Core Keeper skills and talent points: what you get, and how far 25 points go

Twelve skills, 25 talent points each at level 100, and a tree where you can't take everything. Here's what the numbers are, how the tiers unlock, and how to think about spending them.

By MaxPublished 29 Oct 20263 min read

Data is from the Core Keeper Wiki (talents data labelled 1.1.0.1, items 1.2.0.7). The game has moved on to 1.3.x, so values may have changed. The tier-unlock rule below comes from the wiki but I haven't confirmed it in-game.

Core Keeper doesn't make you pick a class. Instead there are twelve skills, each with its own levels and its own little talent tree. The trees are small, the points are limited, and that's what makes them worth thinking about for ten minutes before you spend anything.

The twelve skills

Every skill goes to level 100, and every level gives a small, flat bonus. Here's what a single level is worth, and what the skill adds at the top:

Those are the bonuses the planner adds up. How you actually level each skill isn't covered here, because I haven't checked the details and I'd rather not guess.

Talent points are tight

Each skill gives you one talent point for every 5 levels, and a bonus 5 at level 100. That means:

Notice the jump from 99 to 100, six points in one level. Each skill has eight talents, and each talent takes up to 5 points, so there's room for 40 points of talents and you only get 25. You can't take everything, and that's the whole point of the tree.

How the tiers unlock

The talents are laid out in four tiers (1, 2, 3 and 2 talents) and the wiki's rule is that you need 5 points in a talent of the tier below to open the next tier. I haven't confirmed that in-game, and the real tree may have stricter links between specific talents. If it's right, it has a useful consequence:

• To reach any tier 4 talent you have to put 5 points in a tier 1, a tier 2 and a tier 3 talent first. That's 15 points of "road".
• Put 5 more in the tier 4 talent and you've used 20 of your 25. You've got 5 left to spend anywhere that's already unlocked.

So a level 100 skill gives you five fully maxed talents, one from each tier plus one extra. For comparison, a skill at level 50 has 10 points, which is enough to max a tier 1 and a tier 2 talent and so unlock tier 3, with nothing left to spend there.

What's actually in the trees

Here's what five points buys in a few of them, per the data:

Melee combat

• Tier 1, Quick strikes: +10% melee attack speed.
• Tier 2, Building anger: gain 2% melee damage per enemy hit, stacking to 10 times. Fast and furious: a 10% chance on hit to gain +50% attack speed for a short time.
• Tier 3, Stubborn fighter: +15% melee damage when you keep hitting the same target. Heavy swings and Taking a step back are the other two.
• Tier 4, Strength of the Ancients: +20% damage against bosses. Seething blade gives a 10% chance to restore 5% health on hit.

Vitality

• Tier 2: Strong and healthy gives +10% damage at max health, and Desperate fighter gives +20% at low health.
• Tier 4: Protection of the Ancients takes 15% off damage from bosses, and Cheat death gives a 10% chance to restore a bit of health instead of dying.

Mining

• Tier 1: +10% mining damage. Tier 3: Mine, mine, mine! gives +15% mining speed, and Explosives engineer gives +20% explosives damage.

How I'd think about spending them

This is judgement, not tested advice. Since the cheap talents are the ones in the way, I'd pick the tier 4 talent I want first and work backwards to the cheapest road to it. For a melee boss fighter, that's Strength of the Ancients at the end, with Quick strikes (tier 1), one tier 2 and Stubborn fighter (tier 3) on the way. That's all 20 points and a clean attack-speed and damage package, with five to spare for a second tier 3 pick.

The one thing I wouldn't do is spread points thinly. A talent at 2 out of 5 doesn't open anything, and four skills with a couple of points each get you less than one skill pushed all the way. With 12 skills and only 25 points each, specialise.