Skills

Skills are the part of progression nothing is spent on. Each attribute has one attached to it, and it rises from the way V fights rather than from any decision. Solo belongs to Body, Shinobi to Reflexes, Engineer to Technical Ability, Netrunner to Intelligence and Headhunter to Cool. At every fifth level a skill hands something over.

How They Rise

A skill counts the actions its attribute is built around. Solo counts close range kills with heavy weapons and fists, Shinobi counts automatic weapons, blades and the movements themselves, Engineer counts Tech weapons, grenades and crafting, Netrunner counts quickhacks, smart weapons and access points, and Headhunter counts quiet kills and precise shots.

Nothing is allocated. The only way to steer a skill is to change how V fights, which means a build that commits to one style levels its skill quickly and a build that switches constantly levels several of them slowly.

The attribute caps the skill. Leaving an attribute low means the matching skill stops climbing long before its later rewards, which is the main reason a build should not spread its attribute points too thinly.

What They Give

The early rewards are plain. Carrying capacity, health, armour, RAM and visibility all appear in the first few, and so does a perk point, which is worth more than any of them because it can be spent in any tree.

The middle rewards narrow to the attribute's own weapons and systems. Fists and Gorilla Arms gain damage, dodging gets cheaper, grenade damage rises, device hacks cost less RAM, and weapon sway disappears while crouched.

The late rewards read the modes a build fights inside. Berserk, Sandevistan, Overclock, Fury, Focus and Deadeye all appear in the last few rewards of their own skills, and those are the rewards worth planning a build around.

Shards

Skill shards exist for each of the skills and push one of them forward directly. They are found in the world rather than bought, which makes them a way to reach a late reward slightly sooner than the fighting would allow.

Perk Points

Several skills hand over perk points as rewards, which makes them the second source of them after character levels. Those points are not tied to the skill's own tree, so a Body build can spend one in the Intelligence tree without having raised Intelligence at all.

Notes

Because crafting and disassembly count towards Engineer, and because Shinobi counts movement as well as kills, those skills can be levelled outside combat. The rest need a fight.

All Skills

Every skill is listed below, with the attribute it rises with and the perks that attribute opens.

Name	Image	Attribute	Perks
Solo		Body	Body Perks
Shinobi		Reflexes	Reflexes Perks
Engineer		Technical Ability	Technical Ability Perks
Netrunner		Intelligence	Intelligence Perks
Headhunter		Cool	Cool Perks