Elite skill

From Guild Wars Wiki

Elite skills are skills that are generally in some way better than basic skills. Unlike basic skills, elite skills cannot be bought from skill trainers or obtained by performing skill quests (with four exceptions, see below). Elite skills are captured ("capped") from bosses using a Signet of Capture through player vs. environment play (PvE). Players may also unlock elite skills at a Priest of Balthazar using Balthazar faction obtained via player vs. player (PvP) combat.

PvE characters can learn elite skills through the use of Elite Skill Tomes, as long as the skill has already been unlocked on their account through the methods mentioned above.

This table shows the amount of elite skills for each campaign. The Core elite skills are common across all campaigns.

Type											Common1	Total
Core	5	5	5	5	5	5	-	-	-	-	-	30
Prophecies	11	10	10	10	92	10	-	-	-	-	-	60
Factions	10	10	10	10	10	10	15	15	-	-	-	90
Nightfall	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	15	15	2	112
Eye of the North3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
Total	36	35	35	35	34	35	25	25	15	15	5	295

1. The two common elite skills in Nightfall are Junundu Siege and Lightbringer Signet. Junundu Siege can only be used while riding inside a Junundu. The three common elite skills in Eye of the North are the Norn animal blessings: Ursan Blessing, Raven Blessing, and Volfen Blessing. All common elite skills can only be used in PvE.
2. Mantra of Celerity was removed before Prophecies release in 2005, which explains why Mesmers have one less elite.
3. While there are no profession-specific elite skills unique to Eye of the North, it contains bosses with various elites otherwise unique to the other three campaigns.

Elite skills are indicated in the skill bar by a golden border, and within the Skills and Attributes Panel with yellow text.

As a player captures elite skills using Signets of Capture they will progress in the Skill Hunter title track.

Because elite skills are generally more powerful than basic skills a player may only equip one elite skill on their skill bar. A player may, however, have an elite skill on their skill bar and capture another using a Signet of Capture, and so end up with multiple elite skills on their skill bar. Since Signet of Capture is a PvE-only skill, a player can only take up to three in their skill bar. With the use of Arcane Mimicry, it is possible to have up to five elite skills at once. In this case, zoning to another area will cause the elite skill in the highest-numbered position on the skill bar to stay while removing all of the others.

[edit] Skills that interact with elite skills

• Signet of Capture: Provides experience if it is used to capture an elite skill.
• Arcane Mimicry: Copies target Ally's elite skill.
• Price of Pride: Causes target foe to lose energy the next time they activate an elite skill.
• Signet of Humility: Disables target foe's elite skill.

[edit] Notes

• There are a few exceptions to the rule that elite skills are captured from bosses. Lightbringer Signet is awarded by Seeker of Whispers in the Chantry of Secrets when they obtain the Brave Lightbringer title. Junundu Siege is obtained through the primary quest "Horde of Darkness" obtained at the Bone Palace. The three Norn Animal Blessing skills are rewards from quests given by Hogni Truthseeker. None of these skills are available for purchase using Balthazar faction and they may not be used in PvP.

[edit] Trivia

• Prior to the August 23, 2007 update that limited a skill bar to having only 3 PvE-only skills, a player could capture up to 6 elites in their skill bar in certain explorable areas in Prophecies, making it possible to have 7 elite skills at once.