter and inflicting [[poison]].
 +
**'''[[Fire Magic]]:''' Spells that involve [[fire]].
 +
**'''[[Air Magic]]:''' Spells that focus on wind, [[cloud]]s, and [[electricity]].
 +
**'''[[Ice Magic]]:''' Spells that involve [[cold]] and ice.
 +
**'''[[Earth Magic]]:''' Spells that involve physical damage and manipulation of the earth.
  
The highest of your [[Spellcasting]], [[Invocations]] and [[Evocations]] skills will determine your [[MP]] bonus. For this purpose each level of Spellcasting skill counts as two.
+
===Miscellaneous===
 +
*'''[[Invocations]]:''' Improves the effectiveness of powers granted by your [[god]], increases your max [[MP]]. Some gods do not require training of this skill.
 +
*'''[[Evocations]]:''' Improves the effectiveness of using [[wand]]s and [[evocable]]s.
 +
*'''[[Shapeshifting]]:''' Improves the effectiveness of, and reduces and eventually removes the max [[HP]] penalty from, the use of [[talisman]]s.
  
*[[Spell school]] skills: Improve [[spell power]] and [[spell success|success rate]].  Casting a single spell may rely on more than one skill.
+
The MP bonus from skills is the higher of your [[Spellcasting]] skill or half of your [[Invocations]] skill.
**[[Air Magic]]:
 
**[[Conjurations]]: Direct attack magic.
 
**[[Charms]]: Magic to enhance your abilities.
 
**[[Earth Magic]]:
 
**[[Fire Magic]]:
 
**[[Hexes]]: Magic to weaken enemies.
 
**[[Ice Magic]]:
 
**[[Necromancy]]
 
**[[Poison Magic]]
 
**[[Summonings]]
 
**[[Translocations]]: Move yourself, enemies or objects.
 
**[[Transmutations]]: Transform yourself, enemies or objects.
 
  
 
==The Skill Screen==
 
==The Skill Screen==
Pressing '''m''' will bring up the Skill Screen, allowing you to select which skills you'd like to train and how you'd like the game to invest your XP. It also shows your character's current skill levels and aptitude for each skill, complete with adjustments made for cross-training and opposed magic schools. You can switch between displaying only those skills you can train/have trained and all skills with the '''*''' button.
+
Pressing '''m''' will bring up the skill screen, which displays current skill levels and your species' skill [[aptitude]]s. It also allows you to change which skills you'll train and how much.
 +
 
 +
Skill XP is split between trained skills; the more XP you invest into one skill, the less XP you'll have in the others. You can select which skills to train by either clicking on its name, or pressing the key associated to it. The exact split will depend on the training mode. There are two mode: automatic and manual. You can swap between modes with the '''/''' key.
 +
 
 +
In automatic mode, skills that are used more in game will gain a greater share of the XP. Selecting the skill will cycle through three modes:
 +
*Normal (grey name; + next to the skill): Regular training.
 +
*Focused (white name; * next to the skill): Selected skill will gain more XP, even if never used.
 +
*Deselected (dark grey name; - next to the skill): Skill will gain no XP, even if used constantly.
 +
 
 +
In manual mode, you select which skills to train directly. XP is split between all selected skills evenly, unless a skill is focused.
 +
*Normal: Regular training.
 +
*Focused: Skill will gain twice the share of XP.
 +
*Deselected: Skill gains no XP.
 +
 
 +
In addition, you can set skill targets by pressing '''=''' in the skill menu, then the letter of the skill you want to set a target for, then entering the value to set a target at. Once that skill reaches the skill target, it is deselected. This lets you precisely control how much XP gets put into each skill.
 +
 
 +
Pressing '''!''' will switch between 3 views: training, where you can see how much of your experience is going towards each skill; cost, which compares the experience requirement of raising that skill by 1 level with a level 0 skill at 0 aptitude; and targets, which shows your current skill targets.
 +
 
 +
Note that you can train all the skills from the very beginning of the game. So be careful not to train skills that don't give an immediate benefit for your character. By default, only skills that are usable are displayed; press '''*''' to access the list of all skills.
 +
 
 +
==Strategy==
 +
Skill management is central to strategic play. Allocating your XP to align with your [[aptitudes]], available [[item|equipment]], and playstyle will make or break your character.
  
