Category:Skills: Difference between revisions

Welcome to the skills of UO Forever! Click on the skill to find out more information about the skill, its uses and how to level it. As a new player it can be a little overwhelming to read up on all these skills individually. To help you get started, a little bit of summary information has been provided with each skill here and they have been ordered by common combinations. Use this information in combination with the Templates page to get an idea of how to build your characters.

Skill Gain

UOForever has different skill gain rates depending on your location. Following the general theme of risk vs reward, the skill gain works as follows:

• +50% in dungeons
• 0% in wilderness/town
• -25% in house
• -100% in the West Britain Bank(which is a no harm zone)

Magic

• Evaluating Intelligence: Increases the damage of your offensive Magery spells against players and monsters. In combination with Anatomy, it gives a passive Defensive Wrestling which is sometimes used in substitute for Wrestling. Not required if Magery is used mainly as a non-offensive utility skill. Maximum skill: 100.

• Magery: The ultimate utility skill, useful on most templates. Magery has 64 spells across 8 spell circles in total including offensive (e.g. Energy Bolt, Explosion), defensive (e.g. Heal, Cure) and utility (Recall, Gate Travel). Spells use Mana which is based on Intelligence. Popular in both PvP and PvM, even on warrior-style characters. Not required to cast recall from a charged Runebook. Maximum skill: 100.

• Meditation: Passively regenerates mana. Active use of the skill boosts the regeneration rate but the player must stand still for this to remain in effect. Heavy armor will prevent the mana regenerating effect. The skill is essential on templates that use Magery as a primary skill for offence. Maximum skill: 100.

• Resisting Spells: Grants a passive chance to reduce or prevent damage from offensive spells against your character. A useful skill in PvM and virtually essential in PvP. Maximum skill: 100.

• Spirit Speak: A traditionally useless skill which allows you to to hear the dead speak. On Ultima Online Forever, it provide mana recovery for Meta Mages. Maximum skill: 100.

Combat

• Anatomy: Boosts the effectiveness of the Healing skill. Adds damage to weapon skills (Swordsmanship, Macing, Fencing,Archery) and is used to determine the chance of a special move being successful. In combination with Wrestling, it enables a special Stun move which is popular in PvP. In combination with Evaluating Intelligence, it gives a passive Defensive Wrestling which is sometimes used in substitute for Wrestling. Maximum skill: 100.

• Healing: Uses bandages to heal and cure yourself and others. With enough Anatomy it also allows you to resurrect other players. Commonly used on warrior templates in PvM and PvP and also defensive mage PvP templates. Maximum skill: 100.

• Wrestling: A common skill amongst mages in PvM and PvP to mitigate against melee attacks and decrease the chance of a spellcast being interrupted. Provides very little damage by itself but can be combined with Anatomy to enable a Stun special move and Arms Lore for a Disarm special move. Some mage templates will forgo this and use Defensive Wrestling through the combination of Anatomy and Evaluating Intelligence instead. Maximum skill: 100.

• Archery: Uses bows with arrows or cross-bolts with bolts to attack creatures and players from a distance. Does not have a special move ability like other melee skills. A common starter skill used in a Bard Archer in combination with Provocation. Requires Tactics to increase damage output. Additional damage boosts come from Anatomy and having 100 Strength. Maximum skill: 100.

• Fencing: A melee skill that uses fast, sharp one-hand weapons such as daggers or krysses or two-handed short or long spears. Spears have a chance to strike a Paralyzing Blow special move - The chance being determined by your Fencing and Anatomy skill. The Paralyzing Blow makes it a popular choice in PvP to stop enemies in their tracks. Poison can also be applied to the weapons to add extra damage or spell interruption. Requires Tactics to increase damage output. Additional damage boosts come from Anatomy and having 100 Strength. Maximum skill: 100.

• Mace Fighting: A melee skill that uses blunt wood and metal weapons to bash your foes. Metal mace weapons such as maces and war hammers break down your opponents armor more quickly. War Hammers also have a chance to strike the Crushing Blow special move which increases your damage output. Poison cannot be applied to mace weapons. Requires Tactics to increase damage output. Additional damage boosts come from Anatomy and having 100 Strength. Maximum skill: 100.

• Swordsmanship: A versatile melee skill that has the largest weapon choice of all melee skills. The fast katana is one of the most effective weapons because of its combination of speed and damage. The slow halberd has one of the highest single hit damage outputs in the game. Axes have a chance to hit a Concussion Blow which reduces the target's intelligence temporarily - The chance being determined by your Swordsmanship and Anatomy skill. Poison can also be applied to the weapons to add extra damage or spell interruption. Requires Tactics to increase damage output. Additional damage boosts come from Anatomy and having 100 Strength. Damage with Axes can further increased using the Lumberjacking skill. Maximum skill: 100.

• Tactics: Adds extra damage to Archery, Mace Fighting, Swordsmanship, Fencing and Wrestling. Although, there is little point in using it with Wrestling because the damage output would still be embarrassingly low. Maximum skill: 100.

