Every swing of a pickaxe, every spell cast, every block placed in Orbis makes your character stronger. Skills are the spine of your whole adventure on WoA: 20 distinct skills across four disciplines, each one a long road from 1 to 100, each one unlocking real, build-defining power along the way. Want to be the deadliest dagger in the War Territories? The richest miner in the Central District? The master builder whose settlement everyone knows? Your skills are how you get there. This is the deepest progression on the server. Here's how it works.
How Skills Work
You have 20 skills, sorted into four categories: Combat, Gathering, Crafting, and Building. You never pick a class and you're never locked in — every skill levels independently, simply by *doing the thing*. Mine ore and your Mining climbs. Fight with a sword and your Swords climbs. Plant and harvest crops and your Harvesting climbs. Play how you want, and your character grows to match.
Every skill caps at level 100, and every skill has its own skill tree — a ladder of milestone tiers that unlock as you level. At each milestone you claim rewards and, in the higher tiers, *choose* between perks: more damage, more health, more luck, faster XP, special abilities, and gear. Two players with the same skill at 100 can have completely different builds depending on the choices they made on the way up.
XP & Leveling
Each skill earns its own XP from its own activity — there's no shared pool. Swinging an axe earns Axes XP; chopping a tree earns Woodcutting XP. As that XP builds, the skill levels up and you climb its tree.
Leveling starts fast and gets steeper. The early levels come quickly, the mid-game asks for real commitment, and the final climb to 100 is a genuine endgame achievement. Reaching 100 in a single skill marks you as a true master — it's rare, it's respected, and it earns the best rewards in that skill's tree, including its signature top-tier gear and, on every combat skill, a one-of-two ultimate ability.
- Pick an activity you enjoy — swing a weapon, swing a tool, cast a spell, or place blocks.
- Earn XP for the matching skill every time you do it.
- Hit a milestone tier and claim your reward — a perk, a stat boost, an ability, or gear.
- At higher tiers, choose between two (and later three) perks to shape your build.
- Push toward level 100 to unlock the skill's signature gear and its ultimate ability.
The Four Disciplines
Combat
The heart of the fight — 12 skills covering every weapon style, from swords and daggers to bows, staves, and bare fists, plus shields and acrobatics. The biggest, deepest category on the server.
Gathering
Wrest resources from the world — 5 skills for mining, woodcutting, digging, farming, and fishing. The foundation of every economy and the fuel for all your crafting.
Crafting
Turn raw materials into gear and enchanted equipment — 2 skills, Crafting and Enchanting, built around luck for better results and faster production.
Building
Raise homes, outposts, and settlements that last — your Building skill grows as you place blocks and shape the world, rewarding the architects of Orbis.
Combat Skills (12)
Combat is where Orbis is won and lost — especially out in the War Territories during a War Season. Twelve skills cover every fighting style, and each one carves out a distinct role on the battlefield. Pick a weapon, master it, and become the thing other players are afraid of.
| Skill | Role & Identity |
|---|---|
| Swords | Balanced frontline duelist — solid damage backed by generous health. Climbs a sword-every-tier reward ladder up to a Flame Longsword at 100. |
| Daggers | Burst assassin — one of the highest critical-hit builds in the game. Pure precision and lethal openers. |
| Polearms | Reach-and-bleed spear fighter — long range, heavy health, and bleeding wounds that tick down your enemies. |
| Staves | Caster's weapon — staff damage powered by a huge mana pool, with crits and lingering elemental fields. |
| Axes | Heavy hitter — big damage and big health for sustained cleaving, with kills that fuel empowered follow-up swings. |
| Blunt | Control bruiser — maces and hammers that stagger-lock foes and unleash crushing force on finishers. |
| Archery | Precision ranged — scaling bow damage and crits with a touch of lifesteal, topping out in flame and frost bows. |
| Magic | The deepest tree on the server — devastating spells, an enormous mana pool, and capstones that turn fights into firestorms. |
| Artillery | Heavy ranged — crossbows and ordnance with delayed secondary blasts and homing lock-on shots. |
| Unarmed | Agile brawler — fists with crit, lifesteal, and fall-damage immunity for a mobile, sustain-heavy fighter. |
| Block | The tank's craft — scaling block, massive health, and emergency saves that keep your frontline standing. |
| Acrobatics | Pure mobility — stamina for dodging, kiting, and wall-running, plus gear that keeps you moving. |
Gathering Skills (5)
Gathering is the engine room of Orbis. Everything you craft, build, and trade starts with raw materials, and these five skills are how you pull them from the world. They reward you with luck for richer hauls and rare finds — and the higher you climb, the more treasure each swing returns.
