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Wasteland Diaries: Mad skills

Edward Marshall
Updated ·9 min read

While Fallen Earth characters have mutations, it is their set of skills that truly defines them. Many skills augment a specific type of character build, and choosing the right skills is, for the most part, a no-brainer. But knowing the what each of the skills does might help you determine which skills will fit into your play style. And that will, in turn, help you decide where to put all of those valuable little AP.

There are only nine (non-tradeskill) skills in Fallen Earth, but each skill is tied to a wide range of different abilities. The higher the skill goes, the better the ability gets. So, in order to get the most out of a specific ability, the skill must be raised. In order for a skill to be raised, its prerequisite stats must be raised. Before you decide to start dropping AP into stats, you have to look at the bigger picture. You will need to know what each ability does. After the cut I will give you a brief description of each organized by skill.


Armor Use

Armor Use determines the quality of armor that you are able to wear. While this alone makes it important enough to invest AP into, it also has some useful abilities.

  • Knockdown -- Use this to knock an opponent to the ground.

  • Buckle Down -- This Contingency Plan improves your primary resistances for a short time.

  • Evasive Maneuvers -- This Contingency Plan improves your defenses for a short time. It is usable by Enforcers and allies only.

  • Pain Sponge -- This Contingency Plan improves your primary resistances, melee defense and melee skill for a short period. For CHOTA and allies only.

  • Unstoppable -- This Contingency Plan improves your primary resistances, melee skill and movement speed for a short period.

  • Pinpoint Vulnerability -- This is an armor debuff that can't be resisted and lasts 30 seconds.

  • Dreadnaught -- This stance improves defenses and primary resistances but lowers movement speed by 10%.

  • Efficiency & Equilibrium -- This stance improves primary resistances and movement speed. It is only usable by Techs and their allies.

  • Soak Elements -- This stance improves your secondary and tertiary resistances while decreasing your primary.


Athletics

This skill slightly increases your movement speed. It also determines your stamina regeneration rate and how stealthy you are. Aside from that, there are a few useful abilities attached to Athletics.

  • Shake It Off -- This ability is used to remove ill effects from oneself.

  • Roll With the Punches -- This ability will improve all saves for a short period of time.

  • Second Wind -- This ability improves Stamina regeneration considerably for a short time.

  • Body Toughening -- This ability improves Endurance for an hour.

  • Reflexes -- This ability improves Dexterity for an hour.

  • Vigor -- This ability improves Strength for an hour.

  • Fitness -- This ability improves Strength, Coordination, Dexterity and Endurance for an hour. This is only available to those friendly with the CHOTA.

  • Marathon -- This ability increases movement speed while decreasing defenses. It's great for traveling, but bad for combat.

  • Survivor -- This stance increases body saves and cold, disease, poison and radiation resistances while active. This stance is only available to Vistas and their allies.


Dodge

Dodge is the essential defensive skill. Most veteran Fallen Earth players will tell you to max it. If you have to make cuts in the defense department, do it with Armor Use. Lack of dodge will make you very squishy. Additionally, you will be missing out on these abilities:

  • Autumn Leaves -- This Contingency Plan improves ranged defense and movement speed for a short while. It is only usable by those friendly to the Lightbearers.

  • Escape -- This Contingency plan is much like Autumn Leaves and is available to all factions.

  • Low Profile -- This Contingency Plan improves ranged defense, but has no speed increase.

  • Smoke Screen -- This Contingency Plan improves both ranged and melee defenses for a short time. It is available only to those allied with the Enforcers.

  • Duck and Weave -- This stance improves ranged and melee defenses and reflex saves while active.


First Aid

First Aid has some bearing on your health regeneration as well as determining the maximum level of medical devices you can use or craft. Other than these life-saving effects, First Aid also has many indispensable abilities.

  • Refresh -- This ability improves your stamina regeneration considerably for a short time.

  • Suck It Up -- This ability removes ill effects on any target upon use.

  • Treat Disease -- This ability removes disease effects from the target upon use.

  • Treat Poison -- This ability removes poison effects from the target upon use.

  • Pressure Points -- This is a targeted stun with a Coordination and Strength debuff. The stun can be resisted with a body save.

  • Staunch Wound -- It's not just for noobs anymore. The old standby healing skill. It requires a bandage for each use.

  • Fortify -- This ability improves the target's Dexterity and Endurance for an hour.

  • Resuscitation -- Revives a target player and gives him a burst of health regeneration.

  • Extended Care -- Improves the health regeneration of the target for an hour.

  • Sand and Stone -- This Lightbearer-only skill improves a target's crushing, disease, poison and radiation resistance and increases his maximum health.


Group Tactics

Group Tactics isn't useful for much more than the Group Tactics abilities. They are detailed below:

  • Defensive Coordination -- This aura improves all allies' defenses and health regeneration within 20m.

  • Offensive Coordination -- This aura improves all allies' weapon skills and stamina regeneration within 20m.

  • Organize -- This aura provides all allies within 20m a movement speed bonus and gives a bonus to all saves.

