Changes

'''Skills''' are what all abilities refers to the Active Skills, the class-specific character [[abilities in Diablo III. There are around 25 skills per class]]es , (down from 30+ in earlier versions<ref>[[Diablo IIIhttp://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/ Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net]] have - IncGamers, October 2009</ref> of the game) and they are called. A skill includes regular wildly-varied, ranging from physical abilities like [[Cleave]] or a magical strikes to [[spell]] like [[Disintegrate]]. While '''skills''' is the official name, players often refer attacks to them as '''spells'''buffs, '''talents'''debuffs, '''mind control abilities''', and other similar termsmany more.

Diablo III divides skills into [[RespecsActive]] will be available and [[Passive]]. The skills selected to change skill points after after they're placeduse are all Active, and these are attacks, debuffs, auras and other such abilities that only have an effect while they are being actively used. Passive skills (initially called [[runestonestraits]] can be socketed into ) are limited to 3 per character, and they remain in effect indefinitely once they are enabled. (Though it may take special circumstances to trigger their effect, such as using a ranged attack.) There are dozens of passive skillsper class, they vary widely between the classes, greatly modifying their effectsand add bonuses such as +damage to ranged attacks, faster movement speed, increased chance of critical strike, faster resource regeneration, improved healing, and many more.

In Diablo III, skills are seldom used in their basic form, since the five types of [[Monsterrunestones]]s can also greatly modify every skill, always in beneficial fashion. There is thus no good reason to ever use skillsthe base skill once a runestone is available. (Some players dislike this design, but often the developers have said that at least one runestone in each skill will not a Character skill. Primarily [[caster]] monsters have skills/spellsmodify the basic function, but others as well. Monster skills include all their abilities besides their "auto attack"and will only add damage or some other improvement that doesn't change the basic function.)

<div style="float:right; clear:right; margin:0px 0px 10px 10px;"><br><br>__TOC__</div>[[File:Skills-monk-blizzcon2010a.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Monk skills]] and redesigned skill tree, October 2010.]] '''Essential skill links:'''* [[Rune|Skill rune]]s -- Their effects are more important than the base skill, in most cases.

==Skill PointsActive Skills==

Skills are enabled by adding points to them, in much the same fashion This skill system has changed as often as in Diablo II. Skill points are earned by leveling upany game feature during development, with the first point awarded but seems at level 2<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diabloleast semi-awakens/ Bashiok forum post] - Battlefinalized as of January 2012.net(See the archived skills page for details about the numerous earlier skill systems, November 4, 2010</ref> and subsequent points at each level up to many of which varied wildly from the maximum level of 60. There will probably be additional points awarded as quest rewards, though this has not yet been confirmedfinal form.)

There are a number of major changes to using skill points in Diablo III:* There are no skill pre-requisites other than Clvl; players never need spend a skill point simply to enable another skill.** There are no skill synergies. No skills directly boost the effect of other skills. (Though many Characters now have six [[traitsactive skill slots]] do.)* Characters can only place points in a set amount of skills. This amount rises with the , which are unlocked at Clvl1, 2, 6, 12, 18, to a maximum of sevenand 24.* The maximum number of skill points in a skill is capped at 5 Active skills become available to start with. This cap will ultimate rise assign to 15 these slots regularly, one every level or 20every other level, with until the highest level skills are unlocked at around Clvl 29 (the number tied of skills and max level varies slightly from class to Clvl, difficulty level, of possibly quest rewardsclass).* There are no [[Passive skills]] skill points in the [[skill trees]]. Only [[active skills]]Diablo III; passive skills are now [[traits]], thus every skill point spent adds directly to one of the, "click this to kill monsters" skillseither selected or not; on or off.

