We’re on the brink of Hell as the release of Diablo 4 draws nearer by the day, but players looking to get a taste of the flames will have a chance through two upcoming beta access weekends in March. Diablo 4 aims to shake up its formula, placing the almost 20 year-old franchise on its biggest pedestal yet, with massive zones, world bosses, and the most in-depth skill tree and character customization the series has ever seen.
Here’s everything we know about Diablo 4’s skill tree system.
Related: Diablo 4 Finally Brings Good Character Customization to the Franchise
Diablo IV Skill Tree System Explained
Diablo 4 marks the return of the branching skill tree system players may remember from Diablo 2, only much bigger in scale. Fans of other ARPGs like Path of Exile will feel right at home as Diablo 4’s skill tree contains a vast selection of active and passive skills that points can be invested in.
Skill Tree Structure and Nodes
The Diablo 4 skill tree is structured into seven clusters, with each unlocking after investing specific amounts of skill points into the tree.
- 0 Points – Access to Basic Clusters, which contain basic skills and upgrades. These are normally your “generator” skills, which tend to be your weakest attacks, but help generate your class-specific resource to use for more powerful skills.
- 2 Points – Access to Core Clusters, which contain core skills, upgrades, and passives. These are your more powerful skills that use up your class-specific resource.
- 6 / 11 / 16 Points – Access to Unique Class Clusters, which contain more complex and powerful skills and passives. These skills further deepen your class identity.
- 23 Points – Access to Ultimate Clusters, where you’ll find your class Ultimate skills and additional passives. Ultimate skills are your most powerful attacks and, in turn, have the longest cooldowns. You can only have one Ultimate skill at any time.
- 33 Points – Access to Ultimate Passive Clusters, which contains your classes strongest and most unique passive skills. Similar to Ultimate skills, only one Ultimate Passive can be active at any given time.
Skill Points and Respecs
Skill points are awarded upon each level up and can also be obtained through other methods like the Renown System.
Spending your skill points into your tree costs nothing, but refunding skill points is a different story. After reaching level 7 and onwards, you’ll have to spend an exponentially increasing amount of Gold to refund your skill points. Luckily, the cost doesn’t seem too steep, and players will be able to experiment with a variety of different build options to suit their playstyles.
You can also gain further ranks in specific skills through various types of gear and items. Each character will have more than 20 active skills to choose from, plus a hefty selection of passives to further personalize their builds, giving each player a much deeper sense of customization than they’ve had in ages.
Related: Does Diablo 4 Have Open World PvP? – Answered
For more information on Diablo 4, check out our other guides and tips here at Prima Games.
