Welcome, Hunters!

Growth in life is often described with metaphors like "forging yourself in fire," "leveling up," or "reaching the next level." When it comes to Steel Hunters, "forging," "leveling up," and "reaching the next level" do find a visually suitable representation in-game—our new System Tree. It connects back to life in a simple way: forging your own path. The revamped System Tree was designed to put power back in your hands. It creates fair, predictable, and balanced scaling while also allowing for more meaningful choices in shaping your Hunter's strengths on the road to Level 40.

Why This Matters

• Consistent Scaling: All Hunters follow the same rules, making balance easier.
• Clear Progression: You know exactly how much power comes from the System Tree vs. in-battle scaling.
• Better Control: We can finetune balance across different game stages (as you level up your Hunters through the System Tree and throughout battles).

In this article, we'll walk you through exactly how our revamped System Tree works.

All Things Balanced, as They Should Be

From Version 0.40 on, we're changing how ability power (AP) and the System Tree affect your Hunters' abilities. 

• Ability power (AP): Represents the strength of an ability, which increases as each battle progresses.
• System Tree: Enables synergy between pre-battle decisions and in-battle performance, ensuring every choice matters.

Key Changes:

All abilities that scale with ability power will continue to scale during each battle, based on your Hunter level progression and the Enhancement Cores you collect. This mainly applies to abilities related to "Time to Kill" (TTK)—like applicable offensive powers or healing abilities. However, the main source of power for your abilities comes from the System Tree. 

Here's How It Works:

Let's take Razorside's Frag Grenade—Detonator Mod. When first equipped, it starts with 2,000 explosion damage. Upgrading it via ability stat upgrade Nodes in the System Tree increases the explosion damage by +150. 
Ability power comes into play after you get in a battle. As your Hunter gains more levels and collects Cores, 2,150 explosion damage also scales through ability power. 

For example:

• Reaching the second level provides a 3% ability power increase:
  • Starting from 2,000, you would reach 2,060.
  • Starting from 2,150, you would reach 2,215.

This can be further increased by leveling up and picking up Cores until you reach an incredible 80%!

In the table, your base stat of +150 turned into a +270 during the battle. And just imagine gathering +80% ability power throughout a battle! The more you invest in the System Tree, the stronger your abilities become as the battle progresses. 

It's in Your Hands

With this update, ability power (AP) and the System Tree now work together for smoother, more balanced progression. All base abilities—whether damage, healing, or unique effects—scale through the System Tree. However, only offensive and healing abilities (affecting Time to Kill) continue to scale dynamically during a battle as you level up and collect Enhancement Cores. Abilities like Heartbreaker's Stealth don't scale with ability power (AP) because they don't directly impact offensive strength, health, or shields. Instead, these abilities improve through other factors, such as increased duration. 

There are three types of Cores—Structure, Shields, and Damage—all providing equal AP increases based on their tier. This ensures predictable, fair scaling while still allowing for dynamic progression. All Hunters now follow the same scaling rules, making balance adjustments easier and progression clearer. You'll always know where your power comes from, allowing for smarter build choices.

Sources of Ability Power

The following chart shows you a base approach to increasing AP through the System Tree and in-game enhancement, but keep in mind that there are more ways to upgrade your base AP. Specific gear that you'll be able to earn for your Hunter can be tied to an increase in base AP on the Hunting Grounds, upleveling their stats. 

New in V0.40: More Ways to Mess With Your Enemies

The first iteration of this new System Tree arrives in Version 0.40, featuring a universal structure for all Hunters. Each tree consists of 15 Hunter stat Nodes and 8 ability stat Nodes, ensuring a balanced foundation across the board. While the structure is currently the same for every Hunter, this is just the beginning—future updates will bring even more variety and specialization.

Also, a total of three Unique Nodes has been allocated for every Hunter, further bringing out your hero's specific capabilities and thus influencing your playstyle.

• The System Tree is divided into 4 sections, that unlock as Players reach a certain number of unlocked nodes and Hunter Level on a given Hunter:

• Section	Total Nodes (Excluding Unique Nodes) in Section	# of Required Nodes	Required Hunter Level
  1	9	0	1
  2	17	10+	10+
  3	18	20+	20+
  4	19	30+	30+

• Unique Nodes also have specific unlock requirements:

• Unique Node	# of Required Nodes	Required Hunter Level
  1	20+	20+
  2	30+	30+
  3	30+ including all 4 nodes in the row immediately above	30+

But let's also look into some examples of this directly. Playing Ursus, you may now gain the option to violently shatter your Glacial Armor once the effect ends, dealing damage to enemies within a 25 m radius. This rewards a more aggressive playstyle, giving you the chance to take on enemies head on whilst cushioned in your formidable shell—only to have it explode in their faces as the effect comes to an end. "Keep your friends close, but your enemies even closer"—one might want to say.

Unique Nodes for Heartbreaker include instant Stealth activation once her health falls below 35%, or granting her allies Stealth as long as they stay within a 75 m radius. Fighting an invisible team would pose quite the challenge. So, how great is it that Prophet's Unique Nodes include one that marks enemies who were hit by Vengeance Strike—keeping them marked and able to be seen by him and his allies for 10 s, even through objects? The endless tactical possibilities created through this system both add true character to your Hunter and add to the depth of gameplay. "It's not about the hand (Hunter) you're dealt with, it's about how you play your cards (unique abilities)."

Future Plans for the System Tree

One of the more exciting possibilities in terms of the biggest improvement this could open up one day, is differentiating System Trees based on Hunter roles. Ability-focused Hunters could have more Ability Nodes, while others might focus more on raw damage or defensive stats. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, these adjustments would allow each Hunter to lean into their strengths and feel more unique. In a possible Steel Hunters future, this could become a real thing. However, it will require further testing and a more precise approach to be investigated, as there is always a priority on keeping tight focus on Hunter balancing, of course. Another exciting change could also be introducing dynamic progression paths: by adjusting the way Skill Trees branch out, we can create meaningful decision points that allow for deeper customization. Unique Nodes will also be placed differently depending on the Hunter, making progression feel even more tailored and strategic.

The new System Tree is just the beginning. With these improvements, we're not only refining how Hunters scale but also laying the foundation for an even deeper and more rewarding progression system. Whether you're looking to maximize your abilities, finetune your stats, or adapt your Hunter to your preferred playstyle, this update gives you more control than ever before.

But we're not stopping here. We want to hear from you! Join the discussion on [Discord], let us know your thoughts, and be part of shaping the future of Steel Hunters. 

 

See you on the Hunting Grounds!

Steel Hunters Glossary

• Ability Power (AP): A stat that determines the strength of certain abilities. AP increases as you progress through a battle by leveling up and collecting enhancement cores.
• System Tree: The progression system where you upgrade your Hunter's stats and abilities. 
• Enhancement Cores: In-battle items that enhance your Hunter's abilities. They come in five tiers—Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5—and increase ability power based on their rarity.
• Time to Kill (TTK): A gameplay metric representing how long it takes to eliminate an enemy. Abilities affecting TTK (like offensive or healing abilities) scale with ability power.
• Unique Nodes: Special Nodes in the System Tree that provide exclusive, Hunter-specific enhancements, influencing gameplay style and strategy.
• Base Stats: The starting strength of abilities before any upgrades or in-battle scaling.
• Scaling: The process by which your Hunter's abilities become stronger as you progress in the game—through both the System Tree and in-battle progression (like level-ups and Core collection).