Unlocking skills for other classes... - Guild Wars Forums

VishnuOdin · Mar 06, 2009, 02:01 PM // 14:01

What's the most efficient way to unlock skills for other classes? Hero points take a while to build up, and tome's only seem to allow me to acquire an already unlocked skill (I got a Mesmer tome last night and it won't let me use it).

Someone before mentioned changing your secondary then buying them with your skill points, wouldn't they still have to be unlocked first? If I change my secondary will quests appear and allow me to unlock skills for that class?

I know I can collect Elite skills this way, but my hero's are in desperate need of an upgrade so I need some base skills as well. I don't mind using tomes to actually acquire them if I can unlock them using another method. I'd really rather not create alt characters, I'd sooner buy unlock packs then do that.

Thanks!

refer · Mar 06, 2009, 02:16 PM // 14:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by VishnuOdin

Someone before mentioned changing your secondary then buying them with your skill points, wouldn't they still have to be unlocked first? If I change my secondary will quests appear and allow me to unlock skills for that class?

No, they don't have to be unlocked. Just buy the skill and your heros will get them. No idea about quests, but I'm guessing you won't get them.

Rhiana Reborn · Mar 06, 2009, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Any skill you buy will be unlocked for all your characters. You can change your secondary profession to buy skills that aren't of your profession. They will then be unlocked.

You can use faction to unlock skills. Either play in PvP or vanquish in Factions where you can collect a bounty. Boreas Seabed yields 16k-ish Luxon faction and is not a hard vanquish, by example. Any skill you unlock with faction will be available to all your heroes and PvP chars (NOT to your PvE chars, though. You have to buy them for that character from a skill trainer or use a tome)

Edit: Quests. There are a number of profession specific quests in early Prophecies which you can obtain if you switch your secondary profession. They have skills as rewards. For a full list, check the wiki.

http://guildwars.wikia.com
http://wiki.guildwars.com

BrettM · Mar 06, 2009, 02:40 PM // 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by VishnuOdin

Someone before mentioned changing your secondary then buying them with your skill points, wouldn't they still have to be unlocked first? If I change my secondary will quests appear and allow me to unlock skills for that class?

Buying a skill from the skill trainer unlocks it as well as teaching it. It will be available to all heroes for all characters as well as to the character that bought it. Other characters on the account will be able to learn the same skill from a tome, since it is now unlocked.

Also, all skill trainers in a skill's campaign will offer it to all characters on the account once it has been unlocked, so you don't need to use a tome. For example, Stone Striker is a Nighfall ele skill that is only available from the trainer in Mouth of Torment normally. Once an elementalist -- primary or secondary -- reaches Mouth of Torment and buys that skill, all skill trainers in Nightfall will offer it as an unlocked skill to any other character that is primary or secondary elementalist.

In Prophecies, there are quests given to unlock secondary core professions and those quests have skill rewards. You can also go back to earlier areas and take skill quests that you couldn't take before to get more free skills. For example, once you've unlocked secondary necro, you can go back to Sardelac Sanitarium and Yak's Bend to take the necro skill quests there.

This only works for native Prophecies characters and the core professions, however. NF and Factions characters have to buy their secondary profession unlocks and only get a couple of skills from that. Prophecies characters have to buy the unlocks for non-core professions (Assassin, Ritualist, Dervish, and Paragon), and there are no Prophecies skill quests for those.

imnotyourmother · Mar 06, 2009, 02:49 PM // 14:49

There are several ways to "UNLOCK SKILLS" for your account thus allowing your HERO's and you to have access to them.

ACCOUNT WIDE.

You can BUY the SKILLS UNLOCK PACK from the Online store. This is the EASIEST and most Efficient way to get this skills - PERIOD.

If you do this then ALL TOMES will work as the SKILLS UNLOCK PACK unlocks NORMAL SKILLS and ELITE SKILLS. To get the skill unlocked on the TOON you are playing simply buy the corresponding TOMES for the Skill. Like Ranger tome for troll ungent and ELITE MONK TOME for Elite SKILL Spell Breaker

So you can BUY the Skills TITLES this way instead of capping them. I bought 2 monk Elite tomes for 16K the other day. To Cap these skills would cost me a Skills Point and 1K for the SIGNET OF CAPTURE. So I spent 7,000 gold for the skills. Not that bad really if you have buckets of gold or piles of ectos.

Second way to unlock on account is to farm FACTION points.
Got to RA its the fastest to get into a group. Set up a build so you can survive for 3 minutes or so and earn 40 factions per kill. Add that up to either 3,000 or 6,000 factions and BOOM skill unlocked..or hero or whatever in your case skill.