You can select which skills to train by either clicking on its name in the list or pressing the key associated to it. Any skill that you haven't selected will have its name displayed in dark gray, and it will not improve. You can also choose to focus certain skills, causing them to gain twice the amount of experience they'd normally receive. Focused skill names are displayed in white, and their tiles icon will display with a blue glow.
+
Manual training is better than automatic. Automatic training will spread XP between many different skills, even if they wouldn't be helpful. For example, it could make your noisy melee brute train [[Stealth]] just because an enemy didn't notice you once. This doesn't mean you have to manage every single facet of skill training though: you could "manually" set 4 skills to be trained equally for the entire game, and mostly be fine.  
  
The skill screen also allows you to choose whether to divide your XP in auto or manual mode by pressing the '''/''' key. Auto mode adjusts the XP division so that skills you use more will receive the greatest share of new XP, while those you rarely use receive less. In manual mode, each active skill receives a perfectly equal share of gained XP, while focused skills receive double that. Most veteran players advise always using manual mode, as it is far easier to control where your XP goes using it. Furthermore, you can ensure your XP is split between fewer skills, which is generally good strategy.
+
===Skill Micromanagement===
 +
Technically, it is best to train only 1 skill at any given time, switching constantly as appropriate (e.g. getting Fighting 0 -> 2 while training nothing else, then Armour 0 -> 2 training nothing else, then Fighting 2 -> 3...). This is because each skill has at least one breakpoint:
 +
*Weapon Skills: Weapons have a [[minimum delay]] - past minimum delay, training the skill is less effective, as it no longer increases your attack speed. In addition, reaching 1.0 attack delay (after [[shield]], if applicable) can be considered a breakpoint, as it prevents 100% speed enemies from double-striking you.
 +
*Spell Schools: The skill level where a spell becomes "comfortable" to cast is the single most important level for casters. For example, if a 10% failure rate is comfortable to you, then getting [[Fireball]] to a 10% failure rate will add an entire new spell to your repertoire. This comfort point will depend on player and character.
 +
*Fighting, Spellcasting, Invocations: You can't have fractional HP, MP or spell levels. For example, you gain 1 MP for each 1.0 Spellcasting or each 2.0 Invocations (whichever gives more MP).
 +
*Shapeshifting: Talismans have a defined minimum and maximum skill. Below the minimum skill you have reduced HP in that form, and no further benefits are gained above maximum skill.
 +
*All skills: For every ''whole'' level of a skill, the cost of that skill rises, e.g Stealth 2 -> 3 is cheaper than Stealth 3 -> 4. So getting Stealth 2 -> 3 might be more cost-effective than Fighting 0 -> 1, but that same Fighting training might be more cost-effective than Stealth 3 -> 4.
  
===Skill Requirements===
+
That being said, managing your skills like this has a relatively minor effect on gameplay. It is more productive to learn combat tactics and when to use consumables. Even if you do care, by the time you reach the late-game, precise skill training basically doesn't matter.
In any case, you'll notice that you do not have access to all skills from the very beginning of the game. This is because many skills require associated equipment to become available:
 
*You must have an appropriate weapon in order to train its weapon skill.
 
*You must be carrying a shield to train [[Shields]].
 
*You must have a spell of a particular school memorized to train that school's skill.
 
**Having abilities provided by [[Kikubaaqudgha]] will allow training [[Necromancy]].
 
*You must worship a god who grants invocable powers to train [[Invocations]].
 
*You must be carrying an [[evocable items|evocable item]] or have abilities provided by [[Nemelex]] to train [[Evocations]].
 
  
Additionally carrying a [[manual]] will always allow training the associated skill. Skill points gained from drinking a [[potion of experience]] are not subject to these restrictions.
+
===Example===
 +
Say you want the following skills:
 +
*Fighting 3 (for +6 HP)
 +
*Conjurations 3 (to cast Searing Ray)
 +
*Dodging 3 (for +1 EV).
  
Removing these items, forgetting these spells, or abandoning these gods will cause you to no longer be able to train their skills, but you will not lose the progress you've made thus far.
+
Note that these values are not accurate to the game. Dodging 3 won't always give you +1 EV, for instance, and Conjurations 3 usually isn't enough to cast Searing Ray.
 +
 
 +
For sake of example, assume each floor gives 3 levels of a skill, that levels of skill don't increase in cost, and that you have even aptitudes in each skill.
 +
 
 +
If you trained each skill independently, you'd have the following skills:
 +
Floor #1 end - Fighting 1 (+2 HP), Conjurations 1, Dodging 1
 +
Floor #2 end - Fighting 2 (+4 HP), Conjurations 2, Dodging 2
 +
Floor #3 end - Fighting 3 (+6 HP), Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)
 +
 
 +
If you trained each skill one-at-a-time:
 +
Floor #1 end - Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable)
 +
Floor #2 end - Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)
 +
Floor #3 end - Fighting 3 (+6 HP), Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)
 +
 
 +
The end result is the same. But by training skills one-at-a-time, you get the benefit of having Searing Ray castable 2 floors earlier, and the benefit of having +1 EV a single floor earlier.
  
