Skills and Abilities - The Basics
Each class unlocks around 20-25 skills in their skill trees. These encompass a range of abilities, spells, and attacks that need to be placed in one of your 6 active skill slots to be used in battle. While players can arrange the skills in any order, most opt to choose one skill from each major skill type.
These types include Basic Skills, which can be used at any time, class-specific Branches such as Conjurations for Sorcerers or Companions for Druids, and the Ultimate Ability. Selecting one skill from each of the 6 active skill types provides a well-rounded choice of abilities. However, some players may prefer to focus more heavily on specific types to shape their character.
We recommend experimenting with each unlocked skill. Until around Level 10, you can reallocate your skill points for free. While the cost increases with each additional skill point reallocated, it should not hinder you from adjusting your class as needed. If you consistently sell gear, you may not even notice the refund cost. This means you can pick a skill, use it for a few encounters to gauge its effectiveness, and then refund it to try out another skill.
Once you have familiarized yourself with all the skills and identified your favorites, you can invest more points into those skills. Each skill offers customization options that specialize the ability in different ways, and allocating more points to the main ability enhances its overall strength.
It is advisable to make decisions about which 6 skills to use for your class because fully powering up these abilities and specializations requires a substantial number of points. If you want flexibility to switch skills on the fly, you can allocate skill points to additional abilities in your skill tree. However, the more you do this, the less potent each ability becomes, as there is a limit to the number of skill points available, and each ability can require up to 7 skill points to reach its full potential.
Keywords are Key
Consider that many skills inflict specific types of damage, debuffs, and status effects. To create a competent build, take note of the effects associated with your favorite skills and choose future abilities that complement those effects. For instance, if you frequently use Lightning Spells as a Sorcerer, which generate Crackling Energies that damage nearby enemies when collected, you can enhance your main skills by selecting abilities like Static Discharge, which increases the chance of a Crackling Energy forming after a Critical Strike.