Skillful Pixel Dungeon

Overview

Skillful Pixel Dungeon
#20 Released mod
Developer(s)	BilbolDev
Download	Play Store
Source Code	GitHub
Current Version	0.4.5 (Build 106)
Other Links	Discord

Skillful Pixel Dungeon is a mod directly based on Original PD v.1.9.1 (for details about the additions and changes in Original PD up to that point you can visit this link). It was first released in March 28th, 2015 by reddit user Bibloldev and is one of the very few early mods that are still in active development. More particularly, Skillful PD is the only mod that remains in this active state out of the whole group of the 2015 mods. This mod adds features to Original PD like:

• Champions
• Difficulty settings
• New enemies
• New scrolls & potions
• New weapons
• Skill System
• Storage that holds up to 5 items that persist if resurrected by Ankh

Armors

The armors of Skillful PD are exactly the same in their types and stats with those of Original PD (Cloth, Leather, Mail, Scale, Plate).

The armor glyphs of Skillful PD are the same with the glyphs of Original PD (Affection, Anti-entropy, Auto-Repair, Bounce, Displacement, Entanglement, Metabolism, Multiplicity, Potential, Stench, Viscosity), with the Auto-Repair glyph occuring even when degradation is turned off, but it has no alternative effect in this case, and the armor functions as if it is unenchanted.

Badges, Challenges, Difficulty settings

The Badges and Challenges of Skillful PD are the same with those in Original PD (follow the links for details). Moreover, to increase replayability value, Skillful PD has introduced a difficulty system.

• Easy difficulty is suitable for any player having a hard time playing the game especially in terms of starvation and of difficulty with handling champions but also regular enemies. You start with 2 extra rations as well as 2 healing potions, 200 Gold and 2 Soul Crystals. There is a bonus in the ability of discovering hidden doors and traps. The champion spawn rate is set to 10% only. Enemies have the Weak prefix: they do 25% less damage, take 10% more damage and have 15% less HP.
• Normal difficulty is the closest to Original PD in terms of enemy strength, but RNG and the existence of champion enemies can sometimes make this difficulty more challenging in comparison to Original PD. Champion spawn rate is set to 20%.
• Hell difficulty is where things get hard. Healing potions only heal 50% of max HP and the champion spawn rate is set to 40%. Enemies have the Immortal prefix: they do 25% more damage, take 20% less damage and have 35% more HP. Moreover, the hero starts with 4 less max HP and gains 1 less max HP when levelling up. On a positive note, hero starts with 4 Skill points.
• Nightmare difficulty is expectedly the hardest. Healing potions only heal 25% of max HP and the champion spawn rate is set to 70%. Enemies have the Godlike prefix: they do 45% more damage, take 30% less damage and have 60% more HP. Moreover, the hero starts with 8 less max HP and gains 3 less max HP when levelling up. On a positive note, hero starts with 6 Skill points.

Campaign mode

A parallel campaign mode is also in development, with two optional parallel depths/scenarios already available as separate mini-games, that you can choose to play them by pressing the arrow to the right in the hero selection screen. A new hero selection screen will appear with only the Hatsune character available for selection and three missions/scenarios displayed for her, the "First Wave" and "Betrayal", which are currently available for playing, and the "Soul Fury" which is not available yet. Both of the scenarios are described as taking place 10 years ago, and Hatsune has to defend the city gates from waves of skeletons. Her skills are fully developed, but you can't choose them and they get instead activated automatically. The "First Wave" is very easy to get completed, but in the second scenario Hatsune has to hire mercenaries with the gold that the Skeletons drop, or else it is sure that she will die before the "100 skeletons killed" goal is reached. A basic tip is that in both of the scenarios it is better for Hatsune to stand at a wall corner, to allow only up to 3 skeletons to surround her, as the skeletons very often spawn in massive amounts. You can read the developer's plans about the whole campaign mode here.

Optional boss - withdrawn

For two years, from early 2017 to early 2019, Skillful PD had also an optional boss added to the regular game, the Cold Girl, that the hero could meet after teleporting to her lair by using the scroll of Frost dropped by Tengu. The Cold Girl was able to spawn wraiths and perform heavy melee attacks against the hero. This feature is currently withdrawn.

Champions

One of the most original features of Skillful Pixel Dungeon is the introduction of champions. Enemies are no longer static spawns but can spawn as one of four types of champions. Champion spawn rate depends on difficulty. They provide 50% more experience than their non-champion counterparts and always drop an item or gold, making them a worthy hunt (note though that when the hero starts not getting XP and loot from the regular enemy equivalent, champions of that enemy type stop granting XP and loot as well). On the other hand, especially in early levels a champion can kill the hero within a very few turns, especially in Hell difficulty. The champions' halo is always visible from any part of the depth, but not their specific sprite - enemy type.

Chief champions can be recognized by their whitish halo and the prefix "Chief". They have 100% more HP and 50% more evasion when compared to their non-champion variant. They have no special effect when attacking.

Cursed champions can be recognized by their greyish halo and the prefix "Cursed". They have 50% more HP and 15% more evasion when compared to their non-champion variant. They weaken the hero for 5 turns if they land a successful hit. Note also that unlike the other two champions with a debuffing attack, this champions debuff stacks, so for example 4 successful hits will lead to 4*5=20 turns of weakness.

Foul champions can be recognized by their yellowish halo and the prefix "Foul". They have 50% more hitpoints and 20% more evasion when compared to their non-champion variant. They poison the hero for 5 turns if they land a successful hit. Note that the Poisoned debuff's damage in Skillful PD is generally calculated by [(current amount of remaining turns/3) rounded + 1] like in Original PD, so the damage sum of these 5 turns in early levels (3, 2, 2, 2, 1 = 13) can make the hero's HP evaporate, especially when it gets reapplied and starts again with its maximum initial damage. In contrast in later levels their Poisoned debuff's damage becomes insignificant, because its duration and so its damage remains the same.

Vampiric champions can be recognized by their reddish halo and the prefix "Vampiric". They have 50% more HP and 10% more defense when compared to their non-champion variant. They also regenerate for 1 turn when doing damage.

Note also that all enemies in Hard difficulty have the "Immortal" prefix and deal 25% more damage, take 20% less damage and have 35% more HP, while all enemies in the Nightmare difficulty have the "Godlike" prefix and deal 45% more damage, take 30% less damage and have 60% more HP. This means essentially that all enemies without exception in Hard and Nightmare difficutlies are champion-like.

All that having been said, the regular enemies of Skillful PD are the same with those of Original PD.

Classes

The classes and subclasses of Skillful PD are the same with those of Original PD, but the Huntress does not need unlocking, and they all have Mana in order to use their skills. They also have more starting items in comparison to Original PD (for their starting stats and available skills see Skills section). Their starting items are:

• Warrior: Shortsword, Cloth armor, plain Bow, 15 arrows, a potion of Mana, a food ration, a Soul Crystal with a captured rat. Note: the Warrior's starting shortsword is displayed as having the Barbaric attribute, which gives a 20% chance per hit of casting a level 1 Smite (+20% damage) to the target, a former skill of the warrior class that has been replaced by the similar Smash skill currently. This attribute used to be a general weapon enchantment, but is currently withdrawn from Skillful PD and does not spawn when enchanting weapons, so it has become a weapon-specific attribute. Like in Original PD if it gets upgraded it can later be reforged.
• Mage: Knuckleduster, Cloth armor, wand of Magic Missile, plain Bow, 15 arrows, a potion of Mana, a food ration, a Soul Crystal with a captured rat. Like in Original PD if the wand of Magic Missile gets upgraded it can later be disenchanted.
  • Mages have also class-unique bonus options with three of the game's wands, those of Blink, Firebolt and Regrowth, as they can use each of them to either summon a Fire Elemental / Mirror Image or spawn a seed. For details read Wands section below.
• Rogue: Dagger, Cloth armor, ring of Shadows +1, plain Bow, 15 arrows, a potion of Mana, a food ration, a Soul Crystal with a captured rat
• Huntress: Dagger, Cloth armor, plain Bow +1, 30 arrows, Boomerang, a potion of Mana, a food ration, a Soul Crystal with a captured rat

Like in Original PD, after a class first beats Tengu its next run will start with the Tome of Mastery already in the inventory, and Tengu will start dropping a Tome of Remastery when he is beaten.

