Field Guide
Synergies & Skill Trees
How Rank 5 skill trees, weapon tags, ability cross-buffs and Survivor passives actually stack.
Weapon tags drive build identity
Every weapon has a damage tag (kinetic, slash, electric, cold, fire, toxin, bleed). Builds run on stacked tags — picking up a +damage upgrade for the tag your squad already produces multiplies your scaling.
Rank 5 skill trees (1.0)
1.0 introduced Rank 5 Survivor Skill Trees. Each Survivor now has a deep permanent progression layer that doubles leader-perk value at rank 2 and rank 3.
Buff skills > sustained pets > one-shots
Stimpack and Frenzy (always-on group buffs) out-scale single-target damage abilities. Saw Blades and Turrets (always-on pets) out-scale nukes with long cooldowns.
Leader perk is doubled
When you start a run with a Survivor, that leader perk is full strength. Picking up that same Survivor mid-run gives half the value. Plan your leader choice carefully.
Fan-Made Community Wiki