Then Buy The TOME for the skill - Elite skill for elite tome or normal tome for normal skill.

Now to PVE.

Got to the WIKI and search the SKILL that you want to get. IF it is a NORMAL SKILL you will find that there will be a QUEST given that will "UNLOCK" the SKILL for the account AND for your TOON all at once. The cost of this method is only your time.

IF this skill you are seeking is an ELITE SKILL then you need to go to a skills trainer like the one in Lion's Arch and get the Signet of Capture. Go and Kill the boss will having the SAME primary PROFESSION or secondary profession AS THE BOSS you are going to kill. No point in killing a WAR boss with your A/Rit cause you will get SQUAT.

This method will unlock the ELITE SKILL on your ACCOUNT and replace the SIGNET of CAPTURE with the ELITE skill you just capped.

ALl the best on the hunting...

*Darcy* · Mar 06, 2009, 03:56 PM // 15:56

You haven't mentioned what campaigns you have, which makes giving advice difficult.

Skills can only be "unlocked" using Balthazar Faction. Kurzick or Luxon Faction only gain you PvE-only skills that cannot be used by heroes.

If you have Factions, you can fight at Fort Aspenwood or Jade Quarry to gain Balthazar Faction. If you do not have Factions, then you will need to fight in one of the areas described in this link to gain the Balthazar Faction.
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Balthazar_Faction

You then visit a Priest of Balthazar to unlock the skill (1k pts for normal and 3k pts for elite) and then learn it with a tome. As mentioned any skill you learn can be used by your heroes.

TheodenKing · Mar 06, 2009, 04:04 PM // 16:04

All these explanations are giving me a headache. Dude, you don't have to spend coin on skills for your hero. Just do Random Arena or Alliance Battles or whatever to earn Balthazar faction. Then talk to the Priest of Balthazar to unlock skills. He charges 1k faction for normal skills and 3k faction for elites. It's that simple, and costs you no coin.

Once you unlock a skill, all your heores on all your characters on that account can use them.

moriz · Mar 06, 2009, 04:16 PM // 16:16

the above is incorrect.

pve characters will still have the buy the skills from trainers. on the upside, if you've already unlocked the skills you want, they will be available on every trainer of that specific campaign.

VishnuOdin · Mar 06, 2009, 04:50 PM // 16:50

Sorry I only have Prophecies and EotN (awaiting order for Factions / Nightfall), and don't have PvP access. So if I understand correctly;

1) I can unlock skills by buying a skills pack
2) I can unlock skills by changing my secondary and completing quests

At this point, to actually learn them, I can;

1) Use a tome by changing my secondary class
2) Buy them from a skills trainer

I'm thinking I'll rotate through secondary's until I have the quests done for each class, then farm tome's in HM and rotate again to actually acquire the skills. That seems like the cheapest way to both unlock and acquire the skills for use, albeit a time consuming one.

Thanks!

moriz · Mar 06, 2009, 04:57 PM // 16:57

you do have pvp access. you'll be a bit hamstrung by lack of skills, but you can play pvp.

btw, the skill quests can be done only once. so while you can swap secondaries, you'll only be able to unlock for one secondary per quest. in the end, its still more efficient to just buy the skills. you can gain the money needed much faster than doing quests.

VishnuOdin · Mar 06, 2009, 06:36 PM // 18:36

I've never changed secondaries before, so what your saying is when I do, I'll be able to see every skill for my new secondary class (for the games I have), with the ability to purchase them to unlock and use?

moriz · Mar 06, 2009, 06:59 PM // 18:59

every one of them? generally no, unless you are very late into the campaign already. for example, dakk at ember light camp has every core+prophecies skill.

joshuarodger · Mar 06, 2009, 07:11 PM // 19:11

if you're only trying to get skills for your heroes, you don't need to change profesions and buy the skills. once you unlock a skill, either with balth faction or purchasing it from a trainer, it is available for all of your heroes for all of your characters on that account. if you want to learn the skill for your character, you will either have to unlock it with balth faction and use a skill tome or buy it from the trainer.

just to clarify, "unlocking" a skill means all your characters on that account are able to learn it with a tome or buy it at any trainer from that particular campaign. just because a skill is unlocked doesn't mean your character can use it, you would still need a tome or have to buy it. however, if a skill is unlocked all of your heroes have access to it.

BrettM · Mar 06, 2009, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by VishnuOdin

I've never changed secondaries before, so what your saying is when I do, I'll be able to see every skill for my new secondary class (for the games I have), with the ability to purchase them to unlock and use?

Basically yes.

