Ultimate Guide to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Skill Books, Builds, and AP Farming

Introduction

In Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, your power doesn't come from experience points - it comes from the 78 Adventure Books you find. This permanent, book-based upgrade system demands careful planning, as every choice you make locks you into a specific path. This guide breaks down every essential skill, the best early-game books, and the most efficient farming routes to build the ultimate Indy.

Understanding the Adventure Books System

How the Book-Based Upgrade System Works

Forget traditional leveling - Adventure Books are the only way Indiana gets stronger in The Great Circle. You'll find these things scattered across the world as loot, and each one immediately lets you pick a new skill or passive upgrade from three trees: Combat, Traversal, or Utility.

But here's where it gets tricky: these choices are permanent, and there's no respec system whatsoever. The order you discover books determines the order you can learn skills, so if you pick up a Combat book early but wanted to focus on Traversal, you're stuck with that path. This makes route planning absolutely critical if you're targeting specific abilities.

You've got 78 books to hunt down across six major regions, which is no small task. The Vatican holds 21, Gizeh contains 23, and Sukhothai packs a dense 25 - that's most of your collection right there. You'll also find one each in the Himalayas, Shanghai, and Iraq, plus another six sold by doctors if you've got the funds to spare.

Adventure Points: Your Currency for Learning

Of course, books alone aren't enough - you'll need Adventure Points (AP) to actually learn the skills they contain. Luckily, AP flows from pretty much everything you do off the main path.

Fieldwork side quests are your biggest AP source, and they come from helping folks with their problems. A Nun in Trouble rewards 350 AP, while the lengthy Lost in the Past pays out a massive 800 AP. Even smaller tasks like burning fascist posters or recovering lost notes for people will steadily feed your AP pool.

Beyond quests, the world is stuffed with opportunities. Exploring off-route areas, solving optional puzzles, and recovering artifacts from your map all contribute solid AP chunks. Don't sleep on photo challenges and Nazi supply drops either - they're easy to overlook but provide extra points for diligent explorers.

Bottom line: the more you wander, the more AP you'll have ready when you finally track down that next precious book.

Essential Early Game Books (First 10 Hours)

Survival Essentials: Health & Stamina Upgrades

You can't crack whips or solve puzzles if you're dead, so let's start with the basics. The Shaping Up series gives you three extra health segments, taking you from 3 to 6 total, while Moxie does the same for your stamina bar. Here's the rub: each series costs 30 Medicine Bottles total, with tiers priced at 5, 10, and 15 bottles respectively. That means you're hunting down 60 bottles if you want to max both, which is no small feat in the early game.

All three Shaping Up volumes come from Emilio the Black-Market Bookseller, who conveniently appears in Vatican, then Gizeh, then Sukhothai as the story progresses. Just track him down and clean out his medicine stock.

Moxie follows the same price ladder, but the first volume is locked behind the 'A Remedy for All' side quest in Vatican City. Complete it, and Valeria the nun-pharmacist will sell you Moxie I. The later volumes? Emilio gets his hands on those too, so keep checking his inventory as you travel.

Combat Fundamentals

Eventually you're gonna have to punch some fascists. When that time comes, these three books turn Indy from a scrappy professor into a genuine brawler.

Punch Out I is your stamina engine - every knockout restores one stamina block, which means you can chain takedowns without running out of breath. It only costs 25 Adventure Points, and you can snag it from a guards' barrack on the lower level of Castel Sant'Angelo.

Brawler I makes your fists actually dangerous, boosting melee damage by roughly 25% on Adventurer difficulty. The catch? It costs 200 AP. You'll find it after using the zipline to the northwest tower of Castel Sant'Angelo - check the small crate in the first room down the stairs.

Then there's Lucky Hat I, which is basically your 'oh crap' button. When you get knocked down, you can scramble to recover your fedora and stand back up, plus it resets enemy alert states. It'll run you 125 AP, and it's sitting on a table in the northwest portion of the central circular part of Castel Sant'Angelo, on the second floor above the courtyard.

Exploration Must-Haves

What's the point of being the world's greatest archaeologist if you can't find anything? That's where these exploration essentials come in.