 
==Experience Required==
 
==Experience Required==
The chart below shows how many total [[skill point]]s must be allocated to a skill for it to reach each skill level:
+
The table below shows how many total [[skill point]]s must be allocated to a skill for it to reach each skill level, from 0. The percentage column shows the amount of experience required to reach a given skill level from 0 as a percentage of the amount of experience required to reach level 27.<ref>{{source ref|0.32.0|skills.cc|2312}}</ref>
  
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Level !! Total skill points!! !! Level !! Total skill points !! !! Level !! Total skill points
+
! Level !! Total skill points!! Percentage !! !! Level !! Total skill points !! Percentage !! !! Level !! Total skill points !! Percentage
 
|-
 
|-
| 1 || 50 || || 10 || 2,800 || || 19 || 12,300
+
| 1 || 50 || 0.2% || || 10 || 2,775 || 11.4% || || 19 || 10,900 || 44.8%
 
|-
 
|-
| 2 || 150 || || 11 || 3,450 || || 20 || 13,950
+
| 2 || 150 || 0.6% || || 11 || 3,375 || 13.9% || || 20 || 12,225 || 50.3%
 
|-
 
|-
| 3 || 300 || || 12 || 4,200 || || 21 || 15,750
+
| 3 || 300 || 1.2% || || 12 || 4,050 || 16.6% || || 21 || 13,650 || 56.1%
 
|-
 
|-
| 4 || 500 || || 13 || 5,050 || || 22 || 17,700
+
| 4 || 500 || 2.1% || || 13 || 4,800 || 19.7% || || 22 || 15,175 || 62.4%
 
|-
 
|-
| 5 || 750 || || 14 || 6,000 || || 23 || 19,800
+
| 5 || 750 || 3.1% || || 14 || 5,625 || 23.1% || || 23 || 16,800 || 69.1%
 
|-
 
|-
| 6 || 1,050 || || 15 || 7,050 || || 24 || 22,050
+
| 6 || 1,050 || 4.3% || || 15 || 6,525 || 26.8% || || 24 || 18,525 || 76.2%
 
|-
 
|-
| 7 || 1,400 || || 16 || 8,200 || || 25 || 24,450
+
| 7 || 1,400 || 5.8% || || 16 || 7,500 || 30.8% || || 25 || 20,350 || 83.7%
 
|-
 
|-
| 8 || 1,800 || || 17 || 9,450 || || 26 || 27,000
+
| 8 || 1,800 || 7.4% || || 17 || 8,550 || 35.1% || || 26 || 22,275 || 91.6%
 
|-
 
|-
| 9 || 2,250 || || 18 || 10,800 || || 27 || 29,750
+
| 9 || 2,250 || 9.2% || || 18 || 9,675 || 39.8% || || 27 || 24,325 || 100%
 
|}
 
|}
  
These amounts are then adjusted based on your character's aptitudes. An aptitude of '''n''' means you'll need 2^(-n/4) times as much XP to advance as a character with an aptitude of zero for that skill would.
+
These amounts are then adjusted based on your character's aptitudes. An aptitude of '''n''' means you'll need 2^(-n/4) times as much XP to advance as a character with an aptitude of zero for that skill would.  The resulting multipliers are in the chart below.
 