Containers

All classes start also with the Potion Bandolier already in the inventory, which was missing as a container in general from this mod until recently. Note that unlike other mods the items that the hero carries outside of a container have no effect on the spawning of a specific container in the dungeon shops, and so the Seed Pouch will always spawn in the Prison shop, the Scroll Holder in the Caves shop, and the Wand Holster in the Metropolis shop.

Cursed items

Very similarly to Original PD armors, rings and weapons can spawn cursed, but not wands (with the only exception of a wand having been found in hero's remains). Cursed items from hero's remains can be upgraded or of level 0, but "regular" cursed items always have negative levels down to -3 (but most often to -2 or -1). Cursed items are unequippable until they get uncursed with a scroll of Remove Curse or by stepping into a well of Health with the cursed item equipped. Unlike other mods of Original PD, uncursing does not reverse the cursed item's negative stats. Also like in Original PD scrolls of Enhantment can erase curses from armors and weapons, by replacing it with an enchantment or glyph. Items that spawn enchanted have a much better chance to be uncursed, but this is not guaranteed. Lastly, armors and weapons that get dropped by disturbed tombstones in armories can be cursed or not cursed, unlike what happens in other mods.

Item Degradation

Given how many dislike the item degradation feature in Original PD, an option to disable item degradation from the in-game settings has been added. It can be disabled and enabled at any time should you like the challenge.

Potions

The potions of Skillful PD are basically the same in type and function, have the same color names while still unidentified and are brewed in the same way with the potions of Original PD (amber, azure, bistre, charcoal, crimson, golden, indigo, ivory, jade, magenta, silver, turquoise - Experience, Frost from icecap, Invisibility from dreamweed, Healing from sungrass, Levitation from stormvine, Liquid Flame from firebloom, Mind Vision from fadeleaf, Paralytic Gas from earthroot, Strength, Toxic Gas from sorrowmoss, Purification). Like in Original PD the potion of Strength gets transmuted to the potion of Might. The only minor difference in the familiar potions is that the potion of Healing is always preidentified for all classes, nevertheless its assignment to a color changes in each run and does not have also a stable color like the new potion of Mana below. Like in Original PD 2 potions of Strength are generated in every chapter until the Metropolis, and 1 more might spawn in the Demon Halls, but in Skillful PD this happens very often. Thus, in the whole dungeon there are 8 to 9 Potions of Strength that can be found, and the hero can reach from 18 to 19 of Strength by end-game (or even 20, if he is a Warrior).

Only the potion of Mana has been added, that fully restores the hero's mana, like the potion of Healing does with the hero's HP. The potion of Mana cant be brewed in an alchemy pot and can be only bought or found as loot. Like the potion of Healing and unlike the other familiar potions from Original PD it is always preidentified as well but also has always a deep blue color.

Progression related consumables and hidden rooms

Another similarity of Skillful PD with Original PD is that potions of Strength and scrolls of Upgrade can spawn inside hidden rooms. The expected amount of generated scrolls of Upgrade can range from 11 to 15 (Sewers can generate from 2 to 3, and Demon Halls from 1 to 3, all the other chapters generate always 3), and of potions of Strength from 8 to 9 (the first four chapters always generate 2, and the Demon Halls often generate 1 but not always). Scrolls of Enchantment and potions of Experience are generated randomly and rarely, so not in any fixed amount. This also applies to scrolls of Skill, which can also be considered a progression related consumable in Skillful PD.

Revival

Players should note that Skillful PD follows also Original PD in the aspect of the hero's revival: getting revived without losing any items can be accomplished only by the full dew vial, while Ankhs can't be blessed and revive the hero only with his/her equipped items.

Rings

The rings of Skillful PD are the same in type and function and have the same gemstones with the rings of Original PD (agate, amethyst, diamond, emerald, garnet, quartz, onyx, opal, ruby, sapphire, topaz, tourmaline - Accuracy, Detection, Elements, Evasion, Haggler, Haste, Herbalism, Mending, Power, Satiety, Shadows, Thorns).

Due to these rings being more or less different in many other mods, it should be noted that in Skillful PD:

• the ring of Accuracy has a positive effect on both melee and ranged weapon accuracy,
• the ring of Evasion has an effect only on dodge ability but not on stealth, which is the exclusive effect of the ring of Shadows,
• the ring of Elements increases the hero's resistance specifically to Burning, Death rays, Electricity, Lightning, Poison, Toxic Gas, Warlock Weakness bolts,
• the ring of Haste allows the hero to move and attack and perform actions faster, and
• the ring of Power increases the effects of all wands owned by the hero according to the ring's level, as if the wands had the ring's levels added to them, but their number of charges, recharging rate and melee wand damage are not affected in any way.

All six of the aforementioned rings function mostly like they do in Original PD, but there are also a few minor differences from it in the fine details of some of the above rings. The effects of the rings of Detection, Herbalism, Mending, and Satiety are the same with those of Original PD: they increase the hero's awareness, seed and dew drop chance from trampled high grass, regeneration rate, and endurance of hunger.

Players are also reminded that upgrading the rings of Haggler or Thorns to a level higher than of their original +1 won't offer any additional discount in shops or damage deflection.

Scrolls

In contrast, the scrolls of Skillful PD have received many additions. The familiar scrolls from Original PD are the same in type and function and have the same rune names while still unidentified (BERKANAN, GYFU, ISAZ, KAUNAN, LAGUZ, MANNAZ, NADUIZ, ODAL, RAIDO, SOWILO, TIWAZ, YNGVI - Challenge, Enchantment, Identify, Lullaby, Magic Mapping, Mirror Image, Recharging, Psionic Blast, Remove Curse, Teleportation, Terror, Upgrade, Wipe Out). Keep in mind that like in Original PD and unlike many mods, Psionic Blast does not deal any damage to the hero. Also the scroll of Wipe Out is renamed to "Scroll of ..." but it is obtained in the same way and has the same sprite and function as its equivalent in Original PD. Another secondary difference of Skillful PD from Original PD is in the generation of scrolls of Upgrade: Sewers have still the chance to generate only 2 and Demon Halls only 1-2, but both chapters have also a chance to generate 3 instead, so the generation of scrolls of Upgrade in a specific run can range from 11 to 15 in Skillful PD and not from 11 to 13 like in Original PD. Scrolls of Enchantment are also generated randomly and rarely in Skillful PD, so the amount of scrolls of Enchantment that the hero finds does not affect in any way the amount of scrolls of Upgrade that will get generated.

Nevertheless, 4 new scrolls are added (5 with the one that has been withdrawn), all of them being rare and having a different color than white (rare meaning that often some of them don't spawn even once in a whole run). All these new scrolls are preidentified and have a fixed color and rune, unlike the familiar scrolls from Original PD.

• Scroll of Bloody Ritual (red): It damages heavily all enemies in sight, fully heals the hero but also reduces the hero's max HP permanently by 20%. Some players might find this drawback more important than its benefits.
• Scroll of Frost (blue, withdrawn): It used to be getting dropped always by Tengu and used to teleport the hero to the lair of the Cold Girl. It is still displayed in the scroll catalogue but it never spawns currently.
• Scroll of Refuge (purple): It teleports the hero back to the depth's entrance. It has no negative side effect.
• Scroll of Sacrifice (red): It adds +1 strength permanenty, but also reduces the hero's max HP by -3.
• Scroll of Skill (purple): It adds 1 available skill point. It has no negative side effect.