Archaeologist's Eye is the big one - it makes interactive objects glow, which means you won't miss that tiny lever or hidden switch in some dark corner. It's a passive ability, so just carry it and you're good.

But here's the real trick: you need Adventure Points to buy all those combat books, and the best way to get AP is by finding more stuff. Grab the Ancient Coins Field Guide from the Vatican black-market vendor for about 250 Lira, and it'll mark every single coin on your map. More coins means more AP, which means more upgrades.

There's also Vatican Relics for finding ancient relics and Vatican Books for locating other Adventure Books. The beauty of these exploration books? They don't cost any AP to equip, so load up and start looting everything in sight.

Advanced Combat Techniques

By Chapter 4, your whip isn't just for crossing gaps anymore - it's a weapon, and a pretty versatile one at that. The first thing you'll want to master is the Whip Disarm, which lets you yoink pistols right out of enemy hands without raising the alarm. Here's how it works: hold LT/L2 to aim, target their weapon hand specifically, then tap RT/R2 halfway until you hear a soft pop instead of a full crack. That pistol goes flying 4-6 meters, and the poor guy spends the next two seconds in a 'search' stupor, completely deaf to your footsteps. If you're in a stone corridor, aim downward so the gun hides in the grass - out of sight, out of mind.

Parrying gets a serious upgrade once the whip is equipped. Your parry window jumps from 0.35 seconds to a much more forgiving 0.5 seconds, and you'll hear a distinct swish audio cue when it's green-lit to tap LB/L1. Nail that timing, and you can flow straight into the Counter-Strike combo - tilt toward the enemy and double-tap RT/R2 to hook their ankle and yank them prone. Prone enemies take double damage from melee or revolver shots, and one combo usually finishes them. It's brutally efficient.

For the real show-offs, there's the 360° Finisher, which runs on invisible tempo stacks. Land three perfect parries in a row (no hits, no gun draws), and you unlock a cinematic leg-sweep that auto-disarms every non-heavy foe within three meters. You have to maintain the stacks by landing your next whip hit within four seconds, so don't get greedy. And if you're dealing with heavies? Parry their red-shoulder bash (listen for that bass audio cue), then counter with a half-pull whip crack to their head - their visor snaps shut, blinding them for three seconds while you line up a stealth takedown.

Before any of this, though, you need Slugger I. This book adds shield-break to your charged punches and whip cracks, meaning the first fully-charged hit against a shielded enemy instantly breaks their guard and staggers them for about two seconds. You can find it in the Vatican, after the Library Floor Puzzle and Jack of Cards pickup - crouch by the iron rack next to the sandstone lion head before the Catacomb Crossroads stairs; the bat only glints at crouch height. It pairs beautifully with Slugger II (adds a second shield-break for elites) and Brawler's Balance (cuts charge time 30% after a dodge). If you've got Whip Mastery, you'll also get +50% damage against stunned foes, which means most shield guys won't survive the follow-up.

Stealth & Utility Upgrades

Mid-game stealth becomes legitimately viable once you grab Sneak's Companion. With a melee weapon readied, you'll see a white icon confirming silent-state, and your attacks count as Silent Takedowns. Here's a weird tip: movement noise is based on surface, not speed. Crouch-walking on metal is louder than sprinting on carpet, so always prioritize rugs and dirt paths. Whip-pulls and thrown objects don't break silent status, but a follow-up punch will if the enemy hits 'Suspicious' yellow.

The one-button flow is simple: arm your melee item, tap the melee button while the stealth icon is white, and Indy automatically performs a context kill (choke, pistol-whip, neck-snap). Drag the body to grass or a dark corner - corpses get detected after four seconds on Normal or two seconds on Hard. If you're feeling fancy, use a whip-pull to open a gap, then instant-sprint-crouch behind a second guard before his alert meter fills.

Fast Hands is your utility MVP, halving reload animation time for all firearms once you grab the Adventurer Book. You'll find it in Gizeh at the Nazi Supply Depot: go through the corrugated-iron side door (medium pin lock; spare key on the commander's table), climb the yellow ladder to the lofted platform, and loot the green foot-locker. It applies globally, so even your revolver feels snappy.

