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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.
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'''Skills''' refers to the Active Skills, the class-specific character abilities in Diablo III. There are around 25 skills per class, (down from 30+ in earlier versions<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/ Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net] - IncGamers, October 2009</ref> of the game) and they are wildly-varied, ranging from physical strikes to [[spell]] attacks to buffs, debuffs, mind control abilities, and many more.
  
[[Respecs]] will be available to change skill points after after they're placed, and [[runestones]] can be socketed into skills, greatly modifying their forms.
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Diablo III divides skills into [[Active]] and [[Passive]]. The skills selected to use 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 [[traits]]) 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 skills per class, they vary widely between the classes, and add bonuses such as +damage to ranged attacks, faster movement speed, increased chance of critical strike, faster resource regeneration, improved healing, and many more.
  
[[Monster]]s can also use skills, but often not a Character skill. Primarily [[caster]] monsters have skills/spells, but others as well. Monster skills include all their abilities besides their "auto attack".
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In Diablo III, skills are seldom used in their basic form, since the five types of [[runestones]] greatly modify every skill, always in beneficial fashion. There is thus no good reason to ever use the base skill once a runestone is available.  (Some players dislike this design, but the developers have said that at least one runestone in each skill will not modify the basic function, and will only add damage or some other improvement that doesn't change the basic function.)
  
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==Essential Skill Links==
  
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* [[Rune|Skill rune]]s
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* [[Barbarian skills]]
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* [[Demon Hunter skills]].
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* [[Monk skills]].
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* [[Wizard skills]].
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* [[Witch Doctor skills]]
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* [[Signature skill]]s - Skills that define characters.
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* [[Active skill]]s - Skills where effects are activated by the player.
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* [[Passive skill]]s - Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
  
<div style="float:right; clear:right; margin:0px 0px 10px 10px;"><br><br>
 
__TOC__
 
</div>
 
[[Image:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-barb-muldric.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Barbarian skill|Barbarian Skill Tree]] interpretation by [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=739038 Muldric].]]
 
  
<u>'''Useful skill links:'''</u>
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==Active Skills==
* '''[[Rune|Skill rune]]s'''
 
* '''[[Barbarian skills]]''' - [[Barbarian]]-specific skill design.
 
** '''[[Barbarian traits]].
 
** [[Barbarian skill archive]] - Removed Barbarian skills.
 
* '''[[Demon Hunter skills]]''' - Monk-specific skill design.
 
** '''[[Demon Hunter traits]].
 
* '''[[Monk skills]]''' - Monk-specific skill design.
 
** '''[[Monk traits]].
 
** [[Monk skill archive]] - Removed Monk skills.
 
* '''[[Wizard skills]]''' - [[Wizard]]-specific skill design.
 
** '''[[Wizard traits]].
 
** [[Wizard skill archive]] - Removed Wizard skills.
 
* '''[[Witch Doctor skills]]''' - Witch Doctor-specific skill design.
 
** '''[[Witch Doctor traits]].
 
** [[Witch Doctor skill archive]] - Removed Witch Doctor skills.
 
* '''[[Signature skill]]s''' - Skills that define characters.
 
* '''[[Active skill]]s''' - Skills where effects are activated by the player.
 
* '''[[Passive skill]]s''' - Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
 
* Skill [[Rank]]s
 
  
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This skill system has changed as often as any game feature during development, but seems at least semi-finalized as of January 2012. (See the archived skills page for details about the numerous earlier skill systems, many of which varied wildly from the final form.)
  
==Known Skills==
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Characters now have six [[active skill slots]], which are unlocked at Clvl 1, 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24. Active skills become available to assign to these slots regularly, one every level or every other level, until the highest level skills are unlocked at around Clvl 29 (the number of skills and max level varies slightly from class to class). There are no skill points in Diablo III; skills are either selected or not; on or off.
  
