Is it true that hero skills are prioritized from left to right? - Guild Wars Forums

Sir Tidus · Mar 11, 2008, 01:11 AM // 01:11

Is it true that hero skills are prioritized from left to right of the skill bar? Or is this just a rumor? Thanks.

Darcryed · Mar 11, 2008, 01:13 AM // 01:13

I just looked on Guild Wiki and.. I can't tell either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guild Wiki

Some people have speculated that the order in which skills are placed in the hero's skill bar can alter their effectiveness, saying that the hero AI prioritizes the left-most skills in their bar. However, there is currently no concrete evidence that this is the case.

**cosyfiep** · Mar 11, 2008, 01:19 AM // 01:19

the answer is yes and no....
I have tried to put skills I want my heroes to use in the first or second slot, then I notice them using slot 6 instead

, ah oh well....it was a nice idea too bad they forgot to inform the heroes!

pygar · Mar 11, 2008, 01:45 AM // 01:45

I am pretty sure from my experience that the "left to right" theory for hero skills is a myth....Hero AI is actually better at using things when situationally needed then most people give them credit for, and will totally use things like signet of lost souls, interrupts, and healing/removal skills at appropriate times regardless of where you put them on their bar.

I have noticed that even one skill can change a heroes skill priority in certain cases.... a short while ago I was working on a mesmer/necro hex build and discovered that the Hero I was using would cast a different hex first depending on what was in the build, which was frustrating to me because I was trying to get them to always use a certain one first, and if they used another then the other one would get used just before the target died so it didnt matter- in the end I scrapped the build because the only way the hero would use that hex first was if there were no other hexes on their bar.

There are a lot of weird quirks that heros have when it comes to using skills, ranging from skills they refuse to use right, to skills certain Heroes seem to prefer over other heroes (like some people report that when running sabway, that the different necro heroes actually do the 3 different necro roles differently).....I'm pretty sure the AI only working from left to right like they were reading a book would just make their AI even weirder. (and ineffective to boot)

Sir Tidus · Mar 11, 2008, 02:44 AM // 02:44

Thank you very much everyone. So it's a rumor, not actually true.

Sir Tidus · Mar 11, 2008, 02:48 AM // 02:48

Speaking of this, I have a question about monk skill AI. If I put heal other and healing touch on my monk hero, then would my monk hero be smart enough to use heal other and not healing touch when trying to heal other party members? (since heal other heals more and doesn't require the monk to run to the frontlines to heal) Or will the monk be stupid and use healing touch sometimes? I mean unless heal other is overtaxed (which is like never since it's recharge time is only 3 seconds), there is no reason to use healing touch on someone other than yourself right?

Fury Incarnate · Mar 11, 2008, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Because of the bonus healing from Healing Touch and the low energy cost, monk heroes look at it and think "Ooh, this is a good skill to use". That said, the hero AI isn't entirely bad - I've seen monk heroes use Healing Touch at times when I really would have preferred they hadn't, but more often than not they'll use it right.

Quaker · Mar 11, 2008, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Two AFAIK things:

1. It may be that the heroes do prioritize the skills from left to right, but that doesn't mean they would always use skill #1, then skill#2, then #3, etc. I think their AI is smarter than that and is very situational. But, if a situation can call for several more-or-less equal responses, I think the Hero will use the left-most first.
2. I used to have a problem with Heroes running in to use Throw Dirt. The only way to cure it was to either not equip TD or use it manually. So, I think if you want to be sure that the monk only uses Healing Touch on himself, you'd have to do it manually. (Shift-click to disable it, then click on it yourself when you want him to use it.) It would probably be best just to use something else.

strcpy · Mar 11, 2008, 03:41 AM // 03:41

Like most AI related questions we know nothing more than rumor - Anet has not seen fit to tell us how it all works. We also do not know if different heroes run some builds better than others - personally I find they are all equal but others highly disagree.

From my experience order matters - I say this because I can take a build and run through an area and watch them do pretty much the same thing over and over. I can then jumble the skills up and they do the same thing over and over, however this time the "same thing" is different from the first time.

