Elite skill

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Elite skills are skills that are generally in some way better than basic skills. A player is limited under normal circumstances to equipping a single elite skill at a time. The elite skill is often the defining characteristic of a character's skill bar, which is why many character builds are referred to by the name of their elite. For example, the "Crippling Shot ranger".

Unlike basic skills, elite skills cannot be bought from skill trainers or obtained by performing skill quests (with four exceptions, see notes). Elite skills are captured ("capped") from bosses using a Signet of Capture through player vs. environment play (PvE). In addition, unlocked elite skills may be acquired by use of an elite tome. Players may unlock elite skills at a Priest of Balthazar using Balthazar faction obtained via player vs. player (PvP) combat.

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

Type Warrior Ranger Monk Necromancer Mesmer Elementalist Assassin Ritualist Paragon Dervish Common1 Total
Core 5 5 5 5 5 5 - - - - - 30
Prophecies 112 10 10 10 93 10 - - - - - 60
Factions 10 10 10 10 10 10 15 15 - - - 90
Nightfall 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 15 15 1 111
Eye of the North4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3
Total 36 35 35 35 34 35 25 25 15 15 4 294
  1. The common elite skill in Nightfall is Junundu Siege. 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. Hundred Blades was turned into an Elite Skill before Prophecies had been released, which is why Warriors have one more elite.
  3. Mantra of Celerity was removed before Prophecies release in 2005, which explains why Mesmers have one less elite.
  4. 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 acquires elite skills, he will progress in the Skill Hunter title track. A player may 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

[edit] Notes

  • There are a few exceptions to the rule that elite skills are captured from bosses. 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.
  • Since the August 7, 2008 update, Lightbringer Signet is no longer an elite; players who had achieved the Elonian Skill Hunter title prior to this update could have potentially captured every skill in the campaign and had this considered as an elite, thus having the title log displaying 141/140 elites captured.
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