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.
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With the current system, a new character starts off wit one skill that they can not change or switch out, since only one skill is available at that level. Very quickly, as soon as the character reaches Clvl 2, another two skills are enabled, and a second active skill slot is unlocked. This gives the player a choice of three skills, two of which can be usable at a time. For example, a Wizard starts off with [[Magic Missile]], and no other skills available. At level 2, a second active skill slot comes online, and the skills [[Frost Nova]] and [[Ice Armor]] are enabled. Either of those can then be assigned to the second slot, or both can be used if one is swapped in for Magic Missiles.  
  
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Additional active skill slots come in at level 6, 12, 18, and 24, with new skills available every level or two until about Clvl 29. At that point each class has about 24 active skills, of which six can be active at once.
  
==Traits==
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View the images below to see a character at level 1, level 2 with the second active skill slot unlocked, and level 13, with 4 active skills slots, to see this progression.  
 
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* The icons of skills that are available but not currently active are bright and colorful.
[[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. Character earn a trait point every other level up (each odd-numbered level), and have a wide variety of traits to choose from. Like skills, traits have no pre-reqs other than Clvl. Unlike skills, traits are not all available at a fairly low level; new traits are available every 4th level, and they proceed almost all the way to the max level, with blocks of traits available at level 1, 3, 5, and so on, up to much higher levels. Later blocks of traits come online at Clvl 39, 43, 47, 51, and 55.
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* The icons of skills that are not yet available (due to a character not being high enough level) are dimmed out.
 
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* The icons of skills that are currently selected have a small silver border around them, for ease of identification.  
As of Blizzcon 2010 there were more than 30 traits per character, a fairly bewildering number 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 removed during 2010 development.
 
 
 
Before the rearranging and removal of passive skills, the team was planning to have about 35 skills per character, 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.
 
 
 
 
 
===Skill Requirements?===
 
 
 
With the redesigned non-tree skill trees, as of October 2010 at Blizzcon there are no skill prerequisites at all, other than the Clvl requirement for each tier of skills.  These are set at Character level 2, 3, 6, 10, 14, 20, and 26.
 
 
 
===How Many Skills At Once?===
 
 
 
[[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].]]
 
Only 7 skills can have points placed in them at one time, in Diablo III. This fact was revealed via the @Diablo twitter feed in late-September, 2010. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-skills-party-help-and-beta-confirmation/ @Diablo] - IncGamers, September 2010</ref>
 
 
 
::Bash said U can only have 7 skills at a time, does that mean I can’t have skill points in an 8th skill or U can only have 7 on UI?—TheEliminator
 
:::You can spend into seven skills at a time, total. These are active skills and don’t include passives.—Diablo
 
 
 
 
 
===How Many Points in Skills?===
 
 
 
It's not yet been made clear how many skill points can be placed into the skills, or how quickly points may be added to the skills. Characters could add one per level in Diablo 2, but many other RPGs have different limits, sometimes allowing points only every 3rd or 5th level up. This technique allows for skills to gain much more benefit per level, making them ultimately more powerful.
 
 
 
Nothing has ever been said about how quickly points can be added to skills in Diablo 3, but in June 2010 Bashiok said that the skill caps would be set by difficulty level, and would progress by 5 points each. Thus characters would have a maximum of 5/10/15 on normal/nightmare/hell. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/skill-caps-increase-on-nm-hell/ Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, June 2010</ref>
 
 
 
This seemed viable and interesting to most players, until Bashiok took it all back a couple of weeks later:
 
<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/max-level-and-more-on-skill-caps/ Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, July 2010</ref>
 
 
 
::'''Bashiok:''' Ignore everything I said about raising skill caps, that was an old, old design for how it could potentially work and I had a lapse of memory.
 
 
 
 
 
No further clarifications were in order, but when the issue was next raised in September 2010, [[@Diablo]]'s comment made a max cap of 15 seem fairly likely. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-skills/ @Diablo] - IncGamers, September 2010</ref>
 
 
 
::'''Akumagin:''' How many skills, active and passive, will we be able to maximize with the 60 level cap?
 
:::'''@Diablo:''' It hasn’t been nailed down, but probably three, maybe four active skills at highest cap can be maxed out at 60.
 
