Ability Wheel. Click to enlarge
- "Build" redirects here, in the sense of the act of using a Resource Builder. For the configuration, out of combat, of abilities designed for use by a player in combat, see Deck
Abilities are what players can unlock on the ability wheel and then inter-change as they progress in the world. Players can only have fourteen abilities available to them at any one time, seven active and seven passive, but have the option to change which abilities they use as long as they are outside of combat. Player-created Builds can be saved to allow abilities and associated gear to be swapped at the same time.
Decks, suggested build paths, are accessible from the very early game, a weapon-based suggestion of where to allocate ability points. There are 11 decks available for each Faction.
Common Weapons have their familiar and mundane capabilities enhanced with the magic of the Secret World Agents to create powerful attacks; conversely, Magic itself is treated as a weapon with abilities. Abilities on the Ability Wheel are divided into nine Weapon types: three Magic, three Ranged, and three Melee (close range).
In short: States are debuffs on the enemy. Sub-types are the scope of attack targeting: Strikes comprise most of the single-target attacks. Bursts are most of the single-target attacks with multiple hits. Focus attacks must be sustained to do (increasing) damage over time. Frenzy attacks hit targets within an area (Area of Effect, or AoE). Blast is usually a cone-shaped area of damage. Chain attacks spread to do damage to other targets nearby.
All abilities are unique instead of just being more powerful forms of other abilities. They will scale with gear.
Ranks, by contrast, are effectively barriers to more effective gear and abilities, past which the player moves by leveling with SP.
Weapon[]
Ranged weapons attack the Filth at a distance: Assault Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun
Magic weapons attack and control with the life of the body (Blood Magic), the power of Chaos itself and Fire and Ice magic (Elementalism).
Melee weapons get in close to deal damage and hinder and push back the enemy, face to face, with Blade, Hammer and Fist and Claw weapon attacks.
Miscellaneous[]
Misc. ability trees stand alone from any one weapon type and can be used in a variety of builds. There are three Miscellaneous categories. These appear as green areas on the outer ring of the Ability Wheel.
Survivalism[]
Survivalism focuses on personal survival. Compared to the abilities in Subversion and Turbulence, abilities found in survivalism are of use to solo and PvP players, with its focus on self healing, movement and crowd-control negation. When taken by Tank Builds, they can still be group-friendly.
Turbulence[]
Like Subversion, Turbulence manipulates 'Hate' - The Secret World's unit of measurement for how much an enemy considers a player threatening. Unlike Subversion, Turbulence is intended for Tanks, to draw the enemy's attention away from weaker allies. The higher an enemy's Hate for a player, the more likely they are to attack that player first, or even switch from attacking another player. Tank gear and abilities reduce damage taken, lower enemy damage output, heal damage taken, lower enemy attack speed, etc; the Tank frees up allies to use gear and abilities that increase their damage and attack speed and lower enemy defenses.
Subversion[]
Like Turbulence, Subversion also manipulates 'Hate' - the Secret World's unit of measurement for how much an enemy considers a player threatening. Unlike Turbulence, however, Subversion is intended to draw the enemy's attention away from the player, and encouraging them to target a Tank player. The lower an enemy's Hate for a player, the less likely they are to single that player out for attacking, or even switch from them to another target.
Subversion will allow the player to erase portions of Hate, generate less of it, and even transfer Hate they've generated to a larger, stronger ally. Higher-level abilities will reward players with the ability to boost their damage potential, punishing enemies for taking their eyes of them for even a moment.
Ability Points[]
Abilities are acquired by using ability points, or AP. 1 AP is acquired through gaining 40,000 experience points. Experience points are gained by completing missions, defeating enemies, exploring, crafting, and PvP. Repeatable missions start at or under 100,000 XP on Solomon Island, roughly double in Egypt, and then in Transylvania, where the going gets very tough, the XP per repeatable mission can be a million: 25 AP each.
New abilities can be purchased at outposts and at the faction headquarters. An individual player can learn all of the abilities available to them, based on faction; this process is expected to be lengthy. No abilities will be mutually exclusive to each other.
Certain faction abilities are obtained through routes other than experience gain; these abilities are primarily non-combat.