Lockpicking gets tougher, but you've got options. Each pin has a hidden 1.2-second 'sweet spot' that shrinks on higher difficulties - though the window gets larger if more pins remain when you set the first. Try this: rotate the pick slowly before pushing in; when controller vibration doubles, you've got the correct angle for a 90% success rate. On PC, use A-D for fine-turning instead of analog sticks - it's faster. And here's the exploit: opening your Folio pauses world time but not the pick timer, so you can pause, study the zoomed blueprint, unpause, and fire through pins in under 0.8 seconds. If you grab the Spare Hairpin skill (Adventurer tier, 1 point), you get two free retries per chest - use the first to map pins, then Folio-snipe them.

Survival Enhancements

Let's talk quality of life, because Hard mode will chew you up without these. Cutman II unlocks 'Improved Dressings' at any pharmacy, making bandage and health-kit use ~30% faster while healing ~20% more health. It even scales with future stamina and health upgrades. You can grab it in Gizeh aboard the airship on the south-east bluff - drop through the cargo hatch, turn left into the radio cabin, and it's on the chart table next to a half-eaten ration.

Even better, Survivalist's Bible unlocks 'Expanded Pouches' for a permanent +2 health kits (3 → 5) and +1 bandage per cloth roll (2 → 3). It's in the workers' crossroads area (crane + tent city) - hug the northern cliff to the supply tent with the red tool chest outside; the book is on the cot beside the kerosene lamp. Stack both upgrades, and you're carrying five 'super-charged' kits - enough to tank an entire firefight on Adventurer difficulty without scavenging extra cloth.

If you're missing ability points, farm them by collecting Field Notes, solving Mysteries (100 AP each), completing Fieldwork, taking Camera photos, or helping NPCs. Here's a quick Gizeh book route: start at the airship camp for Cutman II, drop the cargo net and head north-west to the supply tent for Survivalist's Bible, then hop on the motorbike to the nearest sewer exit. Whistle up the world map, and you can purchase both upgrades next time you hit a Vatican pharmacy.

Complete Skill Book Catalog by Category

Combat Books (25+ Total)

You'll find over 25 combat books total, and they're split between raw damage, whip tricks, and survivability. The damage foundation comes from the Brawler and Street Scrapper series - I, II, and III for each - which you'll grab from Vatican, Gizeh, and Sukhothai as you naturally explore. These steadily increase your melee damage whether you're unarmed or swinging a pipe, which means you don't have to be picky about weapons.

For heavy attack fans, Slugger I and II in Gizeh and Sukhothai boost your charged-up swings, while Splinter Smash from Vatican adds a clever bonus: your last hit with a breaking weapon deals extra damage, so those chairs aren't completely useless.

The whip upgrades are where things get interesting. Throttle in Vatican lets you pull and KO light-to-medium enemies from stealth, Jumbo Lasso in Gizeh yanks heavyweights into a grab, and Jumbo Throttle from Sukhothai does the heavy KO version. If you want to go completely hands-on, Bear Hands from Sukhothai enables unarmed takedowns entirely.

Defensively, Counter-Strike Chronicles costs a steep 110 AP but extends your perfect-parry window by 0.35 seconds and doubles your counter-knockback radius, which basically turns you into a crowd-control machine. Block Head from Gizeh lets you block melee weapon attacks more efficiently, saving stamina for when you really need it.

Firearms users get Button Man I in Gizeh for one-handed guns and Button Man II in the Himalayas for two-handers, while Fast Hands from Sukhothai speeds up revolver reloads. You've also got some weird food buffs: Hard Crust from Vatican's Villa Pia gives a damage boost after eating bread, and Vitamins from Rome reduces damage when fruit-boosted.

Finally, the top-tier books have specific AP costs: Pugilist's Primer (90 AP) widens your melee combo window and boosts finisher damage by 20%, Heavy Hitter's Handbook (120 AP) cuts heavy attack stamina cost by 15% and adds 30% stagger chance, and Patch Up from Gizeh improves bandage healing to keep you in the fight.