• Parrying: With a shield equipped, Parrying can block both melee and archery hits. Used on some PvM warrior templates but rarely used in PvP. Having a weapon and a shield equipped means that Alchemy potions cannot be consumed without first disarming one of items. Maximum skill: 100.

Wilderness

• Animal Taming: Allows a player to tame and command a variety of creatures and monsters, including the all powerful Meta Pets and many unique Tameables, including mounts that only an Animal Tamer can ride. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Animal Lore: Can be used to view stats on creatures and monsters. Also gives a tamer better pet control for Animal Taming and improves the Veterinary ability. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Veterinary: Heals pets using bandages. Its effects are improved by Animal Lore which also adds the ability to cure and resurrect a pet. Maximum skill: 100.

• Fishing: Along the coasts, you can pull up simple items such as fish and old boots. On the high seas however, you can pull up monsters, Message in a Bottle and Whirlpools! Used correctly, Fishing has the potential to be a very profitable skill. Beware pirates roaming the oceans though! Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Tracking: Used to track animals, players, monsters and NPCs. A useful utility skill in PvP groups to track down victims. Tracking can also be used to hunt down Random Dungeon Adventure. Maximum skill: 100.

• Cartography: Decodes Treasure Maps which provide a fun PvM challenge and some rewarding loot. Can also be used to create maps but these have little purpose. Maximum skill: 100 but with 70 skill any level of treasure map can be decoded, although higher levels may require several attempts.

Bard

• Musicianship: You must play your instrument well to be able to effectively use Discordance, Peacemaking or Provocation! It is generally recommended that you level this first before attempting to level the other bard skills. At least 45 Musicianship is required on Carpenters wishing to craft instruments. Maximum skill: 100.

• Provocation: One of the most powerful ways to get started on the server. Through Provocation, you can make monsters to attack each other, saving you from taking their damage. It can also be used to provoke monsters onto players - This can prove useful when PKs come swooping in! Tougher creatures will require a higher Provocation skill. A very popular skill in various PvM templates. You must stay within range for the provocation effect to remain active. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Discordance: A handy skill that decreases the target's skills and stats. While this is the least commonly chosen of the Bard skills, it does have some interesting uses to make difficult creatures such as paragons easier to kill. Consider this on your bard if you are in a group that already has many with Provocation. You must stay within range for the discordance effect to remain active. Maximum skill: 100.

• Peacemaking: Bring peace to the lands with your songs ... temporarily! Peacemaking is used to briefly subdue all aggressive monsters in an area or for a slightly extended period, subdue one individual monster. This skill is typically used for Tamers while levelling but then switched out for Provocation or other skills. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

Trade

• Alchemy: Used to craft potions, such as heal and cure, that commonly used in PvM and PvP. It also adds extra damage to explosion potions, which can be thrown while running, making this skills a popular choice on PvP templates. Maximum skill: 100.

• Arms Lore: Used to determine the condition of armor or weapons. In combination with Wrestling, it enables a special Disarm move which is popular amongst some thieves and PvPers. At GM when a Meta Talisman is equipped, minimum hit chance is 63%. Maximum skill: 100.

• Carpentry: A crafting skill to make various items out of wood, including furniture, some Mace Fighting weapons and instruments. At least 45 Musicianship is required to make instruments. 120 Carpentry is required to craft Galleons and improve chances of making some rarer furniture items. Items can be crafted using regular wood or rarer wood types obtained from Lumberjacking. At higher levels of Carpentry, you will have an increased chance to craft slayer weapons if you are in Britain's Crafting Area. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Lumberjacking: Used to chop wood from trees. Higher skill levels allow special woods to be cut down. The wood is used as resource in Carpentry, Tinkering and Bowcraft. Also adds 40% damage to Swordsmanship users who wield Axes. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls to increase chance of chopping special woods but not increase damage.

• Poisoning: Allows a player to apply various strengths of poison to weapons and, less commonly, food. Only sharp bladed weapons can be laced with poison. Having a poisoned weapon can be useful in PvP. This skill is typically used on a separate crafter character who poisons weapons for your other characters. Some will opt to use it on the PvP characters to be able to re-apply poison themselves and have an increased chance to poison. Maximum skill: 100.