Ability Wheel[]
Abilities are displayed on the Ability Wheel, with weaker, cheaper abilities on the central ring, which must be completed first. Abilities are bought one after another in a Cell. In order from first to seventh ability, abilities in the two inner ring cells cost 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 AP. The seventh are Tier 1's Elite abilities. Completing the first two cells is little more than a formality in the grand scheme of things, costing a total of 19 AP for each of the two cells of each weapon type. Once this inner ring is complete, more powerful, more expensive abilities on the outer ring can be purchased.
Cell[]
Once the Inner ring of a weapon is fully purchased, any of the first abilities in any of the Cells in the outer ring can be bought. In terms of cost and purchase, each Cell is independent of the others; they must be bought sequentially as in the inner ring. In order to, for example, purchase the third ability in a cell, the first and second must be bought. In order from first to seventh ability, abilities in the outer ring cells cost 9, 12, 16, 21, 27, 34 and 50 AP for a total of 169 AP. The seventh are Tier 2's Elite abilities.
The first three abilities of each of the six outer cells together cost 37; almost as much AP as all the inner abilities combined.
In part because there are fewer of them, Augment abilities, (simple buffs to Role effectiveness added in Issue 8) and Auxiliary weapons' abilities are not bought in sequential order. However it is necessary to buy a few lower ranks of Augments There is a cap on how much unspent AP a character has, which ranks in Augments expand. Augments are so expensive, that without levels in Augments, characters cannot accumulate enough AP to afford higher levels of Augments. For example, a character's AP cap is 180; this is sufficient to buy the first skills of Rank 1 and Rank 2 in Augments, but not the other nine skills in those ranks, nor the ten for each of Ranks 3, 4 and 5. It is, however, more than enough to buy all of the abilities in any outer ring Cell.
Training Room[]
During the training mission, characters are able to test all of the basic abilities available to them in their faction's training room. The Training Room is worthwhile returning to; it is the only place players have the opportunity to buy Abilities and then return them for a refund of their AP. Abilities must be returned while still in the Training Room; any abilities purchased outside it, or inside and not returned within it, are permanently purchased and the AP is not refundable.
Passive[]
Passive abilities are always active on the player while equipped. They do not require an appropriate weapon to be equipped, but they may require a specific weapon to be effective, as they interact with active abilities or Improve base skill abilities. Half of any given deck - seven abilities - are Passive; the other seven are Active
Improvement[]
Many Passives Improve upon other, usually previous, abilities, adding to their values, including area, damage and duration, or even add new effects.
Active[]
Abilities that are active must be triggered to be used and have a cool-down period. Active abilities are always based on one weapon type, and cannot be used if that weapon is not equipped. Active abilities have these traits, the opposite of Passive abilities. Active abilities may be Builders, Exploiters, Consumers or Elite.
Builder[]
Builders are abilities that create resources, up to a maximum of five for each, which can then be consumed by other abilities called Consumers. When players build a resource, they will build it for both weapons they are holding. Therefore, if they are using one melee weapon and one ranged weapon, and use a ranged builder ability, they will have gained one focus on their target and one momentum on themselves.
Exploiter[]
Exploiters are abilities that do additional effects, such as increased damage, if the enemy is in a particular negative State, such as Afflicted, Hindered, Impaired or Weakened.
Consumer[]
Consumers, or Finishers, are abilities that consume resources in return for special abilities that do more damage.
Elite[]
Elite abilities appear at the end of a cell in the Ability Wheel. All skills before the elite ability must be purchased in order to obtain it. Elites are stronger skills that reward the player for specializing in a certain ability line. Only one active and one passive elite can be equipped at once. Inner ring Elites cost 7 AP and outer ring Elites cost 50 AP.
Sub-types[]
Blast[]
Blast is usually a cone or column (but on its side, like a pipe) shaped area of effect attack
Burst[]
Burst is a single-target attack that comprises multiple small hits, each with their own independent calculation of hit chance and damage.
Chain[]
Chain is a single target attack that subsequently spreads to other nearby targets.
Drone[]
- Category:Drone Ability Summoned, mobile
Focus[]
Focus, or channeling, is an attack over time, that must be sustained, and does increasing amounts of damage the longer it is channeled.
Focus attack[]
Frenzy[]
Frenzy is typically an attack doing damage to targets within an area, usually a circle, but sometimes a cone or fan or other shape. There are countless multiple-target abilities, but relatively few of them are actually tagged as Frenzy.