Obviously order has *some* influence, just not sure what. In my opinion they prioritize what they want to do first and the pick the leftmost skill that satisfies that priority. Say for instance given a particular skill bar a direct heal is the highest priority and at the time and you only have Heal Other, Jamei's Gaze, and Orison of Healing (these skills are picked because of what they do, in no way am I suggesting you run this on your healer) then they will most likely cast the one to the left first. However if their current highest priority is a self heal then Orison will be cast no matter it's position on the bar.

Still no more than my observations and unless someone reverse engineers they AI or Anet decides to tell us how it works no one will truly know.

kel77 · Mar 11, 2008, 07:35 AM // 07:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by strcpy

In my opinion they prioritize what they want to do first and the pick the leftmost skill that satisfies that priority.

Exactly my observations. Give a hero a skill and its clone skill, and the hero will always use the left most one (as long as its recharged).

h9dlb · Mar 11, 2008, 01:31 PM // 13:31

It is true - try it and see - I always put my elite skill or archane echo in the left slot and it always gets used most. I put utility skills like heal party or res in the right most slot which rarely ever get used unless I click on them whilst micro-managing

fenix · Mar 11, 2008, 01:37 PM // 13:37

In my experience, which is a lot in PvE (HB fails), the more you FORCE the hero to use a skill, the more it will do it itself, regardless of the skill position. But without doing it, there's no set pattern to how they use skills (ie, Dunkoro and Tahlkora will differ in the way they use a WoH bar).

gw_poster · Mar 11, 2008, 01:56 PM // 13:56

I've heard that about your doppelganger..if you want to beat it quickly put a bunch of useless, non-damage dealing, and long casting time skills on the left. By the time they are casts, you've dealt all the damage with the other skills to the right. Does this work? In my experience, yes. It lends creedence to the idea that heros (AI), use skills from right to left. Or, this may just be the case for the doppelganger only, dunno...

fenix · Mar 11, 2008, 01:57 PM // 13:57

Doppleganger is true, if you put Gash then Sever on your bar, he'll do them backwards, but Heroes aren't the same, as far as I know.

Sir Tidus · Mar 11, 2008, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenix

Doppleganger is true, if you put Gash then Sever on your bar, he'll do them backwards, but Heroes aren't the same, as far as I know.

So are you saying that heroes will use them correctly or inncorrectly if you put gash to the left of severe artery?

Mar 11, 2008, 01:45 AM // 01:45	#4
pygar Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Dec 2007 Guild: KORM Profession: R/Mo	I am pretty sure from my experience that the "left to right" theory for hero skills is a myth....Hero AI is actually better at using things when situationally needed then most people give them credit for, and will totally use things like signet of lost souls, interrupts, and healing/removal skills at appropriate times regardless of where you put them on their bar. I have noticed that even one skill can change a heroes skill priority in certain cases.... a short while ago I was working on a mesmer/necro hex build and discovered that the Hero I was using would cast a different hex first depending on what was in the build, which was frustrating to me because I was trying to get them to always use a certain one first, and if they used another then the other one would get used just before the target died so it didnt matter- in the end I scrapped the build because the only way the hero would use that hex first was if there were no other hexes on their bar. There are a lot of weird quirks that heros have when it comes to using skills, ranging from skills they refuse to use right, to skills certain Heroes seem to prefer over other heroes (like some people report that when running sabway, that the different necro heroes actually do the 3 different necro roles differently).....I'm pretty sure the AI only working from left to right like they were reading a book would just make their AI even weirder. (and ineffective to boot) Last edited by pygar; Mar 11, 2008 at 01:57 AM // 01:57..

Mar 11, 2008, 01:11 AM // 01:11	#1
Sir Tidus Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jan 2008	Is it true that hero skills are prioritized from left to right? Is it true that hero skills are prioritized from left to right of the skill bar? Or is this just a rumor? Thanks.

Mar 11, 2008, 01:19 AM // 01:19	#3
cosyfiep are we there yet? Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: in a land far far away Guild: guild? I am supposed to have a guild? Profession: Rt/	the answer is yes and no.... I have tried to put skills I want my heroes to use in the first or second slot, then I notice them using slot 6 instead , ah oh well....it was a nice idea too bad they forgot to inform the heroes!

Mar 11, 2008, 02:44 AM // 02:44	#5
Sir Tidus Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jan 2008	Thank you very much everyone. So it's a rumor, not actually true.

