Strategy guide

The Fortify tree: what to take first

Aim for success chance, skilling XP, action time and all-skills XP first, with double gather and movement speed next. Your first points are small bonuses that open the way to bigger ones, so the biggest-looking node is rarely the right first pick. Maxing the tree takes months, so use this to get started and plan the rest yourself.

Checked against the game data from 2 October 2026

Where the points come from

Fortify is trained inside the Fortress: every action pays Fortify XP, and a run pays a bonus of the waves survived squared at the end (400 at wave 20, 10,000 at wave 100). You get one point per Fortify level, and the centre node is free. The tree has 120 nodes. Ninety-nine are open from the start, ten need Fortify 100 and eleven need Fortify 110.

Refunds go from the outside in, so you can't pull out a node that others hang off, and each refunded node costs 3 reroll credits.

Why the first points look small

A node can only be bought after the node next to it on the way from the centre. The big bonuses sit deeper than the small ones, so a good plan spends its first points on small nodes that are worth little alone and open a path to larger ones. At the planner's starting values, 5 points are worth about +1.1 and the next 5 are worth about +3.2, because by 10 points the plan reaches the −0.12 s action time node and a 0.5% all-skills XP node.

The planner works out the best connected set of nodes for your points, then buys them in order of value, taking the best node whose neighbour you already own. That is why its first picks are scattered across clusters instead of finishing one at a time.

What a point is worth

The planner scores every stat in "% more skilling XP per hour" so that unlike things can be compared. These values are our model of how the game's formulas turn each stat into XP, not numbers from the game files, and the groups below are our ranking of them.

Good

• Success chance, 1.2 per 1%. A failed action pays only 10% of the success XP, so every point of success you gain turns a poor action into a full one. Success is capped at 100%, but past that point each extra 1% takes 0.05 s off the action, so it keeps its value. See Success chance.
• Skilling XP, 1 per 1%. +1% XP is +1%. Its cluster, Diligence, totals +5%.
• All-skills XP, 1 per 1%. The same value, and it applies to every skill, including combat. Its cluster, Enlightenment, totals +13.25%, and the biggest nodes sit deep in the tree.
• Action time, 1 per 0.1 s. A Momentum node takes off between 0.03 s and 0.16 s, and the cluster totals 1 s. Shorter actions mean more actions per hour. See Action time.

Mid

• Double gather, 0.5 per 1%, and only on gathering tasks. The extra item pays full XP, so a task pays the same and finishes in fewer actions. It can't pass 85%. Its cluster, Bounty, is the biggest in the tree at +18%. See Double gather.
• Movement speed, 0.4 per 1%, because part of every task is walking. See Movement.
• Fortify XP, 0.05 per 1% by default. It only speeds up Fortify levels, so it is worth your share of play spent in the Fortress. If half your play is there it is worth 0.5 and belongs among the good ones.

Bad

• Material save, 0.3 per 1% by default. It keeps your inputs, adds no XP and no progress, so for XP per hour it is worth next to nothing. Its value is in the materials you save. It can't pass 55%.
• HP per food, 0.02 per point, and Barter panel XP, 0.1 per point. Both sit at the far end of the tree.

Nodes in the bad group still get bought when they are the only way to reach a good one. The planner counts that.

What changes it for you

You also get other tasks while you sleep or step away, so don't tune the tree to one skill. The planner can set these values from your own play: seconds per action, success chance, time spent walking, the XP bonus you already have, your share of play in the Fortress and the share of your tasks that are gathering. The answers move things in these ways:

• Lots of Fortress. At half your play, Fortify XP is worth 0.5 per 1% instead of 0.05, and at 20 points the plan buys five Fortify XP nodes instead of three.
• Failing a lot. Success is worth about 0.7 per 1% at 85% success and about 1 at 60%. That changes how much the plan is worth more than what it buys.
• Lots of walking. At half your time walking, movement speed is worth about 0.45 per 1% instead of about 0.27.
• Mostly combat. Most of the tree's stats are for skilling actions, not fights. All-skills XP, movement speed and HP per food still apply, so they move up the list.
• Late game. Action time can't go below 2.0 s. Getting there takes about 7 s of reduction from tools, capes, Vigor and the tree, so it matters only far into the game. Below the floor, time turns into double gather and material save instead.

What the plan holds at each size

These are the planner's picks at its starting values. The stat bonuses are what the nodes add up to.

A plan

1. Open the suggested tree and set it to your Fortify level. Buy what it shows, in its order.
2. Set the values from your play before you commit. Your seconds per action and your Fortress share change the plan the most.
3. Don't skip a stepping stone because it looks weak. The planner buys it because the node behind it is worth more.
4. Revisit the tree when your play changes, for example when you start doing a lot more Fortress. Your build stays in the planner and can be shared as a link.
5. Leave the level 100 and 110 nodes until you are near them. Those levels take 55,204,475 and 148,599,423 XP.