Formless Skill Tree Redesigned

Formless Skill Tree Redesigned revitalizes Combat, forging it into a faster, deadlier, and more dynamic system. This isn’t just a tweak—it’s a full overhaul. Ranged combat has been rebalanced, and 13 brand-new melee skills expand your arsenal with fresh playstyles.

Beyond combat, numerous non-combat skills have been refined, bugs have been addressed, and skill descriptions have been clarified—including precise chances for random effects—so you always know exactly what you’re getting.

This mod will be actively refined over the coming weeks through player feedback and expanded testing—any updates released during this period will be safe to install mid-playthrough.

Recommended -------- Pair with Formless Gameplay Settings Expanded for the full experience. Combat has been rebalanced from the ground up, which means overall difficulty has shifted. With the settings mod, you can fine-tune damage and difficulty far beyond vanilla limits, tailoring the challenge exactly to your preference.

All skill changes are listed below—scroll on.

Compatibility --------

• Best experienced on a fresh playthrough
• Several vanilla skills have been removed or replaced—if you’re comfortable using the console to reclaim any lost points, mid-playthrough installation remains safe. Removed/replaced skills include Wellness, Martial Arts, Neurostrikes, Boxing, and Dueling
• Will likely conflict with other mods that alter Vanilla skills
• Mods that add more Combat skills will likely over-clutter the Combat skill tree
• Mods like Starborn Perk Tree that add completely new skill trees will be fine

Melee Combat -------- TIER 1

• Boxer – At Rank 4, Unarmed attacks deal 200% more damage, have a 50% reduced oxygen cost for power attacks, running costs 30% less oxygen, and attacks have a 15% chance to knockdown opponents.
• Brute – At Rank 4, Two-hand damage is raised 100%, and power attacks have a 30% chance of knocking down the target.
• Duelist – At Rank 4, One-hand attacks deal 100% extra damage and have a 10% increased chance to critically hit.
• Brawler – At Rank 4, unarmed and melee attacks have a 20% chance to disarm your target, and 5% increased chance for melee and unarmed attacks to critically hit. When unarmed or using melee weapons, striking an enemy’s arms has a 50% chance to disarm them, and striking their legs has a 50% chance of knocking them down.

TIER 2

• Crusher – At Rank 4, two-handed melee attacks use 30% less oxygen, do 100% extra critical damage, and have a 15% chance to stun targets.
• Frenzy – At Rank 4, one-handed melee attacks are 30% faster, use 20% less oxygen and have a 5% increased chance to critically hit. One-handed attacks also cause a strong bleed effect when you critically hit a target.
• Heavy Hitter – At Rank 4, unarmed attacks now have a 10% higher critical chance and do 50% more critical damage. Hitting a target in the head has a 35% chance to cause 100% more damage. Unarmed attacks also have a 10% chance to stagger all enemies within 3 metres.

TIER 3

• Blood Pump – At Rank 4, unarmed and melee kills heal you for 10% of your maximum health. Killing a downed enemy with unarmed or melee attacks heals you for an additional 6%. Killing an enemy with a critical hit to the head while unarmed or using melee weapons will heal you for 16% health over 8 seconds.
• Dodge – At Rank 4, when moving and unarmed or wielding a melee weapon, you have a 12% chance to avoid all damage from each ballistic, energy and EM damage attack. When running and unarmed or wielding a melee weapon, you have a 30% chance to avoid all damage from each ballistic, energy and EM damage attack.
• Deflecting – At Rank 4, receive 10% less damage of all types while using melee weapons or being unarmed. Blocking has a 30% chance to reflect 90% of unarmed and melee attack damage you receive. Blocking has a 10% chance to reduce incoming ranged weapon damage by 50%. Blocking with melee weapons or while unarmed gives you a 10% chance to fully reflect each attack on you back at the attacker.

