The Mentats in Dune lore were the human beings who trained their minds to replace the thinking machines, and they appear again as a class in Dune: Awakening. The game combines elements of RPG and survival, and many of the skills players learn are intended to help them navigate the dangers of the deep and harsh desert.
This includes the environment along with the bandits, scavengers, and rival Great Houses vying for power. The Mentats use abilities that focus on planning, poison, and defensive skills in order to retain their position and thrive in the deep desert. There are two parts to unlocking the entire Mentat skill tree, and they start with the character creation process and continue with a series of quests as the player levels up on Arrakis.
Dune Awakening: How to Unlock the Bene Gesserit Skill Tree
The Bene Gesserit skill tree is one of the most powerful in Dune: Awakening. Here's how players can access it and learn these skills.
Character Creation
Choose Your Base Class
- Choice of classes along with home planet and social class.
The game begins with a character referred to as "the Prisoner" by a Bene Gesserit Mother, who examines the player and asks them questions about who they are and where they come from. Each choice the player makes gives them a variety of abilities that are both cosmetic and also related to character building. For example, residents of Chusuk get a cultured Dialogue Trait and Chusuk Music as a Unique Emote, but this isn't related to the Mentat skill tree.
As soon as the player chooses the Mentat school, they will have access to the first Core Ability, The Sentinel. This releases a suspensor-bouyed projector that looks like a harmless cloud of blue dust but can be remotely triggered to release a series of darts when it detects motion.
Every time the character goes up a level, they get a new skill point, which they can use to unlock one of the three Mentat Skill Trees. Sentinel is under the Mental Calculas branch, and the other two are Assassination, which includes poisons and AoE abilities, and Tactician, which includes support skills that extend to allies, like Shield Wall.
Choosing Mentat as a class doesn't lock the character out of the other class skills. Players can access the Bene Gesserit, Trooper, and Swordmaster skill trees through a series of quests once they find the appropriate trainers on Arrakis.
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Beginning Mentat Training
Travel To The Eastern Vermillius Gap
- Seek out Samin Morro in Riftwatch.
Close to level 10, the player will be able to construct a sand bike, enabling them to travel to the Eastern Vermillius Gap, the location of a settlement called Roftwatch. It's not difficult to find, being located in a large rocky outcropping north of Imperial Testing Station #10.
Samin Morro is the trainer who gives players the initial Mentat quest, "First Blood." This starts the Mentat on the path of the Assassin, which is one of the three Mentat skill trees. The initial steps of the quest involve finding and collecting; if the player wants to save time, they can stockpile 100 plant fibers and 100 piles of iron ore before visiting.
Completing this quest, which also involves the stealth placement of some poison, unlocks the Mentat skill tree for any class. Players can then use their skill points to unlock the first slot in their Mentat skills.
The Unwritten Rules of Dune: Awakening Explained
Before setting out into the unforgiving desert of Arrakis in Dune: Awakening, there are several unwritten rules players should become familiar with.
Advanced Mentat Training
The Sprawling Metropolis Of Arrakeen
- Zayn-de-Witte is waiting in the planet's capital city.
Arrakeen is accessible from a Tradepost via quick travel or by using the player's ornithopter. This is where the Advanced Mentat trainer is waiting, and he can be found in a bar next to the main entrance.
Players of other classes might want to wait until the more advanced levels before investing in the Mentat skill tree, so that they have time to focus on their own class first. However, this entirely depends on the unique character build and individual preference.
Zayn has a quest chain of six steps for dedicated Mentats waiting to prove themselves. Each one focuses on another typical Mentat ability, such as interrogation, clandestine deliveries, investigation, and assassination. Upon completion, the player can unlock the second and third slots in the skill trees.
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Survival, MMO
