All Abilities & Skill Trees

Coen grows along three development trees — Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism — and each tree holds two kinds of skills: perks, which quietly adjust his stats and gear, and abilities, the moves bound to quick slots and triggered mid-fight. This page lists every ability in the game, explains the systems wrapped around them (activation charges, manuals, corruption, the day-night split), and covers the combat fundamentals that decide whether any of them actually land.

How Abilities Work

Active abilities are paid for with activation charges — and, for Witchcraft and Vampirism, with a slice of Coen's own health on top. Everything then sits on a cooldown before it can fire again. Passive abilities cost nothing: they occupy a slot in the ability panel and switch themselves on when their condition is met, whether that's landing a perfect block or spending another ability.

The three trees also keep different hours:

Quick slots come in two sets — one for day, one for night — with four active abilities each, configured in the Active Abilities tab of the menu. A handful of abilities (Shapeshift, Voracious Bite, Death from Above, Mercurial Fervour, Astral Communion, Compel Soul) sit outside those slots entirely and are triggered directly.

Learning and Upgrading

Leveling up grants a skill point, announced by a green arrow beside the health bar. Points can only be spent at shrines — not from wherever you happen to be standing.

For Swordmastery and Witchcraft, many abilities first require their manual. Manuals are found while exploring, bought, or handed out by quests, and finding one doesn't grant anything by itself: it makes the ability available for a skill point in the tree. Higher ability ranks ask for more manuals again. Vampirism has no manuals at all — that tree opens with corruption, and every drop of blood Coen drinks pushes it further: Voracious Bite on people and animals, certain quests, or vrakhiri blood phials. Phials double as instant healing, so drink them instead of letting them gather dust in the inventory — they often unlock something on the way down.

Upgrading a learned ability costs more skill points at each rank, and as ranks climb it starts charging time tokens as well. A day only holds eight time segments and the whole story gets 30 of them, so think before you commit a point. The guides page covers time management in detail.

Swordmastery Abilities

The everyday tree. Swordmastery works around the clock, never touches Coen's health, and leans on the block system human combat runs on — half of these entries reward blocking well rather than swinging harder.

Witchcraft Abilities

Anca ties Coen to the supernatural during the prologue, and from then on the Witchcraft tree is his to grow. These are day-only skills priced in charges and health — and several reach outside combat entirely, questioning the dead or waking old places of power.

Vampirism Abilities

The night tree, and the only one with no manuals: corruption alone decides what you can learn. Nearly everything here is priced in charges and health — Voracious Bite is the exception, since it's how the health comes back.

Abilities in Combat

Stamina before damage

Nearly everything in a fight draws on stamina: attacks, dodges, several defensive options. Run the bar dry and Coen turns fatigued — his swings slow down and he's left wide open. Two Swordmastery perks fix this before any damage perk is worth taking: Endless Effort (more maximum stamina, up to double at the final rank) and Fleet of Foot (cheaper dodges). Both work day and night.

Night: the dodge game

Vampire form fights aggressively and pays for it — every attack and every normal dodge draws from the same bar. The big damage windows come from horizontal swings: dodge into the attack at the last possible moment for a perfect dodge, which costs no stamina at all and leaves the enemy open for an immediate counter. Vertical strikes deserve respect while you're still learning the timing — dodge back, take the distance, and wait for the next opening instead of forcing one.

Day: the block game

Human form doesn't move like the vampire, so it doesn't try to. Hold the guard up without touching the movement stick — touching it selects a block direction — and when the enemy commits, read the directional indicator and flick the stick into that direction just before the hit lands. Time it right and you've scored a perfect block, which leaves the enemy open. Directional blocks cost no stamina, and that's what makes practiced human combat so efficient. The omni block covers every direction for you and is the place to start while reading indicators is still hard — the price is stamina, one more reason Endless Effort earns its point early.

The red skull

When the wind-up indicator turns into a red skull, the incoming attack is unblockable. Directional block won't catch it and omni block won't either — it has to be dodged. Keep enough stamina in the tank to answer it, because the skull has a habit of arriving right after you've spent your last sliver on greed.

Healing, by form

Daytime Coen has no natural health regeneration — food and healing consumables found while exploring have to carry him. Nighttime Coen drinks: Voracious Bite on whatever's nearby, or a blood phial from the inventory. Feeding also raises corruption, which opens more of the Vampirism tree — the same mechanic that heals you at night is the one that grows it.

What to Learn First

Ten picks that pay off quickly. The deeper early-game strategy — time, money, gear — lives on the guides page.

The walkthrough puts these systems to work in the prologue; quests lists the Court activities where manuals and vrakhiri blood phials are waiting.