Ragnarok M: Eternal Love — Research

Skill Points (Job Skills)

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Skill Points (Job Skills)

How skill points are earned, spent, reset, and extended via Breakthrough. Distinct from Adventure Skill Points (the AR-Roland system; see adventure-skills.md).

Key idea

Three separate point pools exist in RO M:

  1. Stat Points — earned per base level; spent on STR/AGI/VIT/INT/DEX/LUK
  2. Skill Points (job) — earned per job level; spent on class skills (this note)
  3. Adventure Skill Points — earned per Adventure Rank; spent at NPC Roland on QoL/farming skills

Don’t confuse them. Different earn rates, different reset costs, different spend pools.

Earning skill points (job)

Per-level rule

  • 1 skill point per job level
  • Job level is separate from base level — you gain job XP from monster kills like base XP
  • Each class tier has its own job-level cap; advancing to the next tier resets job level to 1 (but keeps your skill investments)

Class tier and job-level caps

Class tierJob level capSkill points earned at this tier
Novice~10 (advance gate)small, mostly spent on basic skills
1st Job (e.g. Thief)typically 40~40 points on the 1st-job tree
2nd Job (e.g. Assassin)typically 40~40 more points on the 2nd-job tree
Transcendent / 3rd (Asn Cross)typically 70 [VERIFY current cap]~70 points on the trans tree
4th Job (Guillotine Cross)typically 70+ [VERIFY]additional points on the 4th-job tree
5th Tier (Soul Blade Cross)[VERIFY current cap]additional points on SBC unique skills

[VERIFY exact caps per tier — these change with episodes; check in-game character sheet]

Skills carry forward

When you advance class, your previously-allocated skill points stay invested. You don’t re-spend them on Tier-2 skills when you become a Tier-3 character. Each tier just gives you a new pool for that tier’s skills.

This is crucial for the assassin lineage: at SBC you have access to skills from Thief, Assassin, Asn Cross, GX, AND SBC, each filled from its respective job-level pool.

Spending skill points

Where

  • Open the Skill tab in your character UI
  • Click a skill, allocate points (most max at Lv 5–20 depending on skill)
  • Some skills require prerequisites (e.g. need Lv X in skill A to unlock skill B)

Skill prerequisites in the assassin path (key gates)

  • Hiding (Lv 10) → required for Grimtooth, Cloaking, many later skills
  • Enchant Poison (Lv 10) → required for Enhanced Enchant Poison and EDP later
  • Sonic Blow (Lv ≥ 5) → required for Sonic Acceleration
  • Soul Breaker (Lv ≥ 10) → required for Ghost Wave at SBC
  • Soul Vow → required to access Soul-consuming skills (Depravity, Decay, etc.) at SBC

→ Full prerequisite map: see assassin-path-skill-tree.md

Resetting skill points

Methods

  1. Skill Reset Rod — consumable item; resets all skill points for the current class tier
  2. Eternal Rock — [VERIFY current usage — historically used alongside Skill Reset Rod]
  3. Ymir’s Notebook (via the Dimensional Fracture adventure skill) — saves a build snapshot; lets you reload from town for 500,000 zeny + 1 adventure skill point

Free reset budget

  • Each character starts with 3 Skill Reset Rods + 3 Eternal Rocks (the “free” reset budget)
  • Beyond that, additional resets cost real currency or BCC [VERIFY current cost]

When to reset vs. when to use Ymir’s Notebook

  • Reset Rod: permanent re-spec; use when committing to a different long-term build
  • Ymir’s Notebook: save up to N build slots; swap freely between saved builds for 500K zeny each time
  • For Soul Blade Cross with multiple builds (AA Crit + Ghost Wave), Ymir’s Notebook is the right tool — you’d burn rods otherwise

Breakthrough — extending skill caps

Some skills can be broken through beyond their base max level using Breakthrough Books.

Mechanics [VERIFY current numbers]

  • Each Breakthrough Book grants +5 to a skill’s effective level cap
  • Some classes can use 2 books on the same skill (stacking the breakthrough) for total +10
  • Breakthrough Books are obtained from: special quests, events, BCC shop [VERIFY current sources]
  • Breakthroughs are permanent — don’t reset with Skill Reset Rod

Strategic implications

  • Breakthrough is endgame DPS optimization: prefer breaking through your build’s core skills (e.g. Cross Impact, Soul Breaker, EDP)
  • Don’t waste on filler skills you might re-spec out of
  • Plan breakthrough order after you’ve committed to a build

Breakthrough vs. base allocation

  • Base skill levels (1 → max) come from job skill points spent normally
  • Breakthrough adds above the base cap (e.g. Lv 20 → Lv 25 with one book)
  • Breakthrough only matters once a skill is already maxed at base

Skill points across the assassin lineage (your case)

Since you’re at Soul Blade Cross (Tier 6), your total skill point pool comes from:

  • Thief job points (1st-job tree)
  • Assassin job points (2nd-job tree)
  • Assassin Cross job points (trans tree)
  • Guillotine Cross job points (4th-job tree)
  • Soul Blade Cross job points (5th-tier tree)

Total points are roughly the sum of all tier caps — likely 200+ points across the full assassin path [VERIFY exact total in-game]. Each pool spends on skills introduced at that tier.

Practical implication

You can’t “save up” all skill points to dump into SBC’s burst skills — points are tier-locked. So at SBC you’re spending the SBC pool on Soul Vow, Ghost Wave, Soul Sacrifice, etc., and your previously-invested points cover the carry-over skills (Soul Breaker, EDP, Cross Impact, etc.).

If you reset at SBC, you reset only the SBC pool unless you specifically reset the others too (each tier needs its own reset).

Common pitfalls

  • Confusing Reset Rod with Eternal Rock — different items, different scopes; verify in-game which resets what
  • Breakthrough on a non-build skill — wasted; once you’re sure of a build, breakthrough core skills only
  • Forgetting Ymir’s Notebook exists — players burn rods when they could swap between saved builds
  • Wasting Tier-1 skill points on skills you’ll never use — the prerequisite tree forces some inefficiency, but minimize it

See also

Sources / verification log

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