Leveling, Wakestones, and Combat Masteries

Progression on the Steam page has two layers you can plan around today. You level heroes. You also unlock permanent upgrades by collecting Wakestones. Combat Masteries sit in the same sentence as artifacts: you combine them to define the build of a run. The fact sheet repeats all three ideas. The announcement says the pyramid holds permanent upgrades for those who survive, and that you grow stronger by collecting Wakestones. That is the official meta loop.

What a Wakestone is, and is not

The store does not print a drop location, a shop price, or a tree diagram. It says the stones are how permanent upgrades unlock. Treat them as the between-run currency until a menu says otherwise. Do not call gold a Wakestone. The demo separated gold, which leads to a merchant, from the permanent systems. Do not call dice a Wakestone either. Dice push loot inside a run. If a future patch merges those words, the update log is where that correction belongs.

Combat Masteries

Masteries are the in-run half. The store says you combine them with artifacts. The press demo described totems that upgrade parries, combos, and charged attacks, found by choosing the right door. That is the best public picture of what a mastery looks like in a corridor: a room reward, not a level-up popup. Whether every mastery is a totem is unconfirmed. Use the room when your combat failure is "I cannot parry," and skip it when you already parry and need an artifact instead.

The hub the demo called the Nexus

The press demo said that between runs you return to a hub called the Nexus, where you handle meta progression, permanent skill trees, and lore. The store never uses the word Nexus. It talks about leveling heroes and Wakestones. Sources disagree on the name of the place, the same way they disagree on Veils versus Warrior Memories. The job is the same: a between-run camp where permanent choices live. Lore delivery in that hub was described as portioned, with Hades named as an inspiration for how much story you get at once. That is the studio's comparison in an interview, not a promise that the writing copies another game.

What carries into co-op

Individual progression is on the store for co-op. A Wakestone you earn should, on that wording, be yours. The Q&A left resource sharing open. If you care about who keeps the stone, read that page before you split a save plan. Hero levels for Conan versus the later heroes are also unconfirmed as shared or separate.

Verdict: Spend the mental budget on two buckets. Wakestones and hero levels are the permanent bucket. Combat Masteries plus artifacts are the bucket that dies with the run, unless the playtest proves a mastery sticks.

FAQ