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Guide // Skill Tree

The Skateboarding
Skill Tree

Every skateboard trick connects to the ones before it. Picture them as a map: each trick is a node, and prerequisites are the edges that link them. Learn a trick and the next branch lights up. This is how Onbolts turns a wall of tricks into a path you can actually follow.

Tricks as nodes, prerequisites as edges

A skill tree borrows its idea from video games: instead of a flat list, every ability sits in a web of dependencies. In skateboarding the dependencies are physical. A kickflip is an ollie with a flick added at the peak, so the ollie is its prerequisite. A tre flip combines a shove-it and a kickflip, so both feed into it. Drawing those links turns guesswork into a route.

The interactive tree lets you see the whole map at once: which tricks you have landed, which are unlocked next, and which are still locked behind fundamentals you have not built yet. Follow an edge outward and you always land on a trick that reuses something you already know.

The five branches

Stage 1

Foundations

Ollie, manual, fakie and nollie. Balance, pop, and board control that everything else is built on.

Stage 2

First Flips

Pop shove-it, kickflip, heelflip. Making the board rotate and flip under your feet.

Stage 3

Rotations

Frontside and backside 180s, cab, frontside shove-it. Spinning body and board together.

Stage 4

Grinds and Slides

50-50, 5-0, boardslide, noseslide. Locking onto ledges and rails.

Stage 5

Advanced Flips

Varial flips, the tre flip, hardflips. Flip and spin combined into one motion.

Each branch builds on the one before it. The full progression guide breaks down every stage with the specific tricks and why each one comes when it does.

Common questions

What is a skateboarding skill tree?

A skill tree is a map of every trick laid out as connected nodes. Each trick is a node, and the lines between them are prerequisites: to unlock a trick you first learn the ones it depends on. It turns a long list of tricks into a clear path from your first ollie to advanced flips.

How do I use the skill tree to improve?

Find a trick you can already land, then follow the edges outward to see what it unlocks. Each connected trick reuses pop, balance, or rotation you have already practiced, so working outward keeps progress steady and avoids the plateaus that come from skipping fundamentals.

Do I have to follow the skill tree in order?

The branches are a guide, not a hard rule, but the prerequisites are real. A kickflip is an ollie with a flick added, so the ollie genuinely comes first. You can explore multiple branches at once, but skipping the foundation of a branch usually slows you down.