  • Give 'em Hell -- This ability improves the weapon skills of all allies within 20m for a short time.

  • Hold the Line -- This ability improves the primary resistances and saves of all allies within 20m for a short time.

  • Overwhelm -- This AoE debuff lowers the defenses and saves of all enemies within 20m who fail a mind save.

  • Suppressive Attack -- This AoE debuff lowers the weapon skills and regeneration rates of all enemies within 20m who fail a mind save.

  • Inspiration -- This ability improves the weapon skills, defenses and saves of all allies. This ability is only available to those who are Enforcer-friendly.

  • Lead the Charge -- This ability improves all allies' ranged and melee defense and improves their movement speed.

  • Encouragement -- This ability heals all allies within 20m when used.

  • Combat Endurance -- This ability improves a target's stamina pool and stamina regeneration rate.


Melee

The Melee skill represents how well you use melee weapons. There are also some special attacks and combat disciplines you can employ with this weapon type:

  • Brutalize -- This targeted melee attack is a stun and an armor debuff all rolled into one. It is only available to those friendly with the CHOTA.

  • River Meets Rushing Boar -- This targeted melee attack is a stun and a defense debuff all rolled into one. It is only available to those friendly with the Lightbearers.

  • Smash -- This ability adds a stun to your next melee attack.

  • Reckless Attacks -- This ability lowers defenses and improves your melee skill for a short time.

  • Rapid Advance -- This ability improves your defenses and movement speed while dropping your primary resistances for a short time.

  • Provoke -- This targeted debuff lowers the target's defenses and increases your threat level.

  • Pierce Armor -- This targeted debuff lowers your target's primary resistances considerably for a short time.

  • Payback -- This targeted debuff lowers your target's defenses considerably for a short time.

  • Cripple -- This ability adds a snare to your next melee attack.

  • Defensive Fighting -- This stance improves your defenses and stamina regeneration while active.

  • Feint -- This ability lowers the target's primary resistances and melee defense.

  • Lingering Wound -- This ability adds a bleeding effect to your next melee attack for a short period.

Pistol

This skill determines how well you fare with pistols as a weapon. Though not as versatile as melee abilities, the Pistol skill has a few useful additions for your repertoire:

  • Pistol Whip -- This targeted skill stuns an enemy and does some crushing damage as well. The stun can be resisted with a Body save.

  • Desperado -- This ability improves your Pistol skill at the expense of lowering your defenses for a short time.

  • Gun to a Knife Fight -- This ability improves the user's Pistol skill and all saves for a short period. It is only usable by Travelers and their allies.

  • Perforate -- This ability adds a debuff to the target's primary resistances with a successful attack. It is only usable by Techs and their allies.

  • Smoking Sabot Round -- This ability adds fire damage over time to your next shot. It also requires a Crude Smoke Sphere per use and is only available to those friendly to the Techs.

  • Staggering Shot -- This ability adds a snare to your next shot. The snare only lasts for five seconds, however.

  • Gunfighter -- This stance improves your Pistol skill and ranged defense while active.


Rifle

This skill determines how well you can use a rifle in combat. It also has a few useful abilities that you will need to use excessively to be competitive with the other two weapon types.

  • Rifle Smash -- This is a targeted stun that is resistable. It causes crushing damage as well, but that is not resistable. It also causes a 33% snare for a short time. This ability is only available to those who are friendly with the Enforcer faction.

  • Unbreakable Focus -- This ability improves your Rifle skill at the expense of lowering your defenses for a short time.

  • Puncture -- This ability adds a debuff to your next shot which lowers your target's primary resistances for a short time.

  • One Shot, One Kill -- This ability adds a bleeding effect to your next shot and reduces the target's stamina regeneration to zero. This ability is only available to those who are friendly with the Vistas.

  • Agonizing Wound -- This ability adds a snare to your next shot. It also lowers the target's health regeneration to zero for a short while.

  • Precise Aim -- This stance improves your Rifle skill and stamina regeneration while it is active.

Social

In addition to improving your buy and sell prices with the NPC vendors, this skill also has a few tools to help you out in other non-mercantile dilemmas:

  • Mockery of Impotence -- This targeted ability lowers all of the target's regeneration rates for a short period.

  • Pathetic Defense -- This targeted ability lowers all of the target's defenses for a short period and improves your saves.

  • Infuriate -- This targeted ability snares the target and increases your threat level temporarily.

  • Laughable Offense -- This targeted ability snares the target and lowers all of his weapon skills for a short time.

  • Boisterous Boast -- This skill improves your stamina and gamma regeneration rates for a short duration.

  • Flag of Truce -- This stance makes you neutral to all factions while active. Yes, this can be very handy.

  • Inconspicuous -- This skill improves your defenses for a short duration and also lowers your threat level.


That about wraps it up for skills. I have omitted some of the skills that are actually Capstones for brevity's sake. But Capstones are some of the most important and powerful skills in the game, so don't overlook them. I'll see you in the wasteland or back here next week, whichever comes first.