Powers

Powers, also called Skills, or Spells, are the special actions a player can do to help in combat. A player casts a power, which requires a certain amount of mana, and takes a set amount of time (casting time). After being cast, each power has a certain cooldown time, during which the same power cannot be cast again.

Disciplines

Each basic class in the game has 4 disciplines of powers, and each discipline contains 10 powers. A character starts off with just the first power in each discipline, but as a he levels up, he gains access to higher-level powers and can add more from each discipline to his repertoire. When the character chooses a subclass, he gains an additional 2 disciplines of powers (or 3 for mages).

Attributes

Powers have these common attributes:

Type

There are 5 types of powers: Direct, Constant, Activable, Aura and Passive. They can be thought of like this:

• Active (not a type in itself, but all powers that can be cast)
  • Direct (just a single action with no lasting effects)
  • Constant (have a lasting effect of specified duration)
    • Activable (once activated can be deactivated by the caster)
    • Aura (only affect players while they are near the caster)
• Passive (cannot be cast, simple having them gives some attribute bonus to the character)

Casting time

Casting is the time the character needs to focus before launching a power. Many powers have a casting time of 0s (displayed as Instant in-game) and the power with the longest casting time is ??? at 10s. Once the casting is over the power activates.

While casting, the character cannot move or do any other action. He can receive damage, but if he receives a crowd control effect, the casting will stop. The mana will be lost and the cooldown of the power will be triggered.

Casting speed

The mage power Arcane Devotion, the Goblin power Crippling Strike, and some items claim to affect casting speed. This however is incorrect, and it is the casting time that is affected inversely instead. For example, Arcane Devotion at level 5 claims a cast speed +50%, but the actual effect is casting time -50%, ie: cutting the casting time in half. Similarly the Gobin's Crippling Strike claims: cast speed -50%, but the actual effect is casting time +50%. So a spell with a normal casting time of 4s, would take only 2s to cast if the player was using L5 Arcane Devition, and would take 6s to cast if he'd been hit by L5 Crippling Strike.

Cooldown

Shortcut bar buttons showing powers part-way through their cooldown time.

After being used, all powers have a cooldown time before they can be cast again. This ranges from 3s for Synergy Bond to 360s for Stalker Surroundings. The cooldown time starts from the beginning of the casting period rather than the end, so a hypothetical power with casting 5s and cooldown 25s could be recast every 25 seconds, not 30. Cooldown is indicated on the button for the power.

Range

Powers that are cast on a selected target will have a certain range. This range is independent of the weapon range of the weapon the character is holding, so for example a mage's spell with 25m range would have the 25m range whether they are holding a range 30 or range 20 staff. The exceptions to this are the powers whose range is defined as that of the currently-equipped weapon. In-game these powers are displayed as having a range of 0.

Area

Some powers will affect multiple enemies or allies, and these powers have a certain area of effect. The value displayed in the power's description is the radius(?) of the affected area.

Failure

Like normal hits, offensive powers can be evaded, or blocked by warriors with shields. For more information, see Evades and Blocks.

Resists

Powers can additionally they can be resisted. This is done by weighing to determine the attacker's Spell Focus against the target's Spell Resistance. However little is known of the actual calculations.

Cancellation

Casting times give some vulnerability to powers: it is possible for them to be cancelled. When this happens the power will not be cast but its cooldown will be triggered and the mana lost. Cancellation can happen by two means:

1. If, during casting, the caster gets hit by a crowd control effect that renders him unable to cast, such as dizzy or knock down, the casting will be cancelled immediately. It's very common for opponents to try to do this, especially with the powerful area spells that have long cast times.
2. If, at the end of the casting time, the selected target has moved out of range of the caster (including behind him) or behind an object, or has become invalid by some other means, like using an invulnerablity power such as Low Profile or Sanctuary, the spell will also be cancelled.

The second method can lead to players "dancing" to try to avoid attacks, by running behind the caster or behind other objects such as trees and rocks. However, the caster can also try to prevent their target from doing so before trying to cast an important spell with casting time. Methods for this include the use of powers that apply a movement speed penalty (such as Mind Push or Static Field) or powers that knock down the target.

Some of the players of classes that rely heavily on spells with casting time (mostly Mages) argue that actively trying to cancel a power is indecent, while others argue that casting time has exactly this purpose, to give the target a chance, however small, to avoid the power.