Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming

The Ascent: All skill point locations

By

Building up your character in The Ascent is completely open to your own preferences. You’re free to invest your skill points into any skills you like, with no class restrictions to funnel you into any specific play style or role. These skills give you some passive bonuses, such as more health and energy, but also make your abilities stronger at the same time. Shooting may be your primary way of dealing damage, but it’s really your skills that determine how strong you are in this cyberpunk world ready to tear you limb from limb.

Leveling up always nets you three precious skill points to distribute however you please. However, even when you hit max level, you won’t have enough to fully upgrade your character. The alternative way of earning skill points is to find them hidden in the world. There are eight more skill points waiting to be found and collected in various locations in The Ascent, and we’ve pinpointed their locations so you can buff your character as much as possible. Here’s every skill point location on the map.

Recommended Videos

Further reading

Skill Point 1: Cluster 13 – Workout Courtyard

Standing at the counter of a dingy shop.
Microsoft

This first skill point can be picked up at the tail end of the very first mission in the game. Once you arrive at Cluster 13, head toward the bar, which will be indicated on your map. Once inside, just head around the back of the bar, past the bartender, and pick up this skill point in the far right corner.

Related

Skill Point 2: Waste Recycling Network

During your second visit to the Waste Recycling Network, the skill point we’re after will be in a chest you can reach after you fight the Papa Feral.

Skill Point 3: Gratitude – Store Room

Once at Gratitude, head to the building to the north, but not so far that you enter No Man’s Land. Look for the locked door that requires at least one Cyberdeck upgrade to hack open, labeled as ICE-1. If you have the hacking skills, crack open the door and grab an easy skill point inside.

Skill Point 4: Grinder – South East of Grinder Station

Mechs shooting a chaingun.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This skill point is hard to miss. As you wrap up the second main mission in the game and arrive at the Grinder, go to the top right corner of the map. There’s a ton of things to pick up here, but make sure you grab the skill point from the chest before you leave.

Skill Point 5: Gratitude – Cafe

Right after the last skill point and finishing up the second mission, the third mission will take you to a location called the Black Lake Towers. To get there, you will have to go through Gratitude again, but this time keep your eyes open for an abandoned cafe you can enter through a blown-out hole in the wall. Inside near the top is your skill point.

Skill Point 6: Nitroad – BioChoice Pharma Building

Further on during the third mission, you will enter the Nitroad. This area is full of gang members you will have to fight your way through, but take your time and make sure to spot the BioChoice Pharma building. It’s a small, square building lit up in blue. On the desk behind the counter is the skill point.

Skill Point 7: Cosmodrome – Behind the East Desk

People looking out over a view of a towering city.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We’re still in the third mission for this skill point. Almost at the end, while navigating the Cosmodrome, you will be in a lobby with rows of benches and desks. Along the bottom wall is a kiosk and a skill point on the rear desk between terminals.

Skill Point 8: The Node – Onyx Void Chapter

The last skill point you can pick up is in the mission “Foreign Code.” During this mission, you will enter the Onyx Void Chapter building. Once you enter, go up the stairs and take the first available right turn. Inside this cluttered room is a desk with your last skill point on it.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
April’s most anticipated RPG is coming to Xbox Game Pass
Key art for Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes.

We've learned about the titles that will come to Xbox Game Pass throughout the back half of April, and several of them are games getting added to the catalog the day they launch. Of those, the most notable is Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

While that name is a mouthful, RPG fans will want to pay attention to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes as it is a spiritual successor to the long-dormant Konami RPG series Suikoden. Many of the developers who worked on the original Suikoden games worked together to reimagine the concept for the modern era, creating an RPG with over 100 recruitable party members, engaging combat, and a gorgeous pixelated art style that gives Square Enix's HD-2D games a run for their money. Prequel game Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is already on Xbox Game Pass too, so Microsoft seems all-in on backing this Suikoden successor as we wait for Konami to release remasters of those titles or a new game in the series.

Read more
Avowed: release date window, trailers, gameplay, and more
An environment shot of the Dawnshore Eastern Overlands in Avowed.

Obsidian has been a studio that punches above its weight with amazing RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and South Park: The Stick of Truth, as well as classic games like Fallout: New Vegas and Star War:s Knight of the Old Republic 2. While we're waiting on the sequel to the sci-fi adventure The Outer Worlds 2, the team is taking on its biggest challenge yet. Avowed is a first-person RPG that has a lot of visual similarities to Skyrim, but is set within the original world created for Pillars of Eternity. We've been tracking this game since it was revealed in 2020 and it's now in the final stretch before release. This could be the next great RPG experience you've been looking for, so check out everything you need to know about Avowed.
Release date window
During the January Xbox Developer Direct, we learned that Avowed is currently scheduled to release in fall 2024. No specific date was given, but we anticipate a firm date will be revealed by this summer.
Platforms

With Obsidian being owned by Xbox and a first-party studio, Avowed is an Xbox and PC exclusive. There is some possibility that it could come to other platforms like PlayStation in the future now that Xbox has started experimenting with bringing its exclusives to other platforms, but for now, it is best to assume this title will stay on Xbox and PC.
Trailers
Avowed - Official Gameplay Trailer

Read more
The best games on Xbox Game Pass for right now (April 2024)

As the Xbox Game Pass program has grown, so has our list of the best games on Xbox Game Pass. After the launch of the Xbox Series X, Microsoft has doubled down on Game Pass, now offering well over 350 games on the console alone. To help you through option paralysis, we rounded up the top games on Microsoft's subscription platform.

Many titles are available on Xbox and PC, and some even have cross-save support. Most of the games are available for streaming on mobile, too, as long as you have Game Pass Ultimate. The Game Pass library is also constantly changing, so check out our monthly guide for addition and removal announcements.

Read more