Elena talent tree

Elena's talent tree has 38 nodes. Her Attack and Special pages cover her two sword forms (single blade and dual blade), while her Sanity page is unlike everyone else's: it holds seven passive bonuses that unlock when the Obsessed One bosses of Arcade mode fall. The tree belongs to Elena and is part of the Talents system.

Overview#

• 38 nodes: 13 Attack, 11 Special, 7 Alchemy, 7 Sanity. 34 of the 72 grid slots are empty.
• Nine nodes start learned: Blade of Discipline, Dual Moon, Rage of the Dance, Lone Shadow, Flash, Execution, Parry, Counter and Demiurge's Curse.
• The stones cost 30 in total (7 Chipped, 10 Immundus, 8 Crystal, 5 Diamond). The seven Sanity nodes cost no stones at all; they unlock through achievements.
• In Arcade mode the stone costs are mostly academic. Stage select gives Elena every node outside the Sanity page at its highest level; a full run gives her only the nine starting nodes (see Hidden mechanics).

Reading the tables. Cost per level lists the stone spent for each level, one stone per level (Chipped = Chipped Immundus, Crystal = Immundus Crystal, Diamond = Immundus Diamond). After is the node that must already be learned. Data gives the game's internal effect type and values (permille: 100 = 10%). A * means the node starts at level 1 for free, so the stone named on its first level is never spent.

Stones needed to finish the tree (excluding the achievement nodes)#

Page 1: Attack#

Empty slots: 102, 103, 108, 109, 111.

Page 2: Special#

Empty slots: 204, 205, 206, 210, 211, 212, 218.

Page 3: Alchemy#

Page 4: Sanity (Obsessed One unlocks)#

The page is called Sanity in the interface, but no node touches Sanity: these are fixed bonuses to HP, stamina and stamina cost. Each node has one level, costs nothing and unlocks when its achievement completes. The achievements are earned by defeating an "Obsessed One" in Arcade mode.

Slot order does not follow stage order: Katib (stage 1005) gives Eternal War in slot 408, while Edith (stage 1004) gives Demiurge's Wish in slot 411.

Hidden mechanics#

• Where the unlock comes from. Each of seven Arcade monsters carries a TalentAdd field in StoryMonster: Heggem's gives Shadow Moon (talent 17401), Adamina Path of Suffering (17402), Exilium Fleeting (17403), Edith Demiurge's Wish (17405), Karst Cave Path of Truth (17407), Katib Eternal War (17404), Blessedland Finale (17406). Killing it with Elena applies the talent immediately for the rest of the run and records the achievement, which keeps the talent for future runs.
• Only Elena triggers it. The in-run unlock, and the achievement call that sits beside it in the same function, fire only when the controlled hero is Elena (10007). Each achievement also lists a quest id, which may let other heroes earn it too (not verified).
• Re-granted at stage select. Whenever an Arcade run opens at stage select, every Sanity talent whose achievement is done is set to level 1 for Elena.
• Only stage select starts maxed. ArcadeStageSelect raises every talent outside the Sanity page to max level (AddTalentToMaxWithOutSan, which skips talent slots 400 to 499) and then re-grants the earned Sanity nodes. A full run (ArcadeNewGame) starts Elena with no talents added, so she has only the nine starting nodes and earns the seven Sanity nodes by killing the Obsessed Ones. Whether talents left over from an earlier run survive was not traced. See Arcade mode#Elena's talents in the mode.
• The three stamina-discount nodes never take effect. Fleeting, Eternal War and Demiurge's Wish (type 103) have the condition string "1", but the game asks for the total with parameters (0, 0), and a non-skill condition only passes when the first parameter is above 0. The discount (50% after 3 counted hits, if they worked) is therefore never applied. Details and code in Elena#hm-the-fleeting-line-does-nothing-the-code-is.
• The descriptions overstate. Fleeting is called "slightly" and Eternal War just "reduces", yet both are 15%. Shadow Moon (increases) and Path of Suffering (greatly increases) both give +30% HP, so the wording does not reflect the numbers. For stamina, Finale (+20%) and Path of Truth (+30%) do differ.
• Demiurge's Might uses Rage thresholds. +25% weakness-bar damage above 33% Rage and +35% above 66% Rage (the game text calls it resilience reduction), for the single-blade moves listed in Elena#hm-demiurge-s-might-the-talent-has-a-base.
• Demiurge's Curse grows by switching statuses. Each level applies a different status instead of raising one stack cap: level 1 uses 10115 (3 stacks, 10 s), level 2 uses 10116 (5 stacks, 11 s), level 3 uses 10117 (5 stacks, 12 s), while the text says 3 / 4 / 5 stacks. Only single-blade moves apply it; the exact hits and the level-3 follow-up (status 10121) are in Elena#hm-demiurge-s-curse-is-a-stagger-bomb-and.
• Flash Return restores stamina through a 0.1 second status. The talent turns on status 10118 for a successful Flash dodge.
• Imperial Will and Impregnable work together. Imperial Will slows the ultimate buff's Power decay a little and Impregnable spends 15 Power per automatic dodge or block (Elena#hm-imperial-will-stretches-the-buff-only-a-little, Elena#hm-impregnable-costs-power-the-automatic-block-single-blade). Both cost an Immundus Crystal.
• No Sanity. Elena's tree has no node that depends on the Abnormal State; her page 4 is the achievement bonuses above.

Differences between the text and the data#

Sources#

• build/wiki/kit/tables/HeroTalent.jsonl rows with HeroId 10007; reports/talent_trees.md lines 352 to 430.
• luascript/structdata/fs_userdata.lua lines 109 to 122 (InitArcadeHeroTalent).
• luascript/controller/controllerstorymode.lua lines 1505 to 1512 (called at stage select), 1722 to 1735 (AddTalent), 1760 to 1775 and 3500 to 3514 (kill handlers).
• luascript/structdata/fs_savestory.lua lines 31, 1165 to 1170, 1230 to 1245; luascript/structdata/fs_herodata.lua lines 313 to 372.
• luascript/ui/controller/playerinfoctrl.lua lines 4898 to 4902 (Arcade max-talent achievement), 5020 to 5036.
• Tables StoryMonster (rows 2231, 2291, 2358, 2405, 2623, 2695, 2727: TalentAdd), Achievement ids 60005 to 60011.
• luascript/logic/playervalue/hero10007_value.lua lines 49 to 58 (stamina discount); structdata/ms_herotalentcondition.lua 41 to 67 and fs_herodata.lua 401 to 433 (why Condition "1" never passes with parameters 0, 0); fs_savestory.lua 1168 to 1172 and 1238 to 1243 (talents per Arcade mode); gamedata/playerdefine/hero10007_define.lua lines 49 to 59.
• luascript/logic/player/hero10007.lua lines 90 to 112 and 310 to 325 (Curse, Flash Return); gamedata/playerdefine/hero10007_define.lua lines 49 to 55.
• luascript/logic/playervalue/animalbase_value.lua lines 2345 to 2372 (Demiurge's Might); luascript/structdata/fs_herodata.lua lines 436 to 470.
• Table StatusData rows 10115 to 10118, 10121, 10122.