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'''Skills''' are what all abilities the character [[class]]es in [[Diablo III]] have are called. A skill includes regular physical abilities like [[Cleave]] or a magical [[spell]] like [[disintegrate]]. While '''skills''' is the official name, players often refer to them as '''spells''', '''talents''', '''abilities''', and similar terms. These are just synonyms, and are frequently interchangeable in use.
[[Respecs]] will be available to change skill points after after they're placed, and [[runestones]] can be socketed into skills, greatly modifying their forms.
We know a fair number of skills from seeing them in demonstrations, and from taking notes of them at BlizzCon in October [[BlizzCon 2008|2008]] and [[BlizzCon 2009|2009]]. More than 30 skills each are known for the [[Barbarian]], [[Wizard]] and [[Witch Doctor]], while fewer of the [[Monk]]'s skills have yet been revealed. Click to the appropriate pages in the links above to learn the names and functions of all known skills.
==How Many Skills?== There will be around 35 25 skills per character in Diablo 3, all [[active]]. Passive skills were found in the [[skill tree]]s in earlier versions of the game but they were removed during 2010 development. Before the rearranging and removal of passive skills, the team was planning to have about 35 skills per character, as confirmed by [[Jay Wilson]] detailed in an October 2009 interview: [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/]
::'''''Diii.net: '''We saw 30-35 skills for the Wizard (30), Barbarian (35), and Witch Doctor (34), at Blizzcon. Can you give us an idea how close to the final skill trees those are?
[[Jay Wilson]] revealed the key skill designer guys on the Daiblo 3 team in an October 2009 interview. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript]
::'''''Diii.net: '''Can you place your heads into the lion’s jaws and name the 3 of you who work on skills?
::'''Jay Wilson:''' Myself, [[Wyatt Cheng]], and [[Julian Love]], our lead technical artist. Oh actually 4. [[Chris Haga]] does a lot of skill work as well.
==Skill Mechanics==
[[Image:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-wd-muldric.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Witch Doctor skill|Witch Doctor Skill Tree]] interpretation by [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=739038 Muldric].]]
One major change from [[Diablo 2II]] is that the various snaking lines of skill prerequisites are gone. Skills in Diablo III are arranged in tiers, with few dependency lines between them. This gives characters much more freedom in mixing and matching the skills they wish to use. In [[Diablo 3]] skills are enabled by spending skill points. In the [[BlizzCon 2009]] build, a character had to place 15 points in various skills before using Tier 4 skills. Which skills you put those points on that tier and below is up to you. This general tier-mechanic has stayed the same since [[BlizzCon 2008]], so will likely carry on to the final game.
::: Focus. --by @Diablo
:: That is hard, so many games rely on skill trees. My guess would have to be… be... “skill” items that you find or even create for skills. -by CaptainCasey
::: Sounds like you’re talking about our skill rune system, which is still very much a part of the game. --by @Diablo
Jay Wilson provided some overview of the concept behind the changes in an interview in late November. [http://diablofans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23550]
::'''Jay Wilson:''' This new system is still in the development stages and if it does not work, we still have plenty of options to fall back on. Right now, we're just trying different things and getting a feel for the few ideas in regards to the skill system that we have going on right now. It differs from the World of Warcraft/Diablo II type hierarchical styles and is more of a skill pool/path than a tree , ''per se''.
Only Blizzard knows exactly how many versions of the skill tree format they've gone through, but they've alluded to dozens of different major forms, and countless smaller varieties during their development period. At the skill panel during Blizzcon 2008 numerous different skill tree mock-up forms were shown on the powerpoint presentation.
This seems the simplest method of doing things, with players able to move up to level 10 skills on Nightmare, and level 15 on Hell. (Plus potential +skill mods from item bonuses.) It might create some interesting strategy as well, with characters wanting to hurry to the next difficulty level in order to unlock their next five skill points. (That was not the case in Diablo 2, where untwinked/unrushed characters could find better gear and score bigger experience doing [[Baal]] runs from 30-45 or so, rather than moving up to Nightmare.)
==Skill Display==