  
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<gallery>
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File:Skills-beta-lvl1.jpg
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File:Skills-beta-lvl2.jpg
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File:Skills-beta-lvl13.jpg
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</gallery>
  
Another update came in November 2010, when Bashiok said the new max might be 20.<ref>[http://blues.incgamers.com/Posts/1/1/4/10/44363/7-skills-max-and-no-more#postId_116869 Bashiok forum post] - IncGamers, November 22, 2010</ref>
 
  
::...but can be increased up to Fifteen.
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==Passive Skills==
:::'''Bashiok:''' Potentially twenty.
 
  
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[[File:Skills-passive-beta1.jpg|thumb|300px|Passive skills for a Witch Doctor, Jan 2012.]]
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The [[Passive Skill]] system has undergone numerous changes as well, but it also seems mostly finalized as of January 2012, during the beta test.
  
==The Skill Design Team==
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In the current system, players can choose from 3 passive skills, with their [[passive skill slots]] becoming available at level 10, 20, and 30. Switching these in and out works much as it does with active skills, except that passive skills are first available at Clvl 10, when 2 of them are enabled. Additional passive skills come online every level or two thereafter, until each class has around 15 passive skills to choose by level 30.
  
[[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>
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You can see full lists of all passive skills on the appropriate class skill pages.
  
::'''''Diii.net: '''Can you place your heads into the lion’s jaws and name the 3 of you who work on skills?
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* [[Barbarian_skills#Passive_Skills|Barbarian Passive 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.
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* [[Demon_Hunter_skills#Passive_Skills|Demon Hunter Passive Skills]]
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* [[Monk_skills#Passive_Skills|Monk Passive Skills]]
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* [[Witch_Doctor_skills#Passive_Skills|Witch Doctor Passive Skills]]
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* [[Wizard_skills#Passive_Skills|Wizard Passive Skills]]
  
  
==Selecting Skills==
 
  
[[File:D3 skillbar.jpg|thumb|300px|Available skill interface.]]
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==Respecs==
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.
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[[Respecs]] are readily-available in Diablo III, and players are encouraged to experiment with a 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.
  
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While the developers initially shrugged off player complaints that total [[freespecs]] were an exploit that would prevent players from getting any sense of "ownership" or "identity" to their characters, the skills system during the beta has gradually changed to limit respecs, first by the [[Nephalem Altar]], then with a 30 second cooldown on using or changing any skill slot after it's been swapped.
  
==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.
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==Skill Points==
  
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.
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Skill points were removed from the game during development. The developers felt that skill points were a max skill cap by another definition, since most skills had to be maxed out to retain high utility. Skill points also proved difficult to balance, as additional points in some skills were of minimal importance, while they were essential in combat/damage skills.  
  
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.
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Without skill points players can experiment by regularly swapping skills ([[respec]]) in and out, low level skills can scale up to remain useful long term, and equipment becomes much more important, as skill damage comes largely from equipment bonuses such as +attributes.
  
  
==Skill Trees==
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==Skill Requirements?==
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]].
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[[File:Patch10-skill-swap-cooldown-sml.jpg|thumb|350px|[[Cooldown]] on skill switching, Beta v10.]]
* See the [[skill trees]] article for much more detail and full citations for these changes.
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Diablo III has no skill requirements or prerequisites, other than minimum Clvls. Skills are no longer arranged in trees or grouped by tiers, and a new skill becomes available nearly every level up until Clvl 29 or 30. (The numbers vary between the classes.)
  
<gallery>
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This system, along with respecs and several other changes, is designed to let players freely experiment with skills and different builds.
File:Barb-juggernaut-tree08.jpg|2008 version.
 
File:Skill-tree-berserker.jpg|April 2009 changes.
 
File:Wizard_skill_tree.jpg|August 2009.
 
File:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-barb-muldric.jpg|Fan-made recreations of the trees seen at Blizzcon 2009.
 
</gallery>
 
  
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There are requirements on how many skills can be used at once. Characters start out with one skill, and unlock additional [[Active Skill Slot]]s at Clvl 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24.  [[Passive Skill Slot]]s  are enabled at Clvl 10, 20, and 30.
  