Although all of these scrolls are rare, they get transmuted to a common scroll and not a scroll of Enchantment or Upgrade.

Players should also have in mind that the scroll of Enchantment in Skillful PD works in the same way with that of Original PD, so it does not upgrade weapons and armors, but it can remove curses from them in addition to enchanting them. A scroll of Enchantment is transmuted to a scroll of Upgrade and vice versa like in Original PD.

Shops

Apart from the familiar shops appearing on depth 6, 11 etc. there is always one shop also on depth 1 near the depth's entrance. All the dungeon shops sell overpriced food rations, potions (always at least 1 of Healing), scrolls and an Ankh, but the depth 1 shop also sells always a pair of Dual Swords and a Soul Crystal. Note that as Skillful PD's Ankh is the same with that of Original PD's there is absoultely no point in the hero carrying more than one, as the extra Ankhs will get lost after the revival. The function that Blessed Ankhs have in Shattered PD is covered in Skillful PD by a full Dew Vial like in Original PD.

Skills

The distinguishing and defining feature of this mod is the addition of skills, from which it also takes its name. Each class gets 9 unique skills, 6 passive and 3 active (this actually applies to most classes with the exception of the mage, who has 4 active skills) that are divided into 3 branches. Active skills cost Mana to use and need also shorter or longer cooldowns after each activation. There is also a subdivision between active skills that their command is Activate and those that their command is Cast. The skills of the first group are automatically performed as long as each of them remains activated, its cooldown is over, and there are enough mana points available. Also only one can be activated per turn, and activating another skill will deactivate the previous one. The skills of the second group have to be chosen by the player with the Cast command and they perform no action otherwise.

Skills can be tier 1, tier 2 or tier 3 and higher tiers get unlocked only when the lower tier of their branch gets filled with skill points. Tier 1 skills cost 1 skill point to level up, tier 2 requires 2 skill points and tier 3 requires 3 skill points. Each skill can be upgraded 3 times before moving onto the next tier. You start with 2 skill points and gain 2 per level. You can also gain one extra skill point by reading a scroll of Skill.

Keep in mind that a little before the hero reaches Yog-Dzewa, he/she will most probably have gathered all or almost all of the 54 skill points necessary to fully level up all skills from all tiers. The difference between gathering all and almost all skill points will basically depend on the RNG of the specific run, and how many scrolls of Skill and potions of Experience the hero will find, as just by levelling up the hero will have to reach level 26 to gather all the necessary skill points (2 + 26 * 2 = 54), and without finding potions of Experience heroes might complete the game in lower levels (but surely above 20). As a consequence, the difference in gameplay between the different distributions of skill points for each class will be evident mostly from early game until mid-game.

As a rule of thumb, a player who prefers to max out each skill branch before proceeding to the next one, will be able to max out the first skill branch of choice approximately by late prison, and the second skill branch by late metropolis (for the reasons mentioned above, the last skill branch of choice may never get maxed out).

Warrior

Warriors are trained to deliver extreme damage and withstand punishment. Warriors in Normal Difficulty start with 11 Strength, 20 Mana and 20 Health (Keep in mind that difficulty affects your starting health).

Warrior branch

1. Endurance: Gives the Warrior +5 maximum HP with each level.
2. Regeneration: Increases passive regeneration. Without this skill, the warrior will gain 1 extra HP every 10 turns, like any other class. With this skill, the warrior will gain 1 HP every 10/1.2level turns (so this skill's effect is identical with the effect of an equipped ring of Mending from level +1 to +3). When maxed out at level 3 this skill cuts the turns needed for the regeneration of 1 HP to half, that is to 5 turns.
3. Toughness: Reduces damage taken from enemy attacks by 10% with each level.

Melee branch

1. Firm Hand: Increases accuracy by +2 per level with melee weapons.
2. Aggression: Increases damage done in melee attacks by 10% with each level.
3. Mastery: Equipped melee weapons act as if upgraded by a scroll of Upgrade, so they are stronger and have lower strength requirements. This skill adds +1 level to the equipped weapon per skill level. With this skill chosen any weapon will "get the levels" of the skill while equipped and will display an increased level number, and will "return to its normal level" when it gets unequipped (this does not affect the Necroblade's upgrading option, and as long its actual level is below +5, it can get upgraded with Consume even when it is equipped).

Note: maxing out this skill branch will end up with the warrior having a -3 strength requirement for all weapons, and this can prove very useful for him from late prison and on, when he will most probably be able to max out the third tier, if he has spent all skill points to it. With the expected 15 points of strength he will be having by then, with one skill point in the Mastery tree he will be able to equip an unupgraded tier 4 weapon without strength penalties, and with three skill points an unupgraded tier 5 weapon without strength penalties.

Skills branch

[All these skills are active.]

1. Smash: When active, melee attacks will deal +10% extra damage per level. It is rather similar to the former - currently withdrawn Smite skill, which only survives as an effect of the shortsword's Barbaric attibute. Mana cost 5 (+1.5 per extra level). Cooldown 2 turns (fixed).
2. Knockback: When active, melee attacks will deal +10% extra damage per level and will also knock back their target. Levelling up this skill increases the bonus damage but not the distance of knocking back. Mana cost 8 (+3 per extra level). Cooldown 5 turns (fixed).
3. Rampage: When active, melee attacks on top of dealing damage to the enemy they hit, they will also deal damage to all enemies around the warrior, but less against the surrounding enemies in comparison to the weapon's regular damage for the first two levels of the skill. The splash damage to nearby enemies starts from -40% of regular damage at level 1, gets -20% at level 2, and becomes equal to regular at level 3. Mana cost 10 (+5 per extra level). Cooldown 5 turns (fixed).

All three of the above skills are automatically performed as long as each of them remains activated, its cooldown is over, and there are enough mana points available.

Mage

Mages have spent decades mastering their inner power and their ability to cast spells. Mages in Normal Difficulty start with 40 Mana, 10 Strength and 20 Health. (Keep in mind that difficulty affects your starting health).

Players should also note that in contrast to all other classes the distribution of skills to branches for the mage is rather sloppy and incosistent: a) the Spirit Armor skill is an active skill, although it belongs to the first branch, b) the Summoner skill, as its name makes obvious, has to do with summoning, although it belongs to the magic branch, and c) the Spark skill is actually a magical ranged attack, although it belongs to the summoning branch. All in all, players should not bother too much with which branch a mage skill is assigned to, and just pay notice to its actual function.

Mage branch

1. Spirituality: Increases total Mana by 5 with each level.
2. Meditation: Increases passive Mana regeneration.
3. Spirit Armor: When activated, 10% of all damage done per level is taken from Mana instead of health.

Magic branch

1. Wizard: Increases the rate your wands recharge by 10% with each level.
2. Sorcerer: Increases damage done by wands by 10% with each level. Note that this skill affects the damage of almost all combat wands with the sole exception of the wand of Poison, because that wand deals no direct damage with its zaps, but only through its debuff. Interestingly enough, the Venom skill of the rogue increases in contrast specifically the damage of the wand of Poison.
3. Summoner: Increases the amount of minions spawned by the Mage's active skills by 1 per level. [This tier of the Magic branch works essentially as a "bonus tier" of the Summoning branch.]

Summoning branch

[All these skills are active.]

1. Summon Rat: Summons a rat minion that goes after enemies.
2. Spark: Hurls a ball of concetrated energy. Damage increases with each level. It might be influenced by the equipped weapon. [This is actually a ranged magic attack and not summoning an allly per se. As the spark ball has no HP stat, upgrading this skill increases only the spark ball's damage.]
3. Summon Skeleton: Summons a skeleton to go after your enemies.