With View the redesigned non-tree [[images below to see a character at level 1, level 2 with the second active skill trees]]slot unlocked, and level 13, with 4 active skills slots, there to see this progression. * The icons of skills that are no skill prerequisites other than the Clvl requirement for each tier available but not currently active are bright and colorful.* The icons of skillsthat are not yet available (due to a character not being high enough level) are dimmed out. These * The icons of skills that are set at Character level 2currently selected have a small silver border around them, 3, 6, 10, 14, 20, and 26for ease of identification.

==Passive Skills in Diablo III vary greatly in their resource costs. Some low level skills have no cost, or a very low one, thus allowing players to [[spam]] them in all circumstances. More powerful skills have higher resource costs, to make using them more of a strategic choice. The highest level skills have very high resource costs, and/or cooldowns, forcing players to wait considerable times (up to 120 seconds for the highest level skills[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-on-high-level-barbarian-skill-cooldowns]) between uses.==

The point in resource costs and cooldowns is to give Diablo III's skills greater variety in effect and usage.[http[File://diabloSkills-passive-beta1.incgamersjpg|thumb|300px|Passive skills for a Witch Doctor, Jan 2012.com/blog/comments/blizzard-calms-the-masses-on-skill-cooldowns] In Diablo II there were very minimal cooldowns and resources costs became irrelevant to high level characters with lots of [[leech]], regeneration, or The [[potionsPassive Skill]]. As a resultsystem has undergone numerous changes as well, every player could use their best skills constantlybut it also seems mostly finalized as of January 2012, without delay, and thus there was no reason to use lower level skills at allduring the beta test.

In Diablo IIIthe current system, lower level players can choose from 3 passive skills can be used very regularly, but they are not as powerful as higher with their [[passive skill slots]] becoming available at level skills that have higher resource costs 10, 20, and/or cooldown times30. Thus players must be more strategic Switching these in their skill use and selectionout works much as it does with active skills, and the developers can make the higher level except that passive skills much more powerful than the lower level onesare first available at Clvl 10, without those when 2 of them are enabled. Additional passive skills becoming overpowered. Cooldowns also keep lower come online every level skills viableor two thereafter, since players must use them regularly, while saving their bigger until each class has around 15 passive skills for special occasionsto choose by level 30.

* See You can see full lists of all passive skills on the [[cooldowns]] article for more detail, [[Blue]] quotes, and specific appropriate class skill examplespages.<br>

===How Many * [[Barbarian_skills#Passive_Skills|Barbarian Passive Skills At Once?===]]* [[Demon_Hunter_skills#Passive_Skills|Demon Hunter Passive Skills]]* [[Monk_skills#Passive_Skills|Monk Passive Skills]]* [[Witch_Doctor_skills#Passive_Skills|Witch Doctor Passive Skills]]* [[Wizard_skills#Passive_Skills|Wizard Passive Skills]]

===Maximum Points [[Respecs]] are readily-available in Diablo III, and players are encouraged to experiment with a Skill===wide variety of skills, as well as swapping them around between situations. This system has undergone much change during development, and remains in flux, with the final system of skills and runestones not yet finalized.

It's not yet clear how many skill points can be placed into While the skills, developers initially shrugged off player complaints that total [[freespecs]] were an exploit that would prevent players from getting any sense of "ownership" or how quickly points may be added "identity" to their characters, the skills. Characters could add one more point per level in Diablo 2system during the beta has gradually changed to limit respecs, but many other RPGs have different limitsfirst by the [[Nephalem Altar]], sometimes allowing points only every 3rd then with a 30 second cooldown on using or 5th level up. This technique allows for skills to gain much more benefit per level, making them ultimately more powerfulchanging any skill slot after it's been swapped.

::''Currently we’re envisioning Skill points were removed from the majority of game during development. The developers felt that skill points were a max skill cap by another definition, since most skills had to be capped at 5 points, maxed out to begin withretain high utility. As a form of progression we're planning for players Skill points also proved difficult to be able to increase the point caps of balance, as additional points in some skills. More than likely to a maximum were of 15. It's a system that’s still under heavy designminimal importance, but the fact of choosing and increasing key while they were essential in combat/damage skills beyond their initial cap is important to this new unified tier system.''