{| class="wikitable"
 
{| class="wikitable"
! Aptitude  
+
! Aptitude
|| +5 || +4 || +3 || +2 || +1 || +0 || -1 || -2 || -3 || -4 || -5
+
|| +11 || +10 || +9 || +8 || +7 || +6 || +5 || +4 || +3 || +2 || +1 || +0 || -1 || -2 || -3 || -4 || -5
 
|-
 
|-
 
! XP Multiplier
 
! XP Multiplier
|| 2.38 || 2.0 || 1.68 || 1.41 || 1.19 || 1.0 || 0.84 || 0.71 || 0.59 || 0.5 || 0.42
+
|| 6.73 || 5.66 || 4.76 || 4.0 || 3.36 || 2.83 || 2.38 || 2.0 || 1.68 || 1.41 || 1.19 || 1.0 || 0.84 || 0.71 || 0.59 || 0.5 || 0.42
 
|}
 
|}
  
These amounts are also themselves significantly increased as your character gains more and more skill experience. At higher levels, the amount of actual experience required to produce the same increase in skill levels reaches as high as 265 times the amount of experience a character with no skill experience would require. However, mobs in the late game give drastically more experience, so this effect is not too difficult to overcome.
+
==History==
 +
*Prior to [[0.28]], it was more expensive to gain high levels of a skill (levels >14 cost more XP).
 +
*In [[0.21]], skill targets were added.
 +
*Prior to [[0.15]], there was '''anti-training'''; when training opposing spell schools (Fire/Ice, Air/Earth), you would get an aptitude penalty for the opposite skill. Also, cross-training would increase the aptitude of the cross-trained skills, rather than increasing skill XP directly.
 +
*Prior to [[0.12]], certain skills cost more or less XP than others. [[Spellcasting]] cost 130% XP; [[Invocations]], [[Evocations]], and [[Stealth]] all cost 80% XP. In 0.12, all species' aptitudes were modified to compensate for this change.
 +
*Prior to [[0.10]], decimal levels of a skill did not matter. Your equipment's impact on skill was not standardized between levels 0-27. Also, [[Stealth]] had a cost multiplier of 50%.
 +
*Prior to [[0.9]], the skill system was radically different. Previously, there was no automatic or manual mode. Instead, whenever you earned [[XP]], it would be saved in a pool. Using a skill would divert XP to the skill. If you wanted XP to go into a specific skill, you'd have to repeat useless actions (e.g. casting [[Shock]] at nothing to train [[Air Magic]]) - this was called [[victory dancing]].
 +
 
 +
'''Added Skills'''
 +
*[[0.31]] - [[Shapeshifting]], [[Alchemy]]
 +
*[[0.29]] - [[Ranged Weapons]]
 +
*[[0.12]] - [[Traps (skill)|Traps]]
  
==History==
+
'''Removed Skills'''
*[[0.15]] - Removed aptitude penalty for training opposed magic schools.
+
*[[0.31]] - [[Transmutations]], [[Poison Magic]] (changed to Shapeshifting and Alchemy)
*[[0.13]] - Removed [[Stabbing]] and [[Traps]] skills.
+
*[[0.29]] - [[Bows (skill)|Bows]], [[Crossbows (skill)|Crossbows]], and [[Slings (skill)|Slings]] (merged into Ranged Weapons)
*[[0.12]] - Equalized all skill costs.  Formerly, [[Spellcasting]] cost 130%; [[Invocations]], [[Evocations]], and [[Stealth]] 80%.
+
*[[0.26]] - [[Charms]]
*[[0.10]] - [[Stealth]] cost changed from 50% to 80%.
+
*[[0.13]] - [[Stabbing]], [[Traps (skill)|Traps]]
*[[0.10]] - Equipment impact on skill training standardized from skill level 0-27.
+
*[[0.12]] - [[Traps & Doors]] (renamed to Traps)
*[[0.9]] - Change to current skill system.  Formerly, [[XP]] was saved when earned, then applied to skills as they were used, resulting in repetitive and annoying [[victory dancing]] designed to funnel the [[XP]] appropriately.
+
*[[0.6]] - [[Divinations]]
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
 
*[[Skill titles]]
 
*[[Skill titles]]
 +
 +
==References==
 +
<references />
  
 
{{Skills}}
 
{{Skills}}

Latest revision as of 22:20, 11 September 2024

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Skills represent your character's effectiveness in offensive, defensive, and magical disciplines. Starting skill levels depend on character species and background. As characters earn experience, the XP is spread across different skills, according to the distribution specified on the Skill Screen (m). Species aptitudes will make certain skills easier or harder to train. Skill levels are capped at 27.

Every species is rated from -5 to +11 in each skill, with higher scores yielding faster skill progress. Training skills with poor aptitudes is possible, but notably slower.

