Skills Guide

Skills, or "buffs" as they are often called, are spells cast on a player to temporarily improve some characteristic of that player. A skill can be cast on the caster himself or on any other player in the game. Skills cost stamina for the player who is casting it but not for the receiver (unless those are the same person, obviously).

Each skill has an associated level which denotes the minimum level a player must be before being able to learn that skill. Certain skills also have a dependency tree which means that in order to learn a skill, a player not only has to be of the appropriate level, but he or she must also know the skills leading up to this skill. In practice, the player needs at least 10 skill points allocated to dependent skills. Example of such skills is Berserk which requires the player to first learn both Rage and Fury.

Skills are grouped into three categories: Offense, Defense and Special and the tables below lists all available skills. There are also a few skills that only exists through potions. These skills cannot be learned, only acquired by drinking a potion containing that skill.

Trading Skills

Since the minimum level for a skill only limits the learning of a skill and not the usage of the skill it is common that buffs are traded between players. A low level player can get access to otherwise inaccessible buffs by paying a higher level player to cast buffs on him or her. The usual payment method is a one time payment of gold or FSPs, but other forms exists, such as lifetime service (pay once - get buffs for the rest of your life) or trading buffs for other buffs.

Warning: Since there is no built in mechanism to trade buffs in the game, it is up to the players doing the trade to trust each other. It happens that players buying buffs don't pay and vice versa. It usually works fine, but normal caution is advised. You will not get refund from HCS if you get scammed during a buff trade.

Skill Listing

Defense Skills

Level	Icon	Name	What does it do?
1+		Great Vigor	+0.2% base HP per point.
25+		Absorb	+0.1% chance per point that you will absorb 25% of the damage inflicted on you.
		Evade	+0.1% base Defence per point.
		Fortify	+0.1% base Armor per point.
75+		Enchanted Armor	+0.1% per point stat bonus increase to your equipped armor. (Excludes 'Gain' bonuses).
		Rock Skin	+0.1% base Defence and +0.1 base Armor per point.
150+		Aura of Protection	+0.1% base Defence, +0.1% base Armor and +0.1% base HP per point.
		Deflect	+0.25% chance per point that a player attacking you will automatically fail before combat starts .
200+		Force Shield	+0.1% per point chance to reduce damage done to you to 1.
		Unbreakable	+0.5% per point chance per point of equipment not taking durability loss during combat.
250+		Assist	+0.05% per point chance of one of your allies assisting in combat vs. creatures. (Ally is randomly selected and adds 50% of their attack, defense, damage, armor and hp - note this also excludes allies whom are more than 25 levels above you.).
300+		Constitution	+0.1% per point increase to your defense.
400+		Counter Attack	Uses 0.25% extra stamina (per point) to add 0.25% to both attack and damage. (Both values are rounded up, vs. creature only)
		Summon Shield Imp	Creates an Imp which can absorb 100% of damage. Each full absorb uses one of the Shield Imp's hit points. The Shield Imp starts with 3 hit points and gains one for each 50 points placed in this skill. The Shield Imp auto-debuffs when it reaches zero hit points. (Note Super-Elites can crush the imp in a single turn regardless of hit points remaining and it only works in PvE.
500+		Fortitude	Defense stat is added to HP. (0.1% per point)
		Vision	Lights up dark realms. More skill points allow more vision on the 'Map' screen. (Vision radius increases every 50 levels
600+		Flinch	0.1% per point decrease in enemies Attack stat
700+		Nightmare Visage	0.25% per point of your Attack will be transferred into Defense. (Great for offline protection!)
		Terrorize	0.1% per point decrease in enemies Damage stat

Special Skills

Level	Icon	Name	What does it do?
1+		Deep Pockets	+0.25% per point reduction in gold lost on failed combat vs creatures.
		Find Item	+0.1% per point increase of creatures current drop rate.
		Quest Finder	Increases the chance a quest item will drop. (If you fail to obtain an item, an extra roll is given for Quest Finder at a fixed percentage based on the points allocated to the skill. If this second roll is successful, you will obtain one of the available quest items drops (if any)).
		Treasure Hunter	+0.2% per point additional gold from creatures.
25+		Adept Learner	+0.2% per point increase in xp from creature kills.
		Defiance	+0.25% per point reduction in xp lost when defeated in combat vs creatures.
75+		Librarian	+0.1% per point chance to gain double xp from creatures.
		Merchant	+0.05% per point chance to gain double gold from creatures.
150+		Last Ditch	+0.2% per point chance to survive death in combat (once per combat).
200+		Animal Magnetism	+0.2% per point chance to make certain creatures respawn at your location.
		Doubler	At skill level 50+, 2x Stamina usage in combat in return for 2x gold/xp. At level 100+ 3x, and at level 150+ 4x. Note that stamina and xp loss are normal (not multiplied) if you lose a battle.
		Empower	+0.1% per point increase to all currently active enhancements.
250+		Brewing Master	+0.5% per point to the duration of potions when consumed while active.
		Conserve	+0.05% per point chance that combat (vs. players and vs. creatures) will use no stamina. (Excludes group/relic combat)
		Four Leaf	+0.1% per point chance that craftable items are discovered already 'Perfect'.
300+		Extend	+0.25% per point increase to skills durations that are cast while this skill is active.
400+		Extractor	Increases chance of success when attempting to extract Components from Resources. (A fixed +0.05% chance per point extra chance of success).
		Inventor	Increases chance of success when attempting to Invent items/potions. (A fixed +0.05% chance per point extra chance of success)
500+		Buff Master	0.2% per point chance to half the stamina cost (rounding up) when casting skills on other players. (Does not work on self!)
		Inventor II	Chance not to consume (or consume less) components when inventing items.
600+		Reflection	0.1% per point of enemies damage inflicted is added to your next combat strike.
700+		Light Foot	0.05% chance to use no stamina while moving on the world map.
		Mesmerize	0.1% per point chance to reduce a creatures armor and defense by 50% (vs. creature only)

Potion Only Skills

Icon	Name	What does it do?
	Mastersmith	+0.5% chance per point to repair each of your items in your backpack. Note that this is not a "skill" or "buff" that would stay active, this is a one-use potion.
	Sanctuary	+0.1% per point increase to your armor.
	Dull Edge	+0.4% per point reduction to creatures Piercing Strike enhancement.