Levelling up summoning skills 1 and 3 will give your allies more health and they'll deal more damage, but levelling up these skills will not affect the max amount of allies that can be summoned and they will be up to 3 already from level 1 of each skill (this number can increase with points assigned to the Summoner skill of the Magic branch, which is the skill that actually affects the max amount of allies summoned). All summoned allies lose a bit of health in every turn, even without receiving damage from enemies. They are also all resistant to the Poisoned debuff, but only to that.

Allies are depth-bound and do not follow the hero in the previous or next depth. The max amount of allies that can be active at the same time on a depth are 3 (summoning a fourth will just erase a previous one and is a waste of mana points), but it can icrease from 4 to 6 by levelling up the Summoner skill of the Magic branch. This paragraph also apllies to the minions summoned by wands for mages (Mirror Image - Blink, Fire Elemental - Firebolt).

Rogue

Rogues are sneaky and agile bandits that are experts in ninja arts. They prefer attacking unsuspecting victims and using underhanded tactics. Rogues in Normal Difficulty start with 30 Mana, 10 Strength and 20 Health. (Keep in mind that difficulty affects your starting health).

Rogue branch

1. Bandit: Increases the amount of gold the rogue picks up by 10% with each level. From the first level this makes the rogue also immune to the Mimic's gold steal ability.
2. Stealth: Reduces the chance of an enemy detecting the rogue (stealth level) by +1 per skill level.
3. Lock Smith: After getting this skill, the rogue has a 33% chance to disable a trap he walks on. Level 3 of this skill will make him immune to traps.

Note: like in Original PD the general chance of the hero to get noticed by a sleeping enemy is 1/(distance+stealth level) and by a wandering enemy 1/(distance/2+stealth level). Stealth level is increased by +1 per upgrade of the ring of Shadows, so it is +1 by default for rogues and 0 for all other classes in both Original PD and Skillful PD, and in Skilful PD it is also increased by +1 with every skill point added to the Stealth tier of this branch. Practically a maxed out Stealth tier in Skillful PD is equal in its effect with a +3 ring of Shadows (actually a +4 ring, as rogues spawn with this ring already upgraded to +1).

Assassin branch

1. Venom: Gives the rogue a chance to poison an enemy on hit. Initial chance of poisoning is 10% and increases by +10% with each level. Regardless of skill level or current depth the duration is always 1 turn (so it is actually a poison hit, instead of an application of the poisoned debuff), and it always deals 1 damage due to the calculation formula of the Poisoned debuff - the following Scorpion skill increases much the amount of poison damage though, up to 7 damage per hit. Note that Animated Statue, Cave Spinner, Scorpio, and Tengu are resistant to poison damage and the Golden Bee, Rotting Fist are immune to it.
2. Scorpion: Increases the damage that the Venom hit does to enemies by +2 with each level (so to 3, 5, and max 7). Similarly to the Venom skill it has no variation in its damage for each specific level. Both skill versions of poison damage (Venom and Scorpion) are indicated separately above enemies, and are not just added to the regular damage dealt. Note that this skill also increases the damage per turn of the wand of Poison by +2 with each skill's level, but has no effect on the wand's duration of effect.
3. Silent Death: Every level of this skill gives the rogue a 10% chance to instantly kill a sleeping enemy (but not an only surprised one). Because of the existence of this specific skill, maxing out the Stealth skill of the Rogue branch along with moderately upgrading their ring of Shadows can offer all rogues many insta-kills, as many enemies will remain asleep, even when the rogue is at one-tile distance from them.

Note: all three of these skills increase very much by default the damage of Rogues, and especially an Assassin with these skills maxed out can complete the game even with a highly upgraded tier 1 weapon. Freerunner's damage is worse though, due to the absence of the surprise attack perk, so finishing the game with an upgraded tier 1 or 2 weapon will not be easy for him.

Ninjitsu branch

[All these skills are active.]

1. Double Strike: Double attack with the equipped melee weapon. The Double Strike is automatically performed as long as this skill remains activated, its cooldown is over, and there are enough mana points available. The level of the skill has no effect on the amount of double strikes (the double strike is always 1*2 and then the cooldown follows) or their damage, and levelling up this skill is useful only for giving access to the next tiers. Mana cost 5 (fixed). Cooldown 3 turns (fixed).
2. Ninja Bomb: It has a chance to put a target to temporary Sleep (1 turn). The Ninja Bomb needs to be chosen - Cast and aimed at a specific target, and does not get automatically performed/ thrown after its cooldown is over like the previous skill. Note also that although the enemy's image under this skill's influence is identical to that of the Sleep debuff's, there are two major differences with the effect from the scoll of Lullaby, as i) this sleep is very temporary instead of permanent until disturbed, and ii) an enemy can dodge the Ninja Bomb instead of getting to sleep by default. Higher skill level does not increase the Sleep debuff's duration but only makes its chance to get applied to the enemy more probable (this also has to do with how powerful is the enemy, how many are its current HP, very similarly to the resistances that enemies have against the Soul Crystal thrown item. In addition to that Burning and Rotting Fists, Golem, Succubus, and Yog-Dzewa are immune to the Sleep debuff. This skill has good synergy with Silent Death. Mana cost at L1 12 (+4 per extra level). Cooldown 9 turns (fixed).
3. Shadow Clone: Summons a shadow clone - rogue mirror image that fights for the rogue (1 clone at level 1). The Shadow Clone needs to be chosen - Cast, and does not get automatically performed/summoned after its cooldown is over like the tier 1 skill. The amount of clones summoned increases by +1 with each level, so with the skill maxed out they are 3. While their strength also increases with each level, their damage mostly depends on the hero's equipped weapon. Shadow Clones cannot be attacked, but they disappear after hitting enemies a certain amount of times. Mana cost at L1 7 (+1.5 per extra level - clone). Cooldown 49 turns (fixed).

Huntress

Huntresses in Normal Difficulty start with 35 Mana, 10 Strength and 15 Health. (Keep in mind that difficulty affects your starting health).

Huntress branch

1. Fletching: Creates a "plain" arrow with time. At level 1 of the skill one arrow is created appr. every 100 turns, and levelling up the skill decreases the turns needed by -10. Levelling up the skill does not increase the amount of arrows generated each time. There is also a peculiarity in that after the Hunting skill is maxed out it affects positively also this skill, and both start generating items approximately every 70 turns.
2. Awareness: +10% chance per level to dodge a ranged attack. Note that all hero classes (also including the Rogue, when his light armor bonus is not applied) have a base evasion 5 at level 1, which increases by +1 with each level up, so this skill's effect is similar with the effect of an equipped ring of Evasion, if that ring would affect only ranged attacks (the skill's effect is weaker than that of the ring's though, as the bonuses to evasion of this skill are equivalent to ring "levels" from +0.5 to +1.5).
3. Hunting: Creates a piece of food (raw meat) with time. At level 1 of the skill one piece of raw meat is created appr. every 90 turns, and levelling up the skill decreases the turns needed by -10. Levelling up the skill does not increase the amount of meat generated each time or its quality (it is always raw meat). There is also a peculiarity in that after this skill is maxed out it affects positively also the Fletching skill, and both start generating items approximately every 70 turns.

Note that for both skills that generate items there is some fluctuation to the side of more turns needed, so some arrow and meat generations at level 1 will be needing a bit more than 90/100 turns, and occasionally they will still be happening closer to 80-90 turns even at level 3 of these skills.

Ranged branch

1. Accuracy: Increases accuracy with a ranged weapon by 10% with each level. Note that all hero classes have a base accuracy 10 at level 1, which increases by +1 with each level, so this skill's effect is similar with the effect of an equipped ring of Accuracy from Original PD, if that ring would affect only ranged attacks (the skill's effect is much weaker than that of the ring's though, as the bonuses to accuracy of this skill are equivalent to ring "levels" from +0.3 to +1).
2. Knee Spot: Aims for weak spots crippling targets for 9 turns, which halves their movement and attack speed. Initial chance of crippling is 10%, which increases by +10% with each level. Levelling up this skill increases only the chance of crippling and not its duration, which is always 9, unless it gets reapplied with a new hit.
3. Iron Tip: Arrows continue their path through their targets. Levelling up this skill increases the maximum possible amount of pierced through enemies from 1 to 3.

