How should i spread out talent points?

[Valkurm Emperor]

Should i be focusing them in 1 or 2 areas or do you end up with enough to fill most of the tree?

[Nexxes]

Well if you play (grind) the game through to level 90 you can take nearly all of them I think. But You shouldn't take that long for the story so i would advice you to spent your points wisely.

You don't need to focus them on anything, you just should be aware to spent them in skills and talents you need and want.

[devSin]

You can get +1 point from armor, and +1 point from companion bonuses (when they're friendly and in the party, they'll give a bonus point to a certain talent).

There are 12 total points possible at max level, so you cannot max them all out. If you get 2 points in every talent, you can max them all out with equipment and companions.

There is no companion bonus for lockpicking, and the only intuition bonus for equipment is on the DLC hat. So those you may want to get to 2 first.

All capes have +1 charisma, and you can customize your armors with vigor, lockpicking, or science. Gloves that give +1 crafting are readily available at shops and as loot.

All the talents are useful (their secondary effects can be very powerful); personally, I'd put them in tiers with charisma, intuition, vigor, and lockpicking the most important, science in the middle, and crafting the least important. With vigor, you only need to get the first point (it allows you to regenerate health and armor outside combat) as a priority, and then you can concentrate on other talents (though you'll want a second point eventually, as there are some obstacles that require 3 vigor that are useful for loot or shortcuts through dangerous areas).

[ianghorn]

Talents specifically.
Theres only 6 of them, most can get a boost from gear and from companions who are rated as friendly, so spread them out.
Most important is deciding which is most useful to you early on, as you only start out with 1 point and get another point every 4 levels.

[Darbie]

The companion bonuses only apply to your active companions. So don't max the points of companions you plan on playing with primarily.

[Precache]

You can skip crafting as there is a blacksmith in the starting city that can do that for you. First I'd pickup charisma level 1, and a cape (level 2 should last you most of the game). Then pickup science level1 (by the time you need level 2, you'll have items that will boost it.) Then pick up one level in lockpicking and one in intuition.

Lockpicking is only really useful at level 3, and then only for a handful of chests so don't be in hurry to get there.

You can get armor bonuses through crafting in lockpicking, science and vigor. Make sure you and your companions each have a different bonus, that way you can swap armor with them and pickup bonuses when you need it. But you will need an extra piece of armor in order to make the swap, so find something light and keep it in your inventory.

[Sir Fed Dump]

"Soft Cap" is level 46, even though you can grind all the way to Lvl 90.

[elbentzo]

While it's true that by the end of the game you have 12 talent points (assuming you do enough side quests and/or grind enough to reach level 46 before the game ends, which is not trivial), I don't think you should look at endgame builds as the goal. Those 12 talent points -- along with companion bonuses and item bonuses -- are enough to max out all the talents, but in reality your talent composition at level 10 is much more important than at level 46. Being able to unlock that chest and get a better weapon, or to use charisma and avoid a fight or the need to spend gold on a bribe will prove much more impactful at low levels than at high ones.

I'd recommend that you have a plan before you start -- putting 1 point in each talent is a very decent starting strategy for the first 21 levels (not the best, but you'll get it as you advance), but you should definitely think about the order in which you do it. It's very much dependent on your build. I tend to leave craftsmanship and charisma to the end, since craftsmanship can be boosted with items and companions (you can get Kurt's bonus very quickly relative to the other companions) and charisma can be boosted with items and also you can save scum charisma checks since they are RNG. For my technical build, I started with science and vigor, followed by lockpicking and intuition.

[Smig]

I'd prioritize lockpicking, if not for anything else, to not leave you with the feeling of missing out every time you have to leave a locked container behind.

Charisma is nice to have and satisfying to use when you get the chance, but it doesn't lock you off of stuff. Since you get a free point with a cape, and possibly another one depending on your choice of companions, I'd make a decision about this talent more dependent on the kind of character I'm roleplaying than anything else.

Intuition has a surprising amount of checks in dialogues plus other perks, so it's also nice to have, even at only one point, but I wouldn't put more than one in it for quite some time.

Vigor is nice all around. Gives you more survivability, gives you the convenience of extra paths and the convenience of carrying more stuff. Makes the game generally less annoying. Can't go wrong with vigor.

Science at level 1 is kind of useful at opening up some paths, but above that, not so much unless you go firearms heavy, but even then, not necessary. You can find plenty of ammo and potions without it. I just carry an armor with a point in science to open up those paths.

I'd put crafting at the bottom for two reasons. Firstly, you mostly need crafting while in town or in a camp, so getting bonuses from companions and equipment doesn't impact your gameplay so much since you're in a situation where you can just get the right companion and the right equipment for that purpose and then go back to your adventuring setup. And secondly, a blacksmith will allow you to do max level upgrades anyway, for a price. Individually it's not expensive but if you're upgrading a bunch of stuff at once it can add up to thousands of gold in one go. Putting one point in crafting and using the aforementioned bonuses will save you a bunch of money, though I didn't find gold hard to come by anyway, so you could do without. Two levels could be useful to recycle stuff if you're on your weight limit and away from camp, otherwise you'd need to drop items to sprint, so having one point invested, plus a crafting glove will do.

[Zaris]

After finishing the game on normal with all sidequests without grinding, just doing quests you will have enough skill pts to fully upgrade 2 trees to get skills like magic missile, aoe stasis, shield, heal, aoe explosion and about 10 pts on top.

About 11-12 points to get 5 in magic, 5 willpower and 1-2 endurance for a mage build.

About 8-9 pts to get 3 charisma, 3 intuition, 1 crafting, 1 science.