Reclaim Your Might

Tap the HUD button, press M, or choose Skills from the pause menu. Gameplay pauses, the forest fills the viewport, and the Hunter stands to the left with the companion flame flickering at his shoulder. Three paths climb the tree: Bladebow, Hunter's Bow and Forest Bonds. On the right, a detail card explains the node you are focused on, what it requires and what it costs.

The chain is deliberate. Discover equipment, equip a weapon, an arrow tip and charms, learn the matching mastery, and the effects activate when the gear is active. There is one Memory balance and one catalogue. You never repurchase movement: jump, double jump, dash, roll, ledge catch, glide, ordinary bow fire and the whole Bladebow kit stay owned by the world, not by the tree.

Memories come from permanent campaign milestones, never from ordinary enemies. The flame, the bow, the Bladebow and the Shadow discovery give one each. The cloak puzzle, the quarry cache, the Hollow release, the Hollow shortcut and the Lantern Well give one each. The Rat King and the Quarry Troll give two. The Oathkeeper gives three. Sixteen in the current catalogue, and the twelve nodes cost sixteen exactly.

That tightness is on purpose, and the design doc is honest that it is not enough on its own to preserve distinct builds: buy everything reachable and the spending difference disappears. The answer is not more nodes. It is Focus, described below, plus weapons that behave differently and three charm slots. Required traversal never depends on skill spending, and the campaign has no respec yet; the Practice Grove offers a full reset.

Bladebow. Riposte: the next melee hit within a second of a dash deals 30 percent more. Crescent Cut: the third combo cut gains reach and damage. Aftershock: the plunge radius grows from 125 to 190 and staggers ordinary enemies. Blade Tempest: the final spin contact hits for 20 more.

Hunter's Bow. Sure Draw: the charge builds a quarter faster. Kindled Shot: a fully charged flame impact burns nearby enemies. Ash Pierce: that charged flame arrow gains ten direct damage. Venom Bloom: a charged hit on an already poisoned foe spreads four seconds of rot to everything within 80 units.

Forest Bonds. Flame Bond: the companion points toward unattuned waystones. Raven Wake: landing from a glide releases a 100-unit gust. Shadow Echo: the first melee hit after Shadow ends deals half again. Mist Veil: protection lingers after Mist form.

Two combinations fall out of existing purchases with no extra unlock. Emberwing needs the Hunter's Bow, Flame arrows, Raven, Kindled Shot and Raven Wake: a fully charged downward airborne shot gains a larger burst and four seconds of burn. Echo Riposte needs the Bladebow, Shadow, Riposte and Shadow Echo: overlapping the post-dash and post-Shadow windows gives one hit at nearly double damage, consuming both bonuses at once.

Projectile effects are snapshotted at launch. Change equipment while an arrow is in the air and it lands with the payload it left with.

The Weapon Trials prototype extends the tree to eighteen nodes costing 29 Memories, all playable in the Practice Grove. Six techniques: Returning Crescent adds a sweeping fourth finisher after the third cut. Skyhook gives one aerial pursuit cut after the rising finisher. Pursuit Shot gives a crisp tapped follow-up after a full-charge hit. Hunter's Descent steadies you for a moment after a downward aerial hit. Rift Followthrough sends a short echo slash on the first cut after a Blink. Kindled Edge lets a melee finisher release an ember crescent from a flame-primed target.

Then the Focuses, which are the real build choice. You can learn several but activate only one melee and one ranged. Duelist returns a little stamina on a clean combo. Breaker adds guard pressure to heavy finishers and the plunge. Spellblade carries the element of your last arrow into your next melee finisher. Marksman rewards a short release window just past full draw. Skirmisher shortens recovery after a moving or post-dash shot. Elementalist leans into burn and venom area effects.

The builds those produce have names already. Gatebreaker: Oathcleaver, Breaker and Aftershock, bait the Oathkeeper and land a heavy finisher in his recovery. Rift Duelist: Blink in behind, swap, cut, dash out. Emberwing: earn height, lock downward, burn the group. Venom Stalker: prime, spread, move through the opening. Oath Marksman: find a firing line, release on cue, relocate.