Note: all three of these skills increase by default very much the ranged damage of Huntresses and especially if the subclass chosen is Sniper, these skills should be maxed out from early on. In the case of this branch being maxed out, upgrading the boomerang much and using it as a main weapon for end-game is totally suitable for a Sniper. On the other hand, doing the same with the bow instead of the boomerang is not an equally good idea, as the bow benefits less from upgrades than the boomerang and also relies on arrows for tis shots, which will get quickly spent, if it gets used as the main attacking weapon.

Archery branch

[All these skills are active.]

1. Aimed Shot: Stronger ranged attack that never misses. The Aimed Shot is automatically performed as long as this skill remains activated, its cooldown is over, and there are enough mana points available. The bonus damage modifier is +20% per level. Mana cost 3 (fixed). Cooldown 3 turns (fixed).
2. Double Shot: Two arrows shot at the same time. The Double Shot is automatically performed as long as this skill remains activated, its cooldown is over, and there are enough mana points available. The level of the skill has no effect on the amount of double shots (the double shot is always 1*2 and then the cooldown follows) or their damage, and levelling up this skill is useful only for giving access to the next tier. Mana cost 5 (fixed). Cooldown 5 turns (fixed).
3. Bombvoyage: Attaches a bomb to a standard arrow. Bomb arrows also stun enemies, in addition to dealing increased damage. Levelling up this skill increases both the arrows' damage and its mana cost.

Storage

Even if you are resurrected by an Ankh, you tend to find yourself stripped form everything you had, including any scrolls or extra weapons you had saved for later. Until the Caves scrolls are also easily destroyed (even those of Upgrade, unlike other mods) by the hero stepping on the very common hidden fire traps, as the scroll holder container always spawn in the depth 11 - Caves shop and never eariler. To mend this Skillful PD introduces the concept of Storage.

A chest spawns in each depth near the entrance and the chest stores up to 5 items that are not lost if you are resurrected by an Ankh. This also means that you get 5 extra storage spaces for those items you don't want to drop!

To use it, stand on the same tile as Storage chest and click on it. There is a minor bug related with storage in Skillful PD, as in some boss depths the chest might not be working for taking items out of it, so better have all the items you consider necessary in the inventory before you get into the bos depth and engage with the boss fight.

User Interface - Added Features

Skillful PD's User Interface in-game is rather unique in comparison to all other mods. At the bottom left, next to the clock there is no "Examine" button, but a "Skills" button, that takes the player to the skill points distribution window (for the different windows depending on the class see images above). To the right there is the "Examine" button retextured and also two new buttons, that lead to two new features added to Skillful PD.

The top right button, which displays the faces of the four heroes, gives the option to the player to hire four types of mercenaries: Archer (huntress equivalent), Brute (warrior equivalent), Thief (rogue equivalent) and Archer Maiden (buffed Archer, unlocked only for donators). Mercenaries have the same level with the hero and level up their stats following his/her level. They can also equip items and carry healing potions, which they consume when they are about to die. Their stats are:

• Archer: HP = 15 + Level * 2, Strength = 11 + Level * 0.25, Speed Fast, Skill Knee Shot, Attacks from a distance, Cost 90 gold + 20 per level
• Archer Maiden: HP = 17 + Level * 2, Strength = 12 + Level * 0.25, Speed Fast, Skills Knee Shot and Keen Eye, Attacks from a distance and uses both skills, Cost 90 gold + 25 per level
• Brute: HP = 20 + Level * 3, Strength = 13 + Level * 0.33, Speed Slow, Skill Endurance, Can equip any item in carry slot, Cost 100 gold + 25 per level
• Thief: HP = 15 + Level * 2, Strength = 13 + Level * 0.25, Speed Very Fast, Skill Poison, Poisons enemies, Cost 70 gold + 15 per level

The bottom right button, which displays the Rat King, gives to the player three different options:

• To increase the spawn rate of Champions from the default rate of the chosen difficulty (10% for Easy, 20% for Normal etc.). Decreasing the spawn rate is not available. There is also the option displayed to disable specific types of champion enemies but currenty this option is unavailable.
• To increase the enemies' stats (HP, Attack, Defense) from the default percentage of the chosen difficutly and again decreasing them is unavailable. The player can also choose if the dungeon will keep the day and night cycle, or if it will have only day or only night.
• To pay the Rat King 80 gold for a random food item (mystery meat, frozen carpaccio, food ration etc.)
• As expected, with all these new duties the Rat King does not always sleep in the Goo''s depth and might not have a hidden room in it anymore. When he has one, the items in his chests are never cursed, but they might have negative levels / be of very low quality.

Lastly it should also be noted that in the top left of game's main screen there is a "discord button" that if the player selects it and has an active internet connection, he/she will be redirected to Skillful PD's discord channel.

Wands

The wand types of Skillful PD and the wood materials used for them are the same with those of Original PD (Bamboo, Birch, Cherry, Ebony, Holly, Mahogany, Oak, Purpleheart, Rowan, Teak, Willow, Yew - Battle wands: Avalanche, Disintegration, Firebolt, Lightning, Magic Missile, Poison, Non Battle wands: Amok, Blink, Flock, Reach, Regrowth, Slowness, Teleportation). Like in Original PD wands typically take 40 turns to recharge one use (but that takes less for Mages), and have a maximum charge amount of 9, so upgrading them past +7 (or +6 for Wand of Magic Missile) will not increase their maximum charges any further, but only their power of effect.

For the ease of Skillful PD's players the damage stats of most battle wands from Original PD that is reasonable to get highly upgraded and used as main wands by mages (wands of Disintegration, Firebolt, Lightining, Magic Missile) are displayed first below, copied from their pages in Original PD, but note that wands in their game description window only show their melee damage when they are equipped by mages and never their magical damage. Also, the melee damage mentioned in the game description for mages is the wand's average damage, so a wand of level 1 deals actually 1-5 damage while it states its damage as being 3, and at level 10 4-21 while it states its damage as being 12. Moreover, Battlemages do more melee damage with their wielded wands, and the additional damage of their melee hits is equal to the current number of charges in the wielded wand and also ignores armor. In the smaller table that follows just afterwards the stats of the remaining one battle wand that is reasonable to get highly upgraded, the wand of Poison, are displayed, because they are calculated differently. The last table is for the battle wand that deals always low damage per target, even at level +15, the wand of Avalanche (it has the ability to deal crowd damage though), and which is the only battle wand that is rather unreasonable to get highly upgraded for end-game.

Disintegration - Firebolt - Lightning - Magic Missile

The stats of the four wands are: 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th columns show magical damage, while the 6th column shows melee damage - the numbers inside parentheses in all colums note average damage. The values of all columns are for a hero without a ring of Power equipped and a mage without the Sorcerer skill.