| Skill | What You Gather | Tree Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Mining | Ores and stone from deep underground | Survivability for deep digging, plus Mining Luck and XP for richer ore hauls. |
| Woodcutting | Wood and logs from trees | XP boosts with health and stamina for long harvesting sessions; axes up to an Onyxium Axe at 100. |
| Excavation | Treasure and relics from soil, dirt, and sand | Built around treasure luck — stacking finds that peak at rare relic sites. |
| Harvesting | Crops and plants from the fields | XP and field survivability, with reward chests heavy on life-giving essence and gems. |
| Fishing | Fish from the waters of Orbis | The classic milestone ladder — steady XP boosts with light stamina and health. |
Crafting & Building (3)
These are the maker's skills — the ones that turn everything you've gathered into something greater.
- Crafting — Forge items at the bench. Built around Crafting Luck for better outcomes and faster XP, with a reward ladder rich in bars, gems, and rare materials at the top.
- Enchanting — Imbue your gear with power. A support craft that mixes enchanting XP with bonus health and mana, so the more you enchant, the tougher and more capable you become.
- Building — Shape the world itself. Place blocks and raise structures to grow your Building skill, earning health and construction-themed rewards — the skill of the architects who give settlements their walls and wonder.
Beyond 100: The Endgame
Hitting 100 isn't the end — it's the doorway. WoA is rolling out a full endgame progression layer so that maxing a skill opens an entirely new horizon of power and prestige. Here's what's coming.
Mastery
Once a skill reaches 100, every bit of XP you keep earning converts into Mastery Points — and Mastery Points buy nodes on a skill's Mastery track, a deep post-cap progression layer that goes far beyond the normal tree. Mastery deepens what you already do: a Swords mastery track sharpens your signature strikes, a Mining track raises your luck for bonus resources, a Block track pushes your defenses past their normal limits.
Every track ends in an eternal node — a sink with no ceiling. It accepts your Mastery Points forever at a steadily rising cost, turning the endless grind of a maxed skill into endless, meaningful progress. There is always something more to chase.
Essences — The Currencies of Mastery
Mastery is fueled by two kinds of currency. Mastery Points are the universal one, earned by leveling and from quests. Alongside them are the essences — rare, elemental reagents you collect as you play, spent to unlock a skill's deepest mastery nodes:
| Currency | What It Powers |
|---|---|
| Mastery Points | The core currency of mastery — spent on every node, earned by leveling past 100 and through quests. |
| Life Essence | The workhorse reagent — fuels mid-tier mastery across every category. Flows fastest from gathering. |
| Fire Essence | Powers melee and Magic damage and capstone nodes. |
| Ice Essence | Powers staff casters and Magic's frost paths. |
| Lightning Essence | Powers precision builds — Archery, Artillery, and Daggers. |
| Voidheart | The rarest reagent of all — the gate to capstone and eternal nodes across the whole game. |
Prestige & Mastery Capes
Prestige is the visible badge of a true master. Reaching 100 in a skill earns its legendary Mastery Cape — a worn, showcase-worthy mark of achievement, one for each of the 20 skills. Collect them all to become a Grandmaster of Orbis: the ultimate, near-endless goal, and the proudest thing you can display on your profile.
Because mastery and capes are about prestige and showing off rather than raw power, chasing them never breaks the game's balance — it just makes you legendary. Your public profile will showcase your capes, your mastery completion, and your build choices for everyone to see.
Start Your Climb
- Join the server at play.woastation.com through Hytale (Early Access).
- Link your character to your site account with the /link code in-game, or use Sign in with Hytale.
- Pick up a tool or weapon and start earning XP — your skills begin climbing immediately.
- Claim your milestone rewards and shape your build as you go.
- Push toward 100, earn your Mastery Cape, and showcase your progress on your public profile.