Building anything takes skill, effort, and dedication. Building a fortress in Dwarf Fortress, on the other hand, requires you to choose the right skills so that your dwarves can perform better.
There are a ton of skills to choose from in Dwarf Fortress, but you are only allotted a few points to spend as the game starts. You will soon welcome more individuals into your fray, but you’ll need to be careful who to choose so that you’d know if they’d be beneficial to you.
Best skills in Dwarf Fortress
All that said, here’s a quick look at the best skills you should choose or watch out for in Dwarf Fortress, ranked in descending order. We have decided to focus on a few that are important anytime in the game, and have omitted others that might be of use to you but only in the later parts.
1) Mining Skills
Mining skills, or more specifically the Miner skill, is a crucial skill that’s at the top of the list of must-haves. This is because your dwarves will need to carve into the mountain before they can have a dwelling, which comes well before they get to work on that fortress.
Aside from letting your dwarves dig up more space to work on, mining skills will help you acquire valuable resources in the game. They can also help you expand your reach by creating a network of caves.
2) Woodworking Skills
Woodworking skills, specifically Wood Cutter, and Carpenter, are also important right from the start until the later parts of the game. Wood is one of the first resources your dwarves can harvest, and getting the said skills will help you take advantage of the abundance of the resource.
Wood Cutter will help you get more wood faster, while Carpenter will allow your dwarves to build early dwellings and weapons as well. Make sure to get these skills.
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3) Farming Skills
Farming skills are essential in this game. Skills such as Planter allow you to grow your own food faster. Milker allows your dwarves to milk animals. The milk can then be processed into cheese by dwarves with the Cheese Maker skill. Cook, on the other hand, allows your dwarves to prepare high-quality meals with the produce you make. There are many other Farming skills, so be sure to get them.
These skills might not sound important, but they really are—they ensure that your dwarves and animals are well-fed and satisfied, so they can go about their jobs. These skills enable your workers to power through their tasks.
4) Stoneworker Skills
Stoneworking skills, such as Mason, are very important to creating a strong fortress in Dwarf Fortress. The Mason skill lets your dwarves create certain structures, such as wells, furnaces, and bridges, using stones. These structures add more value to your dwelling, not to mention make them more habitable and durable against potential attacks.
Make sure to include at least the Mason skill early in the game so that your dwarves can build better structures than they can use wood.
5) Engineer Skills
Engineering skills are also important in the game. The Mechanic skill, in particular, allows your dwarves to create mechanisms that make it easier for others to work, get to certain places, and so on. They can also create contraptions that could be used to secure your fortress and keep it safe from potential attackers.
The Siege Engineer skill, on the other hand, allows your dwarves to create powerful ballistas and catapults that could be used for offensive purposes. These machines can then be operated by dwarves with the Siege Operator skill.
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All Skills In Dwarf Fortress, Ranked