Leaf It Alone Skill Tree: Every Upgrade and What to Buy

Every Hometown run starts the same way. You pick up leaves one at a time and earn about 20 cents a bag, so your early shekleaves have to go to the right places. This Leaf it Alone skill tree guide covers every hand, bag, rake, leaf blower and tractor upgrade, the passive bonuses you earn by clearing areas, and a buy order that gets you to the secret room without wasting money.

How the Upgrade System Works

Press Tab to open your journal. The Upgrades tab holds the skill tree for each tool you own. You pay for nodes with shekleaves, which you earn by dumping leaves in a trash bin or sweeping them into a repaired leaf inlet.

The system has three layers:

• Tool upgrades bought in the journal for your hands, rake and leaf blower. In Castle and Sakura you also get bag and tractor upgrades.
• Shop purchases in the shed or castle shop: bigger bags, the rake and the leaf blower.
• Area rewards, which are passive perks that unlock when you clear a zone to 50% or 100%. These include abilities like sprint and crouch, leaf value multipliers and speed boosts.

Plan your route around those area rewards, because the leaf value bonuses multiply everything you earn afterward.

Official page: Leaf it Alone (eternitygames.net)

Hand Upgrades

Your hands are the only tool you start with, and they never become useless. You still need them for stragglers, stairs and areas with no inlet nearby.

Image: Steam / Eternity

Upgrade	Effect
Fluid Picker	Hold the button to pick up leaves instead of clicking every time
Dexterity	Reduces the interval between pickups
Greedy Grasp	Raises how many leaves you grab per pickup, scaling up to 10

Greedy Grasp climbs from 1 to 2, then 3, and eventually up to 10 leaves per grab. A fully upgraded pair of hands pulls roughly 45–50 leaves per second from a dense pile.

Buy Greedy Grasp first. Doubling and then tripling your grab size pays for itself almost immediately. Dexterity comes next. Fluid Picker is a comfort upgrade, and speedrun routes skip it early.

Rake loose leaves into a tight corner first, then stand still and hold the button.

Leaf Bags and Bag Upgrades

Bag size caps how long you can collect before you walk back to the bin. In Hometown, bags come from the shed:

Image: Steam / Eternity

Item	Price	Capacity
Medium Leaf Bag	$0.75	200 leaves
Large Leaf Bag	$3.49	500 leaves

The Medium Leaf Bag should be your first shop purchase. It also unlocks Novice Investor. Clear the Porch to get bag tying. Then you can tie a full bag and throw it at the bin from range, which saves a lot of walking.

Castle adds a proper bag tree. Bag Master cuts bag tying and emptying times, and Bag Capacity raises how much each bag holds. The castle shop sells a Large Leaf Bag for $7.49 and a Giant Leaf Bag with 800 capacity for $14.99.

Rake Upgrades

The rake costs $7.49 in the shed. It feels weak until you invest in it, and then it becomes the backbone of most efficient runs.

Image: Steam / Eternity

Upgrade	Effect
Handle Length	Extends the usable range of the rake
Sweep Radius	Makes the rake affect more leaves at once
Leaf Stickiness	Improves how leaves follow the rake

Avoid pouring money into the rake while you're still picking leaves by hand far from any inlet. Max your hands first, then switch. The rake's real job is building piles: drag everything into a corner or straight into an inlet's suction range, then finish the leftovers by hand.

Leaf Blower Upgrades

The leaf blower costs $49.99 in Hometown. It's strong right out of the box, but bad at corners. Use the rake to drag leaves away from walls, then blow the open ground.

Upgrade	Effect
Airstream Width	Increases the blowing area of effect
Power	Decreases the time required to blow leaves off
Air Spread	Improves precision so leaves scatter less

Blower upgrades are pricey. In Hometown the first node costs $28. Take one level of Air Spread early so your piles stay tight. After that, prioritize Power, then finish with Airstream Width.

Sakura adds Suction Mode, which turns the blower into a vacuum that fills your bag directly. There's an achievement for sucking up 10,000 leaves with the blower once you have it. You can also upgrade suction pressure.