Area of Effect[]
- See Combat#Targeting
Those abilities that do damage to targets within an area, that are not tagged as Frenzy. Area of Effect, AoE, Ground Targeted AoE (GTAoE), and other variations that do not include the "of" (Area Effect, AE, GTAE), or specify "Targeted" (Targeted AoE, TAoE) for the otherwise generic single target mode. The Secret World also includes a newer (or, since it was in Vagrant Story near the end of the PS1's cycle, a rarer) mode of targeting, namely a column or pillar or rod, usually one parallel to the ground, and usually used by Hammers. Point Blank Area Effect is centered on the user.
Frenzy[]
Manifestation[]
- Category:Manifestation Summoned with Ground Targeting, stationary
Mine[]
- Category:Mine Ability Summoned with Ground Targeting, stationary
Strike[]
- Category:Strike attack. Strike comprises most of the single-target attacks; not all single target attacks are called Strikes, though.
Turret[]
- Category:Turret Ability Summoned with Ground Targeting, stationary
Nomenclature[]
Player terminology for ability types includes:
- Burst - high damage, at the cost of large amounts of energy. A preferred opening ability, where it is less likely to cause overkill and can best inform allies of the scope of the challenge at hand. Ironically named Finishers by Development
- Builders - Energy building abilities
- Stacking abilities - abilities whose effects or duration add together to be more effective, or last longer, respectively
- Interrupts
- Purge - removal of positive effects from the enemy
- AoE - Area of Effect, affects targets within an area, often a circle or fan shape
- Stun
- Root - Enemy "rooted" in place; cannot move
- Snare - Enemy slowed; movement speed reduction
Ability and roles[]
- Melee
- Ranged
- Pistols ^ Damage and Support
- Shotguns ^ Damage and Support
- Assault Rifles + Damage and Healing
- Magic
- Elementalism ^ Damage and Support
- Blood Magic + Damage and Healing
- Chaos Magic = Damage and Survivability
- Talismans
- Head Talisman
- Major Talisman - made up of the Finger, Neck, and Wrist talismans.
- Minor Talisman - made up of the Luck, Waist, and Occult talismans.
States' effect on roles[]
Of the 36 possible pairs of Weapons, only ten can inflict all four States. Complimentary pairs include: one from Group A plus one from Group B, or Group C plus Group D.
- See State
The most effective States are: Tied for first, Impaired, because it enables the most damage. The trouble with Impairment is that later in the game, it will become useless against some enemies; they actually become stronger if you use it! Tied for first, because of this defect and because defense is inevitably a preferable stance to offense in some circumstances, is the defensive State of Weakened. Third is Afflicted, because it applies extra damage directly, and last is Hindered, because it is only useful at range, is defensive not offensive, and because it ALSO can cause enemies to become stronger when inflicted on them.
Lure: Bonus damage with a DoT while kiting the enemy with a Snare.
- Assault Rifle - Afflicted, Hindered
- Elementalism - Afflicted, Hindered
- Group B
Tactics: Offensive and defensive debuffs for damage and survivability. Less complementary for Chaos Magic, which can avoid enemy attacks at a distance and so needs the enemy damage debuff less.
- Chaos Magic - Impaired, Weakened
- Hammer - Impaired, Weakened
- Group C
Assassin: Damage plus damage, with a DoT and a debuff of the enemies' defense.
- Blade - Afflicted, Impaired
- Blood Magic - Afflicted, Impaired
- Fist - Afflicted, Impaired
- Group D
Tower: Minimizing enemy damage with a snare and a debuff of the enemies' attacks. The least complementary of the pairs; ideally, if the snare is working, the debuff is redundant. Ranged attacks are less likely to be evaded though.
Ranks[]
Ranks are barriers to more effective gear and abilties, past which the player moves by leveling. Players accumulate Skill Points (SP) and move up in ranks. Increasing skill ranks enables you to use weapons and talismans of higher quality levels, as well as higher rank Abilities. The minions of the Filth will become increasingly difficult to defeat without these (eg, low level weapons have more chances to glance against high level encounters). You increase skill ranks in a specific weapon or talisman type by purchasing ranks in one of its associated Skill Feats. Each of these Feats grants you passive abilities that will be automatically applied to your character as long as a weapon of that type is equipped.
Links[]
- Ability Point - TSW Crygaia