Power	Disintegration1	Firebolt	Lightning2	Magic Missile	Melee damage3
0	0 to 8 (4)	1 to 8 (4)	5 to 10 (7)	1 to 6 (3)	1 to 5 (3)
1	1 to 8 (4)	1 to 9 (5)	5.5 to 11 (8)	1 to 8 (4)	1 to 6 (3)
2	2 to 9 (5)	1 to 12 (6)	6 to 12 (9)	1 to 10 (5)	1 to 7 (4)
3	3 to 11 (7)	1 to 17 (9)	6.5 to 13 (10)	1 to 12 (6)	2 to 9 (5)
4	4 to 13 (8)	1 to 24 (12)	7 to 14 (10)	1 to 14 (7)	2 to 10 (6)
5	5 to 16 (10)	1 to 33 (17)	7.5 to 15 (11)	1 to 16 (8)	2 to 11 (6)
6	6 to 20 (13)	1 to 44 (22)	8 to 16 (12)	1 to 18 (9)	3 to 14 (8)
7	7 to 24 (15)	1 to 57 (29)	8.5 to 17 (13)	1 to 20 (10)	3 to 15 (9)
8	8 to 29 (18)	1 to 72 (36)	9 to 18 (13)	1 to 22 (11)	3 to 16 (9)
9	9 to 35 (22)	1 to 89 (45)	9.5 to 19 (14)	1 to 24 (12)	4 to 20 (12)
10	10 to 41 (25)	1 to 108 (54)	10 to 20 (15)	1 to 26 (13)	4 to 21 (12)
11	11 to 48 (29)	1 to 129 (64)	10.5 to 21 (16)	1 to 28 (14)	13 to 31 (22)
12	12 to 56 (34)	1 to 152 (76)	11 to 22 (17)	1 to 30 (15)	14 to 36 (25)
13	13 to 64 (38)	1 to 177 (88)	11.5 to 23 (17)	1 to 32 (16)	14 to 37 (25)
14	14 to 73 (44)	1 to 204 (102)	12 to 24 (18)	1 to 34 (17)	14 to 38 (26)
154	15 to 83 (49)	1 to 233 (116)	12.5 to 25 (19)	1 to 36 (18)	15 to 44 (29)

Poison

On the surface of things the wand of Poison's level affects only the duration of the Poisoned debuff, which is calculated for this wand by (5 + wand's level + ring of Power level when existing) and does not affect its damage directly. That said, the Poisoned debuff's damage in Skillful PD is generally calculated by [(current amount of remaining turns/3) rounded + 1] like in Original PD, and because higher wand's level means more turns of duration, higher level ends up meaning more maximum initial damage as well. The damage of this wand is named as "maximum initial" because of its calculation formula: it will always start at the maximum amount in the first turn, but it will become less and less as turns pass by, if the debuff is not renewed with a new wand zap. The Scorpion skill of the Rogue also increases the damage per turn of the wand of Poison by +2 with each skill's level, but has no effect on the wand's duration of effect (so a level 10 wand will still have 15 turns of duration but will be dealing 6+6=12 initial damage with the Venom skill maxed out, a level 5 wand will still have 10 turns of duration but will be dealing 4+6=10 initial damage etc.). Note also that this is the only combat wand that its damage is not affected by the Sorcerer skill of the mage, because it deals no direct damage with its zaps, but only through its debuff. The values below are for a hero without a ring of Power.

Power	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	154
Duration	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Damage	3	3	3	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	6	6	7	7	7	8

With remaining turns 2-4 the damage per turn will be 2, and with 1 remaining turn the damage will be 1. Animated Statue, Cave Spinner, Scorpio, and Tengu are resistant to poison damage and the Golden Bee, Rotting Fist are immune to it. Note also that this is the only battle wand that does not have a min.-max. damage range, and for each specific combination of wand's level - remaining turns, its damage will always have a specific fixed value.

Avalanche⁵

This is the only battle wand that deals always low damage per target, even at level +15. Its possibility to deal crowd damage can multiply the damage dealt by it across enemies and increase its damage effect, but this is also partially a drawback, because if the wand's target is closer than a 5 tiles distance, the hero will receive damage as well. For these reasons it is is the only battle wand that is rather unreasonable to get highly upgraded for end-game. Note also that the duration of the Paralysis debuff from the wand of Avalanche is always a random 2-6 turns and does not get affected by the wand's level. The values of all columns are for a hero without a ring of Power equipped and a mage without the Sorcerer skill.

Power	Min. dam.	Max. dam. dist. 1	Max. dam. dist. 2	Max. dam. dist. 3	Max. dam. dist. 4
0 - 2	2	6	4	2	0
3 - 5	2	8	6	4	2
6 - 8	2	10	8	6	4
9 - 11	2	12	10	8	6
12 - 14	2	14	12	10	8
154	2	16	14	12	10

Notes

¹ Power: Level + hit Enemies (this means that the wand of Disintegration can deal much higher damage than the expected from its current level, if there are many pierced through enemies). For the rest three of the wands Power just equals Level.

² Damage in water: 10 + Level/2 * 2 (so for the wand of Lightning damage is double than that noted in the table)

³ The melee damage values are relevant only for mages, which is the only class that can equip wands as melee weapons. Expectedly all wand types have the same stats for their melee damage. Note that the wands' game descriptions show only their average damage, and this rounded down, so for example a wand of level 3 with 2-9 damage will be showing its average damage as being 5 and not 6 (it is actually 5.5).

⁴ Level 15 is the highest level a wand can reach in Skillful PD, if all the scrolls of Upgrade generated in the dungeon are used for it (no more than 15 can be generated in a run, but in some runs they can be less, down to 11), but this approach is not highly recommended, as all the enemies from the Metropolis and on can deal high amounts of damage (Golems and Evil Eyes even with only one hit) so it is reasonable to spend some scrolls of Upgrade also for the end-game armor.

Although in Original PD the wands of Avalanche, Lightning, Magic Missile, and Poison are not often used as main wands by mages due to their low damage (which is equally low in Skillful PD), the Sorcerer skill in Skillful PD increases almost all combat wands' damage by 30% when maxed out (the only exception is the wand of Poison, that is not affected at all by this skill) and makes at least the wands of Lightning and Magic Missile also sort of suitable for end-game. Still they are weaker than the wands of Disintegration and Firebolt, as the Sorcerer skill obviously applies to these wands as well and makes them even more powerful. For other reasons, a mage with a highly upgraded wand of Poison and a ring of Haste will be doing also more than fine, as he will often be able to apply the Poisoned debuff, and then keep a distance from the enemy while its HP diminish (but even without a ring of Haste, a build with a highly upgraded wand of Poison is still viable for end-game, just not the best option in comparison).

As a side note, if a player is determined to do a Battlemage run, but the Old Wandmaker has given a wand of Avalanche as reward and the mage has not found any other wand until Tengu, it will be probably more reasonable to put some upgrades to the mage's starting wand of Magic Missile and max out the Sorcerer skill, in order to have a chance of the mage surviving the Caves. That said, a mage with only the combat wands of Avalanche / Lightning / Magic Missile in the inventory will probably have better luck with the Warlock subclass.

Note also that in Skillful PD the hero can target a wand to himself/herself, and especially mages with a wand of high level and the Sorcerer skill maxed out can easily get themselves commit suicide, so be careful where you aim at.

Moreover, Mages in Skillful PD have also class-unique bonus options with three of the game's wands:

• Blink: summons a Mirror Image with the "Create After Image" extra option it gives to Mages. Each summoning consumes a fixed amount of 80 mana and so this summoning option practically can't be used in early hero levels.
• Firebolt: summons a friendly Fire Elemental with the "Summon the Flames" extra option it gives to Mages. Summoning always consumes all mana and it can't be used with less than 40 Mana in the mage's mana pool. The elemental minions get stronger in damage and HP the more mana points get used for summoning them, but they are subject to the same limitations as the other minions of the mage that get summoned by his skills (not more than 3 can be active on the same depth without points in the Summoner skill, they lose HP little by little even when they don't receive damage etc.)
• Regrowth: generates not an ally but one random seed with the "Nature's Blessing" extra option it gives to Mages. Each seed generation consumes a fixed amount of 40 mana.

Like in Original PD Battlemages that use a wand as a melee weapon get the equipped wand recharged in all cases and there are no wand-specific melee effects like those of Shattered PD.

