Coen earns skill points by killing enemies and finishing quests, but the level-up notification does not open a menu you can spend them in. Progression in The Blood of Dawnwalker is tied to a physical location, and the points sit unused in your pool until you walk up to one.
Quick answer: Travel to a restored shrine, interact with it, and pick Perks from the shrine menu to open the Witchcraft, Swordmastery, and Vampirism trees, then hold the confirm button on a node to learn it.
Spend skill points at a shrine (perks menu)
Shrines double as fast travel points and storage, so you will already be stopping at them. The number in brackets next to Perks on the shrine menu is your unspent point count — if it reads (1), you have one point waiting.
Note: shrines you find in the world are not usable straight away. A shrine has to be restored first by locating its missing heart and bringing it back, which then turns the site into both a fast travel node and a place to spend points.
Perk costs: points, time segments, manuals, and Corruption
Skill points alone rarely cover a node. Each perk lists its requirements as icons, and the deeper ones stack several at once. The time cost is the one that stings, because learning an advanced perk pushes the clock forward, and the story runs on a 30-day limit with eight time segments in each day.
| Icon | What it costs you | Where it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Sun / moon | Experience points | All three trees |
| Hourglass | Time segments, which advance the clock | Advanced perks and abilities |
| Open book | A manual you must find and read first | Witchcraft and Swordmastery |
| Teeth | A minimum Corruption level | Vampirism |
Reading a manual does not hand you the perk. It only removes the lock, and you still pay the skill point cost at the shrine afterwards. Corruption, meanwhile, rises as you feed on animals and humans, so a Vampirism node that is greyed out is usually a feeding problem rather than a points problem.
One point pool, three trees
Witchcraft, Swordmastery, and Vampirism all draw from the same skill points. There is no separate day budget and night budget, so every point you sink into claws is a point you are not spending on hexes or sword damage.
| Tree | When abilities work | Gate |
|---|---|---|
| Witchcraft | Daytime only | Manuals; many hexes cost health to cast |
| Swordmastery | Day and night | Manuals |
| Vampirism | Night only | Corruption level |
Swordmastery is the safe early investment for exactly that reason. Nodes such as Endless Effort (up to +100% maximum Stamina), Stinging Blade (up to +20% Sword Damage), Vigour for extra health, and Omniblock for cheaper held blocks pay off in every fight regardless of the clock.
Ultimate perks cost 35 points and you only get one
Each tree ends in three Ultimate perks at the bottom. That is nine options across the game, but Coen can only ever unlock a single one, and it costs 35 skill points. Treat it as the endpoint of your build and bank toward the tree you actually use in combat.
| Tree | Ultimate perks |
|---|---|
| Witchcraft | Entwined Torment, Runic Bulwark, Aether Cascade |
| Swordmastery | Last Stand, Sword Sage, Tactical Mastery |
| Vampirism | Rebound Death, Lethal Crescendo, Sanguine Renewal |
Slot the abilities you buy into day and night quick slots
Unlocking an active ability does not put it on your bar. Coen has four Day Quick Slots and four Night Quick Slots, and the tree an ability came from decides where it can go. Witchcraft abilities only fit day slots, Vampirism abilities only fit night slots, and Swordmastery abilities can sit in either.
Active abilities also run on Activation Charges, which you build by landing attacks, blocking, and pulling off perfect blocks. Several of them carry cooldowns on top of that, so an unlocked ability is not something you can lean on every few seconds.
Why a perk will not unlock
- You are not at a restored shrine. Perks cannot be bought from the pause menu or out in the field, and an unrestored shrine still needs its heart returned.
- The manual is missing. Witchcraft and Swordmastery nodes marked with the book icon stay locked until you find and read the matching manual.
- Corruption is too low. Vampirism nodes check your Corruption level, which rises by feeding on animals and humans.
- You have not banked enough points. The counter beside Perks on the shrine menu is the number you can actually spend, and Ultimates need 35 of them.
The practical takeaway is to think of shrine visits as part of your daily planning, not an interruption to it. Because the deeper perks burn time segments and the whole rescue runs against a 30-day clock, buying an expensive node right before a timed objective can cost you the quest you were saving points for.