Stealth Books (15+ Total)

Here's the thing - dedicated stealth books like Sneak's Companion or Shadow's Atlas didn't show up in the data, but that doesn't mean stealth is an afterthought. Most of your silent takedown upgrades are actually baked into the combat books, which means you're getting double value.

The core stealth tools are Throttle (Vatican) for KO'ing light enemies from a distance, Jumbo Lasso (Gizeh) for pulling heavies into a grab, and Jumbo Throttle (Sukhothai) for the full heavyweight knockout. Bear Hands also lets you do unarmed takedowns quietly, and Fast Hands keeps your silenced revolver ready. So while there isn't a separate stealth section in your inventory, the functionality is absolutely there.

Survival Books (15+ Total)

Survival books revolve around three things: bigger health bars, more stamina, and better healing. The health upgrades come from Shaping Up I, II, III, which add entire bars to your health reserve, and Hardboiled I, II, III, which merge two bars into tougher protection - both series require donating medicine bottles to monks in Vatican, Gizeh, and Sukhothai.

For stamina, Moxie I, II, III extend your total bar while Pep I and II speed up recovery, so you can climb and fight longer without gasping for breath.

The Lucky Hat system is clutch: Lucky Hat I from Vatican gives you a second chance by picking up your fedora after being KO'd, and Lucky Hat II from Sukhothai reduces the cooldown on that ability. When you're hurting, True Grit (Gizeh) cuts damage at low health while Seeing Red (Sukhothai) boosts your damage output.

Healing gets serious with Patch Up (Gizeh) improving bandage efficiency and Sawbones I, II, III increasing your bandage inventory by one each. Inventory buffs include Fruit Bag (Vatican) and Bread Basket (Gizeh) to double your food carry, plus Slug Boy I and II from Gizeh and Sukhothai to add six bullets to your handgun capacity.

Exploration & Utility Books (23+ Total)

This is the grab-bag category that makes exploration less painful. Each major location - Vatican, Gizeh, Sukhothai - has a set of guidebooks sold by local merchants like Ernesto, Asmaa, or Tongdang. These include Books, Mysteries, Notes, Artifacts, and location-specific items like Vatican Relics (found in a puzzle box) or Sukhothai Cogwheels.

You've got specialist guides too: Marshall College Guide (Vatican library), Shanghai Guide (Sukhothai), Rome Guide (Rome), Kummetz Guide (Sukhothai), and Ziggurat Guide (Iraq). These point you toward collectibles and points of interest so you're not running around blind.

For actual utility, Climbing Ace I and II from Vatican and Gizeh cut stamina drain and speed up ledge/whip climbing, which is huge for vertical areas. Iron Grip I and II let you clinch enemies longer, while Jumbo Grip and Jumbo Shove from Sukhothai let you grab and push heavyweight enemies in hand-to-hand - because sometimes you just need to throw a guy.

Stealth-Focused Build

If you're planning to ghost through most encounters, your first seven skill tokens have a very clear destination. Start with Soft Sole - it's the foundation everything else builds on. That 25% crouch speed boost and 30% noise reduction means you can actually reposition during patrol cycles instead of just waiting, which completely changes how you approach rooms.

From there, pick up Light Finger because faster pickpocketing isn't just about convenience; stolen keys instantly highlight matching locked caches on your map, so you're getting reconnaissance data while looting. Early game, that's huge.

Your first two points should go toward Hidden Blade and Brush Stalker in Tier 2. Hidden Blade gives you whip takedowns from behind that are both instant and silent, working on officers and standard grunts alike. Brush Stalker is even better - it eliminates vegetation noise entirely and shrinks enemy vision cones by 15% when you're in tall grass, which basically turns the Gizeh excavation site into a playground.

Pick up Deft Hands next; that 50% longer lockpicking timer gives you breathing room, and failed attempts won't ruin your day by alerting everyone in earshot. Now you've got your core kit.

The final piece of your seven-token opener is Shadow Roll, which auto-rolls you into cover after a prone takedown and gives you three seconds of noise immunity. This is what lets you chain multiple takedowns in quick succession without getting swarmed.

After that, save your tokens. The Vatican's rooftop sections are so heavily stacked in your favor that you don't need Misdirection or Ghost yet. Wait until you hit the Himalayan monastery's timed escape sequence - Misdirection splitting two guards instead of one becomes clutch there, and Ghost's one-time 'get out of jail free' card can salvage a perfect run from a single mistake.