::...the cap raises another five every difficulty level? So when you reach hell difficulty the caps would be at 15==Skill Requirements?==

This seemed the simplest method of doing things, with players able to move up to level 10 skills [[File:Patch10-skill-swap-cooldown-sml.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Cooldown]] on Nightmareskill switching, and level 15 on HellBeta v10. (Plus potential +]]Diablo III has no skill mods from item bonusesrequirements or prerequisites, other than minimum Clvls.) It might create some interesting strategy as wellSkills are no longer arranged in trees or grouped by tiers, with characters wanting to hurry to the next difficulty and a new skill becomes available nearly every level in order to unlock their next five skill pointsup until Clvl 29 or 30. (That was not The numbers vary between 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 Nightmareclasses.)

Logical or notThis system, Bashiok took it back a couple of weeks later: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/max-level-along with respecs and-more-on-skill-caps/ Bashiok forum post] - IncGamersseveral other changes, July 2010</ref>is designed to let players freely experiment with skills and different builds.

::'''Bashiok:''' Ignore everything I said about raising There are requirements on how many skills can be used at once. Characters start out with one skill caps, that was an oldand unlock additional [[Active Skill Slot]]s at Clvl 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24. [[Passive Skill Slot]]s are enabled at Clvl 10, 20, old design for how it could potentially work and I had a lapse of memory30.

::'''Akumagin:''' How many Skills in Diablo III vary greatly in their resource costs. Some low level skills and [[signature skills]] have a low or even zero cost to cast, thus allowing players to [[spam]] them in all circumstances. More powerful skills have higher resource costs, to make using them more of a strategic choice. The highest level skillshave very high resource costs, active and passive/or cooldowns, will we be able forcing players to wait considerable times (up to maximize with 120 seconds for the 60 highest level cap?skills[http:::'''@Diablo:''' It hasn’t been nailed down, but probably three, maybe four active skills at highest cap can be maxed out at 60//diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/blizzard-on-high-level-barbarian-skill-cooldowns]) between uses.

Another update came in November 2010Diablo III has been designed to encourage a wider mixture of skill types, when Bashiok said the new max might be 20.<ref>with [[http:spammable]] skills mixed in with big damage//blues.incgamersbig delay skills, and others that fall inbetween.com/Posts/1/1/4/10/44363/7-Lower level skills-max-are meant to remain useful as their damage and-no-more#postId_116869 Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, November 22, 2010</ref>effectiveness scales up with the character level.

::...but can be increased up to Fifteen* See the [[cooldowns]] article for more detail, [[Blue]] quotes, and specific skill examples.:::'''Bashiok:''' Potentially twenty.<br>