Skill Types

Skills can be divided into three categories:

Offense

Defense

  • Armour: Improves the AC bonus from wearing armour (more effective with heavier armour). Somewhat reduces the impact of armour encumbrance penalties.
  • Dodging: Improves EV. More effective with lighter armour and higher dexterity.
  • Shields: Improves the SH bonus from wearing a shield. Reduces and eliminates the impact of shield EV and spell success penalties.
  • Stealth: Reduces the likelihood of unaware monsters detecting you, increases the chance of out-of-sight monsters losing track of you, and improves stabbing damage. More effective with lighter armour and higher dexterity.

Magic

Miscellaneous

  • Invocations: Improves the effectiveness of powers granted by your god, increases your max MP. Some gods do not require training of this skill.
  • Evocations: Improves the effectiveness of using wands and evocables.
  • Shapeshifting: Improves the effectiveness of, and reduces and eventually removes the max HP penalty from, the use of talismans.

The MP bonus from skills is the higher of your Spellcasting skill or half of your Invocations skill.

The Skill Screen

Pressing m will bring up the skill screen, which displays current skill levels and your species' skill aptitudes. It also allows you to change which skills you'll train and how much.

Skill XP is split between trained skills; the more XP you invest into one skill, the less XP you'll have in the others. You can select which skills to train by either clicking on its name, or pressing the key associated to it. The exact split will depend on the training mode. There are two mode: automatic and manual. You can swap between modes with the / key.

In automatic mode, skills that are used more in game will gain a greater share of the XP. Selecting the skill will cycle through three modes:

  • Normal (grey name; + next to the skill): Regular training.
  • Focused (white name; * next to the skill): Selected skill will gain more XP, even if never used.
  • Deselected (dark grey name; - next to the skill): Skill will gain no XP, even if used constantly.

In manual mode, you select which skills to train directly. XP is split between all selected skills evenly, unless a skill is focused.

  • Normal: Regular training.
  • Focused: Skill will gain twice the share of XP.
  • Deselected: Skill gains no XP.

In addition, you can set skill targets by pressing = in the skill menu, then the letter of the skill you want to set a target for, then entering the value to set a target at. Once that skill reaches the skill target, it is deselected. This lets you precisely control how much XP gets put into each skill.

Pressing ! will switch between 3 views: training, where you can see how much of your experience is going towards each skill; cost, which compares the experience requirement of raising that skill by 1 level with a level 0 skill at 0 aptitude; and targets, which shows your current skill targets.

Note that you can train all the skills from the very beginning of the game. So be careful not to train skills that don't give an immediate benefit for your character. By default, only skills that are usable are displayed; press * to access the list of all skills.

Strategy

Skill management is central to strategic play. Allocating your XP to align with your aptitudes, available equipment, and playstyle will make or break your character.

Manual training is better than automatic. Automatic training will spread XP between many different skills, even if they wouldn't be helpful. For example, it could make your noisy melee brute train Stealth just because an enemy didn't notice you once. This doesn't mean you have to manage every single facet of skill training though: you could "manually" set 4 skills to be trained equally for the entire game, and mostly be fine.

Skill Micromanagement

Technically, it is best to train only 1 skill at any given time, switching constantly as appropriate (e.g. getting Fighting 0 -> 2 while training nothing else, then Armour 0 -> 2 training nothing else, then Fighting 2 -> 3...). This is because each skill has at least one breakpoint:

  • Weapon Skills: Weapons have a minimum delay - past minimum delay, training the skill is less effective, as it no longer increases your attack speed. In addition, reaching 1.0 attack delay (after shield, if applicable) can be considered a breakpoint, as it prevents 100% speed enemies from double-striking you.
  • Spell Schools: The skill level where a spell becomes "comfortable" to cast is the single most important level for casters. For example, if a 10% failure rate is comfortable to you, then getting Fireball to a 10% failure rate will add an entire new spell to your repertoire. This comfort point will depend on player and character.
  • Fighting, Spellcasting, Invocations: You can't have fractional HP, MP or spell levels. For example, you gain 1 MP for each 1.0 Spellcasting or each 2.0 Invocations (whichever gives more MP).
  • Shapeshifting: Talismans have a defined minimum and maximum skill. Below the minimum skill you have reduced HP in that form, and no further benefits are gained above maximum skill.
  • All skills: For every whole level of a skill, the cost of that skill rises, e.g Stealth 2 -> 3 is cheaper than Stealth 3 -> 4. So getting Stealth 2 -> 3 might be more cost-effective than Fighting 0 -> 1, but that same Fighting training might be more cost-effective than Stealth 3 -> 4.

