The best skills in Dune Awakening can't all be unlocked immediately, but there's a whole range of abilities for players to focus on working towards once they start playing, forming builds based around what kind of character they want to make. There's five skill trees in the game: Swordmaster, Mentat, Bene Gesserit, Trooper and Planetologist, with three subtrees contained within each one. Each skillset focuses on something different, with the Swordmaster being all about melee combat, or the Bene Gesserit having mind control powers.
To help you filter through everything, we've highlighted the best Dune Awakening skills for each tree and mentor type, as well as explain how to unlock new skill trees, plus what each one has to offer in terms of the kind of build and abilities it leans towards.
The best skills in Dune Awakening
Below I've laid out the best skills in Dune Awakening for each Skill Tree, so players know what to aim for early on.
- Trooper
- Disruptor Damage (Gunnery). A blanket enhancement for damage on the game's most common firearms.
- Suspensor Dash (Suspensor Training). A great evasion skill for combat and for increasing your jump.
- Shigawire Claw (Tactical Tech). A hookshot that lets you explore more easily and throw off opponents by yanking them around.
- Mentat
- Exploit Weakness (Mental Calculus). Make your own weak points with modified ranged attacks.
- Stunner (Assassination). This dart paralyses opponents and leaves them vulnerable, allowing you to either escape or attack.
- Planetologist
- Cutteray Mining (Scientist). Considering the frequency with which you use the Cutteray, a Yield Bonus for mining is a great help.
- Mountaineer (Explorer). Reduced stamina loss when climbing is a great benefit on moment-to-moment exploration.
- Bene Gesserit
- Weirding Step (Weirding Way): A means to get behind opponents quickly is essential for these melee builds.
- Stop (The Voice): The ability to freeze opponents is a great advantage in any situation.
- Litany Against Fear (Body Control): This ability provides a massive defense buff to both you and all your allies.
- Swordmaster
- Blade Damage (The Blade): Considering the frequency of swordfighting, this increase in raw damage is near-essential.
- Thrive on Danger (The Will): The final skill in the Will tree provides a massive series of combat buffs to lose on low health.
- Disciplined Breathing (The Way): Quicker stamina regen is fantastic for melee combat, but also helpful for all gameplay.
- General Conditioning (The Way): A higher max stamina has the same justification as the skill above.
All Skill Trees in Dune Awakening
There are five Skill Trees and/or classes in Dune Awakening, each one of which has a different focus. Those skill trees are:
- Trooper (Firearms/Ranged Combat/Anti-Gravity Suspensors/Explosives)
- Mentat (Sharpshooting/Sniping/Stealth/Traps)
- Planetologist (Resource Management/Exploration/Vehicles)
- Bene Gesserit (Speed/Unarmed/Mind Control/Stat Management)
- Swordmaster (Melee Weapons/Tank Abilities/Health and Stat Recovery)
It's worth clarifying that none of them are inherently better than the others as a whole – it depends on what equipment you have and your preferred playstyle. For example, players who focus on base building, exploration and mining will get more from focusing on the Planetologist, whereas those who crash into Bandit camps and slaughter everybody to loot the bodies would be wise to pick the Trooper or Swordmaster.
How to unlock new skills
Players will start with one of the skill trees unlocked depending on their choice of Mentor in Dune Awakening character creation, but you can find others. For each skill tree, you need to find a Basic Trainer, an NPC expert in that skill, who will unlock the tree so you can start putting Skill Points into it. This will unlock the early section of those trees, and you'll need to find an Advanced Trainer to unlock the latter sections.
Trainers are found in populated areas (such as the Basic Trooper being found in the Dune Awakening Griffin's Reach Tradepost) and usually require some sort of mission to get them to teach you. There is no benefit to finding the Basic Trainer for the skill tree that you unlocked during character creation through your choice of Mentor.
To find all Dune Awakening Trainer locations, use our attached guide, where we have them all laid out clearly on maps and how to find them!
Trooper
Troopers are frontline fighters with an emphasis on ranged combat. They're soldiers, loud and effective, bolstered by advanced tech that allows them to control foes and reposition.
- Trooper sub-trees
- Gunnery: Heavy and full auto firearms.
- Suspensor Training: Anti-gravity devices for mobility and impeding foes.
- Tactical Tech: Grenades, grapples and combat devices.
Mentat
Mentats have brains like supercomputers, which in Dune Awakening is put towards roguish, stealthy builds and sneakiness.
- Mentat sub-trees
- Mental Calculus: Sniping, pistols, and weak points.
- Assassination: Poison, backstabs, and silent kills.
- Tactician: Planted mines and devices used to distract or kill enemies.
Planetologist
The only class without a strong combat focus, the planetologist focuses on resource and exploration, making sure you can get around Arrakis safely between combat encounters without getting swallowed up by the Dune Awakening Sandworms.
- Planetologist sub-trees
- Scientist: Resource gathering and conservation.
- Explorer: Climbing, mobility and map making.
- Mechanic: Buffs and perks for Dune Awakening vehicles.
Bene Gesserit
In Dune Awakening to play a Bene Gesserit is effectively to have picked a monk class – they focus on speed, melee combat, regenerative abilities, as well as the mind-controlling "Voice" powers.
- Bene Gesserit sub-trees
- Weirding Way: Sprinting and speed, as well as melee, unarmed and knife attacks.
- The Voice: Mind-controlling powers used to command enemies.
- Body Control: Health regeneration, stat management, immunities and constitution.
Swordmaster
One of the most straightforward builds, the Swordmaster is focused on melee combat with a blade. They also tend to double as tanks, able to deflect or survive attacks that would kill other characters.
- Swordmaster sub-trees
- The Blade: Focused on swords, blade weapons, and melee abilities tied to both.
- The Will: Defensive powers that allow you to dodge, deflect or survive attacks without dying.
- The Way: Stamina enhancements, stat improvements, and new methods to incapacitate foes.
Want some more help learning about the world of Arrakis? Find out how to master the deep desert without specially curated Dune Awakening tips here!
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