==TraitsHow Many Skills At Once?==

[[Traits]] were introduced into the game in 2010. They function chiefly as a replacement for passive skills, which are no longer in the skill menu. Traits bonuses are considerable, much larger than most passive skill bonuses were in Diablo 2. The team designed them that way on purpose, to make the points spent in traits feel very impactful and important. Typical bonuses are +20% or 25% to attributes or weapon damage, along with dozens of other interesting bonuses. Characters earn a trait point every other level up (each odd-numbered level, starting at 3), and have a wide variety of traits to choose from. It's not known if trait points will also be awarded by quests or other bonuses, but it seems a safe bet.Like skills, traits have no pre-reqs other than Clvl. Unlike skills, traits are <u>not</u> all available at a fairly low level; new traits are available every 4th level, 3, 7, 11, and so on, all the way up to 55.  This is a key difference between skills and traits; while characters should have access to all of their skills by the time they complete normal difficulty, the highest level traits won't become available until nearly the [[end game]]. Traits are arranged in a traits window, accessed through a tab in the Only 6 skills window. Traits can have from 1-5 points placed in them, though the max caps vary; some allow just 1 point, others 3, others 5. As of Blizzcon 2010 there were more than 30 traits per character, a bewildering variety of choices that the developers said was likely to be decreased and refocused through further development.  ==How Many Skills?== There will be around 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 all removed during 2010 development, and almost all of them were repurposed into [[traits]]. Prior to the 2010 revision, the plan was for was planning to have about 35 skills per character, a mixture of passive and active skills, as [[Jay Wilson]] detailed in an October 2009 interview: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/ Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net] - IncGamers, October 2009</ref> ::'''''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: '''In terms of the number of skills, that’s about right. In terms of the skill tree we’re um... we’re still playing around with the actual layouts of skill trees and the working of the skill system. The skills for the Wizard and Barbarian their skill trees were very solid. We like their skills, though there are a few still missing. Especially for the Wizard, there are skills we didn’t put into her tree that we’re still defining, especially at the high end. The same for the Barbarian; we’ve got a few skills on the way for him. But for the most part, the content of those trees is more or less correct.  ==Selecting Skills== [[File:D3 skillbar.jpg|thumb|300px|Available skill interface.]]The method of selecting and utilizing skills with the hotkeys and with the mouse button are described in detail in the [[Interface]] article. Early development builds of Diablo III had a handy menu that popped up above the belt interface. It's not known if this menu will still be in the final game, with the other changes to skills (limiting chars to using 7 at once) that have taken place during development.  ===No Skill Hoarding=== One of the design points of Diablo III is that players should be using their skill and trait points as soon as they earn them. Skill point hoarding is common in some RPGs, and certainly was in Diablo II, where most skills were not very good or only needed 1 point as a prereq.  In Diablo II, wise players saved most of their skill points for the more powerful skills, most of which were available at Clvl 24 or 30. This meant a fairly slow/boring early game, as characters muddled along with just one point in some lesser skill, but a very fun later game experience when the desired skills became number available, and a point could be dumped into it every level, leading to rapidly-increasing character performance. This is now how the [[D3 Team]] wants things to work in their game, and they're trying to make all of the skills useful. Furthermore, cheap/easy [[respecs]] mean that players have no reason not to spend their skill points as soon as they earn them, since it's not a problem to change things around later, if/when another higher level skill becomes more desirable. Bashiok argued for this philosophy in a forum post in November 2010: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/skill-tiers-point-hoarding-and-delayed-skill-investment/ Bashiok forum post] - Battle.net, November 3, 2010</ref> <blue>Respecs aren’t nailed down, but it’s very likely they’ll be introduced through questing and one awarded to you. So that’s one for each difficulty (probably).<br> I think it’s awesome people are trying to plan out builds already. I think it’s crazy to think about going through half of the game without taking a single skill. I’ll admit I haven’t tried it, but I can’t ... I don’t know, it just doesn’t really seem doable. This isn’t Diablo II. I remember going 20+ character levels before spending anythingup. If your goal is to level as fast as possible, I don’t see how point hoarding until level 14 would actually grant you any benefit with the ability to respec. Even if it’s not until later. Having [[Spectral Blade]] until you can respec into [[Teleport]] isn’t going to kill it for you. Not having a skill for the first 14 levels, I think, might. When I have some free time (haha) I’ll try to test it and see how well I do with no skills and no traits. Ugh. Sounds painful. </blue> Bashiok tried it out the next day, playing a new Barbarian and then a Wizard to Clvl 6~ without spending a single skill point, and reported his findings.<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzard-bashiok-tries-point-hoarding/ Bashiok forum post] - Battle.net, November 4, 2010</ref>  His report was interesting, but not especially illuminating, since he was so literal about point hoarding; not spending a single point. That wasn't how it went in Diablo 2; players spent points in prereqs and passives and used those, while saving their points for the higher level skills they were going to max Characters start out. There's no reason to do that in D3 though, with useful skills at lower levels, and easy respecs, which makes this purely a theoretical exercise/discussion.  ==Skill Mechanics== One major change from [[Diablo II]] is that the various snaking lines of skill prerequisites are gone. Skills in Diablo III are arranged in tiers, with no dependency lines between them. This, along with easy [[respec]]ing, gives characters much more freedom in mixing and matching the skills they wish to use. As of October 2010, there are no skill spending point requirements to use other skills. The listing is entirely a menu; any can be chosen at will provided the Clvl requirements are met. This was not the case in earlier versions of the game. In 2008 there were numerous prereq lines between skills, and characters had to spend a certain number of points in a skill tree in order to unlock access to the higher tiers in that tree. This feature remained in 2009, though most of the prereq lines were gone.  ==Skill Trees==The skill tree format we'll see in Diablo 3 has undergone many design changes, and is still in flux. The form seen at Blizzcon 2009 (represented by images on this page) was thought to be fairly final, but in November 2009 Blizzard let it be known that the UI had been entirely reworked, moving away from trees and to a more menu/tier system. As of Blizzcon 2010 there were no "tree" elements in the skill trees. They were purely a listing of skills, grouped by tiers without any requirements other than Clvl. The skills were further reduced by the 2010 removal of all passive skills, which became [[traits]].* See the [[skill trees]] article for much more detail and full citations for these changes. <gallery>File:Barb-juggernaut-tree08.jpg|2008 version.File:Skill-tree-berserker.jpg|April 2009 changes.File:Wizard_skill_tree.jpg|August 2009.File:Skills-monk-blizzcon2010a.jpg|October 2010 non-tree remodel.</gallery> ==Skill Display==[[Image:Skill-threatening-shout.jpg|frame|Skill hover, May 2009.]]The finer points of the skill hover have changed and evolved during the game's development, and will continue to do so. Expect further changes.  Hovering on a skill produces a visual like the one seen to the right. The name of the skill is displayed, along with the current and maximum points that a character may spend in it. The current function is shown, as is the increases you will enjoy with another point.  One prime difference from Diablo II is the slot for a gain an additional [[skill rune]] that you see below the skill, in the skill tree. Only active skills (as far as is known) have slots for skill runes, and skill runes can be freely socketed and swapped in and out. (Subject to change during further development.) See the skill runes page for more details.  ==Active and Passive Skills==Diablo III skills are all [[active skillsslot]]. Earlier in development the skill trees had active and [[passive skills]], but the arrangement of skills was changed radically in early 2010, and all passive skills were removed<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-has-no-passive-skills/ Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, February 2010</ref> <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-iiis-maximum-level-announced-60/ Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, March 2010</ref> from the Diablo III [[skill trees]] and converted into [[traits]].  Earlier in the game, the skill trees were much as they'd been in Diablo II, with a mixture of passive and active skills.  The first good look s at skill trees came in October 2008, when there were as many or more passive skills than active skills. (Only the Barbarian and Wizard had a large amount of skills at that point.) Each character had three skill trees at that point, with several columns of skills in each, arranged in tiers. On each tier, one or two were active and the rest were passive.  By 2009, the skill trees were much like those in Diablo Clvl 2; around 30 skills, about 1/3 passive and 2/3 active. This changed in 20106, when skill trees were entirely remade12, and all of the passive skills were removed.  [[File:Bola-shot1.jpg|thumb|350px|Bola Shot tool tip, Blizzcon 2010.]]Active skills are used by clicking their icon18, and are generally direct attacks; things like [[Firebomb]], [[Hammer of the Ancients]], or [[Magic Missile]]. Active skills attack, cast a protective armor, stun monsters, etc.  Passive skills, now called [[traits]], grant the character some sort of bonus that is always in effect. Passive skills do not need to be cast to activate them; they give a bonus all the time, as soon as points are placed into them. These are skills and spells like [[Prismatic Cloak]] or [[Inner Rage]]. Traits boost the damage of other spells, lower the mana cost of casting them, increase their duration, etc. Passive skills were often called "masteries" in Diablo II, and fans were using that term in Diablo III as well, before the big traits switchover.  ===Balancing Passives and Actives=== This issue was largely removed from the game when [[traits]] replaced passive skills, leaving only active skills in the skill trees.  Prior to this change, there was much player debate about how passives and actives would be balanced in the skill trees. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/ Jay Wilson interview @ Diii.net] - IncGamers, October 2009</ref> ::'''''Diii.net: '''Based on playing those two characters and examining their trees, the Wizard has tons and tons of active attack skills and very few passives, while the Barbarian has an awful lot of defensive passives. Early on he didn’t have very many active skills. So fans were thinking we’d still see a lot of changes, and especially that the Wizard would be getting some more interesting passives.::'''Jay Wilson: '''*sounding thoughtful* Um… yeah, the team has done more passes and passives on the Barbarian, so his are more developed. The Wizard is a little bit harder to do passives for. If you look at the Barbarian in D2, you see the same thing. A lot more passives and less actives than the wizard in D2. I think that’s more a difference between a melee char and a magic wielder. ::The fact that the Barbarian has a lot of passive defense is because he’s supposed to be tough. While I think that the Wizard probably doesn’t have enough passives, I would agree with that statement, keep in mind that they are two different classes. ==Abilities== [[Abilities]] are actions all characters can perform, such as [[throw]], [[attack]], [[unsummon]], and [[resurrect]]. Just how many of these we'll see in Diablo 3 is not yet known, and this coverage is somewhat speculative, but we're assuming that at least the ones from Diablo 2 will return.  ==The Skill Design Team== [[Jay Wilson]] revealed the key skill designer guys on the Daiblo 3 team in an October 2009 interview. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net] - IncGamers, October 2010</ref> ::'''''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 well24.