==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.
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==Resource Costs and Cooldowns==
  
One prime difference from Diablo II is the slot for a [[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.
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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 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.
  
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The point in resource costs and cooldowns is to give Diablo III's skills greater variety in effect and usage.[http://diablo.incgamers.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 [[potions]]. As a result, every player could use their best skills constantly, without delay, and thus there was no reason to use lower level skills at all.
  
==Active and Passive Skills==
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Diablo III has been designed to encourage a wider mixture of skill types, with [[spammable]] skills mixed in with big damage/big delay skills, and others that fall inbetween. Lower level skills are meant to remain useful as their damage and effectiveness scales up with the character level.  
Diablo III skills are either "[[active skills|active]]" or "[[passive skills|passive]]." A huge change was made to the skill trees during development in 2010, when all the 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 moved to the [[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.  
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* See the [[cooldowns]] article for more detail, [[Blue]] quotes, and specific skill examples.
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<br>
  
The first good look 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 2; around 30 skills, about 1/3 passive and 2/3 active. This changed in 2010, when skill trees were entirely remade, and all of the passive skills were removed.
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==How Many Skills At Once?==
  
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Only 6 skills can be active at once, with the number available increasing as a character levels up.  Characters start out with one skill and gain an additional [[active skill slot]]s at Clvl 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24.
  
Active skills are used by clicking their icon, 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.  
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The maximum number of skills changed repeatedly during development. The first word that there would be any skill limit at all came in September, 2010. <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-on-skills-party-help-and-beta-confirmation/ @Diablo] - IncGamers, September 2010</ref>
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::You can spend into seven skills at a time, total. These are active skills and don’t include passives. --Diablo
  
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.
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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 could activate multiple skills from any tier -- not just one from each tier -- and gained an additional skill point every level up.  
  
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The final game system bears almost no resemblance to that early design.
  
===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.
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==Skill Tooltips==
  
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>
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[[File:Skill-tooltip-simplified-beta.jpg|thumb|350px|Simplified [[tool tips]].]]
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Skill tooltips were changed to be short and lacking in details (such as numbers) during late game development. Players reacted poorly to this change, but the developers insisted it was for the best and would be more [[accessible]] to new players. Slightly more detailed skill information (showing damage types, some functions, numbers, etc) can be viewed by hovering on a skill while holding down the Control key.
  
::'''''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.
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An side-by-side example can be seen to the right.
::'''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.
 
 
 
==Skills Define Characters==
 
[[Image:Skill-tree-blizzcon09-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 skill]]s" to express this further. Skills that truly guides the rest of the development of a class.
 
 
::'''1UP: In creating this game, would you say 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?'''
 
 
::'''JW:''' Probably the best way to describe it is that initially, when we're doing skills for a class, we're not thinking anything except "what makes this class awesome? Why do I care about this guy?" Then you say, "Because he can hit the ground and create a small localized earthquake that destroys everything in front of him." That sounds pretty awesome; that sounds like a guy that I'd want to play. So early on, that's really our fixation: What is going to make this class sing? But that only really drives the first half-dozen skills. After that, we start getting into what mechanics have we put in the game that we want this class to take advantage of. For example, with the Wizard, we gave her a passive skill that causes enemies to drop mana orbs -- just like health orbs. So that's a mana-recovery mechanic for her; it plays into her resource and plays into the health-orb system.
 
 
::So there, we just said, "We need a recovery mechanism for her -- what would work? Well, we can give her something similar that we already give for health." But then that doesn't mean anything for the Barbarian since he uses a completely different resource. For him, we tend to focus on skills that make him play in a way that's interesting. His "fury resource" is designed to drive the player forward, like a Barbarian, because he's very tough and is a close-quarters combatant. He wants to move forward, because the mechanic is "I have a lot of fury, which helps me deliver a lot of damage, but I'm going to lose it just sitting around." It makes him very aggressive, which is what we wanted out of the character. So that was driven by [the concept of] how do we want this guy to play. Very aggressively, and hence we built this mechanic.
 