That being said, managing your skills like this has a relatively minor effect on gameplay. It is more productive to learn combat tactics and when to use consumables. Even if you do care, by the time you reach the late-game, precise skill training basically doesn't matter.

Example

Say you want the following skills:

  • Fighting 3 (for +6 HP)
  • Conjurations 3 (to cast Searing Ray)
  • Dodging 3 (for +1 EV).

Note that these values are not accurate to the game. Dodging 3 won't always give you +1 EV, for instance, and Conjurations 3 usually isn't enough to cast Searing Ray.

For sake of example, assume each floor gives 3 levels of a skill, that levels of skill don't increase in cost, and that you have even aptitudes in each skill.

If you trained each skill independently, you'd have the following skills:

Floor #1 end - Fighting 1 (+2 HP), Conjurations 1, Dodging 1
Floor #2 end - Fighting 2 (+4 HP), Conjurations 2, Dodging 2
Floor #3 end - Fighting 3 (+6 HP), Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)

If you trained each skill one-at-a-time:

Floor #1 end - Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable)
Floor #2 end - Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)
Floor #3 end - Fighting 3 (+6 HP), Conjurations 3 (Searing Ray castable), Dodging 3 (+1 EV)

The end result is the same. But by training skills one-at-a-time, you get the benefit of having Searing Ray castable 2 floors earlier, and the benefit of having +1 EV a single floor earlier.

Experience Required

The table below shows how many total skill points must be allocated to a skill for it to reach each skill level, from 0. The percentage column shows the amount of experience required to reach a given skill level from 0 as a percentage of the amount of experience required to reach level 27.[1]

Level Total skill points Percentage Level Total skill points Percentage Level Total skill points Percentage
1 50 0.2% 10 2,775 11.4% 19 10,900 44.8%
2 150 0.6% 11 3,375 13.9% 20 12,225 50.3%
3 300 1.2% 12 4,050 16.6% 21 13,650 56.1%
4 500 2.1% 13 4,800 19.7% 22 15,175 62.4%
5 750 3.1% 14 5,625 23.1% 23 16,800 69.1%
6 1,050 4.3% 15 6,525 26.8% 24 18,525 76.2%
7 1,400 5.8% 16 7,500 30.8% 25 20,350 83.7%
8 1,800 7.4% 17 8,550 35.1% 26 22,275 91.6%
9 2,250 9.2% 18 9,675 39.8% 27 24,325 100%

These amounts are then adjusted based on your character's aptitudes. An aptitude of n means you'll need 2^(-n/4) times as much XP to advance as a character with an aptitude of zero for that skill would. The resulting multipliers are in the chart below.

Aptitude +11 +10 +9 +8 +7 +6 +5 +4 +3 +2 +1 +0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5
XP Multiplier 6.73 5.66 4.76 4.0 3.36 2.83 2.38 2.0 1.68 1.41 1.19 1.0 0.84 0.71 0.59 0.5 0.42

History

  • Prior to 0.28, it was more expensive to gain high levels of a skill (levels >14 cost more XP).
  • In 0.21, skill targets were added.
  • Prior to 0.15, there was anti-training; when training opposing spell schools (Fire/Ice, Air/Earth), you would get an aptitude penalty for the opposite skill. Also, cross-training would increase the aptitude of the cross-trained skills, rather than increasing skill XP directly.
  • Prior to 0.12, certain skills cost more or less XP than others. Spellcasting cost 130% XP; Invocations, Evocations, and Stealth all cost 80% XP. In 0.12, all species' aptitudes were modified to compensate for this change.
  • Prior to 0.10, decimal levels of a skill did not matter. Your equipment's impact on skill was not standardized between levels 0-27. Also, Stealth had a cost multiplier of 50%.
  • Prior to 0.9, the skill system was radically different. Previously, there was no automatic or manual mode. Instead, whenever you earned XP, it would be saved in a pool. Using a skill would divert XP to the skill. If you wanted XP to go into a specific skill, you'd have to repeat useless actions (e.g. casting Shock at nothing to train Air Magic) - this was called victory dancing.

Added Skills

Removed Skills

See Also

References

  1. skills.cc:2312 (0.32.0)
Skills
Weapons Short BladesLong BladesRanged Weapons

AxesMaces & FlailsPolearmsStavesUnarmed CombatThrowing

Physical FightingArmourDodgingStealthShields
Magical SpellcastingInvocationsEvocationsShapeshifting
Spell Schools AirAlchemyConjurationsEarthFireHexesIceNecromancySummoningTranslocations