But, it won't quite be "every" skill at first, unless you buy the unlock pack. As the areas increase in difficulty, the skill trainers there have skills not available in earlier areas. The only Prophecies trainer that has every single Prophecies and Core skill is located in Ember Light Camp in the Ring of Fire Islands. However, once a skill is unlocked -- by quest, trainer purchase, or unlock pack -- your other characters will be able to purchase it from any skill trainer in Prophecies.

So:

1) You can unlock skills without learning them by getting a skill pack.

2) You can unlock *and* learn a skill by buying it from a trainer.

3) You can unlock *and* learn a skill by taking a quest that gives it as a reward. There are only a few skills for each profession that have a quest, but it does save gold and skill points to take advantage of these.

4) You can unlock *and* learn a skill by using a Signet of Capture on a boss of one of your professions. (The boss must have the skill you want, of course. And it will cost you gold and a skill point to buy the Signet, except for two that you get free from quests.)

5) You can learn an unlocked skill by using a tome.

Once a skill is unlocked it is known to all heroes but must be learned by each character separately. The first character to obtain a skill (by doing 2, 3, or 4) unlocks it and learns it at the same time. Other characters must learn the skill by doing 2, 3, 4, or 5.

VishnuOdin · Mar 06, 2009, 08:48 PM // 20:48

Ya that's where I was planning to go first. I wish buying the skills pack would actually make them available, otherwise it seems like a waste to spend real money buying the pack then in game money to actually be able to use them. All your really saving is a bit of hassle and what 500g to change your secondary?

Thanks again!

[edit] I think I have 4k Bath faction from doing a few intro quests there, which were actually pretty fun so I'll check that out too! [/edit]

btallas · Jul 29, 2009, 05:51 PM // 17:51

Sorry to bump an old thread but I'm having a little difficulty understanding how to unlock elite skills. Let me give my example. I have an assassin/warrior that has finished all of factions. I'm starting to go through the campaign on my ranger/assassin now. I'm wanting the ranger elite skill barrage that can be captured later in the campaign. If I change my assassin's secondary to ranger, go to Drazach Thicket and kill Chkkr Thousand Tail for the elite skill capture, will the elite skill barrage now be available to my ranger? If so, how do I go about getting it as I don't see any of my assassin's elite skills available to my ranger (secondary is assassin). Thanks for any assistance.

Quaker · Jul 29, 2009, 06:53 PM // 18:53

You'd need to use an Elite Ranger Tome (or Elite Assassin Tome) to actually get the skill on your ranger, once your Assassin has unlocked in by capping it.

btallas · Jul 29, 2009, 07:03 PM // 19:03

That's what I thought. Thanks for the reply!

BrettM · Jul 29, 2009, 07:28 PM // 19:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by btallas

I'm wanting the ranger elite skill barrage that can be captured later in the campaign. If I change my assassin's secondary to ranger, go to Drazach Thicket and kill Chkkr Thousand Tail for the elite skill capture, will the elite skill barrage now be available to my ranger? If so, how do I go about getting it as I don't see any of my assassin's elite skills available to my ranger (secondary is assassin).

If your assassin caps Barrage, the skill will be unlocked on your account and taught to the sin. Your sin learns it, the sin's heroes learn it, and the ranger's heroes learn it. Your ranger, however, does NOT learn it. Barrage would be "available" to your ranger, but only in the sense that s/he may now learn it from an elite ranger tome instead of needing to personally go to Drazach Thicket and cap it. Likewise, your ranger can use an elite assassin tome to learn any of your sin's current elite skills.

Elite tomes are much more expensive than cap sigs, though. Unless you're pretty wealthy, you'll want to reserve the tome option for selected elites and otherwise wait and have each character cap the ones s/he needs.

Normal skills work much the same way. If your sin buys a skill it becomes unlocked and the sin and all heroes on the account will learn it. Your Ra/A may now learn that skill from a normal assassin tome, which can be much LESS expensive than buying the skill from a trainer, assuming you're at the point where skills cost you 1k each. And you don't use a skill point when learning from a tome.

Mar 06, 2009, 02:01 PM // 14:01	#1
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	Unlocking skills for other classes... What's the most efficient way to unlock skills for other classes? Hero points take a while to build up, and tome's only seem to allow me to acquire an already unlocked skill (I got a Mesmer tome last night and it won't let me use it). Someone before mentioned changing your secondary then buying them with your skill points, wouldn't they still have to be unlocked first? If I change my secondary will quests appear and allow me to unlock skills for that class? I know I can collect Elite skills this way, but my hero's are in desperate need of an upgrade so I need some base skills as well. I don't mind using tomes to actually acquire them if I can unlock them using another method. I'd really rather not create alt characters, I'd sooner buy unlock packs then do that. Thanks!

