Field Guide

The damage tree: Strength, Critical Hit and the biggest single hits in the game, ending in Execution.

It opens with Heavy Slash. The whole pathway costs 75 Mastery Points including its APEX, Execution. Past the APEX comes the free APEX+ pick (Bloody Accuracy or Last Stand) at character level 300, and past Cross Mastery the Pinnacle pick (Unbound Execution or Perfect Execution) at 100 points.

A hard-hitting attack. Deals 200% of Physical Attack. 8 turn cooldown.

The Physical root, and the cheapest opener in the game. Everything else in the pathway is built on the assumption that this is landing on cooldown, so Swift Strikes and Brutal Force below it are not optional extras — they are the node finishing itself.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Heavy Slash sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 1.
• Cost: 1 Mastery Point, learned whole.
• Requirements: none. It is a root, so it unlocks as soon as the tree is open to you.

Gains bonus Strength. +50 Strength.

Pure Strength, the stat this whole pathway multiplies. It opens Brutal Force, and it is dead weight only if you later take Brains Over Brawn, which zeroes Strength outright.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Crushing Power sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 2.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Heavy Slash at Lv. 1.

Crushing Power is a flat grant: +50 Strength once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Gains bonus Haste. +50 Haste.

Pure Haste, which on its own only decides who acts first. Its real job is opening Swift Strikes; a Physical player who crosses in Haste Isn't Wasted later turns every point of it into attack as well.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Windswept sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 2.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Heavy Slash at Lv. 1.

Windswept is a flat grant: +50 Haste once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Improves Heavy Slash's damage by another 100% of Physical Attack, taking Heavy Slash to 300%.

The damage half of finishing Heavy Slash, where Swift Strikes is the cadence half. Most Physical builds take both before moving down the tree.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Brutal Force sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 3.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Crushing Power at Lv. 3.

Reduces Heavy Slash's base cooldown by 5 turns, taking it from 8 to 3.

Takes Heavy Slash from an occasional big hit to a regular one. Cooldown reduction is worth more than raw damage in long fights, because a shorter cooldown compounds over every round.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Swift Strikes sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 3.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Windswept at Lv. 3.

Gains bonus Intuition. +50 Intuition.

Intuition feeds Critical Hit Chance and Evasion, so this quietly raises how often your big hits crit. It is the node that makes Physical Mastery's Critical Damage worth having.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Battle Intuition sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 4.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Brutal Force at Lv. 1 and Swift Strikes at Lv. 1.

Battle Intuition is a flat grant: +50 Intuition once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Gains bonus Malice. +50 Malice.

Malice feeds Defense Ignore, the roll that lets a hit through a tanky target's mitigation. In a pathway built on single enormous hits, getting one past Damage Reduction matters more than adding to it.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Unending Malice sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 5.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Battle Intuition at Lv. 1.

Unending Malice is a flat grant: +50 Malice once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Equip a second Main Hand weapon in your Off Hand slot. You can no longer equip an Off Hand.

A loadout change, not a stat: two Main Hands instead of a weapon and a shield. You give up the Off Hand entirely, so take it only once your second Main Hand actually out-damages what you were holding.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Titan's Strength sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 6.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Unending Malice at Lv. 5.

Gain bonus Defense and Intuition equal to 15% of your total Strength.

The node that makes a Physical build tough without spending a point on Defense. It reads your Strength total, so it grows every time you improve the stat you were improving anyway. A Brains Over Brawn build gains nothing from it, because that node leaves Strength at zero.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Titan's Resilience sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 7.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Titan's Strength at Lv. 1.

Titan's Resilience is a LIVE derivation: it is recomputed every time your stats are read, so it keeps tracking the stat it reads as you spend attribute points.

Your normal attacks hit twice. The second hit deals 50% damage and never misses.

Doubles the number of times your normal attack rolls, which multiplies everything that triggers on a landed hit — crits, lifesteal, Velocity Strike, Skip!. The second hit never misses, so it is also your answer to a dodgy target.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Dual Slash sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 8.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Titan's Resilience at Lv. 3.

