Passive Skill Tree Explained

The four node types

The tree is built from four tiers of node, each a step up in power and scarcity:

• Small Passives — minor stat bonuses, mostly there to connect you to something bigger.
• Notable Passives — the medium-sized nodes that most build planning actually revolves around, usually gating a meaningful bonus behind a few small passives.
• Jewel Sockets — think of these as customizable Notables. Socketing a jewel is free and reversible at any time, and some unique jewels transform every passive within a radius rather than just adding stats.
• Keystones — the biggest, rarest nodes, and the ones that actually rewrite how your character plays rather than just adding a number. Most builds anchor around exactly one.

Attribute highways

Three rings of attribute nodes circle the tree at increasing distance from center, forming what the community calls “attribute highways” — they double as efficient travel paths between distant parts of the tree as well as your source of Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence. Each class starts in the attribute quadrant matching its archetype, and the starting nodes around it are almost always relevant no matter what you end up building.

Respeccing

Removing an allocated node costs Gold, and the cost rises as your character levels — talk to The Hooded One (or Doryani) in town to do it. You don’t have to refund your entire tree to adjust a few nodes; individual passives can be refunded one at a time. Note that jewels need to be removed from their sockets first if you want to mass-refund everything at once.

Practical planning advice

• Pick your target Keystone before you start allocating anything — you likely won’t reach it until partway through the campaign, but it determines your whole routing plan.
• Always path toward the next Notable rather than detouring for individual small passives — a two-node detour for a minor bonus is a point that could have moved you closer to a cluster that actually anchors your build.
• The first 10-15 nodes you allocate typically account for the large majority of your passive tree’s total power contribution — the rest is optimization, not necessity.
• Jewel Sockets are worth prioritizing early, but only once you actually have a jewel worth putting in them — rushing an empty socket at level 15 usually isn’t worth the detour.