• Blacksmithing: Used to craft and repair weapons and armour. There are various types of metals that you can craft with which can be obtained with Mining. Blacksmithing has a Bulk Order Deed system which let's you obtain special rewards for completing work orders. At higher levels of Blacksmithing, you will have an increased chance to craft slayer weapons if you are in Britain's Crafting Area. You will need 120 Blacksmithing if you wish to complete the Legendary Crafting quest. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Mining: Mining is a skill required to mine ores from the earth with a pickaxe or shovel. The ores can then be smelted down into ingots which used by a most crafting skills. It couples well with Blacksmithing and your mining skill determines the type of ores you dig up as well as your proficiency to smelt them into ingots. At 100+ Mining, you will have greater success at smelting rarer metals such as Valorite and you will be able to mine crystals from RDAs. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Bowcraft: Bowcraft and Fletching are used to craft Archery based weapons such as bows and crossbows as well as their associated ammunition arrows and bolts. Items can be crafted using regular wood or rarer wood types obtained from Lumberjacking. At higher levels of Bowcraft, you will have an increased chance to craft slayer weapons if you are in Britain's Crafting Area. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Tailoring: A crafting skill used to make clothes out of cloth and armour out of various types of leather. Tailoring has a Bulk Order Deed system which let's you obtain special rewards for completing work orders. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Tinkering: Tinkering allows you to craft tools, traps and other useful items. It's paired well with any other crafting skills such as Blacksmithing and Mining as you can craft the tools you will be using along the way. 120 Tinkering is needed to combine the RDAs crystals to make a workbench. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Inscription: Inscription uses scribe's tools to create spell scrolls, spell books, rune books, and Bulk Order Deed books. In combination with Magery, it improves the effectiveness of some defensive spells such as Magic Reflection, making it a useful skill on some PvP templates. At higher levels of Inscription, you will have an increased chance to craft slayer spell books if you are in Britain's Crafting Area. Maximum skill: 100 base, up to 120 with Power Scrolls.

• Cooking: If you have Fishing, you can cook all the fish you pull up but the resulting fish steaks are not very useful. More interestingly, Cooking is used to make Savage Kin Paint but that barely merits spending points in the skill. Maximum skill: 100.

• Item Identification: Reveal the properties of unidentified weapons and armor. Useful to have on at least one character so that you don't need to invest in Item Identification wands. Maximum skill: 100.

Thieving

• Hiding: Hiding allows you to vanish into the shadows away from players and monsters. The chance of hiding successfully is directly equal to your hiding skill. At 100 hiding, a character can hide in plain sight of a hostile monster or player 8 tiles away from them. Unless you have Stealth you will be revealed when you move. For newer players, this can prove to be a very useful skill to escape tricky situations but note that players can find you with the Tracking skill and then reveal you with the Magery spell Reveal or with the Detect Hidden skill. Some monsters will also reveal you! Hiding also increases the damage of the Phase Shift relic for Berserker Meta Talisman. Maximum skill: 100.

• Stealth: In combination with Hiding this allows you to move around in the shadows. At least 80 Stealth and 100 Hiding is required to stealth around without failing with 0 armor. At higher levels of stealth, you will be able to wear some light armor. Typically used on sneaky characters such as Thieves. As with Hiding, Stealth increases the damage of the Phase Shift relic for Berserker Meta Talisman. Maximum skill: 100.

• Detect Hidden: Detect Hidden is used to reveal hidden players and traps on locked chests. This can be useful for Lockpickers wishing to stay completely hidden but traps can also be set off and avoided by using the Telekinesis spell from Magery making Detect Hidden a relatively rare skill choice. Maximum skill: 100.

• Lockpicking: Lockpicking let's you pick locks - Amazing! ;) This is an important skill to have on at least one character and can be easily levelled. Locked chests will come up in Treasure Maps, Paragons have a chance to drop a locked chest with extra loot and then there are also chests dotted around the land's dungeons. High level Treasure Maps, and Paragon chests will require 100 Lockpicking. Maximum skill: 100.

• Snooping: Peak into another player's backpack to look for items to use the Stealing skill on. This skill can be used while hidden however an unsuccessful snoop will reveal you. An important skill for any aspiring pick pockets. Maximum skill: 100.

• Stealing: Stealing allows you to steal from players, pack animals, creatures and chests. It is typically paired with Snooping, Stealth and Hiding in most thief templates. If you wish to steal from innocent players, you must first join the Thieves Guild. Maximum skill: 100.

• Remove Trap: Used to disarm traps on chests in dungeons, from paragons and Treasure Maps. The skill is rarely taken however as casting the Magery Telekinesis from a distance will set off traps. Remove Traps, much like Detect Hidden, is therefore only useful if you wish to remain completely hidden while picking chests. Maximum skill: 100.

Useless

• Begging: Allows you to beg small amounts of gold from NPCs. Rarely used outside of role-playing. Has no effect on donation vendors! Maximum skill: 100.

• Camping Allows a player to setup camp to log out instantly anywhere. Rarely used outside of role-playing as you will normally recall home or back to a town to log out. Maximum skill: 100.

• Forensic Evaluation: Detect who picked a lock, who murdered a player or if a player is in the thieves guild. Best to forget this skill exists. Maximum skill: 100.

• Herding: Move wild animals and tameable monsters to a particular location. Can be used for some basic shenanigans but not much else. Maximum skill: 100.

• Taste Identification: Detect if food has been poisoned. Can be used to identify seeds at Maximum skill: 100.

Unused

The following skills are listed in the game but are not active on the server:

• Bushido
• Throwing
• Focus
• Mysticism
• Necromancy
• Imbuing
• Ninjitsu
• Spellweaving
• Chivalry