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Some games have very intuitive skill trees, such as the lengthy but easy-to-understand leveling system in the Borderlands games. Some skill trees, on the other hand, are mind-bogglingly massive, and although they may be simple enough to understand, getting the most out of them is a different story.
Updated December 6, 2022, by Ritwik Mitra: Skill trees have become all the rage in modern titles, helping players enjoy a sense of progression that they have full control over. Unlocking certain abilities in a skill tree ends up being an achievement in its own right, with players loving the idea of gaining access to an end-game technique that has been teasing them throughout the game. That being said, there are some games that go above and beyond when it comes to adding these skill trees in their games.
15 Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is easily one of the most underrated fantasy role-playing titles around. It’s a shame that the game didn’t interest many people because of its somewhat generic premise, since the game’s combat system was definitely quite engaging despite having its fair share of caveats.
There are three trees that players can invest in — namely, Might, Finesse, and Sorcery. These branches of the skill tree have wildly different and interesting abilities that make them worth investing in.
14 Prey
The reboot of Prey as an immersive sim ended up being a pretty great decision that allowed players to get totally hooked on this sci-fi horror masterpiece. Controlling Morgan Yu and slowly expanding their suite of abilities across the series made for a great time.
What made Prey such a blast was that it allowed players to use both human and Typhon powers, with the outcome of the ending and their morality also changing based on how much they used their alien powers. There are three branches each for both human and Typhon abilities, which made for a complex and engaging skill tree that players could interact with however they wished.
13 Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy 10 was a brilliant debut for the series on the PlayStation 2. The graphical overhaul coupled with the fast-paced combat system made for a stellar JRPG that is still wildly playable to this day.
The game marked a massive departure from the classic leveling system of past games in the series, with traditional levels being forsaken in favor of the Sphere Grid that gave players a bit more control when it came to a path a certain character could take to get stronger. Most characters were placed on pre-selected paths, but special Spheres could be used to skip a few slots or just jump to a different spot on the Sphere Grid altogether.
12 Factorio
Factorio is one of the most engaging simulation games around, with the simple act of running a factory becoming deceptively complex as players slowly come to grips with the game’s systems. If the gameplay loop itself wasn’t challenging in its own right, Factorio also has a massive tech tree that players need to invest in to make their factories efficient.
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It goes without saying that this tech tree itself is massive, and players need to do a bit of research or just follow a trial-and-error method to realize just how useful certain technological advancements are. Without investing properly in this skill tree, a player is going to either be overwhelmed by alien lifeforms or see their factories become overloaded and fail due to a lack of sustainability.
11 Yakuza 0
Yakuza 0 is the perfect game to get into the series, with this prequel serving as a perfect introduction to the characters of both Kiryu and Majima. This game also featured massive skill trees for both characters where players had to invest actual money to improve their skills.
The three fighting styles of both Kiryu and Majima could be improved with this technique. If that wasn’t enough, then players will be elated to know that there’s actually a fourth skill tree that players can unlock that requires incredible levels of investment to increase health, damage, and Heat to crazy levels.
10 Diablo 2
The skill tree in Diablo 2 is definitely on the unintuitive side. For the time, perhaps, players would have been able to make perfect sense of it, but something about the washed-out colors and very dated organization makes it a bit of an eyesore in 2021.
That’s not to say that the game’s skill tree system is bad, though. In fact, Diablo 2’s success can be partially attributed to the sheer variety of playstyles and builds available thanks to the game’s in-depth approach to skills, offering a breadth of smaller choices rather than only a few powerful ones.
9 Diablo 3
While fans of the Diablo series didn’t take too kindly to Diablo 3 on launch, the game has become a bit more accepted in the gaming community with time. It’s no Diablo 2, but it’s much better than many gave it credit for on release. One aspect of the game that’s worth celebrating is its approach to skills and passives.
There is a huge number of passive skills available to each class, and an equally huge number of active spells and abilities that each can take advantage of, too. While builds aren’t nearly as complex and micro-managey as they are in Diablo 2, there’s enough diversity to give everyone a little of what they want from a Diablo title.
