Age of Darkness: Final Stand Unit Skills Guide: Melee, Ranged & More

Age of Darkness: Final Stand sees the player holding out against an endless horde of nightmarish and sinister creatures thirsting for the destruction of humanity’s last bastion. Aside from walls and towers, players will need to utilize an army of troops to take the fight to the enemy. Units aren’t just limited to their basic attacks and can be upgraded using a skill tree and this handy starter guide will give a rundown of each skill tree type.

Here are the four main skill trees in Age of Darkness: Final Stand:

– Melee
– Ranged
– Siege
– Hero

All non-hero units have a dedicated skill tree, split into three sections, each with four tiers of skills to choose from. All skills will have a cost associated with it, usually wood, stone, dark essence, or a mix.

Skill upgrades take an immediate global effect on friendly troops. Players will only ever be able to choose one skill from each tier, so it’s vital to make choices carefully. In addition, higher tier upgrades are locked by path adjacency of previous tiers making it possible to choose a skill from one column, but unable to choose from another column at a higher tier.

For example, if a player chooses a skill upgrade from the central column of skills out of the three, they’ll be able to choose a new upgrade at the next tier from any of the columns. But, if you choose a skill on the leftmost column, then at the next tier you won’t be able to choose the rightmost column, as it isn’t adjacent to the player’s initial upgrade choice.

And here’s everything you need to know about skill upgrades in Age of Darkness: Final Stand.

 

Melee

The melee skill tree affects all units capable of close quarters combat, like the basic soldier and the upgraded guardian. The left column of skills upgrades unit resistance to Horror, a status effect that some Nightmares cast to slow unit movement and health regeneration. Since melee units will act as the tanky frontline in combat, health regeneration in particular is quite valuable, so it could be wise to invest in Horror resistance to ensure melee units hold on for as long as possible.

The center skill column upgrades melee unit attack speed with the final tier four upgrade unlocking a special charge move. This column of skills can be useful for players intending to use their melee troops aggressively or for those subscribing to the philosophy that the best defence is a good offence.

The right skill column upgrades melee unit health regeneration. Though this column is opposite to the Horror resistance skills, with careful and clever upgrade choices, players can really lean into the resilience of their frontline forces.

 

Ranged

The second mobile unit available to the player are ranged troops – archers and arbalests. The left skill column increases ranged unit vision and firing range when garrisoning a tower. These upgrades are quite versatile as it improves ranged units as both mobile reconnaissance units and as static defenders.

The central skill column upgrades ranged unit damage per shot. The tier four upgrade for this column gives ranged units fire arrows, which only serves to increase damage output even further.

The final column of upgrades gives ranged units an improved Emboldening status effect, an effect that increases health and damage and is gained from killing a certain number of Nightmares, which can be quite useful in later stages of the game where kill counts really ramp up. The final tier special upgrade also gives ranged units a unique stealth and movement increase ability, allowing them to escape threatening situations.

 

Siege

Though not mobile, siege weapons are vital tools to utilize in defence and they get their own skill upgrades. The first column increases siege engine movement speed, aiding in the weapon’s ability to face and train their weapon on a target.

The middle column of upgrades increases the knockback power of siege engines, which can be especially useful against bigger and meaner enemies to keep them further away and at bay from your troops. The final special skill for this column unlocks a stun effect for siege engine ammo, which can buy precious time during a desperate defence if utilized successfully.

The last skill column increases the area of effect impact of siege engines, improving their ability to offend more entities once the hordes come knocking. The final upgrade of this tree unlocks an explosive death ability for the siege engine, a final goodbye to the nightmares if they do end up breaking through and wreaking havoc.

 

Hero

Unlike the player’s basic troops, heroes have their own simpler skill upgrade path. Heroes level up from defeating enemies, with each level improving hero health and damage.

Also, heroes have their own skills that unlock sequentially once they level up. These abilities are usually a mix of passive and active effects. Players don’t get to choose which skill gets unlocked when their hero levels up. Basically, heroes want to get stuck in combat and smite the Nightmare threat as much as possible to be most useful to the defence effort.

Across the main skill tree only a few abilities are mechanically complex and unique, which may require good micro and creative thinking to utilize. However, the sheer number of skills and the vast number of combinations will provide plenty of room for experimentation. The challenge for players now is to find the right combo of skills for their troops that will ensure they hold out just long enough to find a way to defeat the onslaught of Nightmares.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand is available on PC.

READ NEXT: The Best Strategy Games for Low-End PCs