Weapons

Some new weapons have been added, both melee and missile, to the familiar melee and missile weapons of Original PD (for a full list of Skillful PD's familiar and new weapons see tables below, note also that the plain darts of Original PD have been removed and replaced by arrows with a similar function). The new weapons are:

a) Dual Swords - tier 1

They deal more damage (average 8 in level 0, +1 per upgrade level) in comparison to the other weapons of their tier but they are 40% less accurate. Balancing it with a weightstone for accuracy makes its accuracy stat almost regular as it becomes 0.6 * 1.5 = 0.9. One pair is always sold in the depth 1 shop for 100 gold, so especially Mages that their knuckledusters deal relatively low damage against sewer crabs and most of the prison enemies, should consider buying that pair if they haven't found anything better by depth 3, as although their damage scaling is the low one of tier 1 weapons and they are not a suitable weapon for end-game, their base damage is still very good for both the sewers and prison and practically they deal better damage in comparison to any other tier 1 or 2 weapon and also to the tier 3 mace (the tier 2 spear seems to deal more average damage, 10, but it has a delay of 1.5, so its actual average damage with two attack turns performed and one missed is 6.5).

b) Necroblade - tier 3

It has been recently moved to tier 3 from tier 1, gaining better average damage and damage scaling, but it remained unchanged in the rest of its attributes. The necroblade consumes the souls of the enemies it kills and gets charged by its kills (1 charge per kill). The energy adds max damage to the necroblade (calculated by "current charges/8", so it can reach up to +12 max bonus damage when it has full 100 charges) and can also be used to Heal the hero when it reaches 25 charges, Summon a Skeleton minion when it reaches 55 charges, but also when it reaches 100/100 charges, they can be Consumed to upgrade the necroblade by +1, until level +5 of the necroblade. From level +5 and on, its Consume option changes to Dark Bolt, which is a special magical attack that defeats instantly all non boss enemies (including champions) by turning them into a Wraith minion (it has the weak stats of a Wraith and not of the just killed enemy though). In contrast it has absolutely no effect on boss enemies (it does not weaken / deal some damage to them etc.) so it is totally wasted when targetted to bosses. All necrolades give the above three options, even those that are cursed. Note that the Necroblade always spawns already with 100 charges, which is useful to know for two reasons: a) no matter what its actual level is while still unidentified, it deals already its max bonus damage and offers the Consume upgrading option, and b) because it has the Consume option always available, it is no issue when it is cursed and the hero equips it, because the hero can immediately consume its charges, upgrade and uncurse it (that means that it will be of lower starting quality by default though). Upgrading it with the Consume option can also have the effect of erasing an already existing enchantment, just like the scroll of Upgrade might do.

It deals 12 average (3 - 21) damage at level 0 (+2 per upgrade level), but is also 30% less accurate. Note that balancing it with a weightstone for accuracy makes its accuracy stat totally regular, as it becomes 0.7 * 1.5 = 1.05.

Its bonus damage from the charges stored is certainly an advantage, and in a good case scenario with the hero having 18 strength so +4 excess strength and 100/100 charges its bonus max damage would become 4 + 12 = 16 and so an unupgraded necroblade's average damage would be then a bit more than that of a +4 war hammer's, 28 (base 12 + 4 excess + 12 charges). Its actual max damage would be in end-game even higher, as the hero who will have it as a main weapon will also have invested some upgrades on it, increasing its max damage by default, and also as a consequence of the further lowering of its strength requirement with upgrades. For these reasons in late-game it is probably better not to spend its charges at all, in order to maximize its possible damage, but doing that from the beginning is also a reasonable choice, in order to manage champions or the other difficult enemies of early-game. All in all it is a weapon totally suitable for end-game.

A Necroblade is not sold in the depth 1 shop anymore, but it can be found as loot in the dungeon and there is also a small chance that these enemies and NPC will drop one: the Skeleton has a 3 % chance to drop one when you destroy it, the Sad Ghost has a 10% chance of giving you one when you complete its quest and the Animated Statue has the greatest chance of dropping one, a 20% chance, with a 99 % chance of it coming with an enchantment.

c) Soulblade - tier 3

It is the holy version of the necroblade and a recent addition to Skillful PD. Unlike the necroblade it does not consume soul charges but the hero's mana:

• for 20 mana its option Recover heals 20 HP.
• for 50 mana its option Cleanse dispels all curses from the inventory. This option is practically identical with a scroll of Remove Curse.
• with at least 50 mana its option Heaven's Fury damages all surrounding enemies. This option is practically very similar to the Rampage skill of the warrior at level 1.

All soulblades give the above three options, even those that are cursed, and for this reason heroes with 50 mana points and higher can equip all soulblades "safely", because in the worst case scenario that a soulblade is cursed, it can get immediately uncursed by using its Cleanse option (have in mind that the specific soulblade will be surely having negative levels, so it will not be a good idea to keep it even uncursed). Like the necroblade it deals 12 average (3 - 21) damage at level 0 (+2 per upgrade level), but is also 30% less accurate - note that also like the necroblade balancing it with a weightstone for accuracy makes its accuracy stat totally regular, as it becomes 0.7 * 1.5 = 1.05. It gets no bonus damage from storing souls though, so damage-wise it is weaker in comparison to the necroblade, as they have exactly the same stats with the exception of the bonus damage from soul charges. For this reason, while the necroblade is totally suitable to become the hero's end-game weapon, the Soulblade might be too weak for this purpose, as it has the damage scaling of a mace or sword, with just 3 more points in starting average damage, which can't be "corrected" > increased by storing soul charges, and it also neither has the option of the 5 free upgrades that the Necroblade has with its "Consume" option.

That said, if the hero reaches DM-300 without having found any tier 4 or 5 melee weapon and also not a Necroblade, the Soulblade is the best in comparison option among the remaining tier 3 weapons to get highly upgraded, because of its better base damage and its abilities that get activated by spending mana.

Table for all melee weapons

To give a more general picture of the available options in weapons in Skillful PD, at level 0 they have these characteristics:

Tier	Name	Min-Max (Av.) Dam.	+ per Level	Speed	Accuracy	Special
-	Equipp. wand	1 - 5 (3)1	fluct.1	1	1	Only equippable by Mages
1	Dagger	0 - 7 (4)	+1	1	1.2	-
1	Knuckleduster	1 - 5 (3)	+1	0.5	1	Note that due to its 0.5 speed, its damage per attack turn is actually 'double.
1	Dual Swords	1 - 16 (8)	+1	1	0.6	-
1	Short Sword	2 - 11 (6)	+1	1	1	Barbaric attribute: 20% chance of level 1 Smite (+20% damage), Reforgable
2	Quarterstaff	2- 12 (7)	+1.5	1	1
2	Spear	2 - 18 (10)	+1.5	1.5	1	Note that because of its 1.5 delay 'its actual average damage with two attack turns performed and one missed is 6.5.
3	Necroblade	3 - 21 (12)2	+2	1	0.7	Heal, Summon, Consume/Dark Bolt Current charges/8 = bonus damage
3	Mace	3 - 12 (7)	+2	0.8	1	Note that due to its 0.8 speed, its 'average damage during a long - 5 turns fight will be actually better (8.75).
3	Soul Blade	3 - 21 (12)	+2	1	0.7	Recover, Cleanse, Heaven's Fury
3	Sword	3 - 16 (9)	+2	1	1	-
4	Battle Axe	4 - 18 (11)	+2.5	1	1.2	-
4	Longsword	4 - 22 (13)	+2.5	1	1	-
5	Glaive	5 - 30 (17)	+3	1	1	-
5	War Hammer	5 - 25 (15)	+3	1	1.2	-

¹ Battlemages deal more damage with wielded wands (the additional damage is equal to the current number of charges in the wielded wand and ignores armor). Also, like in Original PD equipped wands by mages when levelled up generally do not receive a fixed benefit to their average melee damage, because this ranges from +0.5 per level to +3.5 per level, especially as the levels get higher (but even in higher levels not in a consistent way, as for example from level 12 to 13 the benefit is just +0.5, while it is +3 from 11 to 12, and +3.5 from 14 to 15). For details about the scaling of the melee damage of an equipped wand see the Wands table above.