 
::And lastly, [there's] the monster design. As we get further and further into the game, our goal is to make monsters that we can't figure out how the player can defeat [with the existing skills] 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 [decide] "Let's create a monster that has really debilitating rooting attacks that just get you stuck when you encounter them." Then we see that this really screws with the Barbarian, 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 broader, deeper character. On the other hand, we don't want to go too far -- a lot of mechanics of World of WarCraft are based heavily on control, and we want to make sure that Diablo 3 stays mostly a combat game based mostly on attacks.
 
 
 
Also on this topic, Jay Wilson spoke about how much planning the team puts into potential character builds. October 2009 interview: <ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/ Jay Wilson interview @ Diii.net] - October 2009</ref>
 
 
::'''''Diii.net: '''Do you guys work and plan in advance to plan multiple potential builds for each character? Or do you just throw in as many cool skills as you can and see how players find ways to use them?
 
::'''Jay Wilson: '''A little bit of both. We try to anticipate what we think will be good builds. For example, there’s lots of things we put into the wizard, to try to make a battle mage more viable. But sometimes we put in skills that we’re not 100% sure is an awesome skill, but that we think somebody will find an awesome use for. We try to plan things ahead of time, but we’re not foolish enough to believe that the three of us who work on skills can come up with as many possibilities and variations as the millions of players who will take the work we’ve done and have fun building stuff with it. We mostly try to make sure they have the tools to have a lot of freedom and create a lot of cool stuff.
 
  
  
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[[Category:Skills]]
 
[[Category:Skills]]
 
[[Category:Basics]]
 
[[Category:Basics]]

Latest revision as of 23:24, 29 January 2012

Skills refers to the Active Skills, the class-specific character abilities in Diablo III. There are around 25 skills per class, (down from 30+ in earlier versions[1] of the game) and they are wildly-varied, ranging from physical strikes to spell attacks to buffs, debuffs, mind control abilities, and many more.

Diablo III divides skills into Active and Passive. The skills selected to use 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 traits) 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 skills per class, they vary widely between the classes, and 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 runestones greatly modify every skill, always in beneficial fashion. There is thus no good reason to ever use the base skill once a runestone is available. (Some players dislike this design, but the developers have said that at least one runestone in each skill will not modify the basic function, and will only add damage or some other improvement that doesn't change the basic function.)

Essential Skill Links[edit | edit source]


Active Skills[edit | edit source]

This skill system has changed as often as any game feature during development, but seems at least semi-finalized as of January 2012. (See the archived skills page for details about the numerous earlier skill systems, many of which varied wildly from the final form.)

Characters now have six active skill slots, which are unlocked at Clvl 1, 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24. Active skills become available to assign to these slots regularly, one every level or every other level, until the highest level skills are unlocked at around Clvl 29 (the number of skills and max level varies slightly from class to class). There are no skill points in Diablo III; skills are either selected or not; on or off.

With the current system, a new character starts off wit one skill that they can not change or switch out, since only one skill is available at that level. Very quickly, as soon as the character reaches Clvl 2, another two skills are enabled, and a second active skill slot is unlocked. This gives the player a choice of three skills, two of which can be usable at a time. For example, a Wizard starts off with Magic Missile, and no other skills available. At level 2, a second active skill slot comes online, and the skills Frost Nova and Ice Armor are enabled. Either of those can then be assigned to the second slot, or both can be used if one is swapped in for Magic Missiles.

Additional active skill slots come in at level 6, 12, 18, and 24, with new skills available every level or two until about Clvl 29. At that point each class has about 24 active skills, of which six can be active at once.

View the images below to see a character at level 1, level 2 with the second active skill slot unlocked, and level 13, with 4 active skills slots, to see this progression.

  • The icons of skills that are available but not currently active are bright and colorful.
  • The icons of skills that are not yet available (due to a character not being high enough level) are dimmed out.
  • The icons of skills that are currently selected have a small silver border around them, for ease of identification.


