Sophia fights up close, so the abilities you buy from the skill tree decide how well she holds up when three or four enemies swarm her at once. Resonance Points are scarce in the opening chapters, and each new ability costs more than the last, so the first few picks carry real weight.
Quick answer: Unlock Aegean Deflect first for faster stun buildup on late parries, then Hero’s Step for a second dodge, and follow with Heroic Surge or Bullbreaker Kick once you have points to spare.
How Resonance Point costs work
The skill tree holds six combat abilities, and every one of them has two mastery branches you can buy separately. Your very first ability unlocks for just 10 Resonance Points. After that, the cost of each new ability climbs sharply, which is why the opening picks matter far more than later ones.
You do not need to agonize over a wrong choice. The game lets you reset your skill points at any time, so you can refund a purchase and try a different ability if it does not fit how you play. Spend points as you earn them rather than saving up. Difficulty rises quickly through the early-to-mid chapters, and the fights assume Sophia has been getting stronger along the way.
Best early skills to unlock first
These three abilities give the strongest return during the first fights. Aegean Deflect is the standout pick because of what its mastery does to the game’s toughest attacks.
| Skill | What it does | Why unlock it early |
|---|---|---|
| Aegean Deflect | Applies double stun damage when you parry at the last moment. Its mastery lets you deflect unblockable red attacks. | Breaks enemy stance gauges fast for quicker finishers, and the mastery removes the need to dodge Brute red swings. |
| Hero’s Step | Performs two consecutive dodges with more distance and partial invulnerability. A mastery raises the invulnerability further. | Lets you escape when two enemies attack at the same time, opening space to recover. |
| Heroic Surge | Grants a temporary extra health point after finishing an enemy with a dagger critical strike, absorbing the next hit. | A reliable survival cushion that keeps paying off from early fights into the late game. |
Aegean Deflect earns the top spot because the red-attack mastery changes how you handle heavy foes. Brute-type enemies rely almost entirely on slow, deadly red swings, and being able to parry those instead of dodging them makes several boss encounters far easier to read.
Hero’s Step is easy to overlook, but the second dodge is what saves you in cornered fights. When enemies gang up, the extra evasion covers more ground and buys the breathing room a single dodge cannot.
Bullbreaker Kick as a third pick
Bullbreaker Kick is a strong extra once your priorities are covered. Sophia’s default kick already shoves enemies off cliffs and into hazards. The upgrade makes it better at creating safe space and can stun a foe outright by slamming them into a wall.
Where to get more Resonance Points
Resonance Points sit both on the main path and tucked away in side areas across the island. They are shaped like an orange seashell and give off a faint spark, so they stand out in the environment once you are close. Explore corners and open spaces you are not strictly required to visit, since that is where the extras hide.
You also earn points by clearing tougher combat encounters. Those moments are built into the story, so you cannot miss them. If you explore thoroughly, you should have enough by the mid-game chapters to grab two different abilities plus a mastery for one of them.
Note: Points you collect in the world are only kept once you reach a checkpoint. If Sophia dies before saving, you lose anything picked up since the last checkpoint, so cash in progress before risky fights.
Buy Aegean Deflect the moment you can afford it, add Hero’s Step next, and let Heroic Surge or Bullbreaker Kick round out your early build. Once a skill appears filled in on the tree, its effect is active, and you will feel the change immediately in the way parries stun and dodges reset the space around you.