==Skills Define This was at a time when skills were arranged in trees with tiers, which were arranged at Clvl 1, 2, 6, 10, 14, 20, and 26. Characters==[[Image:Skillcould activate multiple skills from any tier -tree-blizzcon09not just one from each tier -monk-muldric.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Monk skill|Monk Skill Tree]] interpretation by [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=739038 Muldric].]]D3 Lead Designer [[Jay Wilson]] discussed how skills drive game development, and vice versa, in a December 2008 interview with 1up.com. <ref>[http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3172030&p=1 Jay Wilson interview @ 1up.com] - December 2008</ref> The D3 team later coined the expression "[[signature gained an additional skill]]s" to express this further. Skills that truly guides the rest of the development of a classpoint every level up.

::'''1UP: In creating this The final game, would you say system bears almost no resemblance to that the character classes and their powers drive the rest of the game, or are their powers created as a result -- or solution -- to problems presented by the game?'''early design.

[[File::And lastly, Skill-tooltip-simplified-beta.jpg|thumb|350px|Simplified [[there'stool tips]] the monster design. As we get further ]]Skill tooltips were changed to be short and further into the lacking in details (such as numbers) during late gamedevelopment. Players reacted poorly to this change, our goal is to make monsters that we can't figure out how but the player can defeat [with developers insisted it was for the existing skills] best and give the player the tools they need to defeat them. So the design of the monsters has a direct relationship to the design of the classes. That's kind of an ongoing thing; we would be more [[decideaccessible]] "Let's create a monster that has really debilitating rooting attacks that just get you stuck when you encounter themto new players." Then we see that this really screws with the Barbarian Slightly more detailed skill information (showing damage types, so we give him a skill that lets him break out of roots so that he can counter that. Those things are interesting and allow for the player to have a broadersome functions, deeper character. On the other handnumbers, we don't want to go too far -- a lot of mechanics of World of WarCraft are based heavily etc) can be viewed by hovering on control, and we want to make sure that Diablo 3 stays mostly a combat game based mostly on attacksskill while holding down the Control key.