There are 25 skills in Gemcraft 2 : Chasing Shadows. To upgrade a skill with points and to use certain skills in future battles, you have to unlock them by opening their appropriate Tome Chambers.
Each skill gives two effects. The first effect increases with each level and the second effect increases every third level.
Upgrading a skill costs skill points, however for every unspent skill point you get +7 initial mana. More initial mana is needed to create gems strong enough to survive harder starting waves, so it is not always wise to spend all points on skills.
Upgrading a skill from nothing to level 1 costs 1 point, level 1 to level 2 costs 2 points, and so on. The total number of points required to go from a nothing to a given skill level is: (n² + n) / 2, where n is the skill level desired.
You can upgrade crafting, spell, and bomb skills up to 45 times plus extra levels gained from bonuses (talisman fragments and the +10 level for Wake of Eternity by beating Y6).
A maxed skill costs 1035 skill points, and for all skills maxed (other than uncapped skills), you need 12420 skill points. With no other skill points, this would require a Wizard Level of 1775.
Points are acquired by the following methods:
- 7 per Wizard Level
- 660 for all achievements
- 120 for resetting achievements after unlocking more than 180 of them (achievements gained previously have to be re-earned)
- Beating non-vision fields on higher difficulties (Glaring = 3, Haunting = 6 + 3 for Glaring whether you beat it on Glaring beforehand or not; total of 9 each)
- 13 per Vision Field (234 total in Original, 299 in Steam)
- As of v1.1.14/Steam v1.0.4: Use shadow cores to purchase a skill point. The first costs 1000 cores, rising by 100 for each skill point purchased: cost(n) = 1000 + (n - 1) * 100
Skill list
Skills written in Bold have no skill caps. All other skills are capped at 45, however, it is possible to have skill levels up to 60 on capped skills with talisman fragments. Wake of Eternity can have a skill cap of 70 with the right fragments after beating Field Y6.
True Colors | Mana Stream | Fusion | Masonry | Resonance |
Bolt | Mana Leech | Critical Hit | PoolBound | Freeze |
Beam | Chain Hit | Poison | Suppressing | Curse |
Barrage | BloodBound | Slow | Armor Tearing | Wake of Eternity |
Amplifiers | Ignition | Fury | Demolition | Traps |
Details
Name | Skill Type | Obtained at | Every level | Every 3 levels |
---|---|---|---|---|
True Colors | Might | Field M1 | +3% damage/specials multiplier to pure gems | +10% damage/specials multiplier to dual, triple and quad gems |
Masonry | Crafting | Start | -8% initial building mana cost | +5% faster gem socketing |
Fusion | Crafting | Start | -1.5% first grade gem cost | -1% gem combination cost |
Mana Stream | Crafting | Start | +4% mana per monster kill | -4% lower mana pool milestones |
Resonance | Might | Field T5 | +4.5% gem damage | +1% gem range |
Bolt† | Enhancement Spell | Field I3 | -1.5% bolt spell recharge time | +1 bolt shots per spell |
Mana Leech† | Component | Field B5 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Critical Hit† | Component | Field R1 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
PoolBound† | Component | Field L6 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Freeze† | Strike Spell | Field H4 | -1% freeze spell recharge time | +3% freeze spell range |
Beam† | Enhancement Spell | Field D4 | -1.5% beam spell recharge time | +1 sec beam duration |
Chain Hit† | Component | Automatic (MP)/ Field U8 |
+4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Poison† | Component | Field E4 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Suppressing† | Component | Field Q5 | +20% higher regeneration suppressing gem component power | +25% higher regeneration suppressing gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Curse† | Strike Spell | Field G2 | -1.5% curse spell recharge time | +3% curse spell range |
Barrage† | Enhancement Spell | Field P3 | -1.5% barrage spell recharge time | +1 barrage shells per spell |
BloodBound† | Component | Field W5 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Slow† | Component | Field K6 | +4% longer slowing effect | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Armor Tearing† | Component | Field A3 | +4% higher gem component power | +5% higher gem component power for grade 7+ gems |
Wake of Eternity† | Strike Spell | Field T1†† | -1% Wake of Eternity spell recharge time | +2% Wake of Eternity spell range |
Amplifiers† | Might | Field J4 | +0.4% range and fire speed ratio spread | +0.4% damage and special effect ratio spread |
Ignition | Bomb | Field N4 | +6% gem wasp sting damage | +1 number of stings per wasp before vanishing |
Fury | Bomb | Field C2 | +1% XP bonus for monsters in enraged waves | -3% enraging monster hit points and armor penalty |
Demolition | Bomb | Field D5 | +4% gem bomb range and damage spread | +1 initial demolitions |
Traps† | Might | Field F6 | +5% specials multiplier bonus for gems in traps | +3% trap firing speed |
- † Additionally, having this skill (regardless of skill level) allows use of the associated gem type, spell, or structure on any non-vision field.
- †† You obtain a permanent +10 level boost for this skill by beating field Y6.
- Bold: Only available with Magician's Pouch or Steam version (4 out of 25).