TIER 4

• Berserk – At Rank 4, Melee and unarmed attacks deal 25% extra damage. When you are damaged by 10% or more of your maximum health within a short timeframe, your strikes receive a 5% damage boost stacking up to 10 times. Killing targets within quick succession gives you a 10% damage increase to melee and unarmed attacks for 8 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.
• Coup De Grace – Hitting your enemy's head deals 100% more damage with unarmed and melee attacks. Your strikes have a 5% greater chance to critically hit and do 50% more critical damage. A critical hit kill increases critical chance by 10% and your damage by 30% for 5 seconds when unarmed or using melee attacks.
• Super-Charged – At Rank 4, your melee and unarmed attacks deal a larger amount of energy and EM damage to your target, and they also have a 20% chance to deal a large amount of energy and EM damage to all enemies within 4 metres. When you strike your target’s head there is a 30% chance they will be stunned.

Ranged Combat -------- TIER 1

• Ballistics – At Rank 4, ballistic weapons deal 50% increased damage, have a chance at causing a strong bleed effect and have 30% increased range.
• Demolitions – At Rank 4, you can see the grenade trajectory, take 30% reduced explosion damage, explosives deal 100% more damage and have an 80% larger effect radius.
• Lasers – At Rank 4, lasers do 50% more damage, have a 6% chance to set targets on fire, and on critical hits a target’s energy resistance is reduced 30%.
• Pistol Certification – At Rank 4, pistol damage is increased by 50%, aiming a pistol grants a 20% increase in accuracy, and killing with a pistol grants an increase of 25% to critically hit targets for 5 seconds.

TIER 2

• Heavy Weapons Certification – At Rank 4, Heavy Weapons do 50% more damage, 50% more critical damage, and all incoming damage is reduced by 20% when aiming down sights with a Heavy Weapon.
• Rapid Reloading – At Rank 4, reload all non-heavy weapons 30% faster, and heavy weapons 20% faster. 50% chance not to be staggered by incoming attacks while reloading. 8% chance with non-automatic weapons and 3% chance with automatic weapons to increase reload speed for all weapons by 50% for 15 seconds.
• Rifle Certification – At Rank 4, rifles do 50% more damage and 50% more critical damage. Rifles reload 30% quicker while standing still.
• Shotgun Certification – At Rank 4, shotguns deal 50% more damage and have a 10% increased chance to cause critical hits. Critical hits with a shotgun give a 10 second buff granting a 12% chance to stun targets with shotguns.

TIER 3

• Incapacitation – At Rank 4, EM weapons do 20% more damage and have a 20% increased chance to critically hit. EM weapons also have a 15% chance to do 300% EM damage.
• Marksmanship – At Rank 4, non-automatic ranged weapons have a 15% increased chance to critically hit, and critical hits with non-automatics deal double damage. Critical hits also have a 20% chance to knockdown the target.
• Particle Beams – At Rank 4, particle beam weapons do 50% more damage, and have a 10% chance to penetrate their targets. They also have a 5% increased critical chance.
• Targeting – At Rank 4, firing without aiming provides 30% increased range and 20% increased accuracy. Up to 4 enemies that damage you within 100 metres will be marked. Firing from the hip grants a chance to boost fire rate by 30% for 8 seconds: 2% with automatic weapons or 6% with non-automatic weapons.

TIER 4

• Armor Penetration – Physical and ballistic attacks ignore 30% of a target’s damage resistance. All attacks but explosives do 20% more damage to Elite enemies. A target's ballistic, energy and EM resistances are decreased by 25% for 5 seconds after a critical hit.
• Crippling – Simplified wording. Modifiers unchanged. Sharpshooting – At Rank 4, headshots with a ranged weapon do 100% more critical hit damage and ranged critical hit kills increase your critical hit chance with all ranged weapons by 25% for 20 seconds. Shooting a target’s legs has a chance to knock them down, 60% chance with non-automatic weapons and 8% chance with automatics. Shooting a target’s arms has a chance to disarm them, 50% chance with non-automatics and 6% chance with automatics.
• Sniper Certification – At Rank 4, scoped weapons deal 50% more damage while using the scope, have 15% increased stability, 25% increased range, and drain 50% less oxygen while holding your breath. While aiming with a scope, headshots have a 20% increased chance to critically hit, and you have an 8% chance to reflect 50% of the damage you receive back at an attacker.