Consecutively attack with both weapons: 16 instant hits dealing 75% of Physical Attack each, on an 8 turn cooldown.

A wall of instant hits rather than one big one, which makes it the best node in the pathway for anything that triggers per hit. It is also the node most punished by a target with high Damage Reduction, since every hit pays that toll separately.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Burst of Slashes sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 9.
• Cost: 3 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Dual Slash at Lv. 1.

Increases Dual Slash's second-hit damage by another 50%, taking the second hit to 100%.

Finishes Dual Slash by bringing the second hit up to the first. Cheap for what it is, because the hit it improves is already happening every turn.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Honed Edge sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 9.
• Cost: 5 Mastery Points, learned whole. It has 5 levels and one press buys all of them.
• Requirements: needs Dual Slash at Lv. 1.

+200 Strength, +25% Critical Damage. Heals you for 25% of all damage you deal, including skills and your pet’s share.

The pathway capstone and its sustain: the lifesteal turns your damage into healing, so a Physical build stops needing a heal skill at all. It is what lets the pathway skip the defensive tools the other trees are built around.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Physical Mastery sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 10.
• Cost: 10 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs every node above it in the Physical Pathway, each at full level

Physical Mastery is a flat grant: +200 Strength once learned, written into your Mastery column on the Character page.

Deals 1500% of Physical Attack. Always crits, never misses, fully ignores defense (target's Damage Reduction counts at half). 15 turn cooldown.

The Physical APEX and the biggest single hit in the game. It always crits, never misses and ignores defense, so it is the one attack that does not care what the target is built like. Everything above it in the tree exists to make the turns between casts survivable.

• ACTIVE: it casts during a fight, under the casting rules, on its own cooldown.
• Execution sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 11.
• Cost: 15 Mastery Points, learned whole.
• Requirements: needs Physical Mastery at Lv. 1.

Holding Execution opens the Combat Mastery tree.

Your attacks never miss. Evasion, Fake Out and Shadow Dance are bypassed; only a Prayers Are Heard shield can stop a hit. No single hit can take more than 40% of your max HP.

The APEX+ pick for a player who keeps losing damage to dodges — a dodge-heavy opponent simply stops working against you. Its cap on any one incoming hit is a side benefit, not the reason to take it.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Bloody Accuracy sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 12.
• Cost: FREE, no Mastery Points at all.
• Requirements: needs Execution at Lv. 1.
• Needs character level 300.
• PICK ONE: learning it locks out Last Stand until you use RESET MP.

Bloody Accuracy carries a flat per-hit cap: no single instance of damage may take more than 40% of your maximum HP. Only one node can grant this, since the three that do sit in pathways you cannot combine.

Holding Bloody Accuracy opens Cross Mastery.

Cheat death once per battle (once per encounter in the Dungeon). The killing blow is negated, you heal to full, and no more damage lands that turn. You instantly fire a free Execution at 75% of its usual damage. It ignores Execution's cooldown and cast pacing and starts no cooldown.

The APEX+ pick for a player who keeps dying at the edge: it turns one death into a full heal and a free Execution. Against something that kills you slowly it is the stronger half of the pair; against something that dodges, Bloody Accuracy is.

• PASSIVE: it applies on its own, with nothing to cast.
• Last Stand sits in the Physical Pathway, at tier 12.
• Cost: FREE, no Mastery Points at all.
• Requirements: needs Execution at Lv. 1.
• Needs character level 300.
• PICK ONE: learning it locks out Bloody Accuracy until you use RESET MP.

Holding Last Stand opens Cross Mastery.

A PICK ONE: take Bloody Accuracy or Last Stand and the others are locked out until you use RESET MP. needs Execution at Lv. 1.

• Bloody Accuracy — The APEX+ pick for a player who keeps losing damage to dodges — a dodge-heavy opponent simply stops working against you. Its cap on any one incoming hit is a side benefit, not the reason to take it.
• Last Stand — The APEX+ pick for a player who keeps dying at the edge: it turns one death into a full heal and a free Execution. Against something that kills you slowly it is the stronger half of the pair; against something that dodges, Bloody Accuracy is.