Defensive talents¶
There isn't one shared Defensive tree
The Wilderness, The Pit, and the Ocean all use the same trees. Defensive nodes live inside each archetype's tree as the right-hand "Defensive" column. The Melee, Archery, Magic, and Taming archetypes each ship their own defensive lane; the Swords / Macing / Fencing per-weapon trees are offensive-only and lean on the Melee defensive lane for survivability.
This page collects every defensive node across the four shipped archetypes so you can see them side-by-side. Numbers and details for each tree are also on the per-archetype pages.
Melee defensive (the shared survivability lane)¶
The melee defensive lane is the canonical "tank" path — any melee character (sword, mace, fencing, or unarmed) spends here for survivability.
T1 — Iron Skin¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | -5% incoming physical damage |
Iron Skin reduces every physical-ish hit: melee swings, ranged shots, bleed ticks, environmental damage. Spell damage is NOT reduced by Iron Skin — for that, take Spell Ward (the sibling T1 below) or Wardweave in the magic defensive tree. Wired through the IncomingDamageReductionFraction event so it stacks with all other reduction subscribers (capped at 95% total).
| Rank | Physical damage reduction |
|---|---|
| 1 | -5% |
| 5 | -25% |
T1 — Spell Ward¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 5 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect / rank | -5% incoming spell damage |
Sibling to Iron Skin on the T1 root. Reduces only damage flagged as a spell hit (every Magery / Necro / class-spell cast). Stacks additively with Wardweave (Magic Defensive T1) — a player who spends in both will see -50% spell damage from this pair at 5/5 each (subject to the 95% global cap).
Iron Skin and Spell Ward are not branch-exclusive — you can rank both. Vigilance (T2) is reachable through either branch.
| Rank | Spell damage reduction |
|---|---|
| 1 | -5% |
| 5 | -25% |
T2 — Vigilance¶
Prereq: Iron Skin or Spell Ward (either one unlocks it).
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 3 |
| Cost / rank | 1 pt |
| Effect (shield) | +5% parry per rank |
| Effect (no shield) | +3% parry per rank |
| Rank | With shield | Without shield |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +5% | +3% |
| 2 | +10% | +6% |
| 3 | +15% | +9% |
T3 — Steady Heart¶
Prereq: Vigilance.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Passive |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Effect | 50% chance to outright resist any incoming stun / disorient. |
Implemented as a flat 50% chance to resist (matches expected value of "stun lasts half as long" against a single discrete stun event). Plugs into the same StunResistChance event the Resonance Air system uses.
T4A — Bulwark¶
Prereq: Steady Heart. Branch-exclusive with Taunt.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Cooldown | 60 s |
| Duration | 10 s |
| Effect | For 10 s, +40% block chance (stacks additively with Vigilance, works with or without a shield). |
| Hotbar verb | bulwark |
T4B — Taunt¶
Prereq: Steady Heart. Branch-exclusive with Bulwark. Requires a shield or a two-handed weapon AND 90+ Parry skill.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active (instant — no buff window) |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 2 pt |
| Cooldown | 30 s |
| Range | 8 tiles |
| Effect | Shout a challenge that pulls every nearby foe currently fighting an ally onto you. On boss-tier creatures, also dumps massive threat so the aggro sticks after re-acquisition ticks; on regular trash mobs, snaps aggro for the current AI tick. PvM-only. |
| Hotbar verb | taunt |
Use cases: pickup off a healer or DPS, off-tank swap, opening a boss pull from range, recovering aggro after a glance. The 90 Parry gate keeps the ability a parry-archetype tank tool rather than a free utility for any defender.
T5 — Last Stand¶
Prereq: Bulwark OR Taunt. Capstone.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Active |
| Max ranks | 1 |
| Cost | 3 pt |
| Cooldown | 60 s |
| Duration | 8 s |
| Effect | For 8 s, take 75% less damage from all sources. |
| Hotbar verb | laststand |
Archery defensive (Skirmisher)¶
Detailed on the Archery page. The lane contains:
- Quick Step (T1, x5) — +4%/rank ranged swing speed
- Crippling Shot (T2, x3) — +5%/rank hinder chance on bow shots
- Evade (T3) — 15% flat dodge vs creature melee/ranged physical
- Trap Master (T4A, active) — primes a guaranteed 8s hinder on the next bow shot
- Wind Rider (T4B, active) — 15s of shoot-while-moving
- Feign Death (T5 capstone, active) — drop from every nearby mob's combat list for 10 s on a 120 s cycle
Feign Death is recent — it was promoted to capstone 2026-05-19 (replacing Vanish), and lands as the archer's "save me" panic button.
Magic defensive (Abjurer)¶
Detailed on the Magic page. The lane contains:
- Wardweave (T1, x5) — -5%/rank spell damage taken
- Mana Shield (T2, x3) — 50/70/90% of damage taken absorbed by mana instead (10s ICD)
- Quick Recovery (T3) — +50% mana regen while below 25% mana
- Force Field (T4A, active) — 5 s of complete damage immunity (90 s cd)
- Aegis (T4B, active) — 8 s of -30% spell damage (60 s cd)
- Time Stop (T5 capstone, active) — freeze every enemy within 5 tiles for 4 s (180 s cd)
Taming defensive (Warden)¶
Detailed on the Pet / Taming page. Briefly:
- Bonded (T1, x5) — +5% pet max HP AND +5% pet XP per rank
- Resilient (T2, x3) — +5%/rank pet damage reduction
- Shared Vitality (T3) — pet heals for 25% of damage you take
- Pet Sacrifice (T4A, active) — pet takes all your damage for 6 s (90 s cd)
- Mended Bond (T4B, active) — instantly heal pet 50% max HP (30 s cd)
- Spirit Guardian (T5 capstone, active) — revive a fallen pet at full HP (300 s cd)
Stacking notes¶
Defensive bonuses stack in a fixed order:
- Source-flagged flat reductions sum additively and are capped at 95% total. Iron Skin reduces physical hits; Spell Ward, Wardweave, and Aegis-window reduce spell hits; Sanctuary aura reduces both.
- School-specific reductions (Wardweave's spell-only cut, Bulwark/Vigilance block) apply BEFORE the flat reductions add. Wardweave is independently capped at 90%.
- Evade is a pre-roll "dodge entirely" — when it triggers, the rest of the chain doesn't matter.
- Last Stand / Force Field are window-overrides — they replace the whole chain with their flat reduction (75% / 100%).