Casualties: Unknown has three skills: Strength, Resilience and Intelligence. They are not a class system. They are a slow, run-long investment, and the order you raise them changes what the run can do.
How skills work
Skills are measured in experience points and displayed on the right side of the health panel. Most dependent values are calculated relative to level 10: at STR 9, the game uses a - offset; at STR 13, a +3 offset. Levels past 20 are deliberately slow, and getting past 25 is unlikely in normal play.
Skills increase through use, not by spending points. You gain Strength by swinging and working out, Resilience by taking pain and surviving, and Intelligence by crafting, reading and trading. There is no level-up menu.
Strength
Strength represents muscle mass. Each level changes:
- Attack damage by 3.34%.
- Throw velocity by 10%.
- Carrying capacity by 0.5u, alongside Resilience.
- Hand acceleration in minigames.
Strength is the least urgent skill for a new player, but it becomes valuable once you are carrying a full kit. Higher throw strength also makes it easier to disarm traps from a safe distance. Train it with push-ups or planks, by attacking with physical swings, and by moving while over-encumbered.
Resilience
Resilience is the survival skill. Each level changes:
- Stamina regeneration by 2%.
- Pain tolerance by 2.5% (total pain, not limb pain).
- Carrying capacity by 0.5u.
- Hand shakiness in minigames by 6% per level above 10.
The pain thresholds are the reason to care. At 11 Resilience, total pain cannot reach 100, so you cannot ragdoll from pain alone. At 20 Resilience, pain cannot exceed 75, which prevents pain shock entirely. That is a build-defining difference in a game where passing out is usually fatal.
Train Resilience with squats or planks, by being in pain while conscious, by jumping and landing, by killing enemies, and by moving while over-encumbered. A tourniquet applied to a limb generates a safe, steady 40 pain; some players use it deliberately to farm Resilience experience. If you do, watch the nine-minute infection timer.
Intelligence
Intelligence is the progression stat. It controls:
- Which items you can recognize.
- Which crafting recipes are available.
- Trader reputation: +4 per level of difference from 10.
- Lock-picking speed and decay.
- Manual defibrillator power estimation range.
Unlike Strength and Resilience, Intelligence can be reduced. A Mindwipe resets it to 0, which removes recipes and item recognition. That is a serious setback, not a respec button.
The practical target is INT 13 for the Backpack. Before that, aim for INT 5 (Foliage Bag), 6 (Canteen), 7 (Sling Bag and Makeshift Digging Tool), 8 (Splint) and 9 (Tourniquet). Each of those crafts solves a specific early-game problem.
XP sources
| Action | Skill | XP |
|---|---|---|
| Craft a recipe for the first time | INT | +10 |
| Read a Blueprint | INT | +25 |
| Read an E-PDA for the first time | INT | +35 |
| Successful haggle (first seven) | INT | +2.5 |
| Buy an item | INT | +1 |
| Cross a layer boundary | INT | +80 |
| Push-ups or plank | STR | +0.5/s (or 0.25) |
| Physical swing damage | STR | Damage ÷ 300 |
| Being in pain while conscious | RES | Pain ÷ 8 per second |
| Kill an enemy | RES | Enemy HP ÷ 100 |
| Move while over-encumbered | STR + RES | +0.2/s each |
The fastest INT route is to craft every new recipe you can afford, read every E-PDA and Blueprint, and cross layers. The +80 for a layer transition is larger than most early crafts, so progress is its own reward.
XP thresholds
| Level | XP required | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 300 | Foliage Bag. |
| 9 | 540 | Tourniquet. |
| 10 | 640 | Baseline skill offset. |
| 13 | 1,062 | Backpack and Material Pouch. |
| 20 | 3,416 | Pain shock immunity at RES 20. |
| 25 | 10,580 | Practical soft cap. |
Practical targets
- First run: INT 7 for a Sling Bag and digging tool, RES 11 if you can get there.
- Mid run: INT 13 for the Backpack, RES 15 for pain tolerance, STR 12 for carrying capacity.
- Long run: RES 20 to eliminate pain shock, INT 20+ for late recipes, STR as high as your kit demands.
Do not spread experience evenly. Intelligence pays for itself through recipes and trader prices; Resilience prevents the deaths that end runs; Strength is a comfort stat until your backpack is full. When in doubt, craft something new.
Mindwipe and resets
Mindwipe resets Intelligence to 0 and can make you Hollow, which prevents reading E-PDA notes. It is not a normal respec and should be treated as a run-altering event. The Neural Booster is a separate late-game item that can raise stats at a cost; it is not a replacement for normal leveling.
If you are Mindwiped, your recipes and item recognition disappear. Rebuild Intelligence through crafting and layer transitions before attempting a deep layer. The crafting guide lists the recipes worth re-learning first.