• Posted February 27th, 2013 at 08:40 EDT by Alex Locher
• 5 Comments

 DUST 514's character development system is very in-depth. Even in the beta, the game has about 100 different skills to train ranging from weapon and armor specialisation to vehicle control and shield and armor buffs. It would be understandable to be a little lost amongst all the options CCP has given you to develop your merc, but if you can take a few minutes to read over this guide, we can give you a bit of advice as to how to start off.

Getting down to business, we will run through some of the founding skills that you should consider training as you start your persistent soldier's career. This is all just advice based on the idea of building the core of your mercenary before working on the details. Doing it this way affords you the chance to explore the different roles in DUST 514 before ultimately defining your forte. Over time and with dedication you will end up levelling more and more skills so your proficiency across multiple battlefield arts will grow, meaning that you can change your loadout and strategy based on the ebb and flow of the confrontation. Initially however, finding your niche is important. Who wants to be a jack of all trades and master of none?

Foundational Skills

Here are some of the basic skills you should get no matter what your play style will be. They offer you great passive stat boosts that will aid you every second in battle. Skills that offer a 25% buff go up in increments of 5% and those with 15% in increments of 3%. The numbers below reflect the skills trained to level V, however, training most to level IV is sufficient for now.

Dropsuit Command V: unlock various tier dropsuits, -25% scan profile
Combat Engineering V: unlocks Shield Boost Systems, +25% powergrid
Shield Boost Systems V: unlocks Shield Control, +15% dropsuit/vehicle shield recharge rate
Shield Control V: +25% dropsuit/vehicle shield capacity
Field Mechanics V: +25% dropsuit/vehicle armor capacity
Endurance V: +25% stamina
Vigor V: +25% stamina, +25% staminastamina recovery rate
Circuitry V: unlock sensor upgrades, +25% CPU
Sensor Upgrades II: unlock profile dampening
Profile Analysis V: -25% scan profile

Weapons Training

In the early days, you should think about what kind of weapon class you will play with; Sidearm, Light or Heavy. An important note is that Heavy Weapons can only be wielded by mercs wearing the Heavy class dropsuit. You will not be carrying a Forge Gun around the battlefield while donning your Scout armor any time soon.

For this reason, unless you KNOW you are destined for the Heavy road, you should work on Light Weapon Upgrades which will support you regardless of which of the remaining suit classes you choose. If you have already found your favourite weapon and know you’ll stick with it, then find your own the balance between weapon specific and ... (continued on next page)

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