Skill | Complexity | Practice To | Description | Additional Info |
Acrobatics | 50% | max | In-combat defense, does not work while riding | definitely practice to max, one of your main defensive skills |
Backstab | 10% | max | out-of-combat pre-emptive strike, deals good damage when it lands, must be used with a dagger or hook | useful for low-level leveling, not as useful at high levels, misses frequently, at high levels dagger/hook melee damage is often not strong enough (may need aliases to swap weapons) |
Dagger | 1% | optional max | low damage pierce weapon, used in conjunction with backstab | low damage pierce weapon makes it not used very often outside of backstabbing |
Dodge | 30% | max | Key defensive skill. Dodges environment affects such as boulders. Dodges some special attacks from NPCs. | Extremely important skill, max this ASAP |
Dart | 28% | low priority, not recommended | low damage thrown pierce weapon | Not very useful, few dart weapon options exist. Must be manually thrown during combat |
Hand to hand | 1% | optional max | Bash damage for melee combat, no weapon, mediocre damage | Enhanced accuracy with martial arts bonuses (IE at Archon, 25 agility, martial arts added 18% accuracy bonus) Not used by many players due to its low damage |
Hide | 30% | max | When hidden, your character will have a greater chance to be kept off where or not seen within a room | When mastered, hide will typically keep you not visible in a room at all (not even as a red outline.) When not mastered, hide will show you as a red outline or hidden figure when someone looks in the room. Whether or not someone can see you on where depends on that person's knowledge |
Lore | 10% | optional max | Identifies an item by looking at it. Can identify an item on the ground or in a room via looking at the item. | Lore % x2 + 41 = the level of the item that you can ID using lore. Therefore, if you want to be able to ID a level 241 item using Lore, it must be practiced to 100% (100*2+41=241) |
Lock picking | 35% | optional max | Picks a lock (unlocks it) | Success rates vary depending on the % lock picking is practiced to as well as the quality of the lock pick. A quest lock pick is available from Lord Vashir for 1250 qp, and will never break in a lock. If you're planning on traversing through the Proving Grounds, lock picking is essential. |
Music | 5% | MAX! | By playing an instrument, a bard has access to dozens of spells with a variety of uses. | Generally speaking, most bard songs are either cast on self, offensive in-combat, area effect or formation only. Song types are described below. Higher song strengths require a higher % of music, so getting music betters, while difficult and time consuming, is important to the bard in order to play stronger spells. |
Magical items | 5% | optional max, definite partial practice to at least 35-50 | Determines how well you use magical items such as scrolls, staves, orbs, wands, etc | Success rates vary depending on the % magical items is practiced. Some argue that it's important to max it for definite success rate, while average players suggest a partial practice as being sufficient. Practice - 1% ratio increases significantly with level. |
Nunchaku | 14% | optional, not recommended | "Nun-chucks" weapon, bash type melee damage. Moderate damage output. | Not used frequently, very limited weapon choices. |
Peek | 45% | optional, recommended to practice to at least 50% | Allows the user to "peek" at an NPC or PC's inventory. | Works better at higher % practiced. If not practiced, can often take "looking" at the subject multiple times before it works. The ranger spell 'concealment' will hide the inventory of a player under the spell. Some mobs are not-peekable. |
Perception | 1% | optional max, definite some practicing | Affects a player's ability to discover hidden items and exits using the search or dig command. | The higher that this is practiced, the quicker the hidden item will be detected. Some areas require quick searching/digging, such as in PG or running Kezathin. |
Sword | 1% | max | Decent slash type damage, melee weapon damage. | Weapons commonly available at all levels. Best slash weapon for non-barbarians. |
Second attack | 35% | max | Allows up to two attacks per combat round. | Essential skill for standard melee combat. |
Scan | 40% | optional, works fine at 40% | Allows the user to see visible NPCs and PCs in nearby adjacent rooms. Will not work in dark rooms. | The higher scan is trained to, the farther adjacent rooms that the user will be able to see. |
Sneaking | 20% | optional max, at least to 35-50% | Allows the user to move in and out of rooms undetected. Cannot be used while mounted. | Area effect spells will still show the user moving in and out of a room. Halflings, while sneaking, have a greater chance to dodge snares. |
Stealing | 40% | optional, priority if you intend to CPK players | Allows the user to steal inventory items a NPC or PC (in CPK only). | Some NPCs are not susceptible to steal. Some items have a no-steal flag. Success rates depends on the % stealing |
Throwing star | 16% | not needed | Weapon held, thrown and picked-up from the ground in-between combat rounds for mediocre damage | Not commonly used, limited weapon options at all levels |
Throwing knife | 16% | not needed | Weapon held, thrown and picked-up from the ground in-between combat rounds for mediocre damage | Not commonly used, limited weapon options at all levels |
Whip | 1% | optional max, low priority/not needed | Moderate slash damage weapon, melee combat only | Decent weapon choice if little else is available, whip proficiency required to fight Hargraven on the archon Manifestation of Evil run |
Yo-yo | 13% | optional max, low priority/not needed | Mediocre bash type damage | Limited weapon choices. Not commonly used. Pearl Yo-Yo is a dispelling yo-yo at 4th class, though it requires 100% yoyo proficiency. |