How to Prepare for Enshrouded's Skill Tree Reset and Level 50 Cap Before 1.0

Enshrouded leaves Early Access on October 15, and the biggest thing standing between veteran players and launch day isn't a new boss or a new biome. It's their own skill tree. Keen Games confirmed on September 23 that every character's skill points reset when the 1.0 update lands, the second full wipe the German studio has triggered this year, and the one it says should be the last. Here's exactly what's changing and how to get your build, your base and your save ready before you log back in.

What Keen Games Confirmed for October 15

In its official "1.0 Combat: changes and additions" post, Keen Games laid out the headline numbers for launch day: the player level cap rises from 45 to 50, and equipment now caps five levels higher at 55. Both changes arrive alongside a new enemy tier and biome tied to the higher cap, though Keen Games has not yet named it in its own posts. Enshrouded exits Steam Early Access and launches 1.0 simultaneously on PC and PlayStation 5 on October 15, with an Xbox Series X|S version still planned for spring 2027.

The price also already moved. Steam listed Enshrouded at $39.99 starting September 8, a $10 increase from its Early Access price, though anyone who already owns the game keeps it without paying again.

Why Your Skill Tree Is Being Reset Again

Keen Games' own wording is blunt: "with the new skills and changes to existing skill placement in the tree, your skill tree has been reset, hopefully for the last time. Don't step out of your base without investing your points, or you're gonna have a bad time." That is not a hypothetical warning players can ignore until they feel like respeccing. The reset happens automatically the first time an existing character loads into the world after the update installs, and it refunds every point you had spent for immediate reassignment.

This isn't new behavior for the game. Keen Games ran an identical reset back on April 21 with Update 8, "Forging the Path," which it also called necessary because the tree had been "reworked significantly." The difference this time is scale: nine new spells, several new skills across three weapon types, and a five-level jump in the cap mean the points coming back on October 15 need to stretch further than they did in April.

How to Prepare Before You Log Back In

Because the reset fires the moment you load an existing character, there's nothing to do inside the game beforehand. The preparation that actually matters happens in your head and in your base:

• Screenshot or write down your current skill allocation before October 15, so you have a reference if you want to rebuild your old loadout rather than experiment.
• Decide in advance whether you're keeping your current weapon focus or switching, since several of the best new options (detailed below) favor mage and archer builds over the base game's melee-heavy early trees.
• Stock up on whatever crafting materials your base is short on before launch day, since you'll likely want to craft new gear to match a reworked build rather than relying on your current level-45 equipment.
• If you play in a group, agree on roles beforehand. A respec that happens mid-raid, with everyone staring at an empty skill tree at once, is the scenario Keen Games is explicitly warning about.

Server hosts should also expect the first login after the update to take longer than usual, since the client has to recalculate every connected character's build at once.

What the Level 50 Cap Changes About Your Build

A five-level increase sounds small next to a full skill tree wipe, but it matters because Keen Games is explicitly tying the new cap to combat identity rather than raw stats. Equipment can now reach level 55, five levels above the new player cap, which gives min-maxers gear to chase even after hitting 50. Plan to spend your first few hours after launch finishing out whatever gear tier you were working toward before the update, since nothing about your level-45 equipment becomes obsolete on day one. It just stops being the ceiling.

New Spells and Combat Options Worth Planning Around

The reset is painful mainly because mage and ranged builds are getting the deepest additions, so players who respec without accounting for them are leaving options on the table. Keen Games' combat post confirms nine new spells split across three categories: control and utility (Mana Drain, which steals mana from enemies, and Entangle, which locks down tougher targets), area damage (Pillar of Flames, Blizzard and Ball Lightning), and three new elemental totems — Fire, Ice and Shock — that join an upgraded Summon Hollow Skeleton spell. Two new skills, Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery, raise how many skeletons and totems a mage can keep active at once.

Wand users get piercing, interrupting heavy attacks plus two new skills, Aerial Wand Attack and Wand Evasion Attack, both built around repositioning mid-fight. Archers aren't left out either: Puncture adds piercing damage, Barrage gives attacks a chance to restore bow durability, and Survival Instinct recovers Shroud-exposure time after killing Shroud-infested enemies with a bow or dagger. None of this requires owning a DLC or expansion; it's bundled into the free 1.0 update for every existing owner.

If your current build leans melee and you're happy with it, the practical move is simple: rebuild roughly what you had and bank any leftover points from the higher cap into whichever new skill looks most useful. If you've been curious about mage or archer play, October 15 is the cheapest it will ever be to try, since everyone is redistributing points from zero at the same time regardless of build.

Launch Day Checklist

• Back up your save file before updating, standard practice for any major patch, but worth repeating given the scale of this one.
• Expect the skill tree reset on first login with an existing character — there is no way to opt out or delay it.
• Have your new build roughly planned, especially if you want to try one of the new mage totems, wand skills or archer options rather than just refilling your old tree.
• Xbox players should note 1.0 does not include their platform at launch; Keen Games is targeting spring 2027 for that version.
• Check Keen Games' official news page for the full release changelog, which the studio said would post closer to October 15 with details beyond this combat preview.

Enshrouded has now reset its skill trees twice in one year heading into a launch Keen Games has spent more than two years building toward. The studio's own framing of this one as "hopefully the last" suggests it expects 1.0 to be the stable foundation the game has been missing — which, if true, means the ten minutes you spend respeccing on October 15 should be the last time you have to.