² The Necroblade (but not the Soulblade) increases its damage with the charges it stores, which is calculated by "current charges/8", so at 0 charges it has no bonus damage but reaches +12 damage at 100 charges (so in the worst case scenario it deals the displayed above 3-21 damage, but in the best case scenario 15-33 damage, which will make it stronger even than a level 0 glaive).

Note that with the expected exceptions of the three new melee weapons, almost all the other familiar weapons have exactly the same stats with Original PD (the only minor deviation is in the short sword, that just has slightly better damage and the Barbaric attribute added). Also like in Original PD melee weapons can get balanced for speed or accuracy with a weightstone, and not for speed or damage like in other mods.

d) Missiles: Bows and Arrows, Soul Crystal

All heroes have an additional slot in the inventory for a Βow and spawn with one already equipped and 15 plain arrows on depth 1 (the Huntress with a +1 bow and 30 arrows). There are also two rare enchanted variants of the bow, the Flame Bow and the Frost Bow (enchanting it with a scroll has only these two possible outcomes). The Scorpion poisoning skill of the rogue is also applied to bow shots. All three types of bows have a strength requirement of 10 and unlike the Boomerang bows can't get balanced for speed or accuracy.

There are also three types of arrows added, with the "plain" arrow being very common loot in the dungeon and the other two variants being rare (all need bows equipped to get shot and are useless without it):

• Bomb arrow: deals Bomb-like damage [(1 + depth Number) - (10 + depth Number) * 2] and also Stuns for 1 turn
• Cupid arrow: Charms and does not deal damage at all
• "Plain" arrow: its base damage is 3-5 and has no additional effect, unless the bow that shoots it is enchanted (Flame or Frost Bow)

Also, the level of the bow will add bonus damage to the arrows shot with it (obviously only to those that can deal damage in the first place, the Bomb and plain Arrow). The formula that calculates the bonus damage is rather complicated, so there is no need to have it displayed here, but the multipliers applied by the bow on arrows from level 0 to 9 are:

L0	L1	L2	L3	L4	L5	L6	L7	L8	L9
1	1.2	1.4	1.6	1.7	1.8	1.85	1.9	1.95	2

Although players can obviously decide for themselves, highly upgrading the Bow is not an optimal choice in comparison to highly upgrading the Boomerang or any melee weapon of a higher tier.

There is also a special type of thrown weapon added, the Soul Crystal. This is also expendable like the arrows, darts etc. while its function is not to damage but to corrupt an enemy and get its soul stored inside the crystal. When the hero needs the corrupted enemy, he/she can throw the crystal again and release the ally. Soul crystals have a higher chance to fail when thrown at enemies in full health or with high evasion and always fail when thrown at chapter bosses and champions.

Note that the Boomerang of the huntress is the same with that of Original PD in its stats: it deals 2 average damage and gets +1.5 average damage (+1/+2) per level. So also like in Original PD it is reasonable for Snipers to invest some scrolls of Upgrade in their boomerang, especially when the Accuracy and Knee Spot skills of the Ranged branch are maxed out. In the specific case that a Sniper has either found wands of Blink or has an upgraded ring of Haste (so she can create easily distance with the enemies), it will even be reasonable to invest many of the scrolls of Upgrade to the boomerang instead of a melee weapon, as the damage that a highly upgraded boomerang will be doing from a distance in synergy with the relevant Ranged branch skills and the Sniper's Mark will end up being equal to the damage of a tier 5 weapon.

Doing the same with the Bow instead of the boomerang is not an equally good idea though, as the bow's damage multiplier benefits less from upgrades than the boomerang and the bow also relies on arrows for its shots, which will get quickly spent, if it gets used as the main attacking weapon. To give a few examples for damage:

	L0	L5	L9
Boomerang	1 - 4	6 - 14	10 - 22
plain Arrow shot with Bow	3 - 5	5 - 9	6 - 10

Table for all missile weapons

None of Skillful PD's missile weapons is assigned to a tier.

Name	Min-Max & (Average) Damage	Scaling	Effect
Boomerang	1 - 4 (2)	+1 / +2	-
Bow	Depends on the type of arrow shot, while the scaling of its dam. multiplier also varies across levels.	<- See	Burning or Freezing if enchanted

• Both the Boomerang and Bow have a strength requirement of 10.

Name	Min-Max & (Average) Damage	Effect
Bomb1	(1 + depth Number) to (10 + depth Number) * 2	Stuns
Bomb Arrow1	(1 + depth Number) to (10 + depth Number) * 2	Stuns
Cupid Arrow	-	Charms
Curare Dart	1 - 3 (2)	Stuns
Incendiary Dart	1 but deals most of its damage with Burning	Ignites
Javelin	2 - 15 (8)	Cripples
(plain) Arrow	3 - 5 (4) levelling up the Bow increases it	-
Shuriken	1 but can get thrown twice in an attack turn	-
Soul Crystal	-	Corrupts
Tomahawk	4 - 20 (12)	Bleeding

¹ As it becomes obvious by the identical damage descriptions, the Bomb Arrow is practically a Bomb that can get shot. For these two a formula is displayed instead of plain numbers, because the damage will be different on each depth that they get thrown.

• All types of Arrows, the Bomb and the Soul Crystal have no strength requirement. Incendiary Dart has a strength requirement of 12, Shuriken of 13, Curare Dart of 14, Javelin of 15, and Tomahawk of 17, just like in Original PD.
• Almost all of the weapons of both tables have Accuracy 1 and Delay 1, with only two exceptions: a) the Shuriken that has a Delay of 0.5, and b) the Soul Crystal that always hits enemies, but it has only a chance to corrupt regular enemies and no chance at all to corrupt champions or bosses.

Enchantments

The weapon enchantments of Skillful PD are the same with the enchantments of Original PD (Blazing, Chilling, Eldritch, Grim, Lucky, Shocking, Stunning, Vampiric, Venomous, Tempered, Unstable) with the Temepered enchantment occuring even when degradation is turned off, but it has no alternative effect in this case, and the weapon functions as if it is unenchanted.

Mod

Although Skillful PD is one of the first developed mods of Original PD, until very recently it did not have a mod of its own. This changed in late 2019, as Kyle Chatman released Pixel Dungeon Echo, which is is a rework of Skillful PD mostly to the direction of "quality of life" changes that can also make the game easier than original Skillful PD. Moreover, some features like the mercenaries, rat king customization, and campaign missions have been removed. You can read more details about Pixel Dungeon Echo by following the link just above.

Update History (only very recent)

• 1/02/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 98) Betrayal scenario added. Fixed Hatsune's echoes being invisible
• 08/02/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 99) Necroblade replaces Consume with Dark Bolt after level 5. Dark Bolt kills non-boss monsters and summons a slave. Number of available skills show in overlay. Skill cool down added. Skills remain active but do not trigger when on cool down. Skills cannot be cast when on cool down
• 09/02/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 100) Quick skill button shows cool down of last skill.
• 29/02/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 101) Potion Holder added (Thanks to Shattered PD). Potion Holder will group all your potions. All heroes start with the potion holder. Only applies to new games.
• 07/03/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 102) Warrior's passive skills nerfed. Increased mob difficulty on Hard. Wanted to do more but busy with something X_X. Soul blade delayed.
• 20/04/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 103) Soul Blade added. Necro Blade now tier 3.
• 31/05/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 104) Mages can now summon Fire Elementals using the Wand of Firebolt. Nightmare difficulty returns. Crash fixes.
• 07/06/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 105) Mages can now summon a random seed using the Wand of Regrowth. Soul Blade's Heal mana cost increased to 20.
• 13/06/2020 - 0.4.5 (Build 106) Mages can now summon after images using the Wand of Blink. Fixed bug allowing gold duplication using Brute's hold item perk.