Skill bar (GW2)  

A skill bar is a customized assortment of ten skills that characters use to help interact with the world around them.^[1] A skill bar's anatomy can be observed in many different ways, but for simplicity there are two main sections: the first five, and the second five skills.

In PvE, some skills will be initially locked from use, but become available to characters as they make progress through the game.^[2] When players are not fighting, they are able to change and swap their skills freely.^[3]

First five skills

The first five skills on the player's skill bar are commonly referred to as weapon skills. These skills are pre-determined in accordance with two main factors: the character's profession and the weapon type or environmental weapon they have equipped. For the elementalist profession, a third pre-determining factor is influenced by the attunement that the character is aligned to at the time.

Changing one of these factors will yield a different set of skills. For example, a ranger equipped with two axes will have a different set of skills to a warrior with two axes, or if a necromancer switches from a staff to a scepter and a warhorn, the skills will also change accordingly.

To further describe how weapons influence the first five skills, here is how it is decided:

• main hand weapon — determines the first three skills only.
• off-hand item — determines the last two skills only.
• two handed or environmental weapon — determines all five skills.^[4][5]

For all current professions, each weapon type has set skills and cannot be changed, but can be augmented through traits, granting further bonuses to those skills if they are equipped.^[6]

Second five skills

The second five skills are chosen by the player from the pool of skills which come from the player's profession and race. The first of these skills is dedicated to some kind of a healing skill, the middle three are utility skills and the last one is an elite skill.

Diagram

• An elementalist's first five skills also depend on the current attunement.
• You can also click the numbers 1-9 on your keyboard to activate skills, number 0 is used for the elite skill.

References

1. ^ Combat, Part One: Skills, Guild Wars 2
2. ^ An Extended Look at the Gameplay of Guild Wars 2 Video, Ten Ton Hammer
3. ^ Interview with Eric Flannum, Onlinewelten, 29 April
4. ^ Combat, Part Two: Weapons, Professions and Races, Guild Wars 2
5. ^ Martin Kerstein's comment on skill bar discussion, Guild Wars 2 Guru forum
6. ^ Martin Kerstein's comment on Eric Flannum's interview, Guild Wars 2 Guru forum

Guild Wars 2 Wikibase™

ZAM credits this article at Guild Wars 2 Wiki for some of the info in this article. Licensed under the GFDL.