Mar 06, 2009, 02:49 PM // 14:49	#5
imnotyourmother Desert Nomad Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: in a house Guild: The Knitters Guild Profession: W/R	There are several ways to "UNLOCK SKILLS" for your account thus allowing your HERO's and you to have access to them. ACCOUNT WIDE. You can BUY the SKILLS UNLOCK PACK from the Online store. This is the EASIEST and most Efficient way to get this skills - PERIOD. If you do this then ALL TOMES will work as the SKILLS UNLOCK PACK unlocks NORMAL SKILLS and ELITE SKILLS. To get the skill unlocked on the TOON you are playing simply buy the corresponding TOMES for the Skill. Like Ranger tome for troll ungent and ELITE MONK TOME for Elite SKILL Spell Breaker So you can BUY the Skills TITLES this way instead of capping them. I bought 2 monk Elite tomes for 16K the other day. To Cap these skills would cost me a Skills Point and 1K for the SIGNET OF CAPTURE. So I spent 7,000 gold for the skills. Not that bad really if you have buckets of gold or piles of ectos. Second way to unlock on account is to farm FACTION points. Got to RA its the fastest to get into a group. Set up a build so you can survive for 3 minutes or so and earn 40 factions per kill. Add that up to either 3,000 or 6,000 factions and BOOM skill unlocked..or hero or whatever in your case skill. Then Buy The TOME for the skill - Elite skill for elite tome or normal tome for normal skill. Now to PVE. Got to the WIKI and search the SKILL that you want to get. IF it is a NORMAL SKILL you will find that there will be a QUEST given that will "UNLOCK" the SKILL for the account AND for your TOON all at once. The cost of this method is only your time. IF this skill you are seeking is an ELITE SKILL then you need to go to a skills trainer like the one in Lion's Arch and get the Signet of Capture. Go and Kill the boss will having the SAME primary PROFESSION or secondary profession AS THE BOSS you are going to kill. No point in killing a WAR boss with your A/Rit cause you will get SQUAT. This method will unlock the ELITE SKILL on your ACCOUNT and replace the SIGNET of CAPTURE with the ELITE skill you just capped. ALl the best on the hunting... Last edited by imnotyourmother; Mar 06, 2009 at 02:53 PM // 14:53.. Reason: CORRECT sorry I was thinking PROPHECIES. AGAIN Check the Guild Wars WIKI for best approach. I like getting factions myself

Mar 06, 2009, 03:56 PM // 15:56	#6
Darcy Never Too Old Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Rhode Island where there are no GW contests Guild: Order of First Profession: W/R	You haven't mentioned what campaigns you have, which makes giving advice difficult. Skills can only be "unlocked" using Balthazar Faction. Kurzick or Luxon Faction only gain you PvE-only skills that cannot be used by heroes. If you have Factions, you can fight at Fort Aspenwood or Jade Quarry to gain Balthazar Faction. If you do not have Factions, then you will need to fight in one of the areas described in this link to gain the Balthazar Faction. http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Balthazar_Faction You then visit a Priest of Balthazar to unlock the skill (1k pts for normal and 3k pts for elite) and then learn it with a tome. As mentioned any skill you learn can be used by your heroes. __________________ That's me, the old stick-in-the-mud non-fun moderator. (and non-understanding, also)

Mar 06, 2009, 04:50 PM // 16:50	#9
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	Sorry I only have Prophecies and EotN (awaiting order for Factions / Nightfall), and don't have PvP access. So if I understand correctly; 1) I can unlock skills by buying a skills pack 2) I can unlock skills by changing my secondary and completing quests At this point, to actually learn them, I can; 1) Use a tome by changing my secondary class 2) Buy them from a skills trainer I'm thinking I'll rotate through secondary's until I have the quests done for each class, then farm tome's in HM and rotate again to actually acquire the skills. That seems like the cheapest way to both unlock and acquire the skills for use, albeit a time consuming one. Thanks! Last edited by VishnuOdin; Mar 06, 2009 at 04:53 PM // 16:53..