8 The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
While each individual skill tree in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is relatively short, confined to around 10 options apiece, when taken as a whole there are a lot of choices available. The three main stat focuses (Health, Stamina, and Magicka) each have their own sections with a number of separate skill trees dedicated to specific parts of gameplay.
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Skyrim has been praised for its open-ended approach to character progression. While Oblivion and Morrowind locked players into a class from the get-go, players in Skyrim can take on anything at any time, making all of the hundreds of choices technically viable options for the particularly dedicated.
7 Path of Exile
Path of Exile has perhaps the most notoriously large skill tree of all time. Players new to the game will level up on the beach quickly enough, at which point they get their first skill point. Then, they are brought to their class’s default starting position on the labyrinthian skill tree. It looks small enough until players zoom out.
The skill tree in Path of Exile is so comically massive because of the game’s focus on being able to do anything with any character – even if players start out in the Ranger’s area of the skill tree, they can eventually take on other class’ talents too, as long as they take a path that leads them there.
6 The Witcher 3
The Witcher 3 is lauded as one of the most engaging and deep RPGs to come out in recent years, and its skill tree is just as complex as the game’s multi-faceted storylines. There are five skill trees to level up — Combat Skills, Signs, Alchemy Skills, Mutagens, and General Skills.
The skill tree in The Witcher 3 is unique as it encourages the player to take on a variety of skills and equip them as necessary for different encounters. Each skill can then be improved with enough investment, but the player doesn’t need to go all-in on one path to get the most out of this tree.
5 Borderlands Series
The Borderlands series features separate skill trees for each playable character, each of which is then separated into a few different sub-trees for further specialization. While each individual tree tends to be no more than 10 lines long, the sheer number of available options in the game is staggering.
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In Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, for example, there are more than four main playable characters. If players consider that each playable character has three separate skill trees in each game, and those trees each contain a dozen or more options, each game features hundreds and hundreds of skill tree options in total.
4 Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
The Assassin’s Creed games have long been associated with windy, long skill trees that offer a multitude of upgrades for the player. In Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, this is taken to a whole new level, with a skill tree rivaling that of even Path of Exile.
However, the skill tree in this Assassin’s Creed entry has been criticized for not offering enough viable options, leading many players to consistently take the same skills instead of trying new ones. Nonetheless, the game’s skill tree is daunting, but at least the star signs are nice to look at!
3 World of Warcraft Classic
The skill tree — or rather the talent system — in World of Warcraft has gone through many changes over the years. In the retail version of the game, talents are very simple, with a choice offered every few milestone levels. In World of Warcraft Classic, though, it’s a different story.
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The skill tree in the vanilla version of the MMO was… sprawling, in a word. Each class had a huge number of talents to choose from as they progressed to level 60, and had the option to choose talents from multiple trees. The number of classes in the game, and the number of specs in each class, make it one of the largest skill tree systems in any MMO to date.
2 Rift
Rift is a game that takes a more modern approach to the standard MMO model. For its skill tree system, called the Soul Tree in-game, players have the option to choose from dozens upon dozens of abilities and stat upgrades as they level up.
The system allows players to choose talents that would traditionally be more oriented to a different specialization for their class, just like in World of Warcraft Classic. Where other modern MMOs simplify much of the talent system, though, Rift revels in the diversity of the Soul Tree system.
1 Salt & Sanctuary
Salt and Sanctuary is an indie RPG that’s far from a walk in the park. It takes a lot of inspiration from the Dark Souls series in its gameplay, but its skill tree system, fittingly called the Tree of Skill, is entirely its own. The game is a 2D sidescrolling game, but that doesn’t mean it lacks complexity in gameplay – if anything, it’s the opposite.
The Tree of Skill in Salt and Sanctuary offers the player a choice of more than one hundred skills and stat upgrades as they progress through the game. The tree is a marvel to behold, beautifully laid out, but the sheer number of options in the Tree of Skill could intimidate even the most time-worn old-school gamer.
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