Area Rewards and Passive Bonuses

Area rewards are the hidden half of the skill tree. These are the Hometown perks that matter:

Area	Reward
Porch (100%)	Bag tying ability
Court (100%)	Sprint ability
Swings (100%)	Crouch ability
Frontyard / Driveway (100%)	Move speed bonus
Entrance (100%)	Leaf value bonus
Garage (100%)	$7.50 bonus
Basement (50% / 100%)	Leaf value bonus / Shed roof access
Shed (100%)	Grill key
Grill (100%)	$15 bonus
Pool (50% / 100%)	Leaf value bonus / Greenhouse access
Maze	Upgrade Strength +10%, so all purchased upgrades give higher bonuses
Greenhouse (100%)	Secret room key

The three leaf value bonuses (Entrance, Basement, Pool) are why Work smart, not hard is doable. Clear the Porch for bag tying, then tie every full bag and stockpile it. Don't sell anything until you've earned all three multipliers, then dump the whole pile at once. Buying upgrades doesn't lower your total, but cashing in early does.

Castle and Sakura Additions

Castle doesn't make you start from zero. Your hand skills stay strong from the start, so expect a fast opening.

Sakura's centerpiece is the mini tractor. Its tree includes:

• Sport Mode for higher speed with the leaf inlet disabled, plus Chiptuning for top speed
• Power Steering for tighter turns around benches and fire pits
• Turbo Starter to cut engine startup time
• Carbon Parts to reach top speed quicker

Fully upgrading the tractor unlocks Pimp My Tractor, and patch v1.1.7 lowered the prices of some tractor upgrades. For Drive-by cleaning, max Chiptuning, hit top speed in Sport Mode, then toggle back to cleaning mode while you're still moving fast.

Recommended Hometown Buy Order

This route follows the area rewards and works for a casual run or a Need for Sweep attempt (finish in under 40 minutes):

1. Repair the free inlet to the right of the Porch for quick early cash.
2. Clear the Porch for bag tying. Buy Greedy Grasp three times, Dexterity twice and the Medium Leaf Bag.
3. Clear the Driveway for speed. Add two more Dexterity levels and one Greedy Grasp, then buy the Large Leaf Bag.
4. Stand in the shed doorway and hold the garage button until the door is fully open. Spam the button, then rush in.
5. Clear the Basement and max Greedy Grasp and Dexterity.
6. Clear the Shed, buy the rake and save $15 for the Pool inlet.
7. Rake the Pool into its inlet. Spread purchases across Leaf Stickiness, Sweep Radius and Handle Length as cash comes in, and save $25 for the Greenhouse inlet.
8. Clear the Swings with a fully upgraded rake for crouch.
9. Optionally buy the leaf blower for the Greenhouse, taking Air Spread first, then Power, then Airstream Width. Finish the Greenhouse and climb through the vent.

Senior Investor requires every tool upgrade for hands, rake and blower. Craftsman requires finishing the game without repairing any leaf inlets, so it doesn't fit a speedrun route that leans on inlets. Plan separate runs.

FAQ

Where do I find the skill tree in Leaf it Alone?

Open the journal with Tab and go to the Upgrades tab. Each tool you own has its own column of upgrades. Bigger bags and new tools are bought in the shed, or in the castle shop on the Castle map.

Can I start with every upgrade unlocked?

Yes. Custom Mode, added in update 1.1, lets you set your starting money, choose your starting tools, unlock all tool upgrades and open every area. Since patch v1.1.7, achievements can be earned in Custom Mode without Ranked Mode, as long as the default parameters are applied.

Should I buy the rake or save for the leaf blower?

Buy the rake first. At $7.49 it pays off quickly once you upgrade it and pair it with inlets. The $49.99 blower is better saved for open areas like the Pool and Greenhouse.

Is the rake worth upgrading once I have the blower?

Yes. The blower struggles with corners, benches and tables. A maxed rake pulls leaves out of those spots so the blower can finish the job. Senior Investor also requires every rake upgrade.