Skills rise by use, all the way. Past 70.0 in a fighting skill there is one more step: that skill's master offers you a trial.
Go to the master, stand close and say "trial". It is a short fight built for one player; friends may stand and watch. Fail and the master tells you why, and you can try again a minute later. Pass and the skill's signature move is yours for good.
Nobody starts with a signature move, and the move belongs to the weapon skill, not to Tactics: a mage cannot borrow a swordsman's leap.
The same master tests you three times: the Signature Ladder. At 70.0 the trial teaches the move. At 90.0 the master tests you again, harder (tougher foes who hit harder), and passing empowers the move. At 100.0 comes the Mastery Trial, harder still and with one foe more, and passing teaches a second move. No trial holds back your skill: it rises to its cap either way.
Archery
Ysolde Fernbough, the ranger lodge at the edge of the Yew woods, Yew
Bring down four white harts with the bow within two minutes. They run. A hart felled with steel rises again.
Volley. Draw for a breath, then loose five arrows in a fan across a quarter circle toward your cursor, each at 75% of a shaft. A bow only, and every shaft is an arrow from your quiver.
Swordsmanship
Sir Dalwyn Ashcombe, the keep yard, Trinsic
Three opponents, one after another: a squire of the yard, a knight of bone, then the swordmaster's champion. Two and a half minutes, the sword only.
Heroic Leap. Crouch, then leap up to six tiles toward your cursor and land in a full sweep: 125% weapon damage and a short stagger to everything around you. Everyone sees the ring where you will land. Not on horseback.
Parrying
Dame Ottoline Brack, the south gate, Trinsic
Stand forty seconds in the gate ring against two orcs of the warband and two slingers, with your shield on your arm the whole time.
Shield Charge. Brace your shield and charge to your cursor. The first foe in your path is carried up to two tiles and knocked down; with stone or a tree behind them they are slammed (125%) and stunned for a second. No shield, no charge.
Tactics
Marshal Edda Strand, the drill ground by the gate, Trinsic
Five orc skirmishers at once, any arms you like, inside 100 seconds.
Rallying Hurl. Throw your melee weapon at your cursor for a crushing blow (140%); a second later it is back in your hand. The foe it strikes is marked for four seconds: your allies and companions deal 15% more to it.
Mace Fighting
Hilde Stonehand, the forge on smithy row, Minoc
Four shield-bones march on her anvil. Stop them before one touches it, with a mace, inside 90 seconds. Bone laughs at a blade.
Earthshaker. Plant your feet, raise your weapon and split the ground: a wave of broken earth runs toward your cursor and throws down the foes it crosses (135%, a knockdown). Walls stop it, and the wind-up is plain for all to see.
Wrestling
Brannoc the Pit-Boss, the dock pit, Minoc
Three dockhands, one at a time, bare hands, inside two minutes. Steel in his pit and the man gets up.
Shoulder Bash. Drop your shoulder and lunge: the foe before you is thrown back a tile and always staggered, and a spell on their lips may die there. Into a wall or a tree, they are stunned.
Fencing
Lucan Arbel, the fencing hall, Britain
Five touches before you take three, with a point.
Tumble. Roll up to three tiles toward your cursor without spending your swing; an arrow loosed at you in that instant passes over. Your next blow within two seconds strikes 135% and cripples.
| Skill | At 90: empowered | At 100: the second move | Titles (70 / 90 / 100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | each shaft strikes 85% (from 75%) | Pinning Shot. One fast, driving shot at your cursor. It roots the foe for two seconds; with a wall, a tree or a rock at their back they are pinned for three and a half, and struck half again. | the Bowmaster of Yew the Bow-Warden of Yew the Master of the Greenwood |
| Swordsmanship | the leap carries seven tiles (from six) | Whirlwind. A full spin: 120% weapon damage to every foe in reach; players caught in it stagger briefly. | the Blade of Trinsic the Knight of the Three Blades the Swordmaster Paramount |
| Parrying | charge again sooner (12 s, from 14 s) | Shield Wall. Raise your shield and hold it: every bolt, arrow and blow from in front breaks on it while you walk slowly. Holding it tires you. | the Shield of the South Gate the Gatewarden of Trinsic the Unbroken Wall |
| Tactics | a mighty arm: eleven tiles (from eight) | War Cry. A roar: every foe within six tiles staggers, a fighter flinches, the beasts turn on you, and you and your allies within eight tiles are guarded. | the Drillmaster of Trinsic the Marshal's Hand the Warlord of the Field |
| Mace Fighting | the ground splits eight tiles (from six) | Chain Hook. Throw a weighted chain at your cursor: a body it bites is dragged to your feet and dazed, and the spell or bow draw it held is broken; stone or timber hauls you across. | the Hammer of Minoc the Anvil-Warden of Minoc the Mountainbreaker |
| Wrestling | the shove drives a tile and a half (from one) | Grapple. Seize the foe before you in a hold: for a second and a half neither of you moves and their blows die in your grip; then you throw them two tiles. | the Pit-Brawler of Minoc the Champion of Brannoc's Pit the Ironhand |
| Fencing (not open yet) | the opening strikes 150% (from 135%) | Flurry. For a breath your weapon forgets its weight: swings come three times as fast. | the Duellist of Britain the First Point of the Hall the Swiftpoint Paramount |
Every trial passed gives a title, worn after your name. You choose which one shows in the skills window.
Past 100 the skill cap itself moves. A power scroll raises one skill's own cap: Wondrous to 105, Exalted to 110, Mythical to 115, Legendary to 120. The total of 700 stays, so a skill pushed past 100 is paid for by another one set to fall. Gains past 100 come slowly. Double-click a scroll and confirm; one at or under the cap you already have is refused. For now they come from the Heart of the Mountain in Deep III: each player's share holds a Wondrous scroll of a fighting skill about one kill in twenty. Scrolls can be traded.
Roughly how long it takes to reach 70.0, by the game's own pacing tool (most of the fighting done in the Drift and the Deeps): Archery about an hour for an Archer; Swordsmanship about five hours for a Warrior, Tactics about seven, Parrying about nine. Your own pace will differ.
Every weapon also has two special moves of its own. The primary opens at 70.0 in that weapon's skill and the secondary at 90.0. Ready one from the action bar; it spends mana on the next blow that lands, and a swing that misses clears it for nothing.
Lucan Arbel's fencing trial is written, but his post in Britain is not built yet, so Tumble cannot be earned today. To start a skill you have never used, see Training.
