Motivation for the rework
Recent playtests and internal discussions revealed several core issues with the current skill system:
Forced Progression Through Unwanted Skills – Players were required to level up skills they didn't want in order to access the ones they actually needed.
Limited Build Variety – Although the system allowed some variation through different skill trees, players using the same weapons often ended up with identical builds.
Delayed Meaningful Choices – The first meaningful decisions within the skill system came much later in progression than intended.
The reworked System
Let’s take a deep dive into the new system.
We still have 25 skill trees:
7 for firearms
4 for melee weapons
10 for professions (like woodworking)
2 for armor
2 “other” trees for Endurance and First Aid.
You gain skill points in each tree by using that skill — for example, shooting with a gun, fighting with a sword, or using a tool.
Max Skill Level & Badges
Each tree has an initial max level of 10. If you reach level 10 in a skill tree, you can invest a specific Badge to increase the maximum level by 5. For example, to increase the max level of your Assault Rifle Tree, you need to invest one of your Badges for level 10 to raise the max level to 15.
While you can level up all 25 skill trees, each character has only a limited number of badges. You receive these badges at the beginning of the game:
· 13 to increase max levels to 15
· 12 to increase max levels to 20
· 11 for max level 25
· … and so on, with 1 less badge available for each subsequent 5-level increase.
At the end, you have only 6 to increase your max level to 50. It is not possible to raise a skill level higher than 50.
The image shows the Endurance Tree without any badges invested, at level 1. The current max level is 10.
You gain 1 skill point per level, which you can invest in the different skills of the tree.
Where to invest the points?
You can choose to invest points in passive or active skills.
· Passive skills are in the first row of each tree. Some can accept your first point immediately, while others require a specific skill level.
· Active skills (not ultimates) take up an entire row consisting of:
o 1 base skill
o 3 Enhancers
o 2 Specializations
Example Marathon Lungs
I’ll explain the new system for active skills using the popular Marathon Lungs as an example.
If you invest your first point into Marathon Lungs, you unlock the base version of the skill.
If you want to cast the skill more often with a lower cooldown, you can invest up to 5 points in the Cooldown Enhancer of Marathon Lungs.
If you want to reduce its stamina cost, invest up to 5 points in the corresponding Stamina Enhancer.
If you want more impact (in this case, more duration), invest up to 5 points in the Impact Enhancer.
Specializations
If you invested 11 or more points in one specific active (not ultimate!) skill you can choose 1 out of 2 specializations. Each specialization costs 1 point.
For Marathon Lungs you can choose between these two options:
In total you can invest up to 17 points in an active skill.
· 1 to unlock the base version
· 5 points for each of the 3 Enhancer (15 total)
· 1 for a specialization
If you don’t want to invest so many points you can invest fewer. However, to unlock a specialization, you must invest at least 11 points.
Here is how Marathon Lungs could look if you fully level all Enhancers and pick the specialization “Way of the Fugitive.”
In total, each tree has a theoretical maximum of 86 points you could invest if all passives and the ultimate are included, but you only have up to 50 points available.
· 51 points for actives (3 x 17)
· 30 points for passives
· 5 points for the ultimate
And What About Ultimate Skills?
As mentioned, you can still invest up to 5 points in an ultimate skill. The difference is that now each invested point matters: stamina costs, cooldowns, and impact are improved with every point.
Additionally, there is a change that might be less obvious: you can save points by increasing the max level with badges in advance. For example, imagine you are level 45 in a skill tree and have 5 uninvested points left. You can invest your badge to increase the max level to 50. The minimum level requirement for ultimate skills is 46. So if you reach level 46, you can immediately invest all 5 points in the ultimate and have it fully maxed out at level 46!
Specific weapons in the New Skill System
Based on feedback, we have decided to make further changes to Machine Guns and Rifles. Although these are part of the skill system, the changes will also affect how the weapons themselves function.
Machine Guns
In the old system, Mow’em Down for Machine Guns provided penetration damage, allowing you to shoot multiple zombies at once.
We’ve now made this ability available for all Machine Guns by default. All Machine Guns can penetrate up to 3 targets, dealing 50% damage to each penetrated target without needing to use Mow’em Down. Some active skills increase this penetration damage.
Rifles
We’ve done a full overhaul of rifles and all their active rifle skills.
For the moment, you can only find and craft these two rifles in the game:
· Mk 14 EBR
· SVD
We increased the attack speed of both weapons and set their magazine size to 20. Future rifles will be balanced within the same range.
All rifles now come equipped with a scope, which you can activate using the right mouse button. Additionally, all rifles share the ability to hide the damage indicator on targets. This means you can shoot at distant players without revealing your position.
Next, you can see a spoiler for a very sniper-specific specialization within a rifle skill. If you choose this specialization for the corresponding skill, you will be able to attack almost unseen. And this isn’t the only rifle-specific specialization.
Other rifle weapons in characters’ inventories, backpacks, storage, etc. have been replaced by one of the two mentioned above, while retaining their original DPS.
Conclusion
This skill system rework gives players more freedom, clearer progression, and meaningful choices. With the new badge system and weapon skill updates, building your character should feel more flexible and rewarding. We’re looking forward to your feedback in the upcoming playtests.