At the start you choose a weapon family: Blade, Spear, Star, Dagger, Bow, Staff, Fist or Gun. That decides how you fight and which gear drops for you.

At the level-10 advancement you choose a branch inside the family, and that branch is your profession. There are 31 in total. Later advancement stages follow automatically as you level, so the one decision you have to make deliberately is the first.

Every profession has a signature skill. These are some of the professions you can grow into.

• ▸Blade: Moonblade (Crescent Cleave), Sunward (Solar Judgment), Dawnedge, Oni Pact, Aegis Warden.
• ▸Spear: Dusklancer (Twilight Impale), Snow Reaver.
• ▸Star and Dagger: Nightkite (Violet Stars), Shadefox (Fox Ambush), Twin Iris (Petal Cross), Batveil, Mask Dancer.
• ▸Bow: Reed Ranger (Verdant Volley), Crane Eye (Sky Piercer), Gale Archer, Silkwind, Tiger Scout.
• ▸Staff: Embersage (Ember Bloom), Frostweaver (Winter Chain), Lotus Oracle (Lotus Light), Cinder Monk, Wyrmkeeper, Eclipse Sage, Rune Brawler, Echo Artisan.
• ▸Fist: Tidefist (Dragon Current), Stormhand.
• ▸Gun: Cloud Corsair (Cloudburst), Thunder Cartographer (Thunder Shell), Star Rover (Comet Trail), Jade Tinker.

Every skill has ranks up to 10. You earn skill points as you level, and each advancement stage has its own skill-point budget, so what you spend in one stage does not eat into the next.

Skills cost MP and have timings. A skill that looks slow is slow for a reason, and learning the rhythm of your signature move matters more than memorising a rotation. Every skill has a hand-made visual effect, which also makes the timing readable at a glance.

Creatures drop gear for your family, so what you pick up on the road is usually something you can use. You have seven equipment slots: weapon, outfit, charm, head, gloves, boots and ring. Press E for the equipment window.

There is no wrong family, only the one that suits how you like to play. The guide on choosing a weapon family and profession walks through the questions worth asking yourself before level 10.