Skill Usage
Skill Usage
Summary: Skills are learned by spending Skill Points earned from Job Level, and how a skill behaves in combat depends on whether it's Passive, Active, or Offensive. Skill Points, cast mechanics, and skill trees all follow the same core rules across every class.
Skill Types
Skills generally fall into three categories:
- Passive. Always in effect once learned. These don't need to be activated manually; they simply apply their bonus in the background (e.g. a skill that permanently boosts a stat or resistance).
- Active. Must be triggered manually by the player. Some run for a set duration, some can be toggled off again, and some are one time effects used on demand. Active skills don't deal damage themselves.
- Offensive. A subset of Active skills that deal damage to monsters or players. Every Offensive skill is Active, but not every Active skill is Offensive (many are purely supportive, like buffs or utility effects).
Skills can be further grouped by how they're delivered, such as melee, ranged, magic, or supportive, but Passive, Active, and Offensive is the core distinction that determines how you interact with each one.
Skill Points
You gain 1 Skill Point for every Job Level you earn. These points are spent to learn a new skill or raise the level of one you already know.
- You must fully invest your current job tier's available Skill Points before you can spend points on skills from your next job tier. In other words, First Class skill points go into First Class skills first. You can't hold points back to save for Second Class.
- Some skills have a level requirement in a different skill before they can be learned at all (see Skill Trees / Prerequisites below).
- Changing class resets your Job Level to 1, but the Skill Points you've already spent on your previous class's skills remain learned. You'll simply start earning new points to spend on your new class's tree.
Cast Mechanics
Using a skill happens in a few distinct phases:
- Cast Time. The skill name appears above your character's head and a cast bar shows your progress. During this phase you cannot move, attack, or use another skill.
- Cast Delay (Global Delay). A short delay after the cast completes, generally shared across all skills, before you can act again.
- After Cast Delay. Some skills also carry a delay specific to that skill on top of the shared cast delay.
Cast Time formula:
Cast Time = Base Cast Time × (1 − DEX ÷ 150) × (other modifiers)
Higher DEX shortens your cast time, and at 150 DEX, cast time is reduced to instant for most skills. Certain buffs (like a Sage's Suffragium) reduce it further on top of DEX.
Getting interrupted: Taking damage during your Cast Time phase will normally cancel the skill outright. There are a few notable exceptions where a cast survives being hit, such as certain cards that grant cast interrupt immunity, or specific skills designed to be uninterruptible. Once the Cast Time phase ends and the skill actually triggers, it can no longer be interrupted.
Skill Trees / Prerequisites
Many skills aren't available right away. You'll need to invest a minimum number of points into an earlier, related skill before the next one unlocks. This is what's usually meant by a class's "skill tree," a chain of skills where the more advanced options are gated behind earlier ones.
When planning a build, it helps to map out the full chain you're aiming for ahead of time, since Skill Points can't be freely moved between skills once spent (barring any reset system the server may offer in the future).
Quest Skills
Some skills aren't learned with Skill Points at all. They're unlocked by completing a specific quest instead. These are usually unique utility or gimmick skills tied to a storyline or one off questline rather than part of a class's normal progression tree.