Combat-Focused Build

Combat in Great Circle lives and dies by stamina management, and the whole system revolves around one key mechanic: shoving an enemy recharges about 30% of your stamina instantly. This means you can chain combos indefinitely if you're aggressive enough, but you need the right tools to make it work.

Start with Punch Out in Tier 1, which gives you stamina back after a knockout. Combined with the shove mechanic, you should never be gasping for breath in a group fight. Your next priorities are Hardboiled and Pep in Tier 2 - Hardboiled merges your two health bars into one so both automatic and manual regeneration apply to the same pool, while Pep speeds up your stamina recovery for those moments when you do need to back off.

Cutman I and Sawbones round out your Tier 2 picks, boosting health regeneration efficiency and giving you an extra bandage. On hard difficulty, that extra bandage is the difference between surviving a crowd fight and reloading a checkpoint.

Now for the gear chase. The Webley Speed-Loader in the Vatican sewers cuts revolver reload time by 40%, which matters more than you'd think when you're snapping off helmet shots mid-combo. The Brass-Knuckle Insert from the Gizeh Street Brawl side quest gives you a 1.5x melee damage multiplier without alerting nearby guards - yes, you read that right.

The Toughness line (Jacket Padding → Rugged Leather) is non-negotiable if you're playing on hard. Fully unlocked, it reduces bullet damage by 30% and melee damage by 50%, which turns you from a glass cannon into an actual tank.

Your rotation once you have these pieces looks like this: open with a whip disarm to strip pistols and crack helmets, then rush in with a punch combo. Hit the Heavy-Whip Slam finisher on your priority target (it auto-targets the nearest stunned enemy and slams them to the ground), chain ground takedowns while your Adrenaline meter is active, then snap-aim for any remaining helmets with the Webley. With Adrenaline Meter Lv. 2, you'll build that resource fast enough to have it ready for every major engagement.

Don't forget the skill books: Brawler's Handbook is in a locked crate in the Vatican catacombs for 15% melee damage, Pugilist's Primer rewards photographing all five Mosaic Angels in the Vatican courtyard (makes your shove recharge even stronger), and Whip Mastery is inside a safe on the lower deck of the Lucinda freighter in Gizeh docks. These give permanent upgrades and ability points, so grab them even if you're role-playing a meathead.

Exploration & Completionist Build

Pixel-hunting for climbable ledges in vast temples like Gizeh or Sukhothai gets old fast, so your first buy is Survey in Tier 1. It adds a faint interaction glow to ledges and hidden switches, which saves your sanity and your time.

Next, grab Quiet Landing in Tier 2. The fall noise dampening stacks with stealth movement, and when you're backtracking through Nazi-occupied zones for Journal Notes, you don't want to announce your presence every time you drop off a ledge.

Survival Wrap in Tier 2 is specifically for the Himalayas and Iraq dig sites - it reduces environmental damage so you can reach high-value Relic Caches without burning through bandages. Trust me, you want this before you attempt the cliff-face sigil hunts.

Archaeologist's Eye Lv. 2 makes interactables glow through walls within a 15-meter radius, including hidden switches and relic chests. This is what turns a two-hour cleanup into a 30-minute sweep.

If you're going for 100% completion, Antiquarian Eye in Tier 3 is your best friend. While crouched, it shows the direction of the nearest uncollected Artifact, which is invaluable when you're mopping up the last few pieces in a region you've already cleared.

Translation Speed Lv. 3 cuts glyph decipher time by 70%, and since faster deciphering speeds up the Insight buff that reveals secret doors, this indirectly unlocks more loot. Whip-Swing Stamina reduces the cost of chained swings by 50%, which is crucial for reaching those sigils tucked on cliff faces that you can see but not quite reach.

Key gear includes the Vintage Compass (reward for photographing all 24 Survey Spots), which adds compass headings to collectible pings and turns your HUD icon into a directional arrow. The Field Notebook Expansion requires 30 Relics but gives you an extra page of quick-access notes, letting you track up to five simultaneous side quests without constant menu surfing.