Mar 06, 2009, 02:22 PM // 14:22	#3
Rhiana Reborn Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Feb 2009 Profession: R/	Any skill you buy will be unlocked for all your characters. You can change your secondary profession to buy skills that aren't of your profession. They will then be unlocked. You can use faction to unlock skills. Either play in PvP or vanquish in Factions where you can collect a bounty. Boreas Seabed yields 16k-ish Luxon faction and is not a hard vanquish, by example. Any skill you unlock with faction will be available to all your heroes and PvP chars (NOT to your PvE chars, though. You have to buy them for that character from a skill trainer or use a tome) Edit: Quests. There are a number of profession specific quests in early Prophecies which you can obtain if you switch your secondary profession. They have skills as rewards. For a full list, check the wiki. http://guildwars.wikia.com http://wiki.guildwars.com

Mar 06, 2009, 04:04 PM // 16:04	#7
TheodenKing Jungle Guide Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: DoA Guild: Dark Order of Retarded Knights (doRk) Profession: N/Me	All these explanations are giving me a headache. Dude, you don't have to spend coin on skills for your hero. Just do Random Arena or Alliance Battles or whatever to earn Balthazar faction. Then talk to the Priest of Balthazar to unlock skills. He charges 1k faction for normal skills and 3k faction for elites. It's that simple, and costs you no coin. Once you unlock a skill, all your heores on all your characters on that account can use them.

Mar 06, 2009, 04:16 PM // 16:16	#8
moriz ??ber t??k-n??sh'??n Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Canada Profession: R/	the above is incorrect. pve characters will still have the buy the skills from trainers. on the upside, if you've already unlocked the skills you want, they will be available on every trainer of that specific campaign.

Mar 06, 2009, 04:57 PM // 16:57	#10
moriz ??ber t??k-n??sh'??n Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Canada Profession: R/	you do have pvp access. you'll be a bit hamstrung by lack of skills, but you can play pvp. btw, the skill quests can be done only once. so while you can swap secondaries, you'll only be able to unlock for one secondary per quest. in the end, its still more efficient to just buy the skills. you can gain the money needed much faster than doing quests.

Mar 06, 2009, 06:36 PM // 18:36	#11
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	I've never changed secondaries before, so what your saying is when I do, I'll be able to see every skill for my new secondary class (for the games I have), with the ability to purchase them to unlock and use?

Mar 06, 2009, 06:59 PM // 18:59	#12
moriz ??ber t??k-n??sh'??n Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Canada Profession: R/	every one of them? generally no, unless you are very late into the campaign already. for example, dakk at ember light camp has every core+prophecies skill.

Mar 06, 2009, 07:11 PM // 19:11	#13
joshuarodger Unbanned Join Date: Jan 2008 Guild: Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] -- IGN: Swirly Profession: Mo/	if you're only trying to get skills for your heroes, you don't need to change profesions and buy the skills. once you unlock a skill, either with balth faction or purchasing it from a trainer, it is available for all of your heroes for all of your characters on that account. if you want to learn the skill for your character, you will either have to unlock it with balth faction and use a skill tome or buy it from the trainer. just to clarify, "unlocking" a skill means all your characters on that account are able to learn it with a tome or buy it at any trainer from that particular campaign. just because a skill is unlocked doesn't mean your character can use it, you would still need a tome or have to buy it. however, if a skill is unlocked all of your heroes have access to it.

Mar 06, 2009, 08:48 PM // 20:48	#15
VishnuOdin Academy Page Join Date: Jan 2009 Profession: N/E	Ya that's where I was planning to go first. I wish buying the skills pack would actually make them available, otherwise it seems like a waste to spend real money buying the pack then in game money to actually be able to use them. All your really saving is a bit of hassle and what 500g to change your secondary? Thanks again! [edit] I think I have 4k Bath faction from doing a few intro quests there, which were actually pretty fun so I'll check that out too! [/edit]

Jul 29, 2009, 05:51 PM // 17:51	#16
btallas Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2006 Location: GMT -5 Profession: A/W	Sorry to bump an old thread but I'm having a little difficulty understanding how to unlock elite skills. Let me give my example. I have an assassin/warrior that has finished all of factions. I'm starting to go through the campaign on my ranger/assassin now. I'm wanting the ranger elite skill barrage that can be captured later in the campaign. If I change my assassin's secondary to ranger, go to Drazach Thicket and kill Chkkr Thousand Tail for the elite skill capture, will the elite skill barrage now be available to my ranger? If so, how do I go about getting it as I don't see any of my assassin's elite skills available to my ranger (secondary is assassin). Thanks for any assistance.

Jul 29, 2009, 06:53 PM // 18:53	#17
Quaker Hell's Protector Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Canada Guild: Brothers Disgruntled	You'd need to use an Elite Ranger Tome (or Elite Assassin Tome) to actually get the skill on your ranger, once your Assassin has unlocked in by capping it.

Jul 29, 2009, 07:03 PM // 19:03	#18
btallas Ascalonian Squire Join Date: May 2006 Location: GMT -5 Profession: A/W	That's what I thought. Thanks for the reply!