There are a total of five different classes in Dune: Awakening, each with a unique skill tree featuring different abilities and skills that come in useful in various situations. You will start your adventure by choosing from one of the four initial character class options, with a fifth class unlocking later in the game. This initial choice is important, locking you into certain dialogue options for that specific starting class throughout your journey across Arrakis. However, choosing an initial class does not mean you can only choose from that class's distinct skills, and progression across classes is encouraged.

While Dune: Awakening might happen in an alternate timeline, it features all the core iconic "classes" that exist in the canon, designed around specific archetypes established in the novels and modeled aesthetically around those seen in the screen adaptations to some extent. Each of the five classes includes its own skill tree with distinct featured abilities. Dune: Awakening's featured classes are Swordmaster, Mentat, Bene Gesserit, Trooper, and Planetologist, and eventually, you'll want to incorporate skills from each class to have available in different situations.

Swordmaster: Experts In Close-Quarters Combat

Swordmasters Specialize In The Blade, The Will, & The Way

The Swordmaster class is a melee-focused, close-quarters fighting class designed around the Ginaz School of fighting. This style "represent[s] the pinnacle of fighting prowess in the Known Universe" and features intricate methods for cutting through Holtzman Shields and defeating enemies with bladed weapons. As with all classes in Dune: Awakening, Swordmaster has three distinct specializations, each with an associated skill tree, which include The Blade, The Will, and The Way.

Skills in The Blade specialization enhance offensive abilities, increasing damage with bladed weapons and featuring new abilities such as Eye of the Storm, a whirlwind precision attack. Skills in The Will tree are focused on defense, increasing or buffing health in unique ways and providing useful effects such as increased damage reduction. Finally, skills in The Way specialization are all about more effectively managing and conserving stamina consumption both in and out of combat. Despite combat being a little lackluster during the Beta, the Swordmaster class has a ton of potential.

Mentat: Utilize Technology As A Human Computer

Mentats Skill Trees Include Mental Calculus, Assassination, & Tactician

Mentats are human computers capable of calculating data at superhuman speeds, and the class focuses on utilizing technologies to plan and strategize encounters, laying traps, exploiting enemy vulnerabilities, and more. The Order of Mentats is a "secretive and insular organization" from the established canon that is largely unrepresented or overlooked in most screen adaptations, making this class likely to be greatly appreciated by fans of the original novels.

Each class includes a starting ability, such as the Mentat's Sentinel, "a suspensor-buoyed dart projector that uses motion detection to cover a field of fire."

Mentats can specialize in the Mental Calculus, Assassination, and Tactician skill trees. Mental Calculus will make your ranged accuracy more precise and help exploit weak points on enemies across Arrakis. The Assassination tree includes skills that enable single-target elimination through the use of poison and a unique Hunter-Seeker ability that kills enemies without causing alarm. Finally, the Tactician skill tree focuses on skills and controlling crowds of enemies, as well as manipulating aspects of the battlefield during larger combat encounters.

Bene Gesserit: The Sisterhood & Learn The Weirding Way

Bene Gesserits Specialize In The Weirding Way, The Voice, & Body Control

Perhaps the most iconic class in Dune: Awakening, the Bene Gesserit are central to the larger story of Dune. You don't necessarily have to play as a female in order to the Sisterhood and fight using Bene Gesserit abilities, and it's a good idea to dip into this class during your campaign regardless of your preferred playstyle. The Bene Gesserit class features some of the most emblematic Dune concepts, such as The Weirding Way and The Voice. You'll focus on mind control and bending enemies to your will, as well as enhancing survival skills and survivability.

"Compel enemies toward you and attack while their guard is down."

Skills in The Weirding Way tree feature unique abilities such as the Bindu Dodge, a ive ability that triggers after a successful parry, allowing you to avoid dart and blade attacks for a short time. In The Voice specialization, you will be able to Compel enemies toward you and attack while their guard is down. Body Control is a skill tree with various survival and health buffs that can be extremely useful both in combat and while exploring the vast open deserts of Arrakis.

Trooper: Become A Master Of Firearms & Battlefield Tactics

Troopers Feature The Gunnery, Suspensor Training, & Tactical Tech Skill Trees

Troopers are a dedicated gunnery class in Dune: Awakening that specialize in enhancing ranged weapon tactics for rifles, scatterguns, and bigger weapons such as missile launchers and lasguns, all of which can be crafted after researching the associated schematics. Trained in the Landsraad's Great Houses, which are part of Dune's deeper lore from before the Butlerian Jihad, Troopers are an effective and powerful ranged class. They have dynamic skills suited for exploration and epic battles, and make use of a starting feature called a Suspensor Belt that enables unique abilities.

Specializing in the Gunnery skill tree will enhance your ranged weapon prowess, increasing damage for heavy weapons, scatterguns, and rifles of all shapes and sizes. The Suspensor Training skill tree enables unique effects from the Suspensor Belt, such as creating anti-gravity fields and enabling mid-air dashes. Finally, the Tactical Tech tree allows specialization in explosives, utilities, and abilities, while also providing useful combat items like grenades. Troopers are built for large combat encounters and heavy weapons, though they can be viable at close range as well.

Planetologist: An Original Awakening Class Built For Exploration

Planetologists Focus On Science, Exploration, & Mechanics

One of the most original and unexpected classes in Dune: Awakening is the Planetologist class, which is designed for enhanced exploration and improving research abilities and speed. The Planetologists were sent to Arrakis for terraforming purposes by the Imperium, and are trained to survive in the harshest desert environments. You won't be able to choose Planetologist as a starting class, but it's highly recommended you dip into its various skill trees to enhance your exploration and research abilities, and it can also make vehicular traversal of Arrakis more efficient.

Planetologist is the only class that is not selectable during the character creation process, and will need to be unlocked during the main story progression.

Specializing in the Science tree will give you access to better yield improvements, improved resource optimization, and enhanced energy/power maintenance. The Explorer skill tree improves scanning and traversal tactics, while the Mechanic tree will improve your ability to maintain vehicles and utilize specialized mining abilities. No matter your playstyle, the Planetologist skills are going to improve your survival likelihood considerably and will be a difference-maker when you enter the deep desert.

Overall, there is a unique class for just about every style of gameplay in Dune: Awakening, and the ability to invest skill points in any of the different class trees opens up diverse playstyle choices. You don't need to focus entirely on your starting character's skill tree, though often this is the most straightforward option. Regardless of how you choose to play, it's a good idea to eventually choose and equip abilities from each class to get the full range of advantages during your journey to wake the Sleeper.