Skills and Skill Points

Every job has its own skill tree. You learn skills with Skill Points (SP), make them stronger with ranks, and put them on keys. Open the tree from the Menu, then Skills.

The tree

Each job's tree is laid out left to right in three lanes:

• Attacks: damage skills, finishers and your ultimate.
• Support: buffs, auras, heals, summons and movement skills.
• Passives: always on, nothing to press.

Tap a skill to read its card: what it does, its MP cost, its cooldown and the number it reaches at max rank. One button on the card learns the next rank. A locked skill says "Unlocks at Lv n". Arrows show prerequisites: some skills need another at a given rank first. For example, Glimmer Rain wants Spark Toss at rank 2, and the Lightblade's Sunrise Aura wants Aegis of Dawn at rank 2.

A job's kit is the same size for every class, so no class has more skills than another:

Every skill you learned in an earlier job stays usable after you advance.

Skill Points

One SP buys one rank of a skill, or one EFFECT pick. That is all it costs.

SP is kept per job. Points a first job earns can only be spent on first job skills, and points a second job earns can only be spent on second job skills. They never mix.

Each job earns exactly enough to max out its skills by its last level, no more:

• A head start. The skills that unlock on the level you advance at are paid for in full right away, so a fresh job can max its main attack straight away.
• A level at a time. The rest of the points arrive evenly, every level, until the job's last level. Wanderers earn them over levels 2 to 9. A first job earns them from 10 to 29, a second from 30 to 59, a third from 60 to 99 and a fourth from 100 to 120.
• No waste. If a level pays a point before a new skill unlocks, the point waits in the bank. The Skills window shows "NEXT SKILL LV n".

Your kit is complete only at your job's last level, so you cannot max everything early. Spend where it helps most.

Ranks

Every skill has ranks. Most have 5. Main attacks and weapon passives have 10. A few one-off tricks have only 1 to 3.

A skill's cards show its power at your current rank and at max rank. Every rank of a skill opens when the skill itself does, so SP is the only limit on how fast you grow.

EFFECT picks

Some attacks can carry a status effect of your choice. When the skill reaches a set rank, a fork appears on its card with two options. Tap one, and the card asks you to confirm before it is sealed. For example the Lightblade's Radiant Arc can carry Stun or Burn, and Dawnbreaker can carry Stun or Blind. See Status Effects for what each does.

• A pick costs 1 SP.
• Every pick is permanent. The game says "You can't change it later." Think before you choose.
• Both options deal the same damage. Most forks pair a control effect with a pressure effect.
• Choosing is optional. A skill with no pick keeps the status it already has, if it has one.
• Nobody loses damage for choosing, because the pick has its own point.
• The chance and the length of the effect grow with the skill's rank.

Buffs, auras and other support

• Buffs give a boost for a while, then end. Many can be cast on the whole party.
• Auras are toggles. Press once to turn it on and again to turn it off. While on, you and party members nearby get its bonus, and it slowly drains MP. Only one aura can be on at a time, and turning on a second switches the first off. An aura also ends when your MP runs out or you fall.
• Aura strength grows with your job. From your second job, an aura adds about 3% damage at max rank. From your third job, it adds about 5%. The Longview aura splits its bonus between critical rate and boss damage. Auras from different party members stack, but the same aura from two players does not. Auras switch off in the PvP arena.
• Unshaken buffs, like the Star Monk's stance, protect you from knockback and holds for a few seconds.
• Mana Ward buffs pay a share of each hit you take from your MP instead of your HP. Only the Starweaver has them.
• Untouchable skills, the Windstrider's, make you immune for a few seconds. Evasion cloaks, the Moonshade's, make foes miss more.
• Last Stand skills only work when your HP is low.
• Decoys are the Moonshade's alone. They draw creatures and take hits for you, and even a boss turns to one for a moment. Other classes' summons fight instead.
• Each class has its own way to survive. See How Each Class Survives.
• Late party buffs and third-job auras also raise your defence. You feel it most at high level.
• Assists. In a party, a heal that restores a friend's HP, a party buff that lands on them or a taunt that pulls creatures off them earns you Assist EXP when they defeat creatures. Auras do not count. See Parties and Friends.
• Passives make you stronger all the time. Some improve one named skill. Others raise your gauge or lower your costs.

Recovery from passives, buffs and auras is a share of your maximum HP or MP from your second job on. The skill card reads HP Recovery +2% per 10s, and the Stats window shows the total you recover every ten seconds. So it keeps up as you level. Recovery from your first job's skills, gear, souls, pets and food is still flat points.

Putting skills on keys

You can place any skill on a skill key. See Controls. From your second job on, you can also make a buff macro: one key that casts up to four of your buffs in order. A macro skips a buff that is still running, one that is recharging, and one you lack the MP for. It holds buffs only, and at most one aura. Two macros are available.

On a computer, the Skills window has KEYS and MACROS buttons at the top right. They open Settings, Keyboard on the matching shelf: KEYS for skills, MACROS for buff macros. See Controls.

Class notes

• Every skill does what it says. Each skill's text now matches what it does: how many hits it lands, how many waves reach your foes, and where it strikes.
• What you see is what hits. Twinwind Shot fires both of its arrows. Blackmoon Eclipse and World Eater Bloom show every wave reaching your foes. Charge skills are drawn where they really strike, and pulls drag foes toward you.
• Morning Charge now dashes its full length.
• Summons such as Sunwyrmling and Plume Sentinel now show their attacks on the foes they strike.
• The skill card says whether a skill strikes around you or ahead of you.
• Moonshade (Reaper path): Gravemoon Execution, Nightveil Requiem, Penumbra Rush and Shade Pincer hit as hard as before the last patch. Under a full moon the Shadow Partner's echo strikes half again as hard. Nightveil Requiem gains less from each moon phase it spends.
• Crescent Eternal: Eclipse Ballet deals a little less.
• Lightblade: Judgement of the Seventh Dawn and Solar Wyrm Descent gain less from each Radiance point they spend. Pillar March deals 15% less.
• Thornwarden: Heart of the Wild now adds damage against bosses, and Root of Ruin adds more. Bloodmoon Whirl and Grave Cleave hit much harder but wait longer.
• Starweaver: Heart of the Cosmos and Celestial Body now add damage against bosses.
• Stormwing Sovereign: Stormwing Volley is now a true volley. Its arrows fan out ahead of you, and every foe in front gets one arrow, on your own ground and on the ledges just above and below. Up to 8 foes are hit, each as hard as before. Every arrow you see lands on a foe that takes the hit. Its sound is now a short burst of bowstrings and arrows.
• Dragoon: Dragon's Ascent works once per jump while you are in the air. It refills when you land or grab a rope, so a gliding mount no longer carries you up forever.

Tips

After level 120

Skill points stop at 120. Awakening and the Shard Board take over. See Awakening and the Shard Board.