A pro tip: once you purchase exploration books, open Indy's journal to see a map with marked collectibles. It'll show you exactly which books or relics you're missing in each region. And if you get stuck on a puzzle, use your camera - even if you don't see the solution, each subsequent photo unlocks more hints until Indy flat-out tells you the answer. That underground boxing ring in the Vatican also gives unlimited bandages, so remember it exists when you're low on supplies while exploring other Vatican locations.

Stealth & Disguise Synergy

Disguises aren't just for show - they fundamentally change how stealth works in specific regions. The Blackshirt Uniform from the Vatican's 'Stolen Cat Mummy' main quest (you get it after meeting Gina disguised as a nun) gives you access to the Vatican boxing ring and drastically reduces detection from Blackshirts. The Blackshirt Key you find with it opens selected locked doors, giving you flanking routes that are normally inaccessible.

In Gizeh, grab the Wehrmacht Uniform from the tower north of the excavation site. This reduces fascist detection risk and grants access to the Gizeh boxing ring, which is worth hitting for the free bandages and skill points. The Wehrmacht Key opens some closed passages in fascist camps, creating new infiltration paths.

For Sukhothai, the Royal Army Uniform is in the central part of Voss's main camp in north Sukhothai. Same deal: reduced soldier detection and access to the Sukhothai boxing ring. The Royal Army Key unlocks closed passages in hostile locations, which matters more here since Sukhothai's layout is more vertical than the other regions.

Here's the important part: some regions physically change after main story beats. Return post-Chapter 3 to scoop up previously inaccessible chests or collectibles that were blocked by story-related obstacles. The disguise keys become even more valuable on these return visits because you can access new angles on old encounters.

And don't skip those Adventure Books scattered around - even if you're pure stealth, they give ability points for any build and are often sitting next to ammo crates you'd grab anyway. Every point counts when you're trying to hit that Tier 4 Ghost skill before the final act.

Efficient AP Farming - The Real Grind Spots

If you are hunting AP, not all spots are created equal. The prologue at Marshall College gets you roughly 900 AP in about 8–10 minutes, which is decent for a starting area, but you will outgrow it fast. Vatican City is where the real gains start - you can pull around 2,600 AP in 25–30 minutes if you clear everything, including the optional mysteries that give 200–250 AP each. For a change of scenery, the pyramid exterior in Gizeh offers about 2,000 AP in 20 minutes, mostly from relics and notes scattered around the sundial mystery.

But here is where it gets interesting: once you finish Shanghai, Sukhothai opens up, and that is when grinding becomes brainless. Invest 1,200 AP into Adventurer's Instinct, and it permanently marks every uncollected relic on your map. After that, you can loop the river path in three minutes and pull 320–400 AP per cycle. And do not forget the photo bonus - if you take Keen Eye from the Vatican skill tree, you get a 15% AP boost on all daylight photos, which adds up fast.

The Black Market Book Game

Let us talk about skill books, because buying them can drain your AP fast if you are not smart about it. The secret is the Dog-Eared Discount relic set - equip all four pieces, and you will get 20% off black-market tomes after faction discounts, which saves you thousands in the long run. You will need to hunt down each piece though: the Diary Page is sitting on the library's upper balcony, the Cracked Lens is hidden in the Secret Archive behind a sliding bookcase, the Stained Bookmark is in a Necropolis crate near the 'A Grave Matter' side-quest, and the Warped Cover requires some rooftop parkour via flag-poles behind the post office.

Once you have the whole set, track down Ernesto's Pop-up Cart in the south-west alley behind the Vatican post office (it appears after you finish 'Paper Trail'). He restocks three random tomes per in-game day, and with your discount, they drop from 250 AP to 200 AP. Just remember that regular vendors like the gift-shop nun or museum custodian do not get the discount, so do not waste your time there. To afford everything, farm Vatican Security Badges from Swiss Guards - they give 10 AP each and respawn at dusk, which means you can fund your entire book collection just by doing loops.

