The level cap in Dune: Awakening is 200, and the smart route is story first, Journeys always, and the Deep Desert last. Every level gives one skill point, so 1 to 200 is 199 points, nowhere near enough to fill the five archetypes' fifteen trees. Builds are choices.
The curve is the part most guides skip. Levels 7 to 100 cost a flat 600 XP each. The last 20 cost between 5,297 and 13,126 each. The final 73 levels are over three quarters of all the XP in the game. XP table from the community wiki, checked 8 October.
The first hundred levels are almost free: six levels of warm-up, then 94 at 600 XP, and the story, the faction paths and the Journeys carry most of it without a deliberate grind. From 128 the cost climbs every level, and from 161 your XP sources have to change from "whatever I was doing" to Testing Stations, Deep Desert content and contracts you'd otherwise skip.
Do Specialisations give skill points?
Some do. Combat Specialisation traits add skill points on top of the 199 from levels; the other four tracks pay in bonuses, not points. A respec is available if you regret a tree, paid in Spice Melange.
Does the level cap go up with updates?
It hasn't. Chapter 3 added Specialisations and Augmentations on top of the cap instead of raising it.