Mar 11, 2008, 02:48 AM // 02:48	#6
Sir Tidus Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Jan 2008	Speaking of this, I have a question about monk skill AI. If I put heal other and healing touch on my monk hero, then would my monk hero be smart enough to use heal other and not healing touch when trying to heal other party members? (since heal other heals more and doesn't require the monk to run to the frontlines to heal) Or will the monk be stupid and use healing touch sometimes? I mean unless heal other is overtaxed (which is like never since it's recharge time is only 3 seconds), there is no reason to use healing touch on someone other than yourself right?

Mar 11, 2008, 03:23 AM // 03:23	#7
Fury Incarnate Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Connecticut, USA Profession: R/	Because of the bonus healing from Healing Touch and the low energy cost, monk heroes look at it and think "Ooh, this is a good skill to use". That said, the hero AI isn't entirely bad - I've seen monk heroes use Healing Touch at times when I really would have preferred they hadn't, but more often than not they'll use it right.

Mar 11, 2008, 03:23 AM // 03:23	#8
Quaker Hell's Protector Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Canada Guild: Brothers Disgruntled	Two AFAIK things: 1. It may be that the heroes do prioritize the skills from left to right, but that doesn't mean they would always use skill #1, then skill#2, then #3, etc. I think their AI is smarter than that and is very situational. But, if a situation can call for several more-or-less equal responses, I think the Hero will use the left-most first. 2. I used to have a problem with Heroes running in to use Throw Dirt. The only way to cure it was to either not equip TD or use it manually. So, I think if you want to be sure that the monk only uses Healing Touch on himself, you'd have to do it manually. (Shift-click to disable it, then click on it yourself when you want him to use it.) It would probably be best just to use something else.

Mar 11, 2008, 03:41 AM // 03:41	#9
strcpy Desert Nomad Join Date: Jul 2005 Guild: One of Many [ONE]	Like most AI related questions we know nothing more than rumor - Anet has not seen fit to tell us how it all works. We also do not know if different heroes run some builds better than others - personally I find they are all equal but others highly disagree. From my experience order matters - I say this because I can take a build and run through an area and watch them do pretty much the same thing over and over. I can then jumble the skills up and they do the same thing over and over, however this time the "same thing" is different from the first time. Obviously order has some influence, just not sure what. In my opinion they prioritize what they want to do first and the pick the leftmost skill that satisfies that priority. Say for instance given a particular skill bar a direct heal is the highest priority and at the time and you only have Heal Other, Jamei's Gaze, and Orison of Healing (these skills are picked because of what they do, in no way am I suggesting you run this on your healer) then they will most likely cast the one to the left first. However if their current highest priority is a self heal then Orison will be cast no matter it's position on the bar. Still no more than my observations and unless someone reverse engineers they AI or Anet decides to tell us how it works no one will truly know.

Mar 11, 2008, 01:31 PM // 13:31	#11
h9dlb Lion's Arch Merchant Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Leeds England Profession: W/	It is true - try it and see - I always put my elite skill or archane echo in the left slot and it always gets used most. I put utility skills like heal party or res in the right most slot which rarely ever get used unless I click on them whilst micro-managing

Mar 11, 2008, 01:37 PM // 13:37	#12
fenix Major-General Awesome Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger Guild: Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&# Profession: W/	In my experience, which is a lot in PvE (HB fails), the more you FORCE the hero to use a skill, the more it will do it itself, regardless of the skill position. But without doing it, there's no set pattern to how they use skills (ie, Dunkoro and Tahlkora will differ in the way they use a WoH bar).

Mar 11, 2008, 01:56 PM // 13:56	#13
gw_poster Desert Nomad Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: so cal Profession: R/	I've heard that about your doppelganger..if you want to beat it quickly put a bunch of useless, non-damage dealing, and long casting time skills on the left. By the time they are casts, you've dealt all the damage with the other skills to the right. Does this work? In my experience, yes. It lends creedence to the idea that heros (AI), use skills from right to left. Or, this may just be the case for the doppelganger only, dunno...

Mar 11, 2008, 01:57 PM // 13:57	#14
fenix Major-General Awesome Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger Guild: Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&# Profession: W/	Doppleganger is true, if you put Gash then Sever on your bar, he'll do them backwards, but Heroes aren't the same, as far as I know.