Surviving Doctoral (When Everything Hurts)

If you are playing on Doctoral, buckle up because enemies deal roughly double damage and have twice the health, but the real kicker is that natural health regeneration stops in combat - so you have to play perfect or die. Your early-game lifeline is Toughness (which cuts melee damage by 15%) and Light Feet for quieter movement, because avoiding detection beats fighting every time. Once you have those, pivot to sustain with Resourceful (+25% improvised weapon durability) and Swift Recovery (faster out-of-combat regen), since you will be scraping by on limited supplies.

Late-game traps become lethal, so Iron Stomach (50% poison/fire resistance) is non-negotiable, and Whip-Adept (wider parry window) is the only reliable way to deal with armored officers. For those 'oh crap' moments, Sixth Sense triggers slow-mo when a hidden enemy targets you, while Scrounger pulls extra ammo and resources from boxes - both are clutch for surviving one-shot scenarios. The final boss of defensive skills is Indomitable, which lets you cheat death once per fight; it is essential for forced brawls like the Vatican rooftop where there is no escape.

And here is what to skip: anything that encourages risky aggression. Brawling damage chains and Adrenaline melee speed will get you killed when you can barely take two hits, and Gunslinger hip-fire accuracy is a trap when ammo is too precious to waste on spray-and-pray.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You Respec Your Skills?

Here is the hard truth: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has no respec mechanic, which means every skill choice you make is permanent for that save file. The skill books themselves are finite collectibles that immediately award Adventure Points when you read them, and there is no refund mechanic whatsoever.

This might sound restrictive, but there is a workaround that veteran players swear by - manual save hygiene. You can create a separate save right before cracking open a skill book, so if you have second thoughts about your choice, you can reload and pick differently. It is not elegant, but it works.

If you are just starting out and want to avoid immediate regret, prioritize Toughness for extra health, Swift Strike for melee damage, and Awareness for enemy outlines. These three give you the biggest safety net while you are still learning the game's rhythm.

How Many Books Can You Miss?

The game dangles 43 Adventure Books total, but here is where it gets tricky - only 35 of those are automatic story rewards. The other 8 are world-spawn collectibles tucked into missable locations that you can permanently lose access to as the story moves forward.

These are the ones you need to grab before it is too late:

• How to Fight Dirty (Prologue/Vatican)
• Sons of Horus Handbook (Sun-Wracked Ruins)
• Climbing Notes of B. Parker (Great Pyramid Ascent)
• High-Altitude Survival (Nepal Airfield)
• Street Brawling for Archeologists (Shanghai Bund)
• Aquatic Archeology 101 (Aqueduct)
• Zeppelin Engineering Vol. 2 (Zeppelin)
• Norse Navigation Tales (Valkyrie's Vault)

To track your progress, dig into your Journal → Adventure Books - a white checkmark means you are safe, but '???' means you still need to backtrack. And if you are hunting, Exploration Book Maps will reveal remaining books on your map, while Photo Mode works as a free-look camera since books glow faintly through walls.

Best Books for Specific Challenges

When you are gearing up for a boss fight, you will want a combat-focused loadout: Street Brawler, Snap Disarm, Adrenaline Rush, and Field Medic will carry you through about 90% of those arenas. These synergize so well that you can brute-force most encounters even if your timing is not perfect.

For pure stealth sections, swap to Silent Takedown, Light Footed, and Smoke Bomb Efficiency. If you are dealing with social stealth rather than shadows, toss Blend In into the mix so you can slip past guards in crowded areas without raising suspicion.

Puzzle-heavy areas demand a completely different kit - Ancient Languages, Cryptography, and Keen Eye are non-negotiable for deciphering clues and spotting hidden mechanisms. Keep Survival Instinct slotted too, since it saves you from spike walls and pressure plates that love to one-shot you.

If you are feeling overwhelmed early on, focus your first 10 Adventure Points on Street Brawler, Ancient Languages, Silent Takedown, Snap Disarm, and Field Medic. That core set will handle most situations until you can specialize further.

Conclusion

Mastering The Great Circle means understanding its unyielding skill system. With no respec option, your early book choices and AP farming strategy define your entire playthrough. Use this guide to plan your route, target the right upgrades, and survive the toughest challenges - whether you're brawling through Vatican rooftops or ghosting past Nazi patrols.