Passive Skills[edit | edit source]

Passive skills for a Witch Doctor, Jan 2012.

The Passive Skill system has undergone numerous changes as well, but it also seems mostly finalized as of January 2012, during the beta test.

In the current system, players can choose from 3 passive skills, with their passive skill slots becoming available at level 10, 20, and 30. Switching these in and out works much as it does with active skills, except that passive skills are first available at Clvl 10, when 2 of them are enabled. Additional passive skills come online every level or two thereafter, until each class has around 15 passive skills to choose by level 30.

You can see full lists of all passive skills on the appropriate class skill pages.


Respecs[edit | edit source]

Respecs are readily-available in Diablo III, and players are encouraged to experiment with a 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.

While the developers initially shrugged off player complaints that total freespecs were an exploit that would prevent players from getting any sense of "ownership" or "identity" to their characters, the skills system during the beta has gradually changed to limit respecs, first by the Nephalem Altar, then with a 30 second cooldown on using or changing any skill slot after it's been swapped.


Skill Points[edit | edit source]

Skill points were removed from the game during development. The developers felt that skill points were a max skill cap by another definition, since most skills had to be maxed out to retain high utility. Skill points also proved difficult to balance, as additional points in some skills were of minimal importance, while they were essential in combat/damage skills.

Without skill points players can experiment by regularly swapping skills (respec) in and out, low level skills can scale up to remain useful long term, and equipment becomes much more important, as skill damage comes largely from equipment bonuses such as +attributes.


Skill Requirements?[edit | edit source]

Cooldown on skill switching, Beta v10.

Diablo III has no skill requirements or prerequisites, other than minimum Clvls. Skills are no longer arranged in trees or grouped by tiers, and a new skill becomes available nearly every level up until Clvl 29 or 30. (The numbers vary between the classes.)

This system, along with respecs and several other changes, is designed to let players freely experiment with skills and different builds.

There are requirements on how many skills can be used at once. Characters start out with one skill, and unlock additional Active Skill Slots at Clvl 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24. Passive Skill Slots are enabled at Clvl 10, 20, and 30.


Resource Costs and Cooldowns[edit | edit source]

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 skills have very high resource costs, and/or cooldowns, forcing players to wait considerable times (up to 120 seconds for the highest level skills[1]) between uses.

The point in resource costs and cooldowns is to give Diablo III's skills greater variety in effect and usage.[2] In Diablo II there were very minimal cooldowns and resources costs became irrelevant to high level characters with lots of leech, regeneration, or potions. As a result, every player could use their best skills constantly, without delay, and thus there was no reason to use lower level skills at all.

Diablo III has been designed to encourage a wider mixture of skill types, with spammable skills mixed in with big damage/big delay skills, and others that fall inbetween. Lower level skills are meant to remain useful as their damage and effectiveness scales up with the character level.

  • See the cooldowns article for more detail, Blue quotes, and specific skill examples.



How Many Skills At Once?[edit | edit source]

Only 6 skills can be active at once, with the number available increasing as a character levels up. Characters start out with one skill and gain an additional active skill slots at Clvl 2, 6, 12, 18, and 24.

The maximum number of skills changed repeatedly during development. The first word that there would be any skill limit at all came in September, 2010. [2]

You can spend into seven skills at a time, total. These are active skills and don’t include passives. --Diablo

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 could activate multiple skills from any tier -- not just one from each tier -- and gained an additional skill point every level up.

The final game system bears almost no resemblance to that early design.


Skill Tooltips[edit | edit source]

Simplified tool tips.

Skill tooltips were changed to be short and lacking in details (such as numbers) during late game development. Players reacted poorly to this change, but the developers insisted it was for the best and would be more accessible to new players. Slightly more detailed skill information (showing damage types, some functions, numbers, etc) can be viewed by hovering on a skill while holding down the Control key.

An side-by-side example can be seen to the right.



References[edit | edit source]

  1. Jay Wilson Interview @ Diii.net - IncGamers, October 2009
